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.

Publications
Shop Our Store!
Exhibition catalogues, books, journals, accessories, and more!





Exhibitions

Tickets

Join us for Wednesdays@BGC!

More

Gallery Hours

BGC Gallery reopens this September with the return of Sèvres Extraordinaire: Sculpture from 1740 until Today, originally slated for fall 2024.

More

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.



Nineteenth-century New York City was a visual experience, a spectacle for residents and visitors alike. This digital publication uses the 1851 Matthew Dripps Map of the City of New York as a spatial interface that users can explore to learn more about the objects and landmarks that made this bustling urban center so captivating. In addition to the geolocated essays and archival images presented on the map interface, this project includes two related stand-alone interactive features. “At the Intersection of Broadway and Ann” focuses on the landmarks of this important commercial and entertainment hub and the many changes the intersection underwent during the nineteenth century. “Behind the Scenes” takes an in-depth look at the processes and workers behind the storefronts and showrooms of Broadway, including those involved in the production of stereoscopes, parlor furniture, daguerreotype portraits, lithography, and printed matter.


This project features interactive elements included in the Visualizing 19th-Century New York exhibition held at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery September 19, 2014–January 11, 2015.
Digital Publication


Credits
The Focus Project curated by the late David Jaffee, Visualizing 19th-Century New York, was on view at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery from September 19, 2014 to January 11, 2015.

The Visualizing 19th-Century New York digital publication was designed by CHIPS, and developed by David Jaffee, Professor, with former BGC students Kelsey Brow, Martina D’Amato, Virginia Fister, Zahava Friedman-Stadler, Andrew Gardner, Laura Kelly-Bowditch, Hannah Wirta Kinney, Kathryn Knowles Lasdow, Anna McDonald, Claire McRee, Kirstin Purtich, Virginia Spofford, and Lanzhen Wang