FREE PROGRAMS AT THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUMS SUMMER 2000

The programs listed below are free and open to the public. For more information on these and other programs, please call (617) 495-4544.

SEMINARS

Light Conversation: Seminars with Contemporary Photographers
Monday, May 8
Mongan Center; 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Free admission

This series of seminars offers the opportunity for contemporary artists to discuss their work and show original objects to a limited audience. Our final session in this series features Jessica Ferguson. Inspired by Joseph Cornell, Ms. Ferguson photographs the fantastic tableaux she assembles in her studio using pin-hole cameras and using alternative processes to print her negatives.

Close-Up: Study Room Collections in the Busch-Reisinger Museum
Saturdays, May 20 and June 10
Busch-Reisinger Museum Study Room; 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Free admission; advance registration is not required, but space is limited.

In the context of the exhibition A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Busch-Reisinger Museum, the Close-Up series of Study Room seminars continues in two parts with an investigation into the Museum’s most recently acquired holdings of multiples, works of art published in editions. The multiple can be a print, a photograph, a book, an object, or a combination, as determined by the artist.

Close-Up is a series of free, informal talks intended to provide weekend opportunities for viewing the Study Room collections in the Busch-Reisinger Museum. These discussions will begin in the Busch-Reisinger Museum galleries and then move to the Study Room to view works on paper, textiles, and archival materials. The Study Room is also open to the public every Tuesday–Friday, 2–4:45 p.m. when no appointment is necessary.

Fishbones, Fat, and Felt: The Multiples of Joseph Beuys
Saturday, May 20
Tanja Maka, 1999–2001 Michalke Curatorial Intern, Busch-Reisinger Museum

This session will focus on a selection of multiples by Joseph Beuys (1921–1986), the most influential artist of postwar Europe, who created an enormous diversity of multiples. Beuys viewed these works as physical vehicles for the dissemination of his ideas. Seeing art as a social curative, he often employed nature’s organic and inorganic materials—including honey, fat, wax, copper, iron—in an effort to reconnect human beings to the natural world and to their own creative and intuitive powers.

Opening and Unfolding: The Artist Book and the Portfolio
Saturday, June 10
Tawney Becker, curatorial assistant, Busch-Reisinger Museum

Through a selection of artist books and portfolios, this seminar will explore the intent and extent of this choice of format by modern and contemporary artists such as Gerhard Richter, Rosemarie Trockel, Joseph Beuys, Bernhard Blume, Hanne Darboven, and others.

CONCERT

Midday Organ Recital
Thursday, May 4
12:15–12:45 p.m.; Adolphus Busch Hall
Free admission

Our final concert in this spring’s series of midday organ recitals at Adolphus Busch Hall will feature Ed Jones, organist at the Memorial Church, Harvard University. Enjoy a break in your Thursday routine and join us! This concert is cosponsored by the Harvard Organ Society.

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS

Family Night
Tuesday, May 9
6–8pm; Fogg Art Museum
Free admission

Family Night, cosponsored by the Art Museums, Department of Public Education, Office for Work and Family at Harvard, and the Cambridge Public Libraries, offers families a chance to explore the Art Museums and participate together in exciting activities. The evening includes docent tours of the Fogg and Busch-Reisinger Museums, storytelling in the galleries, art activities, refreshments, a sing-along, and a raffle. This event is open to the public and all age groups are encouraged to attend.

Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the leading arts institutions in the United States and the world. It is distinguished by the range and depth of its collections and its groundbreaking exhibitions and original research. For more than a century, it has been the nation’s premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and is renowned for its seminal and ongoing role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

The three Harvard University Art Museums—the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum—are all outstanding institutions in their respective fields. The Fogg also houses the Straus Center for Conservation, a leader in the research and development of scientific and technology-based analysis of art. The 150,000 objects in the Art Museums’ collections range in date from ancient times to the present and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each Museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its respective areas of focus.

As an integral component of the Harvard University community, the Art Museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension both to their specific areas of study and to their lives at and after Harvard. The Art Museums welcome members of the public to experience its collections and special exhibitions, as well as to enjoy its lectures, symposia, and other programs.

The collections are divided among ten curatorial areas (Ancient and Byzantine Art and Numismatics; Architecture and Design; Asian Art; Busch-Reisinger Museum; Drawings; Islamic and Later Indian Art; Modern and Contemporary Art; Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts; Prints; and Photographs) and are comprehensive and encyclopedic within their areas. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are unique in their breadth and quality and are enhanced continually through gifts and acquisitions. Together, they comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.

The Art Museums are open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed national holidays. Admission is $5.00; $4.00 for senior citizens; $3.00 for students; free under 18 and for individuals on Saturdays until noon and all day on Wednesdays.

For general information, please call (617) 495-9400. All groups of 7 or more must be scheduled in advance, please call (617) 496-8576. Web site: www.artmuseums.harvard.edu. The Harvard University Art Museums is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.