Visit Now
The museum is presently closed for expansion and renovation. It will reopen on January 26, 2019. Enjoy the museum's collection of public art on view throughout Dartmouth's campus.
Upcoming Events
The Manton Foundation Annual Orozco Lecture
11 October, Thursday, 5:00-6:00 pm
Carpenter Hall 013
“White Zombies and Black Labor: Specters of Slavery and Rebellion in José Clemente Orozco’s Epic of American Civilization”
Mary Coffey, Associate Professor of Art History, Dartmouth
Orozco’s Epic of American Civilization provides a powerful critique of the conquest and colonization of the Americas. And yet it makes no mention of the institution of slavery in the formation of its modern nation-states. In this talk, Mary Coffey will address this silence and offer speculative readings of the Epic that speak to the specters of slavery and rebellion that haunt the mural. She will pay particular attention to Orozco’s vision of the “Two Americas,” as well as to the “Modern Industrial Man,” asking what possibilities are opened up by reading him as a person of African descent. We will walk over to the mural cycle for a Q&A at the end of the lecture.
Public Art
Our National Historic Landmark
Orozco’s American Epic: Myth, History, and Racial Melancholy will soon be published as the first monograph devoted exclusively to José Clemente Orozco’s mural cycle The Epic of American Civilization. The book is penned by Dartmouth’s Mary Coffey, professor of art history, who is also this year’s speaker for the Manton Foundation Annual Orozco Lecture. Through her publication, Coffey explores the history of violence that founds the modern nationstate in the Americas. She argues that Orozco’s mural is an artifact of the artist’s border-crossing, which shifted his understanding of race and national identity in both Mexico and the United States. Watch for the forthcoming book through Duke University Press and learn more about these issues at Professor Coffey’s lecture on October 11.
Download a PDF of the Orozco mural brochure.
Download a PDF of the museum's redesigned public art walking guide.
Expansion Updates
Learn more about the expansion project.
Recent Press Coverage:
- “The Hood Museum of Art gears up to reopen following renovation,” Wallpaper
- “Tod Williams Billie Tsien's Hood Museum Overhaul Will 'Knit Together' Its Postmodern Predecessor,” Dezeen
- “Back to bigger better art school: Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art to reopen in January,” Art Newspaper
- “TWBTA's Hood Museum of Art makeover scheduled to open in January 2019,” Archinect
- “Following Expansion Project, Hood Museum of Art to Open in January 2019,” Artforum
- “A NH Art Museum Faces the Future,” The Boston Globe
Campus, School, and Public Programs
We continue to offer programs and events for college students, regional schoolchildren, and adults and families.
