Story Archive

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.
Art Matters by Andrew Watsky, Professor of Japanese Art, Department of Art and Archaeology

Art Matters by Andrew Watsky, Professor of Japanese Art, Department of Art and Archaeology

In real time and in real space, a student encounters a work of art without glass or another artificial interface. To my mind, this is the ideal way to study or teach art history, and with the Princeton University Art...
China’s Objects: Opulence and Innovation

China’s Objects: Opulence and Innovation

In the spring semester of 2022, one of the freshman seminars offered was “China’s Objects: Opulence and Innovation,” which curator Zoe S. Kwok taught, making use of the Museum’s collections.
Art Matters by Adam Welch

Art Matters by Adam Welch

The mission of the Arts Council is Building Community through the Arts. As a nonprofit arts organization supporting artists and promoting art within our gallery and through public art, we play a vital role in providing access to the arts,...
Artist-in-Residence Program: Bringing International Perspectives to Campus and the Collections

Artist-in-Residence Program: Bringing International Perspectives to Campus and the Collections

Each year the Museum’s Sarah Lee Elson, Class of 1984, International Artist-in-Residence program welcomes an artist to campus for class visits and public presentations. Created in 2010 through an endowment established by Sarah Lee Elson—a collector, writer, and art adviser...
Exploration and Innovation: New Digital Tools Increase Engagement

Exploration and Innovation: New Digital Tools Increase Engagement

In 2017 the Princeton University Art Museum launched an Application Programming Interface (API) with the goal of making the Museum’s collections of more than 113,000 works of art readily available for students, instructors, curators, and developers around the world.
Exhibition: Native America: In Translation

Exhibition: Native America: In Translation

Native America: In Translation , curated by the artist Wendy Red Star, considers the wide-ranging work of photographers and lens-based artists who pose challenging questions about land rights, identity and heritage, and histories of colonialism.
Exhibition: Between Heartlands / Kelly Wang

Exhibition: Between Heartlands / Kelly Wang

Kelly Wang combines contemporary and ancient influences, as well as American and Asian traditions, to create multimedia works infused with elements of cultural identity and personal sorrow.
Barkley L. Hendricks

Barkley L. Hendricks

Reflecting the Art Museum’s commitment to representing multiple aspects of the practices of contemporary artists, we are proud to announce the recent acquisition of a landscape painting and two portrait photographs by Barkley Hendricks showcasing the artist’s lifelong devotion to...