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.
Outside the Box: Frames to Focus on During Your Next SCMA Visit
Kay Horak ‘24 is a self-designed Art Conservation Major with a Mathematical Sciences Minor and Museums Concentration.
Whistler's Venice Set
Featuring 20 prints and photographs from the permanent collection, this summer's corridor exhibition 'Image and After-Image' looks at James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s etchings and drypoints alongside the development of photography in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Pandora's Box
Master ZBM's print 'Pandora's Box' was a pivotal work for this summer's curatorial SIAMS program students, but this print differs from most representations of Pandora in important ways.
Where Do You Put the Emphasis?
Influenced by Zen koans, statements of questions that resist linear thought, Wiley produced images and texts that blur the line between wisdom and whimsy.
Outside the [Box]
Just like Pandora, we wanted our audience to be fascinated by our boxes and to question them - to truly think "outside the [box]."
Discover the Cunningham Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Visiting the Museum is just seeing the tip of the iceberg; prints, drawings, and photographs comprise over 70% of the Smith College Museum of Art’s collection.
Reproducing Reality
Photography, a modern invention, was introduced to Japan in the 1850s.
Visiting James Ensor
A couple of years ago I ventured out on a small personal pilgrimage to visit the hometown and gravesite of an artist whom I consider to be one of Belgium’s best; James Ensor.
Diebenkorn's Untitled #25
Diebenkorn embarked on the playing card drawings after his mother, Dorothy Diebenkorn, became severely ill during the early 1980s.
The Great Wall
Louise Nevelson’s work relentlessly defies categorization of both style and media.
Ghosts in the Streets: Whistler and Photography
Picturesque street scenes were seen both in etchings and in photographs during the Victorian period.
Jay Bolotin’s The Jackleg Testament
What on earth WAS this thing? The first woodcut movie, I was told.
Robetta’s Adoration of the Magi
The Adoration of the Magi was a popular subject for Italian artists because it allowed the artist to showcase their ability to create an elaborate composition filled with animals, sumptuously clothed figures, and often a vast landscape.