The Hood Museum of Art offers many lectures, gallery talks, symposia, and receptions over the course of the year. Just click on the Calendar of Events to access information about these programs.
A special symposium will be offered on November 3-4, 2006, to mark the 150th anniversary of the acquisition of the Assyrian reliefs:
The Hood Museum of Art's Assyrian Reliefs, 1856-2006
Friday, November 3, and Saturday, November 4, 2006
The year 2006 will mark the passage of 150 years since the arrival at Dartmouth of one of the college's most prized possessions in the realm of art and culture: the Assyrian reliefs, currently on display in the Kim Gallery of the Hood Museum of Art. Originally part of the decorative scheme of the so-called "Northwest Palace" of King Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE) in Nimrud, Iraq, six large-scale reliefs depict a ritual performance undertaken by the king. Human and supernatural beings are also in attendance. Scholarly understanding of Assyrian art has increased considerably over time, as its visual, cultural, and historical meanings have been studied from a variety of perspectives and their role as visual propaganda has been recognized.
A symposium co-organized by the Department of Art History and Hood Museum of Art and sponsored by the Fannie and Alan Leslie Center for the Humanities at Dartmouth College, the Hood Museum of Art, the Department of Art History, the Anthropology Department, and Jewish Studies will examine and advance the state of scholarship on the reliefs, the culture from which they derive, and their afterlife in Hanover. A highly respected group of speakers will address topics such as the nineteenth-century British excavations in Iraq, the architecture and outfitting of Ashurnasirpal's palace, the rich iconography of the reliefs and its range of meanings, the reception and history of the reliefs in Hanover, aspects of Mesopotamian art and culture, as well as the current state of archaeological research and antiquities in Iraq. A special installation on the reliefs and other ancient Near Eastern works from the collection will be also on view in the Hood Museum of Art and will include special interactive 3D computer reconstructions that show the reliefs in their original contexts.
"Assyrian Reliefs and the Early British Excavations"
Julian Reade, The British Museum
"The Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal"
Sam Paley, University of Buffalo
"Assyrian Palace Decorations and Furnishings"
Allison Karmel Thomason, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
"The Hood Reliefs and Their Style and Iconography"
Barbara Porter, independent scholar
"'Time and Eternity' in the Northwest Palace"
Mehmet-Ali Atac, Bryn Mawr College
"'Courtiers' in the Assyrian Reliefs"
Paul Collins, The British Museum
"The Dartmouth Reliefs: Acquisition and Reception"
Kamyar Abdi, Dartmouth College
"The Northwest Palace and Nimrud Today"
John Russell, Massachusetts College of Art
