T he impulse to render human likenesses of one kind or another has been with us for 40,000 years, since Paleolithic people first scratched figures onto the walls of their caves. But the idea of portraying individuals was thought to be a relatively modern phenomenon until the beginning of the 20th century, when the mummy portraits of Roman Egypt were excavated in the Faiyum region just south of Cairo. “Paint the Eyes Softer,” on view at the Block Museum through April 22, attempts to examine a few of these revelatory paintings not only through art-historical means but also by employing the latest imaging technology with the aim of uncovering these portraitists’ working methods. Were the paintings of particular people? Were they done before or after their subjects passed? Were they meant to be seen only by close family or by a wider audience? These and other unanswerable questions are broached in this sparse yet diverting show.
Painted in careful layers on wood, these portraits lay the groundwork for
the Christian icon painting that would dominate Western art for centuries.
But their attention to individual physical specificity anticipates a kind
of portraiture that would not be allowed again until the prohibition on
nonreligious figures loosened its stranglehold on painting during the
Renaissance more than a millennium later.
Through 4/22, Tue and Sat-Sun 10 AM-5 PM, Wed-Fri 10 AM-8 PM, Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Dr., 847-491-4000, blockmuseum.northwestern. edu. F
