Subscribe: RSS
Hashiguchi Goyō, Woman Combing Her Hair, 1920, woodblock print. Promised gift of Judith and Joseph Barker, Dartmouth Class of 1966. Photograph by Bruce M. White, 2012.
Joel Sternfeld, McLean, Virginia (Pumpkins), December 1978, dye transfer print. Gift of Joel Sternfeld, Class of 1965, and Neil Grossman, Class of 1965, in memory of John Pickells, Class of 1965; PH.986.24.
Unknown artist, Kongo peoples, Nkisi nkondi, power figure (detail), late 19th century, wood and mixed media. Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund, the William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Fund, the William B. Jaffe Memorial Fund, the William S. Rubin Fund, the Julia L. Whittier Fund, and through gifts by exchange; 996.22.30233.
The exhibitions presented by the museum are intended to contribute to scholarship in art history and related disciplines and to offer insight into the artistic production of many different historical periods and cultures. In addition to ongoing displays from its permanent collection, the museum also presents a number of special exhibitions each year, covering a broad range of topics, as well as teaching exhibitions. Organized in conjunction with Dartmouth College courses, these exhibitions are intended to facilitate the curricular use of the museum's collections.
April 6 through July 28, 2013
In an attempt to revive traditional Japanese woodblock prints, artists of the shin hanga (new print) movement were forced to reconcile approaches to female subjects developed over the previous two centuries with the impact of modernity on both women and the arts in early-twentieth-century Japan. To ensure the contemporary relevancy of their work, the subjects they depicted ranged between deeply conservative and highly provocative conceptions of femininity, with demure, self-effacing geisha representing the former and so-called modern girls, known for their Westernized appearance and morally suspect lifestyles, representing the latter. By retaining production methods honed by their predecessors, they cultivated audiences in Japan and America who appreciated the unique legacies of the Japanese woodblock print tradition. These strategies successfully ensured a place for shin hanga depictions of women in an environment where new print media and styles imported from the West competed with Japan's most treasured visual traditions. The results of their efforts are amply apparent in this exhibition. With ninety woodblock prints from the Judith and Joseph Barker Collection, The Women of Shin Hanga showcases two and a half centuries of Japanese print designers' engagement with female subjects.
This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art and was generously supported by Yoko Otani Homma and Shunichi Homma M.D., Class of 1977, the William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Hall Fund, and the Eleanor Smith Fund.
March 26 through August 4, 2013
Organized in collaboration with twenty-four studio art majors from Dartmouth's Class of 2013, this exhibition examines the use and significance of words and language in contemporary art. Building on the success of last year's student-driven exhibition The Expanding Grid, this project offered seniors in Dartmouth's Studio Art Department a unique opportunity to learn more about museums and curatorial practice by participating in the planning and execution of a major exhibition at the Hood Museum of Art. The students studied original works of art in the museum's Bernstein Study-Storage Center, which honed their close observational skills and informed their selections for this exhibition, which includes paintings, sculpture, video, photography, and other works on paper by such noted contemporary artists as Christo, Lalla Essaydi, Robert Gober, the Guerrilla Girls, Daniel Heyman, Gary Hill, Roy Lichtenstein, Glenn Ligon, Faith Ringgold, Ed Ruscha, Masami Teraoka, and Fred Wilson. Once the exhibition checklist had been finalized, each student researched a word-imbued artwork and wrote an object label for it. In doing so, they learned more about the dynamic dialogue and complex interactions between word and image in contemporary art, while also writing from their own perspective as Dartmouth students and studio art majors. This unique vantage point allowed them to consider the manifold infiltrations of the written word into the visual arts in fresh and exciting ways. Thanks to the creative input of these students, visitors to the exhibition will be able to experience how words and images can merge in harmony, engage in protest or conflicts, or interact in an experimental way that self-consciously tests the boundaries and relationships between the verbal and visual arts.
This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art and made possible by the Cissy Patterson Fund and the Hansen Family Fund.
April 10 through August 25, 2013
The world today is an unequal place where individuals face stark differences in their access to resources, information, and power. The archaeological record suggests that such inequities have existed in various cultures throughout human history. This student-curated installation considers some of the challenges of interpreting and presenting material objects as they relate to inequality. Just as professional archaeologists have built their theories using both ancient artifacts and cultural materials from contemporary populations, the student curators have assembled a diverse collection to consider four domains in which archaeologists can see inequality created, reproduced, and challenged in ancient societies. The central themes—craft goods, daily life, public performance, and mortuary practice—offer interwoven views on the intersecting lives of people and the material objects that they use to communicate status among their families and to other members of society. The objects on display serve as metaphors for understanding the dynamics underlying how different cultures have invented and shaped inequality in its many forms.
The Harrington Gallery often holds exhibitions linked to courses in the Dartmouth curriculum. Students from Anthropology 57, Origins of Inequality, curated this exhibition with Professor Alan Covey. This exhibition has been made possible by the generous support of the Harrington Gallery Fund.
January 26 through December 20, 2013
This installation of African art from the Hood Museum of Art presents a selection of objects that marks the trajectory of the collection's development and pays tribute to some of the people who shaped it. From the son of an early Dartmouth president to a professor in Dartmouth's anthropology department; from donors whose love of African art is reflected in the quality of the works they gifted to three curators who acquired memorable and important works during their tenures—all have contributed the Hood's mission to teach Dartmouth undergraduates and visitors of all ages about the diverse and rich art of the many cultures of this continent.
This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art and was generously supported by the William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Hall Fund. We would like to thank former curator Barbara Thompson for her article "The African Collection at the Hood Museum of Art," published in 2004 in the journal African Arts, on which this exhibition is based.
Ongoing
At the entrance to the museum
A Space for Dialogue is a unique opportunity within Dartmouth's senior internship program, which includes museum positions in curatorial, public relations, and educational work. Interns choose objects from the Hood's permanent collection, write descriptions of the objects, design a space, create a brochure, and conduct a public gallery presentation. The program also allows students to develop art projects and displays within the Hood Museum of Art and on the Dartmouth College campus, creating "spaces for dialogue" between works of art and their viewers.
A Space for Dialogue, founded with support from the Class of 1948, is made possible with generous endowments from the Class of 1967, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Jr. '66, and Pamela J. Joyner '79.
Ongoing
Orozco Room, Baker Library, Dartmouth College
The Epic of American Civilization is an extensive mural cycle created by Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco between 1932 and 1934. The mural is composed of twenty-four distinct panels depicting the history of the Americas from the Aztec migration into Mexico to the industrialization of modern society. Located in the reserve corridor of Baker Library, now the Orozco Room, these scenes cover nearly 3,200 square feet of wall space. The Epic of American Civilization is not only one of Orozco's finest creations and one of Dartmouth's most treasured works of art but also rightfully placed among the most exemplary works of mural painting in the nation.
