International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2019
Although the inluence of Classical sculpture on Nazi monuments is well established , the use of c... more Although the inluence of Classical sculpture on Nazi monuments is well established , the use of classicizing imagery to promote the American eugenics movement is relatively unexplored. This paper analyses the use of Classical and classicizing sculpture to illustrate the aims of the Race Betterment Foundation at the Panama-Paciic International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915. The fair itself utilized classicizing monuments to create a utopian vision of a modern Arcadia for the relatively young state of California, at a time when San Francisco was rebuilding from the devastating 1906 earthquake and ire. Within this context, the popular Race Betterment booth displayed casts of the Venus de Milo, Apollo Belvedere and the Farnese Atlas as models of racial perfection. In speeches at the Exposition, the founder of the Race Betterment Foundation, John H. Kellogg, proclaimed that the movement promised a new "golden age" in which an "aristocracy of Apollos and Venuses" would be achieved by means of science. Kellogg's ideas were further illustrated by a morality play in which two hundred students from the University of California at Berkeley dressed in ancient costumes. In stark contrast to the white ideal promoted by the fair, the accompanying Joy Zone featured various racist "entertainments" that served as examples of "race degeneracy." As scholars, we must be mindful of such modern abuses of the classical past, in order that they not be perpetuated.
Fashionable in Britain in the early nineteenth century, Neoclassical dress embodied the aesthetic... more Fashionable in Britain in the early nineteenth century, Neoclassical dress embodied the aesthetic ideals of the Enlightenment ; but it also reflected implicit cultural constructs of the body, gender, status, and race. Borrowings from ancient Greek styles differed for women and for men, and for elites versus the lower classes. The production of Neoclassical garments was dependent upon the economic exploitation of the Indian subcontinent. Neo-classical dress was not purely an aesthetic choice; it was essential for the individual negotiation of social and cultural differences in the British Empire.
... 63) or that of a "virtuous housewife, upholding the values of marriage" (de... more ... 63) or that of a "virtuous housewife, upholding the values of marriage" (de Jong, A Narratological Commentary on ... 4.115-120; Csapo and Slater, The Context of Ancient Drama, 395-396). ... an allusion to the fiery Tr TrXos sent by Deianeira to Heracles in Sophocles' Trachiniae.31 ...
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2019
Although the inluence of Classical sculpture on Nazi monuments is well established , the use of c... more Although the inluence of Classical sculpture on Nazi monuments is well established , the use of classicizing imagery to promote the American eugenics movement is relatively unexplored. This paper analyses the use of Classical and classicizing sculpture to illustrate the aims of the Race Betterment Foundation at the Panama-Paciic International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915. The fair itself utilized classicizing monuments to create a utopian vision of a modern Arcadia for the relatively young state of California, at a time when San Francisco was rebuilding from the devastating 1906 earthquake and ire. Within this context, the popular Race Betterment booth displayed casts of the Venus de Milo, Apollo Belvedere and the Farnese Atlas as models of racial perfection. In speeches at the Exposition, the founder of the Race Betterment Foundation, John H. Kellogg, proclaimed that the movement promised a new "golden age" in which an "aristocracy of Apollos and Venuses" would be achieved by means of science. Kellogg's ideas were further illustrated by a morality play in which two hundred students from the University of California at Berkeley dressed in ancient costumes. In stark contrast to the white ideal promoted by the fair, the accompanying Joy Zone featured various racist "entertainments" that served as examples of "race degeneracy." As scholars, we must be mindful of such modern abuses of the classical past, in order that they not be perpetuated.
Fashionable in Britain in the early nineteenth century, Neoclassical dress embodied the aesthetic... more Fashionable in Britain in the early nineteenth century, Neoclassical dress embodied the aesthetic ideals of the Enlightenment ; but it also reflected implicit cultural constructs of the body, gender, status, and race. Borrowings from ancient Greek styles differed for women and for men, and for elites versus the lower classes. The production of Neoclassical garments was dependent upon the economic exploitation of the Indian subcontinent. Neo-classical dress was not purely an aesthetic choice; it was essential for the individual negotiation of social and cultural differences in the British Empire.
... 63) or that of a "virtuous housewife, upholding the values of marriage" (de... more ... 63) or that of a "virtuous housewife, upholding the values of marriage" (de Jong, A Narratological Commentary on ... 4.115-120; Csapo and Slater, The Context of Ancient Drama, 395-396). ... an allusion to the fiery Tr TrXos sent by Deianeira to Heracles in Sophocles' Trachiniae.31 ...
The residues of practices relating to dress and adornment are present in many ways in the archaeo... more The residues of practices relating to dress and adornment are present in many ways in the archaeological and visual records of the ancient world, from the physical traces of dressed bodies, to images depicting them, to texts describing textile production and sumptuary customs. Previous scholarship has provided useful typological frameworks, but has often viewed these objects as static trappings of status and gender. The goal of this session is to illuminate the dynamic role of dress in the performance and construction of aspects of individual and social identity, and to encourage collaborative dialogue within the study of the archaeology of dress and the body in antiquity, from the Neolithic era through the Roman Empire.
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