Art Museums Celebrate a Decade of Collecting

Beginning in March, the Harvard University Art Museums will present the first in a series of exhibitions showcasing a decade of additions to their collections. More than 475 works will be featured, including masterpieces of Asian and Islamic art, old master and contemporary prints and drawings, paintings, sculptures, calligraphy, and photographs. The series will cover every area of the institution’s collecting, from ancient to contemporary art.

“As a teaching institution, we continue to build our collections to provide enhanced instruction and foster research for students and scholars,” said James Cuno, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. “Our unparalleled collections are the foundation from which we build our numerous research, publication, exhibition, and education programs. They are also the legacy we leave to future generations of students and scholars, at Harvard and beyond.”

Cuno said the Art Museums have been “very fortunate” to receive a significant number of gifts, including over 100 old master drawings from the George and Maida Abrams Collection and more than 300 works from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection of Indian and Islamic Art. They have also had the opportunity to acquire important prints such as Rembrandt’s Hog and Rauschenberg’s Booster.

The exhibition schedule is as follows:

Asian Art

A Decade of Collecting: Asian Acquisitions, 1990-1999, will be on view March 11 — September 24, 2000, at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. This installation will showcase about one quarter of the 400-plus works acquired by the Department of Asian Art over the past 10 years. It will include examples of Korean Ceramics, Korean Paintings, and Japanese Lacquer Boxes.

Prints and Drawings

A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Prints and Drawings will be split into two shows. Works dating from 1480—1940 will be shown March 25 — June 18, 2000 in the Fogg Art Museum. Works dating from 1940—Present will be shown June 3—August 27, 2000 in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Drawings will include masterpieces by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Rembrandt, Goltzius, de Gheyn, Seurat, Picasso, Arshile Gorky, David Smith, Franz Kline, and de Kooning .

The Busch-Reisinger Museum

A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Busch-Reisinger Museum will be on view April 15 — July 9, 2000. Highlights include Composition with Blue, Black, Yellow and Red, by Mondrian.

Photography

A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Photography will run from April 29 — July 23, 2000 in the Fogg Art Museum and feature examples of photographs that date from the invention of the medium. These include Louis Armand Hippolyte Fizeau’s View of the Rooftops of Paris.

Islamic and Later Indian Art

A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Islamic and Later Indian Art is set for June 8 — September 3, 2000 at the Sackler Museum. It will showcase a number of important works of Indian and Islamic Art, considered one of the finest and most comprehensive private collections of this type.