Latest news with #MuseumofFineArts
AU Financial Review
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- AU Financial Review
A second chance to make a first impression at NGV's winter blockbuster
Four years ago, during the pandemic lockdowns, an exceptional group of French impressionists travelled to Australia – but barely got out of their crates. Nowhere in the world have artists such as Monet, Renoir, Degas and Cezanne had such a dismal reception, although the National Gallery of Victoria was more than willing to roll out the red carpet. Next month, in what must be a first for local museums, the NGV will restage the show that misfired four years ago. The impressionists are once again leaving their home in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), and taking the voyage to Melbourne, for this year's Winter Masterpieces exhibition. The return season is an extraordinary act of good will on behalf of the Boston museum, where many of these works are normally on permanent display. And it's a testament to the depth of Boston's holdings that they can fill the gaps with similar pieces.
Hypebeast
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Frist Art Museum Unpacks the Fabric of American Identity in New Quilt Show
Summary The humble quilt has long been a major player in folk art museums around the country, though in recent years it's made its way into the more mainstream spotlight. Following this path,Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories, a forthcoming exhibition at Nashville's Frist Art Museum, will present a nearly 50-piece quilt and coverlet showcase hailing from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, each its own immaculate patchwork of the personal and the political. Spanning more than 300 years of U.S. history, the exhibit traces quilting's evolution and threads this timeless art form into the broader story of American identity, stitch by stitch. From 18th-century heirlooms to works made as recently as 2021, the exhibition celebrates stories behind these textile relics alongside the medium's unsung heroes and the voices too often left out of traditional art histories. 'Today, quilters have expanded the medium to encompass a wide range of techniques, materials and imagery,' says senior curator Katie Delmez. Once just a means of warmth, utility and craft, in the mid-19th century, quilting flourished into an art form of its own as makers began to identify more with textile art. Now a powerful form of artistic and cultural expression, contemporary quiltmakers from all walks of life turn the the medium to reckon with today's ideas and issues, such as racism and gun violence to immigration and Indigenous sovereignty. In this space, fabric becomes a soft but unflinching testimony to the complex visual, cultural and racial fabric of American life, and the myriad of stories that emerge. Head to the Frist'swebsitefor more information. Frist Art Museum919 Broadway,Nashville, TN 37203
Boston Globe
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Free things to do Memorial Day week: Self-defense, museum admission, and burgers
CULTURE, COMPED This Memorial Day, tickets to enter multiple local cultural favorites will be free. The Museum of Fine Arts invites all Mass. residents to join guides, curators, speakers, and artists for a day of tunes, connections, and interactive activities, including the opportunity to make your own embossed metal sculpture. The Institute of Contemporary Art in the Seaport will also grant free entry for guests who want to explore innovative art with a view. May 26. MFA, 465 Huntington Ave. ; ICA, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. Get Love Letters: The Newsletter A weekly dispatch with all the best relationship content and commentary – plus exclusive content for fans of Love Letters, Dinner With Cupid, weddings, therapy talk, and more. Enter Email Sign Up LIFE IS A CABARET If you're not a fan of the large, rowdy crowds at concerts or festivals, the cabaret may be the musical immersion you've been waiting for. At the Club Café, these live music experiences are a common occurrence, and next Tuesday, the bistro will feature Crystin Gilmore, who also performs in SpeakEasy Stage's play 'Jaja's African Hair Braiding.' The triple-threat actress, singer, and dancer will perform from a repertoire of soulful classics, including tunes by James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday. May 27, 6:30-7:30 p.m. 209 Columbus Ave. Advertisement SUNSHINE BEATS If you missed out on tickets to this year's high-demand (and costly) music festivals, no need to fret. The Esplanade Association is teaming up with the Department of Conservation and Recreation once again to host the GroundBeat Concert Series. Local musicians and artists will take the stage at the Hatch Memorial Shell for concerts across three more weeks, including this Wednesday's lineup of world sounds including reggae and Caribbean jazz. May 28, 6-8 p.m. Charles River Esplanade, Hatch Memorial Shell, Beacon Street and Beaver Place. Advertisement BOP TO THE TOP Whether you're graduating this year, in the future, or passed the milestone long ago, there's nothing like watching Disney's 'High School Musical' to evoke toe-tapping nostalgia. At Trident Booksellers & Café, attendees can reminisce on the angst and elation of their school days at the bookstore's free screening night while singing along to those classic hits. May 29, 7-9 p.m. 338 Newbury St. Downtown Boston burger joint Big Grin will be giving out free burgers to the first 100 customers this Saturday for National Hamburger Day. Handout T ASTEFUL HOLIDAY This week, the country celebrates another important holiday: National Hamburger Day. At The Lineup, a downtown restaurant collection, Big Grin, the location's burger joint, will be serving up free burgers to the first 100 customers. Even those who miss the limited giveaway won't walk away hungry — vouchers for free crinkle-cut fries are a welcome concession. May 31, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. 115 Federal St. EN GARDE Knowing self-defense techniques can make a difference in a dangerous situation, and the City of Boston and the NAAAP are teaming up to provide a free defensive action and de-escalation workshop. Verbal, nonverbal, and physical skills will be taught by Nic Emmons, owner of Waltham's On Point Krav Maga martial arts school. May 31, noon-2 p.m. 161 Harvard Ave #13b, Allston. Advertisement LOVELY MEETINGS Cambridge's romance bookstore, Lovestruck Books, will be hosting an event with five writers, giving local bookworms the chance to meet their favorite authors — or maybe fall in love with new ones. In attendance will be Aashna Avachat, YA author and Harvard alum; indie writer Caroline Frank; purveyor of gothic stories Cat Scully; Elle Thrasher, a romantasy writer; and self-proclaimed 'Kitchen Witch' Dawn Aurora Hunt. May 31, 3-5 p.m. 44 Brattle St., Cambridge. The annual Beacon Hill Art Walk will fill the historic neighborhood with art this Sunday, June 1. Handout ART WALK The first day of June means more than just the steady approach of summer. Next Sunday, the Beacon Hill neighborhood will inaugurate the new month with free art demonstrations, including outdoor galleries, live music ranging from folk to classical, and displays of various styles and mediums. These displays will be scattered across the Hill, with starting points at 135½ Charles St. and the corner of Cambridge and West Cedar streets. June 1, noon-6 p.m. Beacon Hill. Send info on free events and special offers at least 10 days in advance to . Marianna Orozco can be reached at
Boston Globe
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Artist Stephen Hamilton weaves generations of African tradition
Earlier this month, Hamilton's painting — titled 'Under the Spider's Web' — unfurled from the wall and over most of the floor of his Allston studio. It depicts African weavers: a man from Burkina Faso bends over his narrow strip of weaving; a Dida woman from the region of Ivory Coast or Liberia weaves a raffia textile without a loom. They're all from West Africa and West Central Africa. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'They are regions people were taken from during the transatlantic slave trade,' Hamilton said. The traditions he portrays have dispersed all over the Globe. Advertisement Stephen Hamilton at one of two looms that will be used in periodic weaving performances alongside his Triennial painting and textile installation. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff 'Under the Spider's Web' is dense with texture, patterns, imagery, and handwork echoing generations of African traditions. Hamilton dyed yarns for the piece in natural pigments made from indigo, red sorghum, henna, and more. Ropes that hold everything together are hand-braided and dyed. Hamilton, who is textiles for a PhD in African and African American Studies at Harvard , steeps every fiber of his art in research. He pointed to a woven passage on the right of the painted textile 'That's based off of the description from a Dutch trader in the Kingdom of Benin,' he said. Advertisement Triennial curator Tess Lukey first saw Hamilton's work four years ago at the Museum of Fine Arts – the artist had work in the ' His combination of painting and textile art grabbed her, and he was one of the first area artists she thought of for the Triennial. 'He's pushing the limits of what both of those mediums are,' Lukey said. Hamilton, 37, grew up in Roxbury surrounded by murals painted by Stephen Hamilton sorts through yarn he dyed with natural pigments in his Allston studio. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff He learned to weave during a nine-month trip to Nigeria in 2015 thanks to a grant from It's easy to think of 'material culture' as just the things a society generates, but those things can carry mythic weight . The weavers in Hamilton's painting wear deeply researched jewelry and clothing. Advertisement 'There's so much of that imagery that's so rich and complex that people don't have a visual reference to,' the artist said. 'If you're thinking about a Roman legionnaire, there's these immediate visual references that you have. When it comes to Africa, a lot of people don't have that visual reference.' Stephen Hamilton carves wood for the looms in his Triennial installation. Lane Turner/Globe Staff 'I'm very interested in exposing people to that,' he added. 'He's celebrating cloth in this incredible way that brings the past and the present together,' Lukey said. If time collapses in Hamilton's art, space expands. First, in the sheer proportion of his project — this is the largest piece he's ever made . Then, in its warm embrace of the African diaspora. 'I'm thinking about the Black community as a global Black community,' Hamilton said. 'What are these things that connect us?' One answer, he said, is a shared heritage of jewelry, wood carving – and cloth. 'This idea of what cloth represents and clothing represents for Black people is something that is much deeper than simply a physical object, or simply representative of physical appearance,' he said. 'The roots of that go back long before our time in this country, long before the transatlantic slave trade,' Hamilton said. 'There's a deeper history there.' Cate McQuaid can be reached at
Boston Globe
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Plundered artworks to go from the MFA to who knows where
Advertisement We applaud collector Robert Owen Lehman's decision to rescind his donation of pieces he'd pledged to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. No morally conscious person would enrich the heirs of slave traders with profits of human suffering. The Benin bronzes celebrate practices that persist today: Edo state remains a hub of Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Nigeria already holds hundreds of bronzes, according to the We need the bronzes for cultural education, metallurgy study, and DNA research linking us to trafficked ancestors. Returning them unconditionally to Nigeria would rob the world of opportunities for healing and justice. They must be entrusted to the descendants of the enslaved, not gifted to the heirs of the slave traders. Advertisement Rather than retraumatizing Afrodescendants through this harmful double standard, the MFA could help usher in repair from three centuries of transatlantic slavery and a century of colonialism by facilitating joint stewardship. They belong to all of us. Deadria Farmer-Paellmann Founder and executive director Restitution Study Group New York MFA, collector Lehman should not delay in righting wrong, returning artworks I read with interest and horror about the Museum of Fine Arts' meek, legalistic response to wealthy donor Robert Owen Lehman's decision to break their agreement to transfer ownership of looted Benin Kingdom national treasures to the museum ( Many other museums are returning the artifacts heisted by colonial Britain. Why doesn't the MFA show its moral fiber by returning its own pilfered sculptures to their place of origin? Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments, with the agreement of the Nigerian oba, or king, is clear about wanting all the bronzes back, despite some initial hesitation. 'There is no more ambiguity,' the head of the commission said. Reporter Malcolm Gay noted that the MFA is looking for an ethical way forward. It should immediately return the five bronzes to which it has clear title and be the moral leader this moment demands. This is also the perfect occasion for Lehman to make amends by returning his collection of stolen bronzes to their rightful owners. Advertisement No equivocation. Don't wait years. Lehman has enjoyed these pieces for about half a century. The moment for him and the MFA to do the right thing is now. Mac Herrling Brunswick, Maine English teacher's students get a lesson in modern colonialism If you give a high school sophomore a Benin bronze, they can be thrust into a global discussion about colonialism. If you schedule a museum trip to view these bronzes, they might learn an unexpected lesson about modern entitlement instead. My 10th-grade English students at Brookline High School began with zero knowledge of the Benin bronzes — artifacts looted by British forces from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897. These pieces, representing craftsmanship that surpassed Western standards of their time, remain largely in Western possession despite growing calls for repatriation. While the ethical path is clear — return stolen cultural treasures to Nigeria — the reality is complex. The Rather than facilitate the bronzes' return to Nigeria, it seems that the donor has chosen private ownership. This decision not only brings an end to the MFA's dedicated gallery and prevents my students from viewing these important artifacts, but it also removes the pieces from public view entirely, adding another chapter of injustice to their story. For our world literature course we read Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart.' To extend our discussion of Nigerian literature and culture, I designed a unit around the Benin bronzes. While some students argued that museums might justifiably retain possession under certain conditions, all understood Nigeria's rightful claim. Not one student suggested that private collectors should have the right to withdraw such significant cultural artifacts from public access. Advertisement Though Lehman may have honorable intentions, the impact of his decision, on its face, reinforces colonial entitlement. Janet Kelley Brookline 'I hope we never lose this room' The following is an edited sampling of to Malcolm Gay's front-page story, 'MFA to return art to donor, close gallery': I never miss this room when I visit the MFA. When we were there in late March, I told my wife, 'I hope we never lose this room.' (kewcam) Majority of these third world countries asking or demanding for items back do not have the proper infrastructure or museums to even store never mind showcase these priceless works. (NorthHollywood) That's why conceding ownership to the country of origin while allowing the display at the MFA works. (sbrooks103) The Be sure to check out the Worcester Art Museum's arms and armor collection, second only to the Met. (charlotte sato)
