Harvard Art Museums

On our 10th episode of A Closer Look, we wrap up the season with a chat between hosts Tara and Michael about their jobs—Digital Content Manager and Administrative Coordinator for the Deputy Director's Office, respectively—and how they got them. On Season 1 of A Closer Look, we're exploring museum jobs: why we wanted them, how we got them, and what they're really like! Through a series of conversations with colleagues, hosts Tara Metal and Michael Ricca will seek to demystify the museum world, discuss some surprising career paths, and explore jobs you may never have considered. Music: "Baby Lemuel" © Blue Dot Sessions. Check out Harvard Art Museums from Home: https://harvardartmuseums.org/article/harvard-art-museums-from-home

On this episode of A Closer Look, we talk to the Harvard Art Museums' curator of modern and contemporary art, Mary Schneider Enriquez. Mary, whose exhibitions have included "Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals" and "Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning," discusses leaving grad school, living in Mexico, discovering a love of teaching, and the joys and challenges of curatorial work. On Season 1 of A Closer Look, we're exploring museum jobs: why we wanted them, how we got them, and what they're really like! Through a series of conversations with colleagues, hosts Tara Metal and Michael Ricca will seek to demystify the museum world, discuss some surprising career paths, and explore jobs you may never have considered. Music: "Baby Lemuel" © Blue Dot Sessions. Check out Harvard Art Museums from Home: https://harvardartmuseums.org/article/harvard-art-museums-from-home

On this episode of A Closer Look, we talk to the Harvard Art Museums' design manager, Zak Jensen. Zak talks about his background and early interest in design, what it means to create a visual identity for a museum, and recalls some favorite memories from his nine years at the museums, including a close encounter with architect Renzo Piano. On Season 1 of A Closer Look, we're exploring museum jobs: why we wanted them, how we got them, and what they're really like! Through a series of conversations with colleagues, hosts Tara Metal and Michael Ricca will seek to demystify the museum world, discuss some surprising career paths, and explore jobs you may never have considered. Music: "Baby Lemuel" © Blue Dot Sessions. Check out Harvard Art Museums from Home: https://harvardartmuseums.org/article/harvard-art-museums-from-home

Erik Lindahl's road to the exhibitions team at the Harvard Art Museum included work as an artist, a studio assistant, a scenic carpenter, and a lead preparator at the Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago. In this episode of A Closer Look, we talk to Erik about learning on the job, working in post-war Afghanistan, and why loving art is critical to succeeding in his field. On Season 1 of A Closer Look, we’re exploring museum jobs: why we wanted them, how we got them, and what they’re really like! Through a series of conversations with colleagues, hosts Tara Metal and Michael Ricca will seek to demystify the museum world, discuss some surprising career paths, and explore jobs you may never have considered. Music: "Baby Lemuel" © Blue Dot Sessions. Check out Harvard Art Museums from Home: https://harvardartmuseums.org/article/harvard-art-museums-from-home

In this episode of A Closer Look, we talk to Liz Sirrine, one of our collections assistants. A highly trained art handler, Liz helps make art accessible to everyone by facilitating visits to our unique Art Study Center. Listen to learn about Liz’s background, her dynamic job, and what advice she would give someone interested in pursuing a career like hers. Find A Closer Look on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast app!

In this episode of A Closer Look, we talk to Karen Gausch, who works in our department of Collections Management as the Manager of Exhibition Production and Collections Care. Karen charts her fascinating career from installing art around New York City, to mount-making at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to managing a massive building move and making exhibitions come to life at the Harvard Art Museums.

In this episode of A Closer Look, we talk to Angela Chang, who is the head of our object lab, an objects conservator, and the assistant director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. Angela, who has worked at the Harvard Art Museums for eighteen years, discusses her training and experience, including working on the team that conserved and restored the famed murals by John Singer Sargent at the Boston Public Library. Interested in becoming an art conservator? This episode is for you!

Nilton Barbosa shares his experiences on leading a security team at the Harvard Art Museums. On Season 1 of A Closer Look, we’re exploring museum jobs: why we wanted them, how we got them, and what they’re really like! Through a series of conversations with colleagues, hosts Tara Metal and Michael Ricca will seek to demystify the museum world, discuss some surprising career paths, and explore jobs you may never have considered. Music: "Baby Lemuel" © Blue Dot Sessions.

Host Michael Ricca talks to curatorial assistant Heather Linton, who gives insights into her job and how she came to pursue a career as a museum professional. On Season 1 of A Closer Look, we’re exploring museum jobs: why we wanted them, how we got them, and what they’re really like! Through a series of conversations with colleagues, hosts Tara Metal and Michael Ricca will seek to demystify the museum world, discuss some surprising career paths, and explore jobs you may never have considered. Music: "Baby Lemuel" © Blue Dot Sessions.

Meet archivist, Michelle Interrante, from the Harvard Art Museums as she shares insights on her role. On Season 1 of A Closer Look, we’re exploring museum jobs: why we wanted them, how we got them, and what they’re really like! Through a series of conversations with colleagues, hosts Tara Metal and Michael Ricca will seek to demystify the museum world, discuss some surprising career paths, and explore jobs you may never have considered. Music: "Baby Lemuel" © Blue Dot Sessions.

Artist Vernon Ah Kee recites the text to his work "many lies" (2004) at the opening of the exhibition "Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia," on display February 5 through September 18, 2016 at the Harvard Art Museums. Recorded February 4, 2016 by R. Leopoldina Torres with permission of the artist. Copyright President & Fellows of Harvard College.

In 2018, the Harvard Art Museums are celebrating the Calderwood Courtyard, to honor the 500th anniversary of the site that inspired its design. The two-story arcade is a replica of the facade of the canon’s house of San Biagio in Montepulciano, Italy, an ecclesiastical complex designed in the early to mid-16th century by Renaissance architect Antonio da Sangallo the Elder. Situated on a clearing overlooking the Val d’Orcia and Valdichiana Valleys, the San Biagio complex is a popular attraction for visitors. Experience it virtually from the Harvard Art Museums’ Calderwood Courtyard, a near exact replica of the canon’s house of San Biagio.

Amy Torbert, the Maher Curatorial Fellow in American Art, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-copley-and-trumbull-in-print

James Delbourgo, associate professor of the history of science and the Atlantic World at Rutgers University, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-electrical-machines-mechanical-orreries-and-the-atom-bomb

Oliver Wunsch, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-decay

Lola Sánchez-Jáuregui, from the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. Sánchez-Jáuregui is the former Maher Curatorial Fellow in American Art at the Harvard Art Museums. https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-a-repository-of-gifts

Anne Driesse, senior conservator of works of art on paper, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-drawing-the-rock

Conceptual artist Simon Starling talks with curator Ethan Lasser about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. Simon Starling was born in 1967 in Epsom, United Kingdom, and graduated from the Glasgow School of Art. He was professor of fine arts at the Städelschule in Frankfurt between 2003 and 2013. He won the Turner Prize in 2005 and was shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize in 2004. He represented Scotland at the Venice Biennial in 2003 and has exhibited widely with solo exhibitions at Mass MOCA, North Adams, Massachusetts; The Power Plant, Toronto; Musée d’art contemporain du Val de Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, France; Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima; Tate Britain, London; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; MUMA, Melbourne, Australia; Casa Luis Barragán and Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, among others. The artist currently lives in Copenhagen.

Aleksandr Bierig, a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-transposition

Whitney Barlow Robles, Ph.D. candidate in American Studies, Harvard University, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-flatness-1

Elizabeth Athens, assistant curator of American art at the Worcester Art Museum, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-virtual-realities

Laura Turner Igoe, the Maher Curatorial Fellow of American Art, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-color-and-line

Kate Smith, associate conservator of paintings in the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-copleys-art-of-revision

Tony Sigel, senior conservator of objects and sculpture in the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-sculpture

Jean-François Gauvin, director of administration at the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments and lecturer on the history of science, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-scientific-instruments-at-harvard

Lucie Steinberg, Ph.D. candidate in American Studies, Harvard University, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017.

Theodore E. Stebbins Jr., curator of American art, emeritus, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017 at the Harvard Art Museums. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-john-singleton-copley

Jennifer L. Roberts, the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University, gallery talk on Submergence. "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-submergence

Ethan Lasser, head of the Division of European and American Art and the Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. Curator of American Art, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view in the Harvard Art Museums from May 19 through December 31, 2017. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-1

Jane Kamensky, professor of history at Harvard University and the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, will give today’s gallery talk. "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations-2

Ethan Lasser, head of the Division of European and American Art and the Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. Curator of American Art at the Harvard Art Museums, talks about "The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820" on view from May 19 through December 31, 2017. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/gallery-talk-philosophy-chamber-conversations

Listen to excerpts from records on the restoration of Copley’s portrait of Governor Francis Bernard (1768) read by present-day Harvard students.

Listen to excerpts from the records of Francisco de Miranda (1783) read by present-day Harvard students. The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820 (May 19, 2017–December 31, 2017, Harvard Art Museums)

Listen to excerpts from the records of Maria Morris (1809) read by present day Harvard students. The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820 (May 19, 2017–December 31, 2017, Harvard Art Museums)

Listen to excerpts from the records of Samuel Williams, Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (1794) read by present-day Harvard students. The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820 (May 19, 2017–December 31, 2017, Harvard Art Museums)

Excerpts from records on the restoration of Copley’s portrait of Governor Francis Bernard (1768) read by present-day Harvard students. The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820 (May 19, 2017–December 31, 2017, Harvard Art Museums)

Christopher Wilmarth - What Kind of Day is Today by Harvard Art Museums

Christopher Wilmarth - Talking to the Trees by Harvard Art Museums

Christopher Wilmarth - Three Times by Harvard Art Museums

Christopher Wilmarth - 1957 by Harvard Art Museums

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.

This exhibition traces the emergence of the modern understanding of drawing in multiple senses: as an autonomous form of expression; an index of the artist’s personal style; an object of aesthetic contemplation; an epistemological tool; and a commodity. While historically grounded in the French tradition of drawing in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition is neither chronological nor linear, but instead arranged around a constellation of categories that speaks to the key aspects of drawing understood as a medium, an object, and a discourse. The variety of techniques, materials, and approaches developed by the major artists of this period offers a historically complex answer to the basic question: what is it to draw? The 60 drawings on view include important works in the Harvard Art Museums’ preeminent drawings collections and two loans from Harvard’s Houghton Library. The exhibition is the result of close collaboration between Harvard professor Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Harvard Art Museums curator Elizabeth Rudy, who co-taught seminars on the history of drawing in the museums’ Art Study Center in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and worked closely with their students to develop the show and its related materials. Students in the first seminar began the preliminary planning for the exhibition and wrote essays that will be published by the museums in an accompanying catalogue. These students studied and researched the drawings chosen for the exhibition, yielding new information about the works’ creation and even a new attribution—scholarship published for the first time in the catalogue. The students in the second seminar helped conceptualize the installation in the galleries and wrote labels for each drawing featured in the show. These labels will be compiled in a digital tool, which will also present audio clips of interviews with students about their research as well as additional resources. Co-curated by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University, and Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.