Harvard Art Museums

After visiting Longfellow House Washington Headquarters and Cooper-Frost-Austin House during my history adventure through Cambridge, MA back in August 2023, my third major stop was Harvard Art Museums. Part of the Harvard University campus, the three museums making up the unified building are Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

According to the official website, Fogg Museum is the eldest of the three, first opening in a different building in 1895. Four years earlier, in 1891, Elizabeth Perkins Fogg bequeathed $200,000 and Asian art to build a museum in honor of her predeceased husband, William Hayes Fogg, who made his fortune as a merchant in the China Trade just after the Opium Wars. (Mr. Fogg happened to be from South Berwick, ME, the same town as two Historic New England [HNE] properties: Sarah Orne Jewett House and Hamilton House.)

Next came Busch-Reisinger Museum, originally founded as the Germanic Museum in 1903, which accordingly houses German art. The museum derives its name from Busch-Reisinger Hall, built in 1921 by art collector, banker, and German immigrant Hugo Reisinger in honor of his father-in-law, fellow German Adolphus Busch, who co-founded the Anheuser-Busch brewing company.

The newest museum, name for pharmaceuticals marketer and art collector Dr. Arthur Mitchell Sackler, opened in 1985. Not until 2014 did the three museums combine during a six-year building renovation that ended in 2021, garnering the Harleston Parker Medal given by the Boston Society for Architecture, which is given for “the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument or structure within the City [of Boston] or Metropolitan Parks District limits.”

Beside a rich architectural history, the museum houses artworks from around the world and through time. In an exhibit featuring the Impressionists, I found Horse Trotting, the Feet Not Touching the Ground by Edgar Degas. This sculpture was inspired by a photograph by Eadweard Muybridge, who famously invented stop-action photography to demonstrate that horses sometimes lifted all of their feet off the ground while running. Nearby, the painting The Black Countess by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec showed how Hatian French aristocrat Anne Justine Angele Delva de Dalmarie defied expectation as a person of color in 19th century European high society. Another favorite in this gallery was The Gare Saint-Lazare: Arrival of a Train by Claude Monet, which features steam engines rolling into the station.

For a more whimsical take on art, Analogia I by Victor Grippo used potatoes as an energy source. Other galleries had more serious art. Hunger March by Lewis W. Rubenstein, created in 1933 during the Great Depression, showed the plight of unemployed World War I veterans. The young Harvard graduate had painted this mural on the fourth floor of the museum, which was moved to its current location during the latest renovations.

Moving along to ancient art, a pair of Chinese vases made during the Neolithic period, or 3300-2900 BC, had a surprisingly modern design. In the same room, animal figurines from the Northern Qi dynasty, AD 550-577, look similar to today’s toys. In the hallway, a larger horse from the Eastern Han Period, or AD 100s, is depicted with a bridle often found in the Roman Empire, proving how ancient people traded on the Silk Road. Other art in this section included Greek and Roman sculptures and pottery, Egyptian funerary objects, a model of an Assyrian relief painted in garish colors, and Catholic icons. My favorite icon depicted St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata from Christ on a burning, flying cross. I know this is supposed to be a serious religious piece, but it made me laugh.

A special exhibit on the second floor featured German art created after World War I during the Bauhaus Movement. Walter Gropius founded this school of art and design in the 1920s and later moved to the United States. (I visited his house, now owned by HNE, back in July 2022 and learned more about his work during a presentation by Cultural Curious in May 2023.) Much of the work in this exhibit was abstract, focusing on line and color.

Nearing the end of my time at the museum, I viewed early American art. Sarah Miriam Peale, among “the first professional female artists in the United States” painted Still Life with Watermelon, which reminded me how awful watermelons must have been to eat before the cultivation of seedless varieties. As an added bonus, Sarah’s entire family was filled with painters, and her cousins had painter-inspired names like Raphael Peale, Rubens Peale, and Rembrandt Peale. Other highlights from this section of the museum was a working antique clock that chimed on the hour and a full-length portrait of George Washington.

Harvard Art Museums are free and open to the public on Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Visitors must check in at the admissions desk located in the lobby to receive keys to a complimentary locker to store their bags and coats. Sign up before you go to save time at the admissions desk and make the student staff member eternally grateful. The museums have both stairs and elevator to navigate between floors, and most galleries are well-lit, although more seating would improve the experience. The nearest parking options for the museum are at the Harvard University Garage or Lot, but these are expensive. Taking the T to Harvard Square is the best option to arrive. Alternatively, you could park at the MBTA Alewife Garage, walk two miles to Longfellow House, walk a mile to Cooper Frost Austin House, and then walk another mile to Harvard Art Museums like I did, but unless you really enjoy walking (like me!), the T is a direct trip and your best option.

Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 8/10

Accessibility: 8/10