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.

view of the backside of Winthrop House and flags

University News |

Harvard Retains Winthrop Name

Committee undecided on whether owning slaves merits denaming

by Max J. Krupnick

Photo of a cheerleader group composed of elderly women, all in red tops and white skirts, with pompoms

Montage | March-April 2021

When Fantasy Isn’t Enough

Documentarian Lance Oppenheim explores life in The Villages.

by Alex Huls

Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones poses stylishly in a studio

Alumni | March-April 2021

Curator of American Culture

Radhika Jones at the helm of Vanity Fair

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

A detailed 1598 map of Iceland, with monstrous sea creatures in the surrounding waters and polar bears on ice flows.

Treasure | March-April 2021

Cartography Animated

The era of imaginative mapmaking

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Photo of the exterior of Coolidge Corner Theater, with its vertical red neon sign.

Harvard Squared | March-April 2021

Returning to the Big Screen

Greater Boston’s small cinemas strive to engage film-goers during the pandemic.

by Nell Porter-Brown

Zoom-like grid of colorful portraits of people in pandemic-era face masks.

Harvard Squared | March-April 2021

Our Masked Selves

Richard Nielsen: “This is Not a Gag,” at MASS MoCA

by Nell Porter-Brown

A photograph of the border wall stretching toward a mountain in the distance

Students & Alumni |

Encounters at the Border

Photographer Morgan Smith ’60 documents life on the precarious precipice between Mexico and the United States.

by Lydialyle Gibson

Three people in 1950s New York

Harvard Squared | January-February 2021

Picturing America

“Robert Frank: The Americans,” at the Addison Gallery of American Art

by Nell Porter-Brown

A photograph of art historian Cassandra Albinson next to a photograph of a portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour applying pink rouge to her cheeks

John Harvard's Journal | January-February 2021

Cassandra Albinson

A curator takes a fresh look at portraits of aristocratic European women.

by Jonathan Shaw

Producer Jeff Schaffer sits between star Larry David (left) and another cast member on the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” set.

Montage | January-February 2021

“Magical Digressions”

TV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer on how to be funny

by Stuart Miller

Ornate eighteenth-century dress with wide hooped skirt

Harvard Squared | January-February 2021

“Made It: The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion”

Highlighting 250 years of women in fashion

by Nell Porter-Brown