Story Archive

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.
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.