Story Archive

From Ownership to Stewardship

From Ownership to Stewardship

The Princeton University Art Museum hired its first curator of provenance, MaryKate Cleary, last summer. In September 2024 she served as the moderator of a panel discussion that brought together Princeton curators and provenance specialists from major museums—an event intended...
Recent Acquisition | A Major Acquisition of African Modernism

Recent Acquisition | A Major Acquisition of African Modernism

Ibrahim El-Salahi is one of Africa’s most celebrated postcolonial modernist artists, known for his contributions to calligraphic modernism. The Museum has recently acquired one of his paintings.
A Generous Legacy: Transformative Gifts Continue to Shape Princeton’s Collections

A Generous Legacy: Transformative Gifts Continue to Shape Princeton’s Collections

The tradition of giving endures as the Museum continues to secure transformational gifts and promised gifts of art on the occasion of its new, once-in-a-century facility, under the auspices of a “campaign for art” undertaken in 2021
Recent Acquisition: A Self-Portrait by Charlotte Bonaparte

Recent Acquisition: A Self-Portrait by Charlotte Bonaparte

The Museum recently acquired one of two known self-portraits by the artist Charlotte Bonaparte.
Guadalupe Maravilla’s I crossed the border

Guadalupe Maravilla’s I crossed the border

Last year the Museum acquired Guadalupe Maravilla’s I crossed the border (2021). In this piece, made during the COVID-19 pandemic, Maravilla reflects on their Mestizo heritage, combining Mesoamerican imagery, Catholic iconography, and healing practices from multiple spiritual and shamanic traditions...
Recent Acquisitions of South Asian Art Enhance the Collections

Recent Acquisitions of South Asian Art Enhance the Collections

Four recent acquisitions, made between 2010 and 2022, demonstrate one avenue of our collecting focus: portraiture and images that reify status and rank.
Art Matters by Samuel Shapiro, doctoral student, Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University

Art Matters by Samuel Shapiro, doctoral student, Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University

How do you introduce a museum’s methods?
Art Matters by Rhinold Lamar Ponder, Class of 1981 Founder, Art Against Racism

Art Matters by Rhinold Lamar Ponder, Class of 1981 Founder, Art Against Racism

As I grow older, I have found a fulfillment in creating that I did not find as a lawyer; I have also grown to understand that art can be a tool to empower individuals and build community.
When a Manuscript Is More Than a Text: Princeton’s Sumidera Heart Sutra

When a Manuscript Is More Than a Text: Princeton’s Sumidera Heart Sutra

In 2012 Princeton acquired an eighth-century Japanese manuscript of twenty lines. The pithy text, called the Heart Sutra , is said to encapsulate the wisdom of the Buddha through such enigmatic phrases as “form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” But...
Celebrating Fifty Years of Photography at Princeton

Celebrating Fifty Years of Photography at Princeton

The visionary gift McAlpin made fifty years ago ensured that Princeton would become a pioneer in the study of photography; that legacy is now in our DNA and will remain at the heart of our work for decades to come.