Hedera mutante (Changing ivy) is about the shifting body of Hedera helix whose metamorphic form and changeable nature has generated curious representations and interpretations from Theophrastus’s 4th century B.C. account up to the present. The small book exhibition includes 16th century herbals including Leonard Fuchs’s New Herbal of… Continue reading »
Citlali Fabián, an Oaxacan photographer, will give an artist’s talk on her Mestiza Portrait Series displayed on the 1st and 2nd floor lobbies of Hollander Hall. The opening reception is on Monday, March 4 at 4pm and a second walk through with the artist is on Wednesday, March 6… Continue reading »
Raise a glass to our spring exhibitions: “possible selves: queer foto vernaculars,” “James Van Der Zee: Collecting History,” “Uncovering Williams,” “New Painting,” and “Object Lab.” Remarks 5:30 PM, followed by a series of student performances responding to exhibitions. Featuring dance group CoDA, students from the Advanced Poetry Workshop, musicians Lily… Continue reading »
Best known as a performance artist, Esparza began his career in visual arts as a painter, yet was unable to relate to the “old master” paintings and drawings that he studied as an undergraduate. He turned instead to performance, making art with his body among the landscapes of Los Angeles. Continue reading »
This week’s conversation around “Dance We Must,” which has been shaped jointly by WCMA staff and students, will explore the following: What do we make of the phrases cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation? How do we negotiate the categories of inspiration versus exploitation in the arts? How might/should cultural institutions… Continue reading »
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Paris attracted women artists from around the world, drawn to the city’s academies, museums, studios, and salons. Guest lecturer Nicole Myers, Curator of European Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, discusses the often-overlooked work of these artists, as well as… Continue reading »
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Paris attracted women artists from around the world, drawn to the city’s academies, museums, studios, and salons. Guest lecturer Jane R. Becker, collections management associate at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, discusses the often overlooked work of these artists, as well… Continue reading »
Join Senior Curator Esther Bell as she welcomes Jennifer Steinkamp for a one-on-one conversation in conjunction with the exhibition Jennifer Steinkamp: Blind Eye, the groundbreaking video installation on view in the Lunder Center at Stone Hill from June 30–October 8. Saturday, June 30, 2018 11:00-12:00 Manton Auditorium… Continue reading »
On Friday, May 11, the art department welcomes you to join the opening reception of It’s Not Nothing: The Senior Studio Art Exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). The exhibition features the work of nine Williams College studio art majors: Hudson Bohr, Julia Cancio,… Continue reading »
Explore the philosophical connections to Jean-Paul Sartre’s Situations in Sam Gilliam’s work with Assistant Curator Horace Ballard. Tuesday, April 10 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Close Look: Mapping Stories Professor of Geoscience José Constantine and Artist Lordy Rodriguez discuss Rodriguez’s conceptual maps that visualize global relationships, history, and culture. Tuesday, April 3 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art–Object Lab gallery… Continue reading »
The fifth screening in the Other Uses film series at EMPAC features the work of Ulysses Jenkins, whose videos examine television’s power to shape current events and historical episodes. Ulysses Jenkins is an artist who has given particular consideration to the portrayal of Black men in America. This installment… Continue reading »
Curated by Lucas Matheson, Williams Graduate Program MA ’18, the fifth screening in EMPAC’s Other Uses film series features the work of Ulysses Jenkins, whose videos examine television’s power to shape current events and historical episodes.Ulysses Jenkins is an artist who has given particular consideration to the portrayal of… Continue reading »
No Agenda is a misnomer, a swipe at embodying the improvisational nature of a rapidly assembled site-specific exhibition. There is a goal; it’s to show work by Williams College Visiting Studio Art Faculty in Town Hall along a six-week timeline, and encourage unplanned pairings of work and site. Previously… Continue reading »
Drawn to Greatness includes some of Eugene Thaw’s finest Romantic drawings, among them outstanding works of art by William Blake, Caspar David Friedrich, and J.M.W. Turner. This lecture by Matthew Hargraves, chief curator of art collections and head of college information and access at the Yale Center for British… Continue reading »
Focusing on the Renaissance and Baroque drawings in the Thaw Collection, including examples by Pisanello, Mantegna, Fra Bartolommeo, Altdorfer, Claude Lorrain, Rubens, and Rembrandt, this lecture given by John Marcieri, Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Head of the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library & Museum,… Continue reading »
In this talk in connection with Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection, Jennifer Tonkovich, Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator of Drawings at the Morgan Library & Museum, explores how French artists worked with models during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Where did they find their… Continue reading »
In the opening lecture for Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection, Jay A. Clarke, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, addresses the liberation of drawing between the 1880s to the 1950s as the medium’s function shifted from preparatory to independent. Saturday, February 3, 2018 3-4pm… Continue reading »
Art historian Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator, Emerita at the Williams College Museum of Art, explores how Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt worked with preliminary states (stages in the development of a print), which the esteemed print scholar William Ivins called “experiments in understanding.” Looking at similar prints… Continue reading »
In the opening lecture for the special exhibition The Impressionist Line: From Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Jay A. Clarke considers the hallmarks of “the impressionist line” by exploring works from the exhibition, including luminous color lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, aquatints by Mary… Continue reading »
Join Professor Nicolas Howe and students from his Environmental Humanities course as they discuss how culture shapes the representation and experience of landscape. Tuesday, November 28 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Celebrate our fall exhibitions: “Barbara Takenaga,” “Pink Art,” “The Presence of Absence,” and “Object Lab.” Hear from artist Barbara Takenaga and guest curator Debra Bricker Balken followed by mini tours in the galleries. Thursday October 5th 5pm Williams College Museum of Art … Continue reading »
What happens when you see the museum’s collection through the lens of one color? And what happens when that color is PINK, a hue rich in history, symbolism and cultural relevance? Utilizing a series of algorithms written by Williams students, Pink Art explores the overlaps and tensions between technology and human… Continue reading »
America has always been in search of a more perfect union. The sheer diversity and size of the country, while a great blessing, is also a constant source of strife: how can so many different people agree on the common good? Who is allowed to craft this myth? How do… Continue reading »
The human form becomes a center of inquiry into notions of the ideal in this exhibition. Though typically manifested as physical perfection, the ideal can be embodied by alternative expressive means. In Russell Lee’s photograph of a homesteader, blemishes are reimagined as assets, deep furrows and the rough skin… Continue reading »
This exhibition was curated by Margo Cohen Ristorucci MA ’17. Borrowing its title from the final lines of This Is How You Lose Her — Junot Díaz’s collection of short stories chronicling the fallout of infidelity — The Half-Life of Love explores the melancholic experience of romantic encounter: the heady… Continue reading »
Co-curated by Kerry Bickford MA ’17 and WCMA Director Tina Olsen. Between 1960 and 1962, WCMA acquired 396 works of art, including ancient Egyptian amulets, Chinese Qing dynasty vases, William Morris Hunt’s majestic painting of Niagara Falls, and much, much more. As with all objects that enter the collection, the… Continue reading »
Curated by Anna Kate Kelley, MA ’17, State of Disobedience is an exhibition that brings together works in a range of media by Matthew Ronay, Barkley Hendricks, Mary Ellen Mark, Patty Chang, Glenn Ligon, and others. These works speak to the power of art to provoke unexpected and contradictory… Continue reading »
As contemporary as it gets, senior studio art students design and produce an exhibition of their work in the final semester of their college careers. Friday, May 12 at 7:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Members of the Moroccan and Indonesian think tanks share their experiences with climate change and talk about the solutions they proposed to Ghana ThinkTank in response to our climate change problems. Reception to follow. B.Y.O.C (bring your own cup). March 13, 2017 6 pm WCMA L231 (Lawrence Hall Auditorium)… Continue reading »
Endgame Afghanistan In conjunction with the Theater of War, the Gaudino Fund presents a photography exhibit by soldier-turned-photographer Ben Brody. Working primarily for the nonprofit GroundTruth Project, Brody “spent several years embedded in Afghanistan, producing this complex, haunting series, which lays bare the existential folly of… Continue reading »
Season Celebration at WCMA of spring exhibitions: Lex and Love, Robert Rauschenberg: Autobiography, and Accession Number. March 16, 2017 5 PM … Continue reading »
Accession Number February 16, 2017 – August 20, 2017 Between 1960 and 1962, 396 works of art came into the museum. As with all objects that enter the collection, ancient Egyptian amulets, Chinese Qing dynasty vases, and William Morris Hunt’s majestic painting of Niagara Falls were catalogued with an… Continue reading »
The Space Between, curated by Nina Wexelblatt MA ’16, disperses installations by seven artists in interstitial spaces on the MASS MoCA campus to explore ways we can actively inhabit the state of “just passing through” the nooks and crannies that typically separate exhibitions. Continue reading »
African Art Against the State highlights the long and extraordinary history of activism, intervention, and resistance that has characterized a great deal of African art-making from prehistory to the present. WCMA January 29-August 28… Continue reading »
Object Lab makes visible how works of art are used in courses across the curriculum. Professors deeply embed art into their teaching, students get extended access to the art, and the public gets a glimpse into liberal arts learning. Williams College Museum of Art January 22, 2016 – August… Continue reading »
Sarah’s recent artist statement describes her current work as consisting of fabricated sculptures and structures that are in-between. Opening reception Monday evening, Oct. 19th, 7:30-9 pm Wilde Gallery, Spencer Art Building, Williams College 35 Driscoll Hall Dr … Continue reading »
Walk through the exhibition with Elizabeth Gallerani, Curator of Mellon Academic Programs. Tuesday, November 10th Noon WCMA… Continue reading »
Tuesday, Oct 13 Noon WCMA Walk through the exhibition with Lisa Dorin, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Contemporary Art Curator. Continue reading »
Tuesday, Sept 29 Noon WCMA Walk through the exhibition with Ben Rubin, Assistant Professor of Classics. Continue reading »
Collecting for the Clark: Twenty Years of Acquisitions tells the stories of collectors who have donated objects to the museum and how these new objects enhance the existing collection. Lecture: Sunday September 25th 11:00am Clark Center, West Pavilion In the lecture, Clark curators provide an overview of how these… Continue reading »
Mix eight works of art, add a group of Williams faculty and what you get is a brand new approach to the Labeltalk exhibition series. Faculty Off the Cuff, the tenth in the series, brings interdisciplinary and unexpected dialogues about art to light. Opening Celebration Thursday, Sept 10, 4… Continue reading »
Thursday, June 25 at 1:00pm to 3:00pm→ more dates through August 13, 2015 Williams College Museum of Art, Rose Gallery 15 Lawrence Hall Dr, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA Get a glimpse of what we’re up to in the Rose… Continue reading »
Warhol by the Book is organized by The Andy Warhol Museum, one of four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. The first US exhibition to focus on Warhol’s book work, it features more than 400 objects including unique and unpublished materials, and highlights WCMA’s important holdings given by Richard F. Holmes ’46. Continue reading »
