For millennia, humans have experienced Egyptomania, the allure and fascination with ancient Egyptian culture.
Now comes the Cleveland Museum of Art exhibit "Egyptomania: Fashion's Conflicted Obsession," running through Jan. 1 in the Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Textile Gallery.
It represents an intersection of history, art and, of course, fashion.
"Here at the museum, we have an internal expression that people love to see mummies and Monet," said Darnell-Jamal Lisby, assistant curator of fashion at the CMA. "So people are invested in ancient Egyptian art throughout the ages. Particularly, most people's entrance into that research is through museums.
"With that said, I really wanted a way to kind of incorporate research but also illuminate this very dense style around culture appropriation in a very digestible way."
Designed to be a thought-provoking, intimately scaled exhibition, "Egyptomania" explores the influence of ancient Egyptian art in fashion, juxtaposing contemporary creations by major fashion and accessories houses — from Chanel and Balmain to Cartier and Maison Yeya — with ancient Egyptian art from the CMA's distinguished collection.
Additionally, the exhibition tracks the history of Egyptomania in Western art through a selection of fine and decorative artworks also from the CMA collection.
Visitors will learn about the social ramifications of fashion's interpretation of ancient Egyptian art from the reclamation of ancient Egyptian history by modern Egyptians, as well as about Black empowerment.
Also, the exhibition highlights ways in which art and fashion continue to keep alive the legacy of the ancient Egyptians.
"Especially in this time we're living in now, we have a lot of different sociological dialogues going on in the public foray — particularly during the pandemic," Lisby said. "One of the things, especially in fashion, that we've seen a lot is this conversation about cultural appropriation.
"I really wanted to use this conversation of ancient Egyptian art influencing a lot of creatives and fashion created as a case study to this larger conversation about culture appropriation and understanding its nuance. I wanted to kind of use this as a low-stakes example. I didn't want to use a kind of cultural intersection that might be a little too on the side of controversial in something that we all enjoy, which is ancient Egyptian art."
After spending so much time around the creation of "Egyptomania," Lisby said he's learned much from the final product.
"The biggest surprise that I had was learning more about the ancient Egyptians themselves," Lisby said. "What I wanted to do with this exhibition was humanize it because — especially museums, academic research and also mainstream media —- we've been able to as a society kind of separate the people from the culture."
Furthermore, Lisby felt a need to take on an heir-like role for ancient Egyptians who in their time "lived, loved, laughed and worshipped." He said they were no different from us.
"For them, it was about accepting their religion and culture," Lisby said. "It had nothing to do with race or ethnicity or any of these kinds of constructs that we have formulated today to create the kind of categorical divisions amongst us.
"You could be from anywhere in the world. As long as you accepted their religion and culture, you were considered ancient Egyptian. That's something quite powerful because it then kind of bursts that bubble of who can claim ancient Egypt a little bit. That was really something that I latched onto during this entire process of curating this show."
'Egyptomania: Fashion's Conflicted Obsession'
Where: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland.
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays through Jan. 1.
Admission: Free.
Info: clevelandart.org.
Additionally, the exhibition tracks the history of Egyptomania in Western art through a selection of fine and decorative artworks also from the CMA collection.
Visitors will learn about the social ramifications of fashion's interpretation of ancient Egyptian art from the reclamation of ancient Egyptian history by modern Egyptians, as well as about Black empowerment.
Also, the exhibition highlights ways in which art and fashion continue to keep alive the legacy of the ancient Egyptians.
"Especially in this time we're living in now, we have a lot of different sociological dialogues going on in the public foray — particularly during the pandemic," Lisby said. "One of the things, especially in fashion, that we've seen a lot is this conversation about cultural appropriation.
"I really wanted to use this conversation of ancient Egyptian art influencing a lot of creatives and fashion created as a case study to this larger conversation about culture appropriation and understanding its nuance. I wanted to kind of use this as a low-stakes example. I didn't want to use a kind of cultural intersection that might be a little too on the side of controversial in something that we all enjoy, which is ancient Egyptian art."
After spending so much time around the creation of "Egyptomania," Lisby said he's learned much from the final product.
"The biggest surprise that I had was learning more about the ancient Egyptians themselves," Lisby said. "What I wanted to do with this exhibition was humanize it because — especially museums, academic research and also mainstream media —- we've been able to as a society kind of separate the people from the culture."
Furthermore, Lisby felt a need to take on an heir-like role for ancient Egyptians who in their time "lived, loved, laughed and worshipped." He said they were no different from us.
"For them, it was about accepting their religion and culture," Lisby said. "It had nothing to do with race or ethnicity or any of these kinds of constructs that we have formulated today to create the kind of categorical divisions amongst us.
"You could be from anywhere in the world. As long as you accepted their religion and culture, you were considered ancient Egyptian. That's something quite powerful because it then kind of bursts that bubble of who can claim ancient Egypt a little bit. That was really something that I latched onto during this entire process of curating this show."
'Egyptomania: Fashion's Conflicted Obsession'
Where: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland.
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays through Jan. 1.
Admission: Free.
Info: clevelandart.org.
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