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http://www.thestar.com/article/623190

King Tut returns to AGO



Apr 23, 2009 11:29 AM
Comments on this story (19)
Martin Knelman
Entertainment Columnist

King Tut is returning to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

The AGO last exhibited the young Egyptian pharaoh in 1979 and it proved to be immensely popular, attracting roughly 750,000 visitors, according to the gallery.

Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs, features 130 pieces from the tomb of Tut and other ancient Egyptian rulers – more than twice as many as the 1979 exhibit.

The new show, currently setting attendance records in Atlanta, will be in Toronto (its only Canadian stop) from Nov. 21, 2009, to April 18, 2010.

According to the AGO, four galleries will be devoted to the exhibit.

Tutankhamun ruled Egypt between 1336 and 1327 BCE. Although Tut is the now the most recognizable of the Egyptian pharaohs, he was little known until his tomb was discovered in 1922 by British explorer Howard Carter.

 

[Brian69]

I vaguely remember going to the first one at the ROM back in '79, and this one is supposed to be better. Hope it draws good crowds but not too good as crushing throngs make it more difficult to go slow and take in all the pieces.

 

[Urban Shocker]

It'll be an interesting artistic counterpoint to 2000's Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids at the ROM - a collaboration between that institution, the Louvre, and the Met. With heads of government who were also gods, artistic representation in Dynastic Egypt was controlled from above and didn't change much over the millennia. So Akhenaten's artistic revolution was still fresh and, despite being defaced and smashed up ( the ROM has a few fragments on display ) at his death, it influenced the art of Tut, who may have been his son. I believe there's a bust of Akhenaten in the exhibition.

http://touregypt.net/featurestories/amarnafigures.htm

 

[Filip]

Dang.. I will be in Spain the entire exhibition.

 

[Edward Skira]

I vaguely remember going to the first one at the ROM back in '79, and this one is supposed to be better. Hope it draws good crowds but not too good as crushing throngs make it more difficult to go slow and take in all the pieces.

ROM? Wasn't it at the AGO that time as well? That's what I remember.

 

[simply Dan]

This is excellent news for the AGO - hopefully many of the King Tut visitors will wander around and get lost in the contemporary galleries upstairs or the ship models down in the basement when they visit... and fall in love with the spectacular new spaces and expanded collections.

 

[psychokandy]

I love the AGO, it also brings back memories of my childhood when our class used to take us there on field trips. The Mummy exhibition was always the best I thought.

 

[Brian69]

ROM? Wasn't it at the AGO that time as well? That's what I remember.

Don't know why I thought it was the ROM but you're right.

 

[adma]

I vaguely remember going to the first one at the ROM back in '79, and this one is supposed to be better. Hope it draws good crowds but not too good as crushing throngs make it more difficult to go slow and take in all the pieces.

Yeah, all we need is the return of Adrienne Barbeau types wearing "Don't Touch My Tuts" t-shirts

 

[wonderboy416]

I remember going to the ROM some time in the 80's with my parents. We saw King Tut (I got some King Tut playing cards from the exhibit still) and then went to the planetarium... those were the good 'ol days.

 

[Brian69]

I remember the planetarium fondly--what a waste in a city that seems to forget the sciences (apart from the medical ones) completely.

What a waste of Adrienne Barbeau's talents as well. The 90's weren't so kind.

 

[Anth]

After visiting NYC's Hayden Planetarium for the first time last month, I can say there's nothing more humbling than being faced with humanity's utter insignificance in such a vast universe. We're mere specks of dust in the grand scheme of things and it's a reminder every one us could use once in a while.

McLaughlin didn't quite offer an experience on that scale from what I remember, but it's sorely missed and I hope we'll have another eventually.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Was the Zacks Pavilion - where Tut will be installed, presumably - "Gehry-fied" during the reno? I guess we'll find out next Wednesday, when Surreal Things previews.

 

[Urban Shocker]

... and the Zacks Pavilion remains unchanged as temporary exhibition space.

As for Surreal Things, Dali is much in evidence, and Magritte, and there are some stunning clothes by Schiaparelli, and jewellery, and furniture. And none of it can be taken out of the display cases and worn, or pinned to the clothing, or reclined on, or experienced at any level other than the purely aesthetic - as one would expect.

 

[Benc7]

... and the Zacks Pavilion remains unchanged as temporary exhibition space.

As for Surreal Things, Dali is much in evidence, and Magritte, and there are some stunning clothes by Schiaparelli, and jewellery, and furniture. And none of it can be taken out of the display cases and worn, or pinned to the clothing, or reclined on, or experienced at any level other than the purely aesthetic - as one would expect.

I loved the starfish broach worn as a breast clamp; the Schiapparelli opera coat is one of the most elegant pieces of clothing I've seen in a while. I wanted to be taken about in that wheelbarrow thingy, but the staff were having none of it.