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Two images are shown side by side. On the left is an image of an intricately decorated silver tazza. It depicts a merman sitting on a turtle, blowing into a seashell horn while holding up a silver tray. The image on the right is of a painting of a pale-skinned woman with auburn hair wearing a crown of pink flowers. She bends toward the string instrument she is playing, surrounded by fruits and flowers in the background.

Creature Feature: Merpeople!

Take a virtual trip to the sea! Join curatorial assistants Casey Monahan and Heather Linton to discover sirens and merpeople in our collections.

A man's hand holds a mobile phone that displays a Harvard Art Museums magazine article.

Harvard Art Museums from Home

Experience the Harvard Art Museums from home as we spotlight new stories about our collections and revisit some old favorites.

This photograph shows an ornate wooden turned armchair with a triangular seat supported by three legs and reinforced by a wooden fin attached to the back leg. The two front arms of the chair have turned details above seat height and are rounded at top. At the pointed back of the triangular seat are a total of nine carved rods that support the upper back. Four thick spindles connect the upper arms to the backrest. Many rods and roundels make up the back of the chair, which is topped with six vertical elements.

What Does a Famous Harvard Chair Have to Say about Patriarchy?

What can the “President’s Chair,” a beloved historical object at Harvard, tell us about patriarchy? A lot, as it turns out.

By Heather Linton

In this detail of a black-and-white print, a young man wearing a large, hooded cloak holds a nude woman in his arms. The woman’s eyes are closed. He bends his head down to kiss her lower neck. He has short, dark-colored hair, and she has long, blond hair. A moon hangs low in the sky beyond the horizon line on the right, and it is partially covered with clouds. To the left of the couple, there is billowing smoke.

Art Talk: One Print—Five Stories

Elizabeth Rudy shares five stories about a late 18th-century book illustration by French artists Pierre-Paul Prud’hon and Barthélemy Roger.

In this painting, a fierce lion is shown wrestling an equal-sized, equally muscular man in a waistcloth. Their eyes are directed at the viewer and the man has his arms around the lion’s neck. The scene has a tawny-yellowish tone with indistinct foliage, and another lion is in the background.

Art Talk: Rubens—Brush and Movement

Join Cristina Morilla to discover how technical analysis of Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion reveals the secrets of Rubens’s artistic technique.

A little girl with a crown on her head is seated on the grass. She wears a white ruffled dress, and her petticoat peeps out from her skirt. Two women lean against her on either side. The woman on the left, who is asleep on the girl’s right shoulder, is wearing a crown, an orange patterned shawl, and black gloves and holds a scepter in her right hand. The woman on the right, who is asleep in the girl’s lap, is wearing an orange patterned shawl, a beaded necklace, and black gloves. A crown is lying in the grass in the foreground.

Down the Rabbit Hole, Through the Looking Glass: Peter Newell’s Alice Illustrations

Peter Newell’s lively illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass offer an alternative vision of Lewis Carroll’s singular world.

By Miriam Stewart

Two identical, bright red-painted aluminum sheets are mounted on a white wall. Each of the rectangular sheets is folded convexly along its center and oriented vertically.

Strategies of Withdrawal: The Art of Lee Lozano and Charlotte Posenenske

In the 1960s, artists Lee Lozano and Charlotte Posenenske both pursued truly radical forms of creating and living. Curatorial fellow Lauren Hanson suggests their work and legacy is worthy of our (re)consideration.

By Lauren Hanson

On the left, a blue photographic image shows a raised subway platform under construction. On the right, an image shows a woman holding a blue square cyanotype print featuring a collage of photographic negatives of people.

Art Talk: Cyanotypes—Art and Science at Home

Conservation scientist Julie Wertz talks about the science and process of cyanotypes, also demonstrating how to make one at home.

This unpainted caramel-colored wooden sculpture depicts a slender man with a long curly beard, dressed in robes, a cape, and a hat. Both hands have broken off at the wrist.

Art Talk: The Wood and the Worms

Curatorial fellow Gabriella Szalay explores the intricacies of 15th- and 16th-century carved wooden altarpieces and their vulnerability to time.

A small brass figurine depicts a woolly ram with a long tail. A bearded man pokes his head out from under its belly, grasping the animal’s side with his left arm. The animal’s fur is indicated by striated lines. The surface is shiny and nearly black, and partly covered in light brown encrustations.

Escape Artists

Curators delve into works from across the collections that illustrate escapes—whether it be from immediate danger, demands of daily life, health problems, political crises, or even the rules of nature.