Exhibitions

“Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands think for one who can see.” —John RuskinIn 1874–75, the Harvard University course catalogue offered for the first time a series of electives in the history of art. These included two classes in the history of fine arts, taught by Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908), and a drawing class, taught by Charles Herbert Moore (1840–1930). It marked the birth of the first art history department in the United States, a milestone in the formation of the discipline in this country. Norton believed that the appreciation of the fine arts demanded first to be educated in the art of looking and that learning to see was best accomplished through the practice of drawing. He laid the groundwork for a drawing program and pedagogy that centered students’ training on personal, hands-on interaction with art objects. As Fogg Museum director Edward W. Forbes (1873–1969) put it in 1911, the goal was to bring the “critical” and the “creative” into dialogue. “Art is not dead,” wrote Forbes, “it is not a memory of the past, nor a butterfly preserved in a glass bottle. It is among us, and is part of our life.”In such a curriculum, the museum became a “laboratory” in which students were invited to encounter works of art as material artifacts, the result of human skill and technology—in other words, things and not only reproducible images or objects. The ideas laid out in these early years modeled the research and teaching of the Department of Fine Arts for more than half a century. Over time, these models would lead to an expanded curriculum that looked beyond the western canon as well as course subjects and museum collecting practices that would include contemporary art.This installation, organized by Felipe Pereda, the Fernando Zóbel de Ayala Professor of Spanish Art, and the graduate students of his Methods and Theory of Art History seminar in Spring 2024, highlights a number of significant moments and central figures in the story of art history at Harvard.The University Teaching Gallery serves faculty and students affiliated with Harvard’s Department of History of Art and Architecture. Small-scale, semester-long installations are mounted here in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate courses, supporting instruction in the critical analysis of art and making unique selections from the museums’ collections available to all visitors.This installation is made possible in part by funding from the Gurel Student Exhibition Fund. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.

*Explore the complex and multinational economy of secondhand T-shirts through the vibrant mixed-media photographs of award-winning Ivorian artist Joana Choumali.*_Joana Choumali: Languages of West African Marketplaces_ showcases 12 life-size hand-quilted and embroidered portraits created from combinations of photographs taken in the marketplaces of Côte d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) and Ghana, where secondhand clothing discarded by the United States and Europe plays a central role in the economy of goods. Choumali (b. 1974) has made her birthplace of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she continues to live and work, a central subject of her photographic practice. There she encountered the prevalence of bold English-language slogans on T-shirts worn by individuals who do not speak English in the markets; she became intrigued by the dissonance between these designs and the lives of the individuals wearing them.The series, called Yougou-Yougou (a Malinké phrase for secondhand clothing), reveals the diversity of languages, economies, and people found in regional marketplaces and underscores the impacts of the international circulation of excess consumer goods. Accompanied by Choumali’s notes from her conversations with her subjects, the works continue the artist’s commitment to deep engagement with and representation of her local community through her artwork.Curated by Ilisa Barbash, Curator of Visual Anthropology, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, and Mitra Abbaspour, Houghton Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums; with Bridget Hinz, Senior Curatorial Assistant for Special Exhibitions and Publications, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums.Co-organized by the Harvard Art Museums and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The creation of the works in this exhibition was funded by the Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography at the Peabody Museum. For more information, visit the Gardner Fellowship website programming is supported by the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund at the Harvard Art Museums. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.*Online Resource*Choumali shares her process of creating the Yougou-Yougou series in a video, subtitled in French, available to view on YouTube and Vimeo. *Plongez dans l’économie mondiale complexe des T-shirts de seconde main grâce aux photographies éclatantes et mêlant diverses techniques de l’artiste ivoirienne primée Joana Choumali.*_Joana Choumali: Les langues des marchés ouest-africains_ présente 12 portraits grandeur nature matelassés et brodés à la main, créés à partir de combinaisons de photographies prises sur les marchés de la Côte d’Ivoire et du Ghana, où les vêtements de seconde main rejetés par les États-Unis et l’Europe jouent un rôle central dans l’économie des biens. Choumali (née en 1974) a fait de sa ville natale, Abidjan, en Côte d’Ivoire, où elle vit et travaille toujours, un sujet central de sa pratique photographique. C’est là qu’elle a constaté la prédominance de slogans en anglais sur des T-shirts portés par des personnes non-anglophones sur les marchés; et qu’elle a été intriguée par la dissonance entre ces motifs et la vie de ceux et celles qui les portent.La série, intitulée Yougou-Yougou (expression malinké désignant les vêtements de seconde main), révèle la diversité des langues, des économies et des personnes présentes dans les marchés régionaux et souligne les conséquences de la circulation internationale bien de consommation en excès. Accompagnées des notes de Choumali sur les conversations qu’elle a eues avec ses sujets, les œuvres poursuivent l’engagement profond de l’artiste à représenter et interagir avec sa communauté locale.Les commissaires de l’exposition sont Ilisa Barbash, conservatrice d’Anthropologie Visuelle au Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, et Mitra Abbaspour, conservatrice Houghton d’art moderne et contemporain aux Harvard Art Museums; avec Bridget Hinz, Assistante Principale de Conservation pour les Expositions Spéciales et les Publications de la Division d’Art Moderne et Contemporain des Harvard Art Museums.Exposition co-organisée par les Harvard Art Museums et le Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology. La création des œuvres de cette exposition a été financée par la bourse Robert Gardner en Photographie au Peabody Museum. Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site internet de la bourse Gardner programmes associés sont soutenus par le Fonds de Dotation de Cycle de Conférences M. Victor Leventritt aux Harvard Art Museums. Les programmes d’art moderne et contemporain aux Harvard Art Museums sont rendus possible en partie grâce au généreux soutien du Fonds Emily Rauh Pulitzer et Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., pour l’Art Moderne et Contemporain.*Ressource en ligne*Choumali partage son processus de création de la série Yougou-Yougou, dans une vidéo sous-titrée en français, disponible sur YouTube et Vimeo.

Experience the Harvard Art Museums’ historical collections through fresh eyes in a one-of-a kind installation by contemporary American sculptor Arlene Shechet. By presenting her recent work alongside historical German, Japanese, and Chinese examples, sculptor Arlene Shechet encourages us to look anew at works of porcelain and other objects from the Harvard Art Museums. Decorative arts are typically displayed in museum galleries dedicated to the same culture and period, often in isolation from other media. In Disrupt the View, however, Shechet draws on her past collaborations with porcelain manufactory workers to speak to a larger history, recontextualizing these remarkable objects as both handmade and industrially manufactured, painterly and sculptural. Invented by Chinese potters in the Tang Dynasty (618–903 CE), porcelain later became one of the first global luxury products. It was at first available in Europe only to the wealthiest patrons, but by the late 17th century, millions of porcelain objects were being imported each year by the Dutch East India Company. European porcelain production was driven by courtly ambition in competition with Asian markets, and its artisans, who created these objects for lavish celebrations, were largely unknown. The story of porcelain, then, is one of labor, class, and global trade. In 1710, the German porcelain manufactory Meissen was founded, and significant examples of its 18th-century tableware and figurines are now in the Busch-Reisinger Museum collection. Many of these objects have rarely, if ever, been shown. Among other objects, Shechet has created an unparalleled installation that includes two constellations of tableware that emphasize the unique material qualities of plates as sculptural design. Visible from the exterior of the museums, these arrangements, like the painted decoration on the individual plates, invite the outside in and—literally and metaphorically—disrupt the view. Organized by Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum; Jessica Ficken, Assistant Curator of the Collection in the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art; and Gabriella Szalay, former Renke B. and Pamela M. Thye Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum (2018–20). Special thanks to colleagues in the following departments: Collections Management, especially Jill Comer, Steve Deane, Francine Flynn, and Elie Glyn; Communications; Design; Editorial; Facilities; Security, especially Nilton Barbosa; Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, especially Cassia Balogh, Angela Chang, Susan Costello, Haddon Dine, Cindy Moreno, and Tony Sigel; and Visitor Services. This installation is supported by the Charles Kuhn Endowment Fund in the Busch-Reisinger Museum. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art. Online Resource A recording of the lecture Disrupt the View: A Conversation with Arlene Shechet, held at the Harvard Art Museums on October 7, 2022, is available to watch on YouTube and on Vimeo.