Awards
2005 Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award
Helen C. Evans, ed., Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557)
Helen C. Evans (photograph by Don Pollard)
Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557) (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, in association with Yale University Press, 2004) stands as a lasting record of an extraordinary exhibition held last year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This monumental work of collaborative scholarship is an inspiring springboard for further exploration of the ideas and objects there presented. The book’s focus, as explicated in the defining and unifying introductory essay by its editor, Helen C. Evans, is the period from the restoration of imperial rule in Constantinople through the fall of that city to the Ottoman Turks to the historiographic watershed when, in Western Europe, the designation “Byzantium” was introduced.
The catalogue comprises 17 essays by 18 scholars and 355 full catalogue entries compiled by 110 contributors. It is devoted to an opulent assembly of works of art that bespeak the practice, intent, and far-reaching influence of the Orthodox church. Included are frescos, manuscript and panel paintings, mosaics, sculpture, liturgical metalwork and textiles, coins, jewelry, ceramics, glass, and graphics—objects lent from thirty nations. Like the exhibition, the catalogue has outstanding visual and intellectual vitality and organizational lucidity. The admirably direct writing and superb illustrations make the works of art immediate and accessible. The integration of essays and catalogue entries is seamless, with little repetition among essays, a distinction that reflects thoughtful editing—especially given the number of contributors and original languages here translated—and a clear sense of purpose. From the introductory essay to the glossary and extensive bibliography, this book reshapes and makes available a critical period and force in the history of art.
Committee: Carolyn C. Wilson, independent scholar, chair; Elizabeth Childs, Washington University in St. Louis; Carol C. Ivory, Washington State University; Forrest McGill, Asian Art Museum; Alan Wallach, College of William and Mary.
