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.

Lilly standing in a black and white tile bathroom and pulling a white, amorphous full-body suit up and over their head.

Welcome Lilly Watson, Our New Assistant Museum Educator

August 27, 2025

Hello everyone! My name is Lilly Watson (they/them) and I am the new Post Baccalaureate Assistant Museum Educator here at SCMA.

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.

white table with prints propped up on it; two women stand in the corning looking at the prints

Reproducing Reality

Photography, a modern invention, was introduced to Japan in the 1850s.

group of men in samurai clothing gathered around a scroll

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.

drawing of soldiers on a battlefield; clouds in the sky above

Diebenkorn's Untitled #25

Diebenkorn embarked on the playing card drawings after his mother, Dorothy Diebenkorn, became severely ill during the early 1980s.

abstract with white background and straight and curving lines in black

The Great Wall

Louise Nevelson’s work relentlessly defies categorization of both style and media.

fifteen pieces of metal squares or rectangles stacked to make a wall

Ghosts in the Streets: Whistler and Photography

Picturesque street scenes were seen both in etchings and in photographs during the Victorian period.

street with carts on the road and buildings on either side

Jay Bolotin’s The Jackleg Testament

What on earth WAS this thing? The first woodcut movie, I was told.

close-up of two figures facing each other, set against a dark turquoise background

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.

The Virgin and Child seated between two trees, with three angels overhead and Saint Joseph behind them, a crowd of figures on either side, two in the front kneeling, more people with horses in mid-distance, rolling hills with scattered dwellings in distance

Death in Art

In times of war, famine, or disease, when death was personal, undiscriminating, and close, visual representations of death in many forms were more commonplace.

dark interior; woman sitting at a table, eyes closed, leaning away, child sitting at table, an arm held around his neck, to the right, the skull and arm of a skeleton emerges, its arm reaching for the dead or sleeping woman; man standing facing away in right foreground; face of child and skull lit by candle on the table

The Destruction of Lower Manhattan

Danny Lyon took to the streets with his large format camera to document the buildings in their final days.

exterior, cobblestone street with three to seven story city buildings empty of all cars and people

Picasso and the Minotaur

In this work, Greek mythology collides with Picasso’s own personal mythology of artistic creation.

minotaur in center with hand on shoulder of blond woman holding a bird, male at left leans on rocks at left and two figures in a small boat with sail at right

Observations From Deep Storage: The Art of Surprise

As I lifted the lid, my first thought was “WOW”, followed by “Oh my!”

playing card with spread arms and legs, ace covering where the legs are spread; red circle around the ace