Keep a fresh eye
Six strategies for getting the most out of New England’s many art museums
In a candid moment, Nathaniel Hawthorne once described a visit to the British Museum as “an exceedingly tiresome affair,” noting that it “quite crushes a person to see so much; and I wandered from hall to hall with a weary and heavy heart.”
We sympathize with Hawthorne’s benumbed sense of overload. But we bet that “The Scarlet Letter” author didn’t have a plan. New England has its own share of potentially overwhelming art museums, but we have resources that Hawthorne lacked in 1856. We can dial up museums’ websites for everything from floor plans of galleries to collection highlights and calendars of upcoming programs. We can also check for times of free or reduced admissions — perfect for making repeat visits rather than trying to cram everything into one trip. Here are some other strategies for staying fresh. Check websites for details and any additional costs.
No passport required
Some New England museums have specific holdings that rank among the best in the country or even in the world. We think of them as “don’t miss. For example, the art and artifacts from ancient Egypt and Nubia at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (mfa.org) are the most extensive and finest of their kind outside of Cairo and Khartoum, respectively. Go for the mummies, certainly, but be prepared to be dazzled by the sculptures.
In Central Massachusetts, Worcester Art Museum (worcesterart.org) holds the secondlargest collection of arms and armor in the country. Select pieces are displayed throughout the museum with other art from the
same period, so don’t be surprised to walk into a gallery and spy a full suit of armor standing sentry in the middle. A dedicated hall for the collection is under construction.
New perspectives
Even the oldest museums with the most venerable collections are always changing. We look for exhibitions that put forward fresh, bold interpretations. The society of ship captains and supercargoes that grew into the Peabody Essex Museum (pem.org) dates from 1799, giving PEM a global, crosscultural perspective. The promise of those riches is realized in the groundfloor exhibition hall devoted to “On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America. In 2022, PEM took its collection of American art (including colonial furniture) and merged it with the equally deep collection of Native American art. This maze-like series of exhibit areas presents the two collections in direct, often fascinating dialogue. The juxtapositions show artistic affinities and pointed differences between the experiences of Native and non-Native cultures around the country, with a special emphasis on coastal New England.
Also opened in 2022, the MFA’s “Stories Artists Tell fills a suite of galleries with thematic chapters of 20thcentury art in the Americas. Some of the museum’s most recognizable works appear side by side with art by less well-known creators. We’re particularly taken with Art and Jazz (gallery 326) that teases out the relation of art, design, and jazz — where an Edward Hopper painting speaks to a beaded flapper gown that speaks in turn to Gibson jazz guitars.
Bloomberg Connects
Thanks to the free smartphone app Bloomberg Connects, we listened as contemporary jazz musicians interpreted five paintings in the MFA exhibit. The app is practically a teleportation device, since it opens the doors at roughly 350 institutions worldwide, including many in New England. We always check what’s available before a visit. At the least the app offers visitor information; at its best it has exclusive audio and video about the art on display. The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (icaboston.org), for example, offers a series of Soundbites on the app. In video clips, artists talk informally about their work, often making a challenging piece more accessible.
Mark the calendar
Each season we check for upcoming exhibitions that pique our interest. This spring through fall looks especially promising. The Farnsworth Art Museum (farnsworthmuseum.org) in Rockland, Maine, for example, might be best known for its collection of work by three generations of Wyeth artists: N.C., Andrew, and Jamie. But the Farnsworth also has the second largest collection of work by Louise Nevelson, born in Ukraine but raised in Rockland. Louise Nevelson: Dawn to Dusk (through Sept. 29) traces her career from early paintings to the abstract painted wooden constructions that brought her fame. Also in Maine but later this spring, the Portland Museum of Art (portlandmuseum.org) launches a retrospective of Passqamaquoddy master basket artist Jeremy Frey (May 24-Sept. 15). It’s a landmark exhibition of a contemporary Indigenous artist in a general fine art museum.
Different ways of looking
Who knew that art could look so different from the perspective of a yoga mat? The Currier Museum of Art (currier.org) in Manchester, N.H., the New Britain Museum of American Art (nbmaa.org) in Connecticut, and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (thetrustees.org/place/decordova/) in Lincoln all offer yoga programs in the galleries. They range from hourlong classes to full-day yoga retreats. At the deCordova, the galleries overlook the sculpture park through huge windows, so class members are literally surrounded by art. The deCordova also offers monthly full-moon tours of the sculpture grounds. As the days get longer, these transition to “twilight tours.
Yoga isn’t the only way to slow down and be mindful. According to museum studies, adult museum-goers spend less than 30 seconds looking at any individual work of art. By contrast, the Currier’s docent-led, interactive “Looking Together program devotes an entire quarter of an hour to looking at and discussing a single object.
Toast the Creative Spirit
Legendary Boston socialite Isabella Stewart Gardner knew how to throw a party. So does her namesake museum, which invites the world in on the first Thursday of each month (gardnermuseum.org). It’s part of a growing trend toward end-of-work-week socializing in the galleries. Details vary but programs often include live music, DJs, art-making, talks, and food and drink. The Wadsworth Atheneum (thewadsworth.org) in Hartford also has a first Thursday event, while the Harvard Art Museums (harvardartmuseums.org) in Cambridge hold out for the last Thursday. First Fridays are museum soirée nights for the New Britain Museum of Art, the ICA/Boston, and the Farnsworth.