News from the Princeton University Art Museum

Preparing for a New Building Art Evacuation Museum staff have been hard at work evacuating art from the current building in preparation for the construction of a new Museum designed by architect Sir David Adjaye. Read about the extensive efforts taken to deinstall the collections in this article by Chris Newth, associate director for collections and exhibitions.     Art Making Watercolors Thursdays, 8 p.m. (EDT) Through July 22 The Art Museum is partnering with the Arts Council of Princeton to provide free weekly online watercolor classes, taught by artist-instructor Barbara DiLorenzo over Zoom. With an emphasis on color mixing and brushwork, each week’s lesson is inspired by a work in the Museum’s collections. Details and free registration for each class in the series here. Thursday, June 24 | Embracing Dark Tones in Watercolor Thursday, July 1 | Watercolors: Using Toned Paper and Gouache Thursday, July 8 | Focus on Color Theory      Save the Date The Art of Not Working: Chinese Scholarly Gentlemen Enjoying Music Thursday, July 8, 5:30 p.m. (EDT) Chinese gentlemen traditionally focused on their leisure activities, including the practice and performance of music, with much enthusiasm. Join Ingrid Furniss, associate professor of art history at Lafayette College, as she examines Chinese works of art in Princeton's collections that depict scholarly gentlemen playing musical instruments while taking leisure, usually in elegant gardens or rustic natural settings. Introduced by Zoe Kwok, associate curator of Asian art. Details and free registration here.     Recent Acquisition A Late Formative Maya Figural Sculpture   A recently acquired Maya figural sculpture will catalyze in-class discussions regarding how art history can privilege some forms while ignoring others. The sculpture’s subject is not clearly mythical or royal, and no texts accompany the full-round carving to layer deeper meaning or offer richer understanding. Still, the sculpture is formally powerful and, as corroborated by a number of nearly identical forms found across the Guatemalan highlands, was a significant type in its time and place. Read more about this recent acquisition here.     Museum Store Mario Moore: The Work of Several Lifetimes New at the Museum Store: signed copies of Mario Moore: The Work of Several Lifetimes. Mario Moore, Hodder Fellow in Visual Arts at Princeton for 2018–19, painted portraits of African American members of the University’s staff in their campus work settings, including in the Museum’s galleries. This publication features related sketches, drawings, etchings, and paintings. The Museum Store offers exhibition-inspired keepsakes, art publications, jewelry, gifts for children, and distinctive works by artisans. Each Store purchase supports the Museum’s core mission of bringing art into everyday life. Shop at 56 Nassau Street in downtown Princeton or online at PrincetonMuseumStore.org.

Image credits Winslow Homer, Eastern Point Light, 1880. Princeton University Art Museum. Gift of Alastair B. Martin, Class of 1938 Chinese, Qing dynasty (1644–1912), Ten Talents (Shi caizi tu 十才子圖), 18th–19th century. Princeton University Art Museum. Gift of DuBois Schanck Morris, Class of 1893  Maya, Late Formative (Providencia phase), Peg-based sculpture of standing man, 350–100 B.C. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, Peter Jay Sharp, Class of 1952, Fund