MFA Highlights – serie

An introduction to the refined, spiritually significant, and often dazzling arts produced by the varied cultures of a cradle of world civilization The ancient cultures of the Americas comprise a vast array of societies, whose peoples spoke thousands of languages and dialects, developed distinctive political and economic systems, and followed myriad spiritual practices. The territory stretching from northern Mexico to Chile is one of six world regions where ancient civilizations arose – joining Egypt, the Near East and Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, North China and Southeast Asia. The intellectual, architectural and artistic accomplishments of the ancient American peoples rival those of the others, including fully developed writing systems, the tallest structures in the western hemisphere until the 20th century, and textiles and painted ceramics of unsurpassed complexity and refinement.The collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is particularly strong in Maya ceramics, early Andean textiles, and gold objects from Panama and Colombia, and throughout its history the Museum has been at the forefront in presenting pre- Columbian artifacts as part of art history rather than in the context of natural history or archaeology. The artworks featured in this volume exemplify the aesthetics and supreme craftsmanship of the peoples of the ancient Americas in pictorial pottery, sumptuous gold body adornments and luxury textiles. Together they introduce the sophistication, creativity and variety of the cultures of the Western Hemisphere’s cradle of civilization.

Contemporary art is a vast and complex field representing artists, ideas, and trends from every imaginable cultural and geographical background. This book introduces the art of our times by taking the reader through a tour of some seventy examples from the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Thematic chapters present artistic categories, concepts, and propositions that have been prevalent since the mid-1950s and offer a path toward understanding the different subjects, forms, styles, purposes, and techniques of contemporary art. Some, such as `portrait’, are long-standing notions in the history of art; others, such as `site’ or `borrowed’, raise provocative questions and may be less immediately obvious. But it is the works of art themselves – brilliantly conceived by some of the most creative minds of our times – that make the case for embracing contemporary media in all its diversity.

The world-renowned collection of European decorative arts from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is full of sumptuous surprises. Some delicate and some divine, the objects range from an opulent automaton to a richly wrought crozier, and vary in scale from a salt cellar in the form of a crustacean to the fine wood panelling of an entire dining room. Their dates of manufacture span more than a thousand years – the earliest made shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire and the most recent in the computer age. They reach across space as well as time, bearing evidence not only of cultural exchange among European countries, such as England and France, but also of the revival of ancient motifs and of contemporary trade with India and China. Presented here with an introduction to the topic and individual texts on each piece, these diverse works are organized chronologically and by stylistic movements to highlight the hidden histories of these works.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston houses a world-famous collection of European painting and sculpture, including such masterpieces as Renoir’s Dance at Bougival, Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, Degas’s Little Dancer, Turner’s Slave Ship and the largest collection of paintings by Claude Monet outside of France. This overview features these well-known and much-loved works, divided into thematic chapters that represent major art movements, with an introduction that describes the phenomena that helped chart the course of art in the period. In all more than 100 highlights from this impressive collection are illustrated and discussed, each testifying to the richness and complexity of European art in the modern era. The MFA Highlights series presents the best of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s collections accessibly and affordably. Its aim is threefold: to make available the greatest masterworks in the MFA; to provide an informative, readable overview of various artistic genres, cultures, and periods, for use by students, visitors, and scholars; and, over time, to create a library that will act as a general tour of world art through the ages.

Presents the best of the collection of African art and artefacts held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The African art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, offers a portal into the life and politics of a large and complex continent with a wealth of history and culture. The highlighted works in this volume have been selected to illuminate different societies and periods, and to offer an introduction to traditions within the wider field of African art. They are presented through the framework of their original contexts: refined bronze sculptures made for royal palaces, spiritual figures powerfully rendered in wood or stone for shrines, vibrant luxury textiles, masks for public celebrations, art made for export, and trenchant contemporary photography intended for global art markets. By examining the places where these objects were first encountered by viewers – the palaces of Mangbetu kings, the busy streets of Lagos, or a gallery in London – vivid stories emerge about who made, paid for, used and enjoyed these artworks. Taken together, they evoke the brilliance and variety of artistic traditions across a vast continent.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is home to an important collection of artworks from South Asia that spans a large geographical area – comprising India and the countries that surround it – and more than four millennia. Among these objects are expressive figures in bronze and stone, dazzlingly intricate miniature paintings, luxury textiles and exquisite metalwork. Arranged thematically around dualities of art and craft, sacred and secular, Hindu and Muslim, real and ideal, male and female, and local and foreign – reflecting and challenging the dualistic thinking often applied to South Asian art – these works of art reveal the richness and depth of South Asian art and culture.