Dimensions: object: 825 x 318 x 381 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Here we have Frederick William Pomeroy's bronze sculpture, Dionysus, currently residing at the Tate. I find it rather charming, even playful. What strikes you about it? Curator: It's fascinating how Pomeroy renders Dionysus, the god of revelry, as a public figure. The statue’s placement within the Tate elevates the once-private, bacchanalian experience to a celebrated cultural artifact. What does that say about Victorian society’s embrace, or perhaps appropriation, of classical themes? Editor: So, it’s less about the god himself and more about how we choose to display him? Curator: Precisely! The institutional context profoundly shapes our understanding and acceptance of the art. Food for thought, indeed!
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F.W.Pomeroy RA was a prominent figure in the major revival of sculpture that took place in England from the 1870s onwards. The New Sculpture, as it was called, was particularly notable for a renewed interest in the techniques of bronze casting, coinciding with a rise in popular taste for Italian Renaissance bronzes. Pomeroy is reported to have 'made his mark' with this sculpture when he showed it as a plaster cast at the Royal Academy in 1890. Dionysus was the ancient Greek god of wine, and Pomeroy shows him as a vibrant youth, toasting us with his upheld rhyton, or drinking horn. Dionysus was associated with nature and the animals, and here he stands on a Renaissance style base with animal feet. Gallery label, August 2004
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