Arts & Culture
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Brief bursts of wisdom
Aphorism lover and historian James Geary reflects on how ancient literary art form fits into age of social media
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Live fast, die young, inspire Shakespeare
Stephen Greenblatt finds a tragic strain in the life and work of Christopher Marlowe
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Steve McQueen could lecture you, but he’s got other plans
‘I think the audience needs more, and I feel I need to give more,’ says award-winning filmmaker — presenter of this year’s Norton talks
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Marking 100 years of Norton Lectures
Panelists reflect on ‘incredible value’ of annual series as ‘megaphone’ for artists and scholars
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How fashion police have been walking beat for centuries
Houghton Library exhibit highlights the policing of women’s fashion since the 17th century.
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Seeing what you see
New faculty Cécile Fromont is a visual problem solver
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Revolutionary thinker
In his new book, “The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding,” Professor of Government Eric Nelson focuses on abuses of the British Parliament, rather than the actions of the crown, as the central force behind the Revolution.
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More art sees the light
A new gallery at the Harvard Art Museums will display art from various other University institutions.
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A bookbinding bonanza
A new exhibit at the Houghton Library, “InsideOUT: Contemporary Bindings of Private Press Books,” showcases artistic and innovative approaches to the traditional craft of bookbinding, reminding viewers that books are not just text.
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Watching the watchers
Harvard fellow Adam Tanner talks about his new book, “What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data — Lifeblood of Big Business — and the End of Privacy as We Know It.”
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‘Ulysses’ unlocked
A new book by Harvard lecturer in history and literature Kevin Birmingham tracks the challenge of bringing “Ulysses,” the masterwork by James Joyce, to the page and to the public.
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A leap for the Loeb
The Loeb Classical Library Foundation has joined with Harvard University Press to digitize all of the library’s 520-plus volumes.
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Star-spangled beauty
Harvard scholars reflect on the lyricism, the language and the legacy of the national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” on its 200th anniversary.
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Bearing witness to Uganda
The A.R.T. of Human Rights, a yearlong series, kicked off at the Oberon theater with a discussion about gay rights in Uganda.
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The early Audubon
A collection of the early drawings of the naturalist John James Audubon show his growth into an expert ornithologist and artist. The 114 drawings, created between 1805 and 1821, constitute one of only two such extensive collections of his early work.
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Lost voices of 1953
Harvard’s Woodberry Poetry Room uncovered forgotten audio from a 1953 conference on the novel, including the confident voice of the newly famous Ralph Ellison.
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Sampling the scholar’s life
Eleven Harvard undergraduates worked closely with Harvard faculty and administrators this summer as part of the Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program. The second-year program connects students seeking research opportunities in the arts and humanities with Harvard scholars and experts looking for help.
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Lessons in craft
A group of young students from Boston are working with members of the American Repertory Theater to craft short plays based on themes from “Finding Neverland.”
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‘The choicest of their kind’
A look back at Harvard’s role in World War I, from the men and women who entered as volunteers after the first shot was fired to the thousands of graduates and students who joined the fighting in the American phase of the conflict.
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The Peter Pan portfolio
Harvard’s Houghton Library contains a lush Peter Pan portfolio, a collection of vivid drawings by noted illustrator Arthur Rackham. The images are from the children’s book “Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens,” published by J.M. Barrie in 1906.
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Behind ‘Peter Pan’
The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) will stage the premiere of “Finding Neverland.” The new musical, about the real-life genesis of J.M. Barrie’s groundbreaking work “Peter Pan,” runs from July 23 through Sept. 28.
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Photographic treasures
Earlier this year, photograph conservators from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, visited Harvard and shared some treasures held by the Hermitage, many never before seen in the West. Recently, they shared several of these images in digital format.
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Tracking Fritz Lang
The Harvard Film Archive is celebrating the work of Fritz Lang with a retrospective running through Sept. 1.
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Early experiments in catching the eye
A new exhibit at the Business School illustrates the rise in America of artful, profit-making, culture-shaking advertising from 1865 to 1910.
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The genesis of genius
Tiny, hand-lettered, hand-bound books Charlotte and Branwell Brontë made as children have been lovingly restored at the Harvard Library.
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Scrolls and scrolling
Students in two spring courses combined library and museum visits with digital tools to produce exhibits about the Middle Ages — one in Houghton Library and the other online.
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Winning night for A.R.T.
Two shows with ties to Harvard won Tony Awards and kept the American Repertory Theater’s winning streak alive.
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High-stepping through life
Rossi Lamont Walter Jr. ’14 graduates with a passion for dance, the history of science, and Jewish culture. He plans to help others see and develop their strengths.
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A giant jewel box, lit by the sky
The Harvard Art Museums will open its greatly expanded and renovated home this fall, aligning the Fogg, Sackler, and Busch-Reisinger museums under a massive glass roof.
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Summertime, and the reading is easy
A look at what Harvard faculty members will be reading in their downtime this summer.
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On a date, with everyone
Artist creates wide-open Web programs to gain personal insights.
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A light touch for Rothko murals
Abstract artist Mark Rothko’s series of Harvard murals will be displayed in November using a digital technology that casts light on the paintings to restore their faded colors.
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‘The Kid Who Would Be Pope’
Harvard’s Office for the Arts Director Jack Megan isn’t just a supporter of artistic talent, he’s a talented artist himself. Megan and his brother Tom co-wrote the musical “The Kid Who Would Be Pope,” which won the Richard Rodgers Award for emerging theatrical talent and is having a stage reading off-Broadway.
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32 Greek plays, no waiting
Radcliffe Fellow and director Sean Graney has adapted 32 surviving Greek tragedies into one theatrical event that he hopes will start a conversation.
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Like magic, Teller speaks
Magician Teller and director and playwright Aaron Posner have teamed up to create a magic-inspired version of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” in an American Repertory Theater production that features music by Tom Waits and choreography by Pilobolus.
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Artful balance
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev spoke at Harvard about her work with exhibit “dOCUMENTA (13,” launching a new annual program on curatorial practice.