I will also be working with other faculty on a lecture series or symposium to accompany the exhibition and the course. The course will have two major foci. First, a study of the Parthenon in its original historical context, as a work of visual rhetoric, and as an expression of the Athenian worldview at this particular moment in time. Second, a study of the Parthenon in post-classical times, with particular focus on the ongoing Elgin Marbles debate.
We invite students to join our summer research community who have research interests related to classical and classicistic/colonial art and architecture, the Parthenon, the Elgin Marbles debate, museum ethics and display issues, other cultural heritage issues, and international law relating to cultural heritage issues. We may begin our work together by reading some texts that will be relevant to us all, such as James Cuno's Who Owns Antiquity? James Cuno is a Willamette University alumnus, a member of our Board of Trustees, and the President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust.