The Spanish art historian Paco Cao is making waves with his latest initiative, which involves asking the public to vote in a “beauty contest” at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. The contestants are 70 men and women depicted in works dating from antiquity to the 20th century, including Hanka Zborowska, painted by Modigliani in 1917, and the god Apollo (represented by a sculpture from the eighth century BC). You can vote online before the titles of Miss and Mr National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art are awarded on 27 March.
“The objective is to select the most beautiful person based on physical appearance, demeanour and attitude,” the museum’s website says. Cao’s contest has drawn criticism from Italian scholars, but he is pulling no punches. “Art-making is a fluid discipline that goes beyond art history. It seems that this group of scholars approach works as sacred objects,” he says.
