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

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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.



Arthur J. Stone 1847-1938, Designer and Silversmith was the first survey of the master of American Arts and Crafts silver and showcased the influence of nature in his work.

The exhibition illustrated Stone’s inventive and historical designs, informed by the natural elements of plants and flowers. Stone used ornamental chasing, or surface modeling, to raise patterns in relief, creating subtle decorations. One such highlight in the exhibition was a tea and coffee set (1916-18), created for George G. Booth, founder of the Cranbrook Academy and Art Museum. The set, in silver with gold wash and ivory insulators was embellished with an array of gold grapes and silver leaves. Works like this one revealed Stone’s scholarly approach as well as his adoption of historical forms, ranging from Etruscan art to French baroque to English 17th- and 18th-century decorative arts.

Organized by the American Federation of Arts, the exhibition was one of two concurrent major silver shows held at Bard Graduate Center, along with English Silver: Masterpieces by Omar Ramsden from the Campbell Collection.
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Curated by Elenita C. Chickering and Sarah Morgan Ross. Organized by the Boston Athenaeum.