How is knowledge expressed? Portraits of Greeks tended to revolve around famous individuals from the areas of philosophy, literature, and leadership. The first portrait of Homer was created three centuries after he lived. How did the sculptor approach the challenges of this unknown subject? In general, creating an ideal image seemed to be the goal in the Greek world, but the shock of ugliness in portraits of Socrates introduced new options. The portrait could include a multisensory experience, including visually stimulating colors and olfactory scents, as recent research reveals. The Greek speaking world continued to expand, and portraits of the wider populations changed as well, from North Africa to the Greek East. A new emphasis is seen in individualized portraits of people we might expect to see in our own local communities.
About Dr. Katherine A. Schwab
Katherine Schwab received her BA from Scripps College, her MA from Southern Methodist University, and her PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She is Professor Emerita of Art History & Visual Culture at Fairfield University, former curator of the Plaster Cast Collection at the Fairfield University Art Museum (1991–2024) and was Founding Director of the Arts Institute established in 2023.
While specializing in ancient Greek art and archaeology, her research focuses on the Parthenon sculptural program. Scans of her metope drawings are permanently displayed in the Acropolis Museum. The original drawings formed a traveling exhibition in the United States from 2014 to 2018, including at the Timken Museum of Art. Her research extends to the Caryatid Hairstyling Project (film, 2009; exhibition Hairstyles of the Classical World, 2015) and historic plaster casts of ancient sculpture. Her drawings and photographs formed three separate exhibitions at the Greek Consulate General in New York City.
Schwab was a member of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and returns annually to Athens for her research. Recently retired, she resides in San Diego and continues to conduct research in her focus areas.