Tut Tut
Saw King Tut exhibit at the de Young this weekend...
...that is, I saw "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs". Imagine the difference between "An Evening With King Tut" and "Ben Elton Presents Under The Egyptian Stars Featuring A Special Appearance By King Tut, via Satellite".
I really enjoyed the exhibit, but - where's Tut? Most of what I wanted/expected to see is apparently still in Egypt. The golden sarcophagus in the print ads is in the exhibit, but it ain't Tut's. The show reminded me of Ralph Bashki's Lord of The Rings movie, where he ran out of money early in the second book and the closing credits rolled just as things were getting started.
Video animations illustrated the many layers of gold enclosures created for Tut's casket, but they didn't stop there. To magnify the sense that the second half of the exhibit had been pilfered by ancient Egyptian museum robbers, a large platform represents the golden shells which housed the multiple sarcophagi of the boy king - and upon the horizontal platform is projected a life-size image of the final sarchopagus and the mummy, as if to say "IT WAS JUST HERE! MAYBE IF YOU RUN YOU CAN CATCH THEM!!"
But for the bait-and-switch, it's a fine show, with exquisite treasures from Tut's tomb and other discoveries of ancient Egypt. But it bugs me that I have to think of museum exhibitions like movies: is the stuff in the ads the only stuff worth seeing?
...that is, I saw "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs". Imagine the difference between "An Evening With King Tut" and "Ben Elton Presents Under The Egyptian Stars Featuring A Special Appearance By King Tut, via Satellite".
I really enjoyed the exhibit, but - where's Tut? Most of what I wanted/expected to see is apparently still in Egypt. The golden sarcophagus in the print ads is in the exhibit, but it ain't Tut's. The show reminded me of Ralph Bashki's Lord of The Rings movie, where he ran out of money early in the second book and the closing credits rolled just as things were getting started.
Video animations illustrated the many layers of gold enclosures created for Tut's casket, but they didn't stop there. To magnify the sense that the second half of the exhibit had been pilfered by ancient Egyptian museum robbers, a large platform represents the golden shells which housed the multiple sarcophagi of the boy king - and upon the horizontal platform is projected a life-size image of the final sarchopagus and the mummy, as if to say "IT WAS JUST HERE! MAYBE IF YOU RUN YOU CAN CATCH THEM!!"
But for the bait-and-switch, it's a fine show, with exquisite treasures from Tut's tomb and other discoveries of ancient Egypt. But it bugs me that I have to think of museum exhibitions like movies: is the stuff in the ads the only stuff worth seeing?