VISUAL ARTS

Katherine Eremin, Patricia Cornwell Conservation Scientist, Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums; Mary McWilliams, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums

Among the decorative arts of Islam, metalwork offers a uniquely promising focus for art-historical and scientific investigation. Numerous copper-alloy objects survive, from utilitarian vessels to superbly decorated masterpieces, and close examination sheds light on available resources, techniques of manufacture, and patterns of aesthetic influence. Each of these objects has stories to tell, and for this talk, offered in conjunction with the installation Beyond the Surface: Scientific Approaches to Islamic Metalwork, a research scientist and a curator join forces to decode them.

This series considers objects from more than one point of view. The informal talks, many of them by Harvard Art Museums curators, conservators, and educators and Harvard University faculty members, are designed to stimulate thinking about works of art and to encourage participants to explore their own ways of seeing.

Free with the price of admission.

Gallery talks are informal and include discussion. Limited to 25 participants; please arrive early.