Throughout the Museum’s history the staff has produced a wide array of critically acclaimed exhibitions both with works from the permanent collection and with objects borrowed from other institutions.
In addition, we have hosted a number of nationally and internationally recognized exhibits curated by organizations that specialize in traveling shows. Some of our more recent exhibitions are archived here. Please browse the links to the left to view our past exhibitions by year
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Visiting Professor of Studio Art May Mantell selected these prints in conjunction with her January-term course Introduction to Black and White Photography. The criteria were two: that they be exceptionally beautifully crafted silver prints and that they be meaningful works of art made by significant artists.
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As a prelude to the national presidential election in November, the museum is showing publicly for the first time a group of historic political cartoons by the syndicated artist Patrick Bruce “Pat” Oliphant (b. 1935). A 1967 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, Oliphant has been called “probably the most influential cartoonist now working” by The New York Times. The exhibit is comprised of ten political cartoons and one sculpture, created over a span of forty years, which represent each of the presidencies from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush.
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China Modern is a vast and substantive exhibition of approximately 175 objects which takes an in-depth look at the rich tradition of Chinese designs and styles in advertising, packaging, and promotional art for cinema, music, comic books, pulp fiction, fashion, games and toys. The exhibition’s iconic images chronicle China’s changing attitudes, identity, and its transition to a giant, commercial superpower.
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First published in 1903, Alfred Stieglitz’s magazine Camera Work quickly became one of the most influential photographic journals in the country. Created in response to the emergence of haphazard snapshots being taken by vast numbers of amateur photographers using Kodak box cameras, Camera Work set the standard for photographic art. Focusing on the work of the Photo-Secession, an elite group of invited members presided over by Stieglitz, the magazine promoted photography as a means of personal expression through articles about artistic issues and illustrations of fine art photography.
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Organized by Visiting Assistant Professor Stephen Whiteman, with translations by a number of colleagues in the College’s Chinese and History Departments, this installation demonstrates the endurance and continued vitality of Chinese calligraphy. Works on view, all from the Museum’s collection, are primarily contemporary inscriptions of revered texts. A manuscript dating to the 7th century C.E. and some of the accoutrements of the art of calligraphy are also included.
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This exhibition presents work by contemporary artists living in African nations and around the world. Including internationally renowned artists El Anatsui and Yinka Shonibare, among others, the exhibition features works of art motivated by the impact of the environment on contemporary African life and the artists’ recurring aesthetic practice of using found objects and appropriated materials.
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New York artist Richard Dupont employs cutting edge technology to produce drawings, prints, sculptures and installations that explore opportunities for self-surveillance and the perception of identity in an increasingly digital world. In 2000 and 2004, he made full-body laser scans of himself that would serve as templates for future works. Four of these are on display at the museum.
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This exhibit portrays a time of political change in a troubled outpost of the Maya world, and a human story of power and intrigue among people who lived more than 1,300 years ago. Nineteen Chamá polychrome ceramics are accompanied by more than 100 objects illustrating Maya daily life, religious ritual, and shifts in rulership.
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During the spring 2011 semester students in the History of Art and Architecture course Art Museums: Theory and Practice were invited to select a recent acquisition from the Middlebury College Museum’s permanent collection as the focus of their research. Just as each student who matriculates at Middlebury has a story to tell about the journey to campus, every object that enters the museum’s collection comes with a history. In addition to displaying the objects, this exhibition discusses the context from which they come and the significance of their addition to the collection.
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This exhibit of thirty-nine works, many of them unfinished, reflects on the working method and creative process of American realist painter Fairfield Porter.
