About
Upcoming Exhibitions
BGC Gallery will resume its exhibition programming this September with the return of Sèvres Extraordinaire! Sculpture from 1740 until Today, originally slated for fall 2024.
Bard Graduate Center is an advanced graduate research institute in New York City dedicated to the cultural histories of the material world. Our MA and PhD degree programs, Gallery exhibitions, research initiatives, scholarly publications and public programs explore new ways of thinking about decorative arts, design history, and material culture.

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About

Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.


Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).


Ivan Gaskell’s essay, “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory,” a review of The Poetics of Sight by John Harvey (Peter Lang, 2015) is appearing in the journal Essays in Criticism, vol. 67, issue 1 (Oxford, 2017).

Aaron Glass is giving a talk entitled “Complicating Curtis: Fact/Fiction/Photo/Film” at the Soho Photo Gallery on March 9.

Paul Stirton and students will visit the Grolier Club on February 24 to view the exhibition For Art’s Sake: The Aesthetic Movement and Beyond. That day, Paul will give a Brown Bag Lunch on the topic.

Ittai Weinryb will be lecturing on “Casting Monuments: Bronze, Ecology, and Colonialism” and participating in two hands-on workshops at the 2017 Harvard Medieval Material Culture Lecture and Workshops, March 28-30, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

​Read about faculty participation in the 2017 CAA Conference here.