Awards
2012 Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize
Rebecca M. Molholt, “Roman Labyrinth Mosaics and the Experience of Motion,” (September 2011)
Rebecca M. Molholt’s article, “Roman Labyrinth Mosaics and the Experience of Motion,” published in the September 2011 issue of The Art Bulletin, furthers an understanding of Roman art and society through an imaginative study of Roman floor mosaics from North Africa. Molholt introduces a fresh methodology for their assessment, one that builds upon a distinction Walter Benjamin drew between “vertical and horizontal forms of viewing.” She argues that mosaics have long been read as if they were vertical easel paintings rather than understood as “materials underfoot” that are experienced while kinetically moving over their horizontal surfaces. Molholt constructs a metaphoric interpretation of the floor mosaics that relates their subject matter and architectural context to athleticism and heroism. Analyzing seven North African mosaics that were once floors in Roman bathhouses, Moholt reconstructs an imaginative journey of Theseus through the labyrinth to conquer the Minotaur. The author convincingly argues for the appropriateness of bathers being led through the labyrinth to the center mosaic depiction of Theseus and Minotaur, because Theseus was the founder of wrestling, the prime sport of baths.
The jury commends Molholt for the breadth of her considerations. The author’s clear, concise, and convincing argument will be an important contribution for the field, having implications for the study of future Roman works and also for objects in other geographical and chronological areas that may suffer from a “vertical bias,” that is, objects that were originally viewed horizontally but have traditionally been interpreted in vertical terms as though they were independent easel paintings.
Jury: Sarah Blake McHam, Rutgers University, chair; Wanda Corn, Stanford University; and Lori Diel, Texas Christian University.
