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‘Games for the Gods’ at the MFA; the ‘6th Annual Lantern Festival’ at Forest Hills Cemetery
BY RANDI HOPKINS
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The Olympics returns to its sunny ancient home this summer as standout athletes in sports from taekwondo to table tennis pack up for Athens, where male contestants from all corners of the Mediterranean world once gathered for rigorous, nude competition to honor the gods. Just after the flame reaches Athens to signal the beginning of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, on July 21, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts will unveil "Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit" in its Torf Gallery. "Games for the Gods" is the first major American exhibit dedicated to Greek athletics, and it will fill us in on the origins of the Olympics, give us a new perspective on contemporary events (such as track and field) that were taken from Greek antiquity, reveal how the ancient Adonises kept their sun-bronzed bodies in shape for competition, and provide examples of the wreaths and ribbons bestowed upon the earliest Olympic victors. A wealth of ancient vases, bronzes, marbles, and coins will be on view to illustrate the vigor and excitement of the original Olympic events, which included running, jumping, javelin and discus throwing, wrestling, boxing, and horse and chariot racing. To dramatize the physicality of the first Games, the exhibit combines historic images and artifacts with modern video and contemporary photography depicting champion athletes in action, so you can compare dynamic representations of, say, ripped pentathletes from 500 BC with such stirring specimens as Jackie Joyner-Kersee captured in luscious mid leap in a 1987 photograph taken by Herb Ritts. To me, a fascinating aspect of this show promises to be the section dedicated to examining ancient Greek training grounds. Apparently, the athletes rubbed their bodies with olive oil for sun and skin protection before working out, then used specially fashioned metal scrapers to remove the oil. The actual ointment jars and scrapers will be on display at the MFA, along with images of athletes applying and removing the oil. Maybe these will be paired with modern images from the Olympic showers and locker rooms? In any case, the ancient Greek obsession with the beauty of the male body has informed art ever since, and these well-preserved tributes to human sweat and effort remain relevant in our current enthusiasm for sport, the gym, and the pursuit of physical perfection. It’s our post-physical existence that inspires the magical annual "Lantern Festival" at Forest Hills Cemetery, which this year will take place next Thursday evening, July 15, from 6 to 9 p.m. Bring your flashlight and join the beautiful, affecting sunset ritual based on Buddhist tradition and the Japanese bon ceremony (honoring the ancestors) in which participants inscribe paper lanterns with their own personal messages to friends and family, here or departed, then light candles in the lanterns and send them floating off onto Forest Hills’ Lake Hibiscus to drift and flicker by moonlight. Tsuji Daiko drummers and the VariAsians will provide lively music, and students from Showa Institute and Chu Ling Dance Academy will perform traditional folk dances in the spirit of the event. "Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit" is at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue in Boston, July 21 through November 28; call (617) 267-9300, or visit www.mfa.org. "The 6th Annual Lantern Festival" is at Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Avenue in Jamaica Plain, next Thursday, July 15, from 6 to 9 p.m. (rain date: July 22). Admission is free; a $10 donation per lantern is requested. For more information, visit www.foresthillstrust.org
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