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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Fall 2025
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Exhibitions

Tickets

Get tickets for Sèvres Extraordinaire, September 10–November 16, 2025

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Gallery Hours

Wednesdays, 11 am till 8 pm; Thursdays–Sundays, 11 am till 5 pm.

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The Bard Graduate Center Gallery produces multiple exhibitions and publications each year, serving as a vital center of learning and a catalyst for engagement in the interrelated disciplines of decorative arts, design, and material culture. The gallery is celebrated in the museum world for its longstanding legacy of landmark projects dedicated to significant—yet often understudied—figures and movements in the history of decorative arts and design; these exhibitions and publications typically represent the definitive intervention on the artists and objects they investigate. BGC Gallery is also committed to generating and supporting a vast range of diverse presentations, small and large, that challenge traditional approaches to object inquiry; these examinations of material culture explore the human experience as manifest in our creation and use of “things” of all kinds. Whether originating in internal research and expertise, or in collaboration with external subject specialists, these endeavors prioritize rigorous scholarship while seeking to adhere to the field’s highest standards in production and design.





From the Exhibition:
Visualizing 19th-Century New York

This digital publication offers a spatial interface to the exhibition materials by placing objects, landmarks, and central themes on the 1851 Matthew Dripps Map of the City of New York, along with essays on objects in the exhibition, including bird’s-eye city views, technical processes such as stereoscopic photography, and historical topics such as the spectacle of strolling on Broadway or how oysters became a popular food among all classes of New Yorkers.

Read the Publication