Allentown Art Museum Exhibits 'Knights in Shining Armor'

Written by Fernando Houchin Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:55

Allentown, PA - Knights in Shining Armor: Myth and Reality, 1450-1650 opens in the Allentown Art Museum’s Kress and Rodale galleries on Sunday, January 28, 2007; on view through June 3, 2007.  This special exhibition explores the popularity of arms and armor in the art and daily life of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.  Its opening will be celebrated with a preview party on Saturday, January 27, 2007, 6-8 P.M.  Nearly four years in the making, this ambitious exhibition and publication project was initiated by the Museum in early 2003.  “This exhibition brings together works from the permanent collection with arms and armor from a promised gift to the Museum and loans from public and private lenders,” said David R. Brigham, the Museum’s Priscilla Payne Hurd Executive Director.  “It is the Allentown Art Museum’s first major Old Masters exhibition in more than 25 years."

While the development of military tactics and technologies throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods rendered the traditional armor of a medieval knight increasingly more obsolete, public interest in arms and armor intensified.  People made, collected and wore armor. Arms and armor were carried not only in battles and ceremonies, but also in daily promenades.  The sword and dagger became fashionable accessories of well-to-do gentlemen.  To illustrate the popularity and cultural significance of arms and armor, the exhibition combines examples of period arms and armor with contemporaneous works of art that display arms.  With over 150 objects, including full suits of armor, edged weapons, and projectile arms, as well as paintings, prints, and tapestries by such famous artists as Albrecht Dürer, Domenico Tintoretto, and Peter Paul Rubens, this groundbreaking exhibition promises to be visually stunning and both a popular and scholarly success.

Allentown’s outstanding collection of Old Master paintings, prints, and textiles forms the core of the exhibition.  Works that will be on view include rare Old Master prints that were acquired specifically for this exhibition and a 17th-century Flemish tapestry depicting the Trojan War that has not been shown for a generation.  In addition, the exhibition has allowed the Allentown Art Museum to secure important loans from prestigious museums around the country, including the National Gallery of Art; North Carolina Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Works in the exhibition have also come from Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts; Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania; and several private collections.

The organizing curator is Dr. Ida Sinkević, associate professor of art history at Lafayette College and medieval art scholar.  “I have always been interested in examining the vestiges of medieval civilization in later societies, and armor provides an excellent example of the everlasting spirit of chivalry that continues to fascinate and has retained its appeal to the present day,” she says.  “The exhibition aims to emphasize the multifaceted nature of arms and armor and their importance during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.  In addition to their use on the battlefield, arms and armor of these periods also represented technological achievements, reflected the fascination with and nostalgia for the chivalric ethos of the Middle Ages, and serve as important although seldom mentioned resources for understanding concepts of class and gender.  Thus, the exhibition provides a contextual insight into the world of armor.  In addition, it aims to reveal both the functional and the esthetic qualities of arms and armor, since some of the most beautiful examples were produced during this time.”

Sinkević has organized the show into four primary themes: Nobility and Authority; Religious Imagery; Images of War: Battles, Soldiers, Tournaments; and Myth, Story, and Allegory.  Through these themes, she seeks to offer new insight into the study of arms and armor by examining their actual use in battles and tournaments as well as their artistic, social and historical significance.  Moreover, she challenges gender stereotypes by disassociating arms and armor with an exclusively masculine realm and revealing the active and important role women played in the culture of armor.

 A full-color, lavishly illustrated and popularly written book accompanies the exhibition. Published by the Museum and Bunker Hill Publishing, it features essays by four leading experts that describe the fascination with arms and armor in post-Medieval Europe, reality and fantasy in the representation of arms, and the intimate relationship between armor and printmaking.  The book also presents new discoveries in artwork conservation.  Several artworks appearing in the catalog have never before been published.

Also to be found in the gallery is a terminal allowing access to The Renaissance Connection.  The Renaissance Connection is the Museum’s interactive educational Web site that allows users to investigate Renaissance artworks in depth, travel along an interactive timeline, role-play as a patron of the arts, design innovations, and explore the life of an artist.  The Renaissance Connection can be visited at www.renaissanceconnection.org.

For Museum information and directions: Little more than 90 minutes west of Manhattan and one hour north of Philadelphia, the Allentown Art Museum is located at 31 North Fifth Street in Allentown, PA.  Please visit our website at www.allentownartmuseum.org to learn more about the Museum’s exhibitions and programs.