Courtesy Images / San Antonio Museum of Artwork
These elaborate fits of armor, all originating from the sixteenth century, are on show at SAMA.
Throughout medieval occasions, armor conveyed standing and class whereas additionally defending the wearer. Each members of the aristocracy and battlefield warriors wore it to mission a knightly picture.
The San Antonio Museum of Artwork’s touring exhibition “The Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Assortment on the Worcester Museum” permits viewers to see works from one of many largest collections of arms and armor. The exhibition includes greater than 80 works, together with a number of full fits of plate armor and an array of weapons.
“The Age of Armor” shall be on view at SAMA’s Cowden Gallery from Feb. 16 via Might 12.
The exhibition is initially produced by the Worcester Artwork Museum. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Assortment on the Worcester Museum consists of greater than 1,500 objects, spanning from historical Egypt to nineteenth century Japan. On the coronary heart of this assortment are the metal fits of armor from medieval and Renaissance Europe.
“The Age of Armor goes past the standard picture of ‘knights in shining armor’ to take a more in-depth have a look at why fits of armor had been created in early fashionable Europe and who wore them,” Chief Curator Jessica Powers in an announcement. “The exhibition additionally explores the lengthy legacy of
European armor as seen within the work of latest artists via its affect in widespread tradition.”
The exhibition explores the sensible makes use of of arms and armor on the battlefield and in jousting tournaments whereas celebrating the beautiful craftsmanship behind these metallic masterworks.
It additionally explores developments in metalworking expertise and advances in weaponry in late medieval and early fashionable Europe.
With the rising use of firearms on the battlefield, using armor finally declined.
Nonetheless, even after armor stopped being efficient at stopping lethal projectiles, it continued to be seen as an emblem of advantage and power throughout ceremonial occasions.
Whereas full fits of armor might weigh as a lot as 60 kilos, the items had been designed so wearers might simply transfer. Due to its extravagant element, together with embossing, it may be seen as movable or wearable sculpture.
One other spotlight of the exhibition is a go well with embossed with motifs symbolizing love and warfare. Depicted on the breastplate are the Roman gods Mars and Venus as they attain out to one another, symbolizing love and warfare. The picture presents the knight as “a warrior on the battlefield and a courtier in occasions of peace.”
To create this piece, an artisan would have hammered every element from the within, making a low-relief sculpture. As a result of the armor was considerably compromised from the extraordinary embossing method, it was meant to be worn for ceremonial functions solely.
“The exhibition reveals the extraordinary design, engineering, and innovation in over eighty objects, together with swords, daggers, halberds, breastplates, helmets, pistols, muskets, and a number of other full fits,” SAMA Kelso Director Emily Ballew Neff stated in an announcement. “Various works from SAMA’s everlasting assortment additional contextualizes the enduring and complex legacy of weapons all through all cultures throughout the globe.”
One work included from SAMA’s personal modern assortment is a bit from Mexican artist Pedro Reyes 2013 sequence Disarm. This work helps draw parallels between present occasions in Mexico and its historical past. On this piece, Reyes presents what seems to be a xylophone comprised of elements of firearms.
For this mission, Reyes collaborated with the Mexican authorities, which confiscated and destroyed weapons from the Cartels. Right here, Reyes turns these devices of dying into devices supporting life and positivity via the enjoyment of music. The work represents a symbolic transformation that might be each bodily or non secular.
Close to the top of the gallery, the exhibition asks guests to ponder whether or not the time of knights is really gone. At this level, it means that the design of armor continues to permeate widespread tradition, specifically superheroes to who put on equally extravagant protecting fits throughout their big-screen and comedian e book adventures.
“The Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Assortment on the Worcester Museum,”
10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, on view February 16 via Might 12, San Antonio Museum of Artwork, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org.
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