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.
Student Picks: Zeal and Discontent
Japanese prints have inspired artists for centuries yet are seldom given the attention they deserve.
To Know Ourselves: Exploring the Work of Black Artists in SCMA's Collection
This Saturday, Beryl Ford '17 will be giving a gallery talk at the museum titled "To Know Ourselves: Exploring the Work of Black Artists in SCMA's Collection".
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
During the Renaissance, scholars began to move away from basing academic theory on Christian theology, focusing instead on the rediscovery and analysis of classical texts.
Student Picks: Time and Space
This exhibition loosely deals with American adolescence, of coming into a history with uncertain predictions of the future.
Clarence Kennedy and the Photographical Construct
Well-regarded as a Renaissance History professor at Smith, Clarence Kennedy began to take photographs of pre-Modern European sculpture to aid his students in their research.
The Nuremberg Chronicle
The Nuremberg Chronicle is a German book detailing the history of the world from the biblical account of creation to 1493, the date of its publication.
Etched in Memory: A Cataloguer's Perspective
The usual suspects of 19th Century printmaking were all represented; I could immediately find Pissarro, Whistler, and Goya in my game of artistic Where’s Waldo. Yet, the spreadsheet also listed many artists, primarily female, whose names I had never heard before. Who were Minna Bolingbroke and Bertha E. Jaques? Why was I unfamiliar with their artistic output?
Eddie Arning and “Outsider Art”
Although it only lasted for a decade, Eddie Arning’s brief period of drawing is remarkably compelling.
The Works of Barry Moser
Barry Moser is one of the most well-respected wood engravers and book designers working today. What’s most interesting, though, is how he reached this point in his career.
"To Ramble On Copper": Prints from The Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang Collection at the Smith College Museum of Art
During the summer of 2015, Hampshire College student Jacob Edwards built "To Ramble on Copper": Prints from The Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang Collection at the Smith College Museum of Art, a WordPress website to host digital projects and resources focused on the Lang Collection.
Student Picks: Workers in the Shadows
Cities are a subject that continue to fascinate artists. Urban photographers have long been trying to capture the “essence” of the city by emphasizing qualities such as scale, speed, and connectivity. There are some features, however, that go very much unnoticed.
T. Frantisek Simon
Simon was known as a painter, but became intrigued by the new methods of printmaking—etching, aquatint, dry point, and woodcut— which were just starting to gain popularity in Bohemia