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).

In 1985, a serendipitous visit to an estate sale and subsequent purchase of forty garden statues led Barbara Israel to found Barbara Israel Garden Antiques. After 36 years in business, she is recognized as an authority on the subject. Her exhaustively researched book, Antique Garden Ornament: Two Centuries of American Taste is the definitive work in the field. Israel is also the author of A Guide to Buying Antique Garden Ornament, a user-friendly handbook packed with tips on conservation, identification, and more. She has served as a consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution for their collections of nineteenth- century cast iron, and she has sold pieces to the Winterthur Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as to many important private collectors. As an active board member of the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, Barbara is devoted to preserving historic gardens and their antique garden ornament.