In recognition of the first annual “Day in the District”, a celebration of the cultural and performing arts in Fort Worth that will be held throughout the Cultural District,
The Kimbell Art Museum will waive admission fees on Saturday, September 30. Visitors will be able to tour the current exhibit, Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh, free of charge from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Hatshepsut set her mind to being ‘king of Upper and Lower Egypt” long after the need to keep the throne warm for her male successor had passed. In the end, she ruled Egypt for some two decades, proving an able and effective pharaoh and overseeing a cultural renaissance that influenced the arts in Egypt for more than a millennium. Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh is the first major exhibition to trace the story of Hatshepsut’s rise and fall from power, bringing together the most important sculptures and other works of art that have survived from her reign (c. 1479-1458 b.c.).
The phenomenon of a woman ruling a fundamentally patriarchal society while surrounded by male courtiers and advisors, the eventual destruction of Hatshepsut’s monuments by her stepson/nephew Thutmose III, and the omission of her name from later king lists have fueled debate among Egyptologists for over a century. This exhibition presents the changing interpretations of the woman, who claimed the full powers of the throne and assumed the title of “King” and the trappings of kingship. Although her reign defied long-established convention, it was accepted by her people and Egypt flourished, as seen through the superb and innovative art and architecture of her prosperous and largely peaceful rule. But after Hatshepsut’s death her name and image were ruthlessly attacked, and she was forgotten.
Hatshepsut’s reign was a period of immense artistic creativity, and this unprecedented exhibition brings together a vast treasure trove of almost 300 objects that includes royal statuary and reliefs, monumental sculpture representing members of the royal court, a wide variety of ceremonial objects, finely crafted furniture, dazzling jewelry, and other exquisite personal items that tell both the compelling story of Hatshepsut’s reign and reveal the diverse and exquisite artistic production of her time.
