The Lure of the Nile Entices at Art Museum

>>> The Lure of the Nile exhibition features vintage photographs that show how different artists have viewed the famed antiquities along the river. This picture of the sphinx and pyramid of Chephren was taken in the 1870s by Turkish photographer J. Pascal Sébah.

If you're tired of cold weather and a trip to warmer climes isn't on your winter agenda, warm up by exploring the "burning sands" of Egypt at the art museum. The new exhibition, The Lure of the Nile: Images of Ancient Egypt, showcases the remarkable tombs and temples along the Nile as seen through the eyes of artists and travelers on visits as early as the 1600s. Included in the show are lithographs and engravings after drawings made on the spot, two oil paintings, and a group of newly acquired nineteenth-century photographs.

Guest curator Diana Wolfe Larkin, visiting assistant professor of art history, selected images highlighting artistic responses to two sites popular with Western travelers: Giza, with its fabled pyramids and sphinx; and Thebes, home to the temples of Karnak and Luxor and to funerary monuments on the river's west bank.

In connection with the exhibition, which continues through May 11, the museum will sponsor a lecture, three gallery talks, and a video during February and March. CSJ calendars will publish details of these events.