About
Welome to the George Mason Plaster Cast Collection website. Acquiring and researching plaster casts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been a ten-year project led by Dr. Carol Mattusch, Mathy Professor of Art History. This interdisciplinary project has brought students, scholars, artists, and others from various backgrounds together to research, conserve, handle, and catalogue approximately 70 plaster casts located at George Mason.The purpose of this site is to showcase this collection, educate the public about the history of plaster casts, and promote future scholarship on the subject.
As a digital catalogue:
There are 64 entries that feature each identified cast. The casts have been grouped into six different collections depending on the time period in which they represent. Each entry includes a description, bibliography, location,photos highlighting characteristic attributes, and an image viewer that allows visitors to zoom in on the casts. Guidelines for reading the catalogue are also provided. Students and scholars are encouraged to use this information in future papers and can easily cite this catalogue.
As an educational resource:
A history of plaster cast collection and an in-depth look at how the casts came to George Mason have been provided under our history pages. In addition, our exhibits provide an interactive and thematic look at the George Mason casts.
As a showcase for your own work:
Create an exhibit, write a paper, identify or help restore a cast: your work will be published under our research page and featured for a given period. Please contact the Curator of Collections about your idea.