Greece Goes West
A look at a new exhibition in Venice, which shows the flow of culture between East and West in early Greece.
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts? Considering that they virtually gave civilisation to the West this is a difficult warning to heed. But a new exhibition just opened in Venice aims to show that the flow of culture between East and West was not all one-way.
The Western Greeks, at Venice's Palazzo Grassi, tells how the Greeks came to the 'barbarian' west and how what they found there, particularly in Italy, influenced their own artistic traditions and fused into Classicism, that high point of ancient culture. Jointly sponsored by Fiat and the Italian Ministry of Culture, it brings together over 900 exhibits from twenty-four institutions and twelve countries – itself an exercise in ongoing cultural co- operation.