As we celebrate 40 years since our founding in 1983, explore the story of art at the Muscarelle and William & Mary. From the origins of the collection nearly 300 years ago, through the establishment of the Museum in the 1980s, to our exciting next chapter as we prepare to re-open the Muscarelle in the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts, this exhibition spans our past, present and future. Learn more about our most significant works of art and the people whose vision, perseverance and generosity established and sustained a home for art at William & Mary. The […]

The Art History Fall ’22 Curatorial Project presents “Carving Deep: J J Lankes’ American Story” on view November 14 – December 5 in Andrews Gallery. This exhibition has been curated by students in The Curatorial Project, under the direction of Professor Cristina Stancioiu. Participating students include: Madeline Dort, Olivia Gebreamlak, Daniel Kalish, Sandy Kelso, Isabella Kershner, Sophia Kim, Jessica Lightfoot, Lorelei Peterson, Faith Ronquest, Isabel Schreur, Lynn Trott, Sophie Vandevander, Anna Wershbale, Heidi Zmick. Artist and author Julius John Lankes (American, 1884 -1960) produced his first woodcut print in 1917, carving and printing more than 1,300 designs over the course […]

Recent works of William & Mary’s studio art faculty, including visiting instructors and emeriti professors, will be featured in the exhibition Faculty Show 15 on view from September 30 through December 11, 2022.  This exhibition will highlight the diverse talents of the William & Mary studio instructors in a variety of media including ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture.

This exhibition demonstrates Leonard Baskin’s use of the body as a vehicle for reflection, highlighting themes of mortality and morality in the natural world. Part of a required practicum course for Art History majors, The Curatorial Project (ARTH 331), was directed by Charles Palermo, Professor of Art History. Students selected, researched, documented, and wrote didactic texts for The Human Frame from the Muscarelle’s growing collection of works by the important mid-20th century American artist Leonard Baskin. The exhibition allowed student curators the rare opportunity to work closely with museum professionals and conduct hands-on research for the collection.  Read more about […]

Learn more about the upcoming Martha Wren Briggs Center for The Visual Arts, the new home for the Muscarelle Museum of Art, through our new exhibition detailing the project in the Spigel Gallery. The presentation includes images, drawings, floor plans, and a model—all designed to give visitors a detailed glimpse of our future!

Works by Degas in this exhibition consisted of drawings, prints, photographs, monotypes, one sculpture, and a letter, all from a single private collection. The collection endeavored to illuminate the background and personality of Edgar Degas the man, as well as to present his genius as an artist. The subject matter of these works by Degas is often quite personal. In addition to three rare self-portraits, the collection includes depictions of close family members, his loyal housekeeper Sabine Neyt, and multiple portraits of artists Édouard Manet and Mary Cassatt. Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist highlighted the artist’s interests and individual methods […]

Spark of Imagination celebrated the ingenuity of American self-trained artists and their individual impulses to create. Along with special loans, the exhibition featured new acquisitions on view for the first time including works by Clementine Hunter, Helen LaFrance, Sister Gertrude Morgan, and Grandma Moses. Each of the artists represented showcase their own style and unique visual vocabulary that demonstrate an engaging spectrum of creativity.   Image Caption: SISTER GERTRUDE MORGAN | American, 1900 – 1980 | And I Saw Another Angel | Paint and ink on card | © Artist’s Estate | Acquired with funds from the Board of Visitors […]

Shared Ideologies, an exhibition of selected works by Native American artists from the 1970s to the present will offer visitors an opportunity to engage in a sociopolitical dialogue about the space between history and memory. Paintings and works on paper by artists such as the late T.C. Cannon (Kiowa, 1946 – 1978), Emmi Whitehorse (Navajo, born 1957), Cara Romero (Chemeheuvi, born 1977), Tom Poolaw (Kiowa/Delaware, born 1959), Julie Buffalohead (Ponca, born 1972) and several others, transcend the two-dimensional artwork by their elders that came to define Native American art. Shared Ideologies invites non-Native viewers into a dialogue with indigenous artists […]

The new World Trade Center is a space of remembering and healing, as well as a tribute to life and art. This place serves as a memorial designed to honor people and commemorate heroes and connects the past and the future to the present through architecture. The buildings and spaces designed by Daniel Libeskind, Michael Arad, David Childs, and Santiago Calatrava function as channels to find new purpose and peace after the attacks on September 11, 2001. Forever Marked By The Day pays homage to those architects, artists, designers, and photographers who made creativity triumph over destruction.