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December

In a gallery, two sculpted heads of bearded men sit on pedestals, each covered in a glass encasement. The head on the right is facing forward and the head on the left is facing left. Behind the sculptures is a group of people.

Don’t forget to plan your visit to experience Funerary Portraits from Roman Egypt: Facing Forward before it closes on December 30. While you’re here, take a tour of the Dare to Know: Prints and Drawings in the Age of Enlightenment exhibition with curator Elizabeth Rudy, or perhaps drop in on a gallery talk to gain a fresh perspective on objects in our collections. The works on view are always changing! In our latest Index article, you can read about a new installation of recently acquired photographs and their insights into Black history.

With the holidays in mind, stop by the museum shop and find the perfect gift for your friends and family!

A graphic with white text against a purple and blue background includes an image of a student playing the piano in front of a seated crowd in a courtyard.

PERFORMANCE

Courtyard Melodies

On Saturday, December 3, come grab a hot drink from Jenny’s Cafe and relax in the Calderwood Courtyard while the Harvard College Piano Society performs their annual winter recital!

Three puppets resembling animals stand together in front of snowy buildings.

FILM

Merry Muppets

Kick off the holiday season by taking the family to see this puppet extravaganza based on Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol, on Sunday, December 4. This is the last film in our Screens for Teens series.

A bound book cover made of red leather with marbled decoration.

GALLERY TALK

Books Unbound

Attention, book lovers! Join us on Tuesday, December 6 for a focused talk on 18th-century book binding. Conservation technician Yi Bin Liang will examine books on view in the special exhibition Dare to Know: Prints and Drawings in the Age of Enlightenment. This video also takes a closer look at a collection of leather-bound books and the fascinating discoveries conservators made as they prepared the works for display.

Portrait of a woman with brown eyes, black hair, and a white garment on a rectangular wooden panel.

GALLERY TALK

Behind the Portraits

On Sunday, December 11, attend a gallery talk with curator Susanne Ebbinghaus and conservation scientist Georgina Rayner to explore the original context, materials, and making of funerary portraits from Egypt. Don’t forget that Sundays are free to visit all day!

This gold-framed painting depicts the Virgin Mary in the center wearing an intricate robe with baby Jesus at her chest. They are surrounded by angels against a gold-colored background.

EXHiBITION

Coming Soon

Get a sneak peek into our spring exhibition From the Andes to the Caribbean: American Art from the Spanish Empire, opening on March 3, 2023. The exhibition will present 26 paintings from the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation. Be prepared to discover a more complete story of art from the Spanish Empire—and a broader definition of American art.

This painting, mostly in olive hues, depicts an African American soldier in uniform, with a window behind him.

INDEX

Seeing and Being Seen

Read our latest Index article that captures a conversation between curator Makeda Best and individuals associated with the Boston-based grassroots arts initiative WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE AT. The group discusses a painting of an unidentified Black soldier, visibility in the museums, and the impact of an installation of photographs depicting everyday life.

Index

Events

Images: (Header) © Caitlin Cunningham Photography. Courtyard Melodies: Photo: Caitlin Murphy. Merry Muppets: © Buena Vista Pictures. Photo: Photofest. Coming Soon: Artist active in the Viceroyalty of Peru, after Diego de Ocaña, Spanish, Our Lady of Guadalupe at Extremadura, 1730–80. Oil on canvas. Carl & Marilynn Thoma Collection, TL42430.6. Image: Courtesy of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg. Seeing and Being Seen: Robert Smullyan Sloan, American, Negro Soldier, 1945. Egg tempera and oil on board. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Michael Kempner, Michael Maher, and Ann Schwarz, 2004.194. © Robert Smullyan Sloan.

The Dare to Know: Prints and Drawings in the Age of Enlightenment exhibition is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Support for the exhibition is provided by the Melvin R. Seiden and Janine Luke Fund for Publications and Exhibitions, the Robert M. Light Print Department Fund, the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Support Fund, the Catalogues and Exhibitions Fund for Pre-Twentieth-Century Art of the Fogg Museum, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. The accompanying catalogue was made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Publication Funds, including the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund. Related programming is supported by the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund.

Support for the Funerary Portraits from Roman Egypt: Facing Forward exhibition is provided by the Kelekian Fund, the Christopher and Jean Angell Charitable Fund, and the Kornfeld Foundation (through Christopher Angell). Related programming is supported by the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund.