Indianapolis Museum To Explore Ancient Egyptian Afterlife July 13

Sunk relief of Queen Neferu, circa 2008 BC–1957 BC, limestone, painted, 7½ by 9 5/16 by ¾ inches; Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, Brooklyn Museum.

:The Indianapolis Museum of Art will be the first venue to host "To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum," on view July 13–September 7.

Featuring approximately 120 objects dating from 3600 BC to 400 AD from the renowned Egyptian art collection of New York's Brooklyn Museum, the exhibition will illustrate the range of strategies and preparations the ancient Egyptians developed to defeat death and to achieve success in the afterlife.

"The IMA is pleased to be the first museum in a multiple-city tour for this exhibition," said Maxwell L. Anderson, the Melvin & Bren Simon director and CEO of the IMA. "Through a vibrant selection of artworks from one of the world's leading collections of Egyptian antiquities, our visitors will gain real insight into the ancient quest for survival into eternity."

The exhibition explores the belief that death was an enemy that could be vanquished, one of the primary cultural tenets of ancient Egyptian civilization. In order to survive in the next world, Egyptians would purchase, trade or even reuse a variety of objects — statues, coffins, vessels and jewelry for example — that would protect them in the afterlife.

The exhibition explains the process of mummification, the economics and rituals of memorials, the contents of the tomb, the funeral accessories — including the differentiation of objects used by upper, middle and lower classes — and the idealized afterlife.

Exhibition highlights include a vividly painted coffin of a mayor of Thebes (about 1075–945 BC), the mummy and portrait of Demetrios, a wealthy citizen of Hawara (95–100 AD), and two mummies of dogs (664 BC–395 AD).

Also featured will be stone sculpture and statues, protective gold jewelry made for nobility, amulets (items for protection in the afterlife), canopic jars (used to store the body's major organs) and ceramic vessels.

"Many of the objects in the show have never been exhibited before," said Theodore Celenko, curator of African art at the IMA. "And one piece in particular — a limestone statue of a father, mother and child that's more than 2,000 years old — will only be shown in Indianapolis."

Anthropoid coffin of the "Servant of the Great Place,” Teti New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, circa 1339 BC–1307 BC, wood, painted 33¼ by 18 13/16 by 81½ inches, bought originally in Thebes, Egypt, Africa; Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, Brooklyn Museum.

In addition to the exhibition, the museum will host a lecture by the exhibition's curator Edward Bleiberg. On Sunday, July 13, at 2 pm, Bleiberg, the curator of Egyptian, classical and ancient Middle Eastern art at the Brooklyn Museum, will discuss religion, aesthetics and immortality of ancient Egypt in relation to the exhibition.

"To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum" has been organized by the Brooklyn Museum. Bleiberg has authored a catalog that will accompany the exhibition.

After its debut here, "To Live Forever" will travel to the John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Fla.; the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio; the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va.; the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla.; and the Frist Center for Visual Arts in Nashville, Tenn., with additional venues to be announced.

The museum is at 4000 Michigan Road. For information, www.imamuseum.org or 317-923-1331.

Antiques and the Arts Editorial Content