Arts & Culture

All Arts & Culture

  • An unanticipated juxtaposition

    A new pairing on a second-floor wall overlooking the Harvard Art Museums’ courtyard has placed self-portraits of contemporary artist Kerry James Marshall alongside that of 17th-century Dutch painter Nicolas Régnier.

    Works by Kerry James Marshall and Nicolas Régnier viewed through archways at Harvard Art Museums.
  • Uncovering an ancient world

    Radcliffe fellow Tuna Şare-Ağtürk’s current book project documents the treasures unearthed at Nicomedia, an ancient Roman city and seat of power for the Emperor Diocletian.

    woman holding artifacts
  • ‘A town hall for the 21st century’

    American Repertory Theater announced today it has selected internationally renowned architects Haworth Tompkins to design its future home on Harvard’s Allston campus.

    Steve Tompkins and Diane Paulus
  • Reunited with a ‘transcendent’ figure

    “I see him as an ambassador to the world,” Harvard alumnus Walter C. Sedgwick says about the “Prince Shōtoku” sculpture he donated to Harvard Art Museums. A recent visit to the museum stirred memories of visiting the sculpture every summer at his grandparents’ home.

    Walter Sedgwick stands next to Japanese statue
  • The ‘American Schindler’

    Author Julie Orringer’s latest novel, “The Flight Portfolio,” tells the story of Harvard graduate Varian Fry, a journalist and editor sometimes referred to as the “American Schindler,” who worked in France during World War II to help save Jewish members of Europe’s cultural elite from Nazi concentration camps. Orringer worked on the book during a Radcliffe fellowship.

    Julie Orringer.
  • A revolutionary musical

    Brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour’s musical, “We Live in Cairo,” brings the immediacy of Egypt’s January 25 Revolution to the American Repertory Theater on May 14.

    cast of We Live in Cairo
  • Armchair travels with a purpose

    Digital Giza Project lets scholars virtually visit sites in Egypt and beyond and, even print them in 3-D.

    Students wearing 3D glasses view a visualization of an Egyptian tomb.
  • ‘Pride and Prejudice’ coming to Arnold Arboretum

    In June, Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum will host an Actors’ Shakespeare Project production of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” adapted by Kate Hamill, in the Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden.

  • Bringing art to the people it depicts

    The rapper and record producer Kasseem Dean, also known as Swizz Beatz, and his wife, Alicia Keys, own the largest private collection of Gordon Parks’ photographs in the world. They’re sharing it at Harvard’s Ethelbert Cooper Gallery, and that’s just the beginning.

    Six people including singer Alicia Keys and her husband Kasseem Dean pose for a group photo
  • Tracy K. Smith ’94 accepts Harvard Arts Medal

    Poet laureate Tracy K. Smith wins the 2019 Harvard Arts Medal at a ceremony Thursday in Agassiz Theater, kicking off Arts First weekend.

    Tracy K. Smith smiles at the podium
  • Doctoral work embraces new media

    The new exhibit “Into Place,” represents many of the capstone projects of recent graduates or current Harvard Ph.D. students pursuing a secondary field in Critical Media Practice, a 10-year-old program that expands the way students in Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences engage with their scholarship.

    Tightrope walker over a canyon
  • Celebrating creativity

    A new fellowship program brings practicing artists to Harvard’s campus.

  • Arts First, last, and in between

    This weekend’s Arts First festival showcases performances, exhibitions, and art-making opportunities for and by Harvard students, faculty, and affiliates, including international dance, many music genres, stand-up and improv comedy, theater, public art, poetry, experimental performances, and much more.

    Harvard Pops Orchestra rehearses
  • Framing the Caspian Sea

    Backed by the Peabody Museum’s Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography, documentary photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews visited the region around the Caspian Sea, capturing on film the culture, customs, and inhabitants of the area whose reserves of oil, gas, and other natural resources are inextricably tied to life in the region. Her work produced a book and an exhibit now on view at Harvard.

    “Door to Hell,” a giant, molten hole in Darvaza, Turkmenistan
  • All the world’s a stage

    The American Repertory Theater’s upcoming season lineup will include three world premieres.

    Views of Loeb Drama Center
  • Flowing together

    Harvard community members who’ve taken Gaga dance courses have found the technique helps them let go of external pressures and focus their energy inward, achieving self-care and healing.

    Dancers performing the Gaga dance technique at a class
  • Stuck in the middle with you

    Neurology Professor Julian Fisher explores Massachusetts to tell stories of middle-class Americans through photography.

    Julian Fisher, a pediatrician and neurologist
  • Picturing vision and justice

    A meeting of experts and scholars from Harvard and beyond organized by assistant professor Sarah Lewis will “consider the role of the arts in understanding the nexus of art, race, and justice.”

    Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture and African and African American Studies Sarah Lewis
  • Behind the ‘Thrones’

    A course at Harvard teaches students about the real-world Game of Thrones.

    Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen.
  • ‘East Side’ story

    Student-penned musical “The East Side” puts the spotlight on the Harvard Asian Student Arts Project.

    Performers dancing and singing
  • Stories get an A+

    Students reflect on a transformative semester on campus as part of The Transcript Project, now in its second year.

  • Fishing for stories

    A Q&A with author and journalist Francisco Goldman.

  • Seeing beauty in the mundane

    Willie Cole brings his art to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study with “Willie Cole: Beauties.”

    Five Beauties Rising by Willie Cole.
  • The aesthetic attitude to art

    Senior researcher at Project Zero and Boston College Professor of Psychology Ellen Winner’s latest book, “How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration,” is based on years of research both at Harvard and BC, and looks at art through psychological and philosophical lenses.

    Ellen Winner.
  • Strutting their stuff

    The student-run Identities Fashion Show embraces all types of bodies and backgrounds. But for its board members, it’s a lot of work and a yearlong commitment.

  • Using humor to make the connection

    Before an Askwith Hall audience, stars from “Kim’s Convenience” and “Fresh Off the Boat” explored how the landscape is shifting for Asian stories, defying stereotype and allowing authentic identities.

    Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
  • How much would you pay for a masterpiece?

    To get at exactly how the art market and the public drive up the cost of fine art, the Gazette spoke with some experts in the field.

    Two women wearing red berets inspect the shredded Banksy painting at the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden.
  • Photos reveal nature’s wonder at Arnold Arboretum

    The elegance and rhythm of nature powerfully captured through photographer Chris Morgan’s lens is revealed at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

    Red-tailed hawks on Norway spruce.
  • The greatest migration

    The peopling of Polynesia’s far-flung islands may be the most epic migration story of all time. Harvard Review Editor Christina Thompson’s book “Sea People” examines the latest evidence of who the Polynesians were and how they did it.

    Christina Thompson at the Peabody Museum.
  • Curating a classic ‘Genji’ exhibit at the Met

    Harvard’s Melissa McCormick takes “The Tale of the Genji,” one of the world’s first novels, from classroom to gallery.

    Banner advertising Gengi exhibit outside the Met