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.

head and shoulders of young man with short hair in open neck shirt looking slightly downward; portrait; man

John Wilson at SCMA (including a New Acquisition)

Danielle Carrabino is the Curator of Painting and Sculpture at SCMA. 

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.
softly rendered seated nude female with dark hair turned away from viewer, proper right arm down and proper left raised

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.
SCMA guests observing a work of art and reading talk back responses posted on the wall next to it.

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.
Female nude reclining in drapery.

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.
A black and white photo of an older woman in formal dress including a short net veil.

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. 
street with back view of three figures, two young women holding hands and one man walking, center woman has a wood structure on her shoulders and man a wood box on his head, trucks and figures in background

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.
Illustration of a castle with a heading in Latin.

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.”
close-up black and white image of an urn in the foreground, with a white figural statue at the center and trees in the background
TOP