Sponsored  November 12, 2024  Colleen Smith

Stuart Handler's New Art History Book is a Cultural Treasure Trove

Created: Tue, 11/12/2024 - 09:00
Author: abby
Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing

Stuart Handler’s immense success in commercial real estate and his subsequent philanthropy made such a colossal impact that the University of Illinois-Chicago named its real estate department after him. 

Handler’s vocation is real estate, while his avocation is collecting pre-Columbian art. He originally envisioned a museum exhibition presenting motifs recurring across 30,000 years of art history. Despite his willingness to provide substantial funding for such a show, museums wrote off Handler’s vision as too difficult. 

Handler turned his attention, instead, to the creation of a book that benefits a much broader and less time-constrained audience. In the introduction to the newly released The Commonality of Humans Through Art, Handler writes, “A book is forever and a museum exhibit is not.” 

With 576 pages, Handler’s new title qualifies as a coffee table book or, perhaps more accurately, a tome. As if Handler’s pedigree as a highly respected collector and a widely recognized art aficionado weren’t enough, he enlisted 10 scholars to write various chapters. Handler organized chapters not chronologically, but instead by subject matter pertinent to humanity— from creation myths to death, and significant matters in between. 

Only a book could corral this global collection. The book’s front endpaper depicts a handsome map from 1570, an appropriate visual introduction to artworks from around the world: China and Nepal; Japan and Jordan; Mesopotamia and Mexico; Nigeria and Colombia; Europe; Hawaii; and other sites hither and yon. Handler and his project’s dream team reviewed thousands of artworks to winnow the compelling pieces presented by 400 color photographs included in the handsome book. 

Given that works were drawn largely from ancient cultures without a written language, the book is something of an irony. The photos demonstrate that, though ancient, the artworks evidence sophisticated designs, impressive detail, and moreover, recurring subject matter. 

Homo sapiens the world round executed imaginative works in media including fresco, marble, terracotta, gilded bronze, limestone, copper alloy, coins, crystals and beads, woodblock prints, tanned animal skins, tapestry, wood with gilt, and even mammoth ivory.

Handler’s bookish endeavor lands not only as highbrow, but also high-minded with scholarship and a stripe of spirituality. The book opens with a quote by Theodore Dreiser, “Art is the stored honey of the human soul.” Handler concludes that as readers more readily recognize the common human threads in artworks across time and space, we might arrive at more compassion and, in turn, as Handler puts it, “a more peaceful world.” 

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Laocoön and His Sons, Copy after a Hellenistic original found in the baths of Trajan, Rome, Italy, in 1506, 40 – 30 BCE, Marble, 8 feet, 2.4 meters, Museo Pio-Clementino, Octagon, Laocoön Hall, Vatican Museums, Vatican City
Laocoön and His Sons

A copy of the marble original found in Rome, Italy, in 1506 in the Trajan baths, Laocoon and His Sons was carved 40-30 BCE. It displays exquisite detail of the human figure— a recurring subject matter in the book.

Image: Laocoön and His Sons, Copy after a Hellenistic original found in the baths of Trajan, Rome, Italy, in 1506, 40 – 30 BCE, Marble, 8 feet, 2.4 meters, Museo Pio-Clementino, Octagon, Laocoön Hall, Vatican Museums, Vatican City

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Kroisos Kouros, Funerary statue found on the grave of Kroisos Attic culture, Greece, 530 BCE, Marble, National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece
Kroisos Kouros

This marble funerary statue of Kronos found on a grave in Greece dates to 530 BCE. Death is one of the chapters providing structure in the book organized around themes, rather than on a chronological timeline.

Image: Kroisos Kouros, Funerary statue found on the grave of Kroisos Attic culture, Greece, 530 BCE, Marble, National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Image: Fertility Figure, Halaf culture, Mesopotamia, 6000 – 5100 BCE, Terracotta, Louvre Museum, Paris
Fertility Figure

From Mesopotamia, a Halaf culture fertility figure sculpted from terracotta dates to 6000 – 5100 BCE. From the collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the headless torso includes arms, yet no legs.

Image: Fertility Figure, Halaf culture, Mesopotamia, 6000 – 5100 BCE, Terracotta, Louvre Museum, Paris

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Image: Dakini Dancing, Nepal, 1600 – 1800, Gilded bronze, 7 1/4 × 5 in., 18.42 × 12.7 cm, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection
Dakini Dancing

Dakini Dancing, a gilded bronze sculpture from 1600-1800 BCE, presents a figure captured in celebratory motion. The exquisite small piece measures 7 ¼ x 5 inches and is part of the Avery Brundage Collection at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The book devotes a chapter to artworks depicting motherhood and the family.

Image: Dakini Dancing, Nepal, 1600 – 1800, Gilded bronze, 7 1/4 × 5 in., 18.42 × 12.7 cm, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Image: Female Figure Holding Infant, Cyprus, Late Cypriot II, 1450 – 1200 BCE, Terracotta, 7.6 × 1.7 × 2.4 in., 19.20 × 4.20 × 6.20 cm, British Museum, London, England
Female Figure Holding Infant

From Cyprus circa 1450-1200 BCE, a terracotta sculpture depicts a woman holding an infant. The sculpture is part of the collection of the British Museum in London, England. The Commonality of Humans Through Art was published by Paul Holberton Publishing in London.

Image: Female Figure Holding Infant, Cyprus, Late Cypriot II, 1450 – 1200 BCE, Terracotta, 7.6 × 1.7 × 2.4 in., 19.20 × 4.20 × 6.20 cm, British Museum, London, England

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Two-Figure Female, Cycladic culture, Cyclades, 3200 – 2200 BCE, Marble, 18.35 in., 46.6 cm, Private Collection
Two-Figure Female

Part of an unidentified private collection, the Two-Figure Female is a marble sculpture from Cyclades — Greek islands believed to be the birthplace of Apollo. The piece was created circa 3200 – 2200 BCE.

Image: Two-Figure Female, Cycladic culture, Cyclades, 3200 – 2200 BCE, Marble, 18.35 in., 46.6 cm, Private Collection

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Calima Childbirth Figure
Calima Childbirth Figure

From Colombia, this sculpture portrays the dramatic moment of childbirth as an infant enters the world from the woman’s womb. A theme celebrated the world round, birth represents new beginnings and the bond between mother and child.

Image: Calima Childbirth Figure, Colombia, 200 BCE – 600 CE, Terracotta, 9 1/2 in. high, 24.13 cm, The Stuart Handler Collection

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
Prancing Horse China 1 – 200 CE Earthenware with traces of pigment 42 × 36 1/2 × 11 1/2 in., 106.68 × 92.71 × 29.21 cm Minneapolis Museum of Art Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton
Prancing Horse

In addition to the human figure, Handler’s book includes a round-up of animals, in particular, horses common to the development of many cultures. This prancing horse from China, circa 1-2000 CE, depicts simultaneous strength and grace.

Image: Prancing Horse, China 1 – 200 CE, Earthenware with traces of pigment, 42 × 36 1/2 × 11 1/2 in., 106.68 × 92.71 × 29.21 cm, Minneapolis Museum of Art, Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
The Lion-Human of Holilenstein-Stadel
The Lion-Human of Hohlenstein-Stadel

One of the oldest works in the book, The Lion-Human of Holilenstein-Stadel dates to 40,000 – 35,000 BCE and was carved from the ivory of a mammoth tusk. This extraordinary sculpture is part of the collection of Museum Ulm in Germany.

Image: The Lion-Human of Hohlenstein-Stadel, 40,0000 – 35,000 BCE, Mammoth ivory, 11.06 in., 28.1 cm, Museum Ulm, Germany

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Courtesy Stuart Handler, Paul Holberton Publishing
The Commonality of Humans through Art: How Art Connects Mankind through the Ages
The Commonality of Humans through Art: How Art Connects Mankind through the Ages

Created and edited by Stuart Handler. Get your copy here!

About the Author

Colleen Smith

Colleen Smith is a longtime Denver arts writer and the curator of Art & Object’s Denver Art Showcase.

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