Arts & Culture

Two photos of the same woman, one as a store worker the other as an Arctic explorer

Harvard Squared | May-June 2025

Rendering Dreams in Art

South Korean artist’s socially themed photographs at the Peabody Essex Museum

by Nell Porter-Brown

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.

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

Features | September-October 2009

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

A brief profile of an enterprising French artist

by Laura Auricchio

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.

In a 1966 image taken in the Museum of Abstract Spanish Art in Cuenca, Zóbel holds one of his sketches; his painting <em>Ornitóptero</em> hangs behind him. At left is <em>Homenaje a Vasarely II,</em> a sculpture by Amadeo Gabino; the painting at far right is <em>Barrera con rojo y ocre,</em> by José Guerrero.

Features | March-April 2009

Fernando Zóbel de Ayala

A brief profile of the peripatetic painter and philanthropist

by John Seed

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

Alex MacLean with tools of his trade: a new fuel-efficient plane and his camera

Montage | January-February 2009

Up in the Air

Aerial photographer Alex MacLean documents the effects of the American lifestyle on the American landscape.

by Paul Gleason