The new semester is now underway, and we are excited to welcome faculty and students back to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA). We are happy to report that the floor re-finishing and re-installation projects in the upper-level galleries are progressing well. On February 3, the Assyrian, Shaw-Ruddock, Walker, and Markell galleries will reopen. The Museum’s Bowdoin, Boyd, and Rotunda galleries will reopen in March. Please stay tuned to our website for updates. We look forward to sharing these new Permanent Collection installations with you. In the meantime, please be sure to see the three new shows in the lower-level galleries: Josefina Auslender: Drawing Myself Free; Hung Liu: Happy and Gay; and From Guild to Genius: Inventing “The Artist” in Western Culture. The third of these featured exhibitions, located in the Becker Gallery, was curated by Marianna Zingone ’26, whose work on this project is highlighted in the interview below. Also, if your travels take you to Salem, Massachusetts, we recommend a new exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) about American sculptor Edmonia Lewis. It opens on February 14 and includes on loan a sculpture from the BCMA’s collection. You can learn more about that sculpture below from PEM’s curator Jeffrey Richmond-Moll.
See you at the Museum.
With warm regards,
Anne Collins Goodyear & Frank H. Goodyear IIICo-Directors, Bowdoin College Museum of Art
exhibitions
 Now Open Hung Liu: Happy and Gay This exhibition features works by Hung Liu which adapt and subvert Maoist propaganda cartoons that were published during the 1950s. In the series, Liu revisits cartoons of her youth that were published in children's books and primers (known as "xiaorenshu"). The exhibition was organized by Georgetown University Art Galleries, and curated by Dr. Dorothy Moss and Georgetown graduate students. more |  Opening Soon Creating the Modern: Works on Paper from a Recent Gift by Howard M. Haimes ’76 This exhibition brings together a selection of works on paper created between 1893 and 1947 in Europe and the United States generously donated to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art by Howard M. Haimes ’76 on the occasion of his fiftieth reunion.more |
spotlight
 | Reattributing a Portrait Bust by Edmonia Lewis The sitter in the BCMA’s portrait bust by Edmonia Lewis has recently been identified as Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney (1824-1904). A prominent social reformer, Cheney shared with Lewis a belief in the power of art to forge new forms of solidarity and selfhood. The bust will be featured in "Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone," opening Feb 14, 2026 at the Peabody Essex Museum.more |
news
 "From Guild to Genius": A Conversation with Marianna Zingone '26 A conversation with Marianna Zingone ’26 offers insight into the curatorial development of the exhibition From Guild to Genius: Inventing “The Artist” in Western Culture. The exhibition traces shifting conceptions of “the artist” in the Western world from the medieval era, through the Renaissance, until today.more |  Anna Boberg's "The Blue Roof [Det blå taket]": The Arctic, Modernism, and the Reimagining of Place The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is pleased to announce the acquisition of Anna Boberg’s The Blue Roof [Det bl |
calendar
Tuesday, February 3, 2026Reopening of second floor galleriesThe Assyrian, Shaw-Ruddock, Walker, and Markell galleries will reopen after a temporary closure for renovations. Bowdoin, Boyd, and Rotunda galleries will remain temporarily closed.
Thursday, February 26, 2026Artist Talk with Samira Abbassy5:00-6:30 p.m.Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center
Fri, Feb 27, 2026Coffee with the Curators12 pm to 2 pmSmith Union Fishbowl Conference Room (Room 114) Want to learn about summer internship opportunities at the Museum of Art? Have some cool ideas for collaborations or events? Or maybe you just want to chat over coffee and pastries? Swing by the Smith Union Conference Room (Room 114) anytime between 12:00 and 2:00 PM! You’ll find Curator Casey Braun, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow Annie Cross, and Curatorial Assistant Emily Jacobs ready to greet you with free Museum swag, coffee, and their sparkling personalities. It's the perfect chance to connect, brainstorm, or simply enjoy some treats! This is an informal event, so please feel free to drop in as you have time.