SCMAinsider
SCMAinsider offers dynamic perspectives on the diverse collections and visions that shape the
Smith College Museum of Art.
We welcome contributions from all members of our community and seek to cultivate a range of
voices and experiences. If you want to contribute to the blog, please contact us at scmacuratorial@smith.edu.
Thinking Through Drawing: On View through September 7, 2025
Henriette Kets de Vries is the Associate Curator and Manager of the Cunningham Study Center for Prints, Drawings and Photographs.
Drawing Dance
Can the auditory be shared visually? Can an expression of motion be rendered in static form?
The Viewer as Voyeur
Ironically, the strictures that limited the way in which the female body could be shown also offered voyeuristic, titillating opportunities for the (presumably) male artist to exploit for the (presumably) male viewer.
Making Space to Talk Back
The new “Talk Back: Art in Conversation” space features a rotating work of art accompanied by a question, inviting people of all ages to post a response on the adjacent wall.
Reunion Class Gifts
Welcome back, reunion classes!
The Academic French Nude
In French academic art, female nudity was permissible within the context of an imaginary fantasy landscape or a mythical or biblical setting.
Artists Through Each Other’s Eyes
You may recognize the work of certain artists, but would you recognize the artists themselves?
Collaboration with the Spatial Analysis Lab
The museum is teaming up with the Spatial Analysis Lab here at Smith to find the best ways to put images in both spatial and historical contexts.
Gladys Engel Lang: Scholar, Author, and Collector
We are saddened to report the passing of Gladys Engel Lang on March 23, 2016. We are grateful to Gladys and the Lang family for entrusting SCMA with the legacy of their work in the form of the prints, drafts, and research for the Etched in Memory project.
Student Picks: Mundane Particulars
Each of these ordinary moments becomes extraordinary precisely because they are divorced from their original purpose. They are now irreverently assigned a new role in this room before you, bearing witness to just another particularly ordinary moment.
Clare Leighton: A Connection to the Land
Rather than focusing on the picturesque qualities of the landscape, Leighton generally chose to portray the people who worked the land.
Literary "Piracy" in the Fifteenth Century
The Nuremberg Chronicle was enormously popular; however, it was also very expensive. In the neighboring town of Augsburg, a rival printmaker named Johann Schönsperger sought to reach a new market.
Uncanny Valley: Portraits of the Almost-Human
The more realistic an image is, the more viewers tend to identify with it—up to a certain point. Lifelike sculptures often have a peculiar, unsettling quality, occupying a perceptual and emotional space known as the “uncanny valley.”
