News in the VRC 2007

In late November 2007, two plaster casts of scenes from the Pan-Athenaic Procession frieze on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, were installed in the Visual Resources Collection.

These two casts are part of the series of plaster casts displayed in the “Frieze Room” in Architecture Hall.  During the renovation of Architecture Hall in 2006-2007, the series was re-located to a new space in the building; these two plaster casts did not fit in the new space, so they came to the VRC.

The casts were repaired and reinforced by UW facilities craftsmen.  Paula Patterson, a PhD. Candidate in the Built Environment Program at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and a lecturer in the Department of Architecture Wood and Metal Shop studio classes, designed and created metal frames for the plaster casts.

The casts rest in these frames, stabilized by metal clamps, and the frames are hung on the wall with “French cleats.”  The frames and the plasters can be removed from their “French cleats” by lifting the frames straight up.

Plaster casts of monuments from antiquity were often used in academic settings to teach history, design, and drawing in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This series was made from the Parthenon fragments in the British Museum (the “Elgin Marbles”). More about plaster casts as teaching material:

Cast Gallery at the University of Missouri, Columbia

Plaster Casts from the Vassar Encyclopedia

More information about the “Elgin Marbles” can be found on the British Museum website by searching for “elgin collection.”

Assistance for this project was provided by:

Doug Zuberbuhler                       Paula Patterson                                    Penny Maulden

Andy Vanags                               Peter Rackers                                      Rainer Metzger

and others….                            

Back

VRC home