Grecian Face-Lifting

Manhattan's huge Metropolitan Museum, determined not to look like an arsenal of antiquities, last week went way back to ancient Greece for a sprucing-up act. Visitors who associate Greek art with dusty plaster and dreary drapes of frozen chitons will have their eyes opened: the Met's dolled-up Greek Art collection has a fresh-as-a-daisy look.

In its latest burst of showmanship, the Met has exhibited its Greek treasures in rooms newly decorated in pleasingly subtle colors. On the prize exhibit--a magnificent 600 B.C. Kouros (Youth)--six concealed spotlights play. This accent on youth underlines a thesis: the vigorous, thunderous centuries before the golden age of Pericles are Greece's glory quite as much as the familiar classical period of the 5th Century B.C.

Some gallerygoers may be surprised to find that, on a lot of things, the Greeks were at least 25 centuries ahead of time. The Met's sparkling show is full of ancient Greek ideas that are glibly called "advanced" when present day artists expound them. Samples:

P: The very image of a Picasso is to be found in the sharp profile and facial forms on a Minoan statuette (see cut).

P: The verve of a first-class Matisse is recognizable in the dashing design on an 8th-Century B.C. funeral vase (see cut).

P: Looking quite like a fashion model dressed for the present-day street is a terracotta figurine of the 4th or 3rd Century B.C., A Lady Dressed for the Street (see cut).

And for good measure there is a featured 6th-Century B.C. krater (wine bowl), decorated with alcoholic, carnal highjinks that are unmistakably Freudian.

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