Arts & Culture

Explore Harvard’s vibrant arts scene—from campus exhibitions and theater to cultural analysis and literary reviews. Discover how creativity shapes the Harvard experience.

A woman and a horse jump off a large platform into water

Treasure | July-August 2025

Pony Plunges

Scrapbooking a woman who rode horses into the sea

by Max J. Krupnick

Laura Mehlinger with a Colorfield romper, in silk with mesh streamers (left), and a silk-and-mesh veil chemise

Montage | May-June 2010

Highbrow Lingerie

Fashion designer Laura Mehlinger draws on inspirations ranging from Vladimer Nabokow to Prince.

<i>Beckoning</i> (2008), one of Dinerstein’s recent concrete sculptures

Montage | May-June 2010

New Ancient Sculpture

Sculptor James Dinerstein’s works in concrete and bronze fuse ancient forms with modern abstraction.

by Paul Gleason

John Harvard's Journal | January-February 2010

Strokes in Glass

Ellen Kennelly ’85 has created a new glass sculpture for Weld Boathouse.

by Craig Lambert

Features | January-February 2010

Conceptualizing Small

In words and images, George M. Whitesides and Felice. C. Frankel explicate tools, concepts, and applications in nanoscience.

| November-December 2009

A Masterpiece Reconstructed

Sixty paintings once adorned the altarpiece of a Franciscan church in the small Tuscan town of Borgo San Sepolcro. View illustrations from the modern-day reconstruction.

Features | September-October 2009

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

A brief profile of an enterprising French artist

by Laura Auricchio

Even at the scale of cities, planners can work with the local ecology to create lasting interventions that minimize disruptions to the landscape, such as Khed Sez (shown) and Lavasa, both in India.

Right Now | September-October 2009

Architecture That Imitates Life

Architects are beginning to employ biomimicry, studying nature as a model for building design.

by John Gendall

In Yup’ik lore, the crane—depicted in the mask above—connotes stealth, power, and insight. The human face on the bird’s belly represents its <em>yua,</em> or spirit—the part of the animal that understands, and can relate to, humans. The porcelain “teeth” that border the face are a reminder to use one’s innate gifts to good effect, or risk being consumed by them. The porcelain “bones” hanging from the wings ward off evil spirits; wooden rings represent this world and the spirit world.

Montage | May-June 2009

Mnemonic Masks

Inspired by his Yup’ik heritage, Phillip Charette educates through his art.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

| May-June 2009

Ancestral Influences

View images of Phillip Charette's masks alongside masks from the Smithsonian Institution holdings that inspired him.

Oranges stacked for sale at a Moroccan bazaar

Montage | March-April 2009

Second-Life Photography

A profile of cultural photographer Lee Smith

by Craig Lambert