Continuing to Track the Distribution of Mosaics: ArcGIS and Updates on the Cuban Mosaic
My research has focused on the distribution of the Antioch mosaics in different museum collections and the politics governing such distribution. Fellow Student Investigator Maya Kahane and I are working on creating a map through ArcGIS Online with the current Antioch mosaics and the various museums in which they are located. With our second ArcGIS training under our belt, our map will tentatively include the museums the mosaics are housed (in the U.S., France, and Turkey), the estimated number of mosaics each collection has, and possibly the different houses and areas of Antioch from which they were excavated represented in the map.
Since there is a vast quantity of mosaics scattered throughout various collections, to approach the distribution, it was my intent throughout this project to use one set of mosaics as a case study to examine the potential elements involved in the broader distribution of the mosaics. I am continuing to research the politics of museums participating in excavations for part of my project, as well as looking into the early collection that comprised the BMA to see if interest in antiquities/building collections and the excavations in any way intersected. I have a call soon with a professor at JHU to discuss these matters, so my research, and consequently, my blog posts, are not necessarily done linearly.
However, I have been able to make good headway on my case study of the Cuban mosaic. The mosaic purportedly in Cuba that I came across a few months ago piqued my interest for several reasons, including the fact that it was from the House of the Buffet Supper, which also has mosaics housed in the Baltimore Museum of Art. Moreover, the initial map of distribution published in Fatih Cimok’s 2005 book, Antioch Mosaics: A Corpus, does not show any other country other than the United States, France, and Turkey as having any of the Antioch mosaics in their respective collections.
Distribution of extant Antioch Mosaics from Fatih Cimok’s Antioch Mosaics: A Corpus
In my previous blog post, I discussed the fact that the mosaics were located at Villanova University, Havana, Cuba. As previously mentioned, Villanova University was founded in Cuba in 1946 by American Augustinian friars with assistance from European Augustinians. However, in 1961, the Castro government expelled the Augustinians from Cuba. As a result, some of the American Augustinians came to Miami and founded Biscayne College, today known as St. Thomas University.
Excavation view of central mosaic panel in Room B5, sold in 1956 to Cuba
The Director of the Princeton VRC sent along scans of correspondences related to the transfer of the mosaic from Princeton to Cuba. The letters span from the summer of 1955 to January of 1956 when the mosaic was finally transferred to Cuba. The correspondences are mainly between two men: Richard Stillwell, an archaeologist and former professor at Princeton from 1925-1967 and former Director of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens, and Eugenio Batista, a Cuban architect, professor, and Dean of the School of Architecture at Villanova in the 1950s, and former Master’s student and architecture professor at Princeton.
The correspondences between the two reveal that interest in purchasing the five fragments from the House of the Buffet Supper was spurred when Eugenio Batista spotted the mosaics in the architecture laboratory at Princeton University in the summer of 1954. The five mosaic fragments sold to Princeton, which comprise one larger mosaic, are geometric in design and depict a central panel with vegetal and foliate motifs, including what looks to be grapes, radiating from a vessel. According to the correspondences, some mosaic pieces from the excavation were purportedly kept in storage at Princeton in the architectural shed because of the lack of space to show them properly.
Stillwell granted a request for Father Lorenzo M. Spiralli, the founder of Villanova University, Father John Kelly, formerly the Vice President and then the President of the University in 1951, and Father Charles Berry, the Director of the School of Architecture for the mosaics. The letters repeatedly mention that they wanted to make this sale highly public, even offering to send pictures of the mosaic and its installation to Princeton. Batista also indicates that he had plans to put the mosaic temporarily against a wall at the entrance to the Library and Museum Building at Villanova and that the mosaic would be set in the vestibule floor when the School of Architecture built its own house.
The letters detail a concern with the finances of the mosaics, namely, the funds involved in transporting the mosaic. According to a letter dated December 1, 1955, the mosaics were going to be transported via the SS Hadrian. A letter from Father Berry confirms the safe arrival of Antioch mosaics to Cuba on January 13, 1956. In this correspondence, Berry mentions that he “will strive to locate it [the mosaic] in a worthy and permanent setting.”
Yet what did become of the five fragments?
Digitally flipping through Villanova yearbooks and all online correspondences, what I can locate thus far has proved fruitless in terms of finding the mosaic’s current location. However, with the help of friends, especially a colleague in the History of Art Department and connections forged with various institutions, I have continued to contact individuals who might be able to help locate the mosaic. If my search is successful, I can add the location of the Cuban mosaic on the distribution map.
Ella Gonzalez