The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate research institute and gallery located in New York City. It is affiliated with

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 18 ...

, located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The gallery occupies a six-story townhouse at 18 West 86th Street while the academic building and library are located at 38 West 86th Street. Students at Bard Graduate Center focus on the study of the cultural history of the material world. The institution is committed to the encyclopedic study of things, drawing on methodologies and approaches from art and design history, economic and cultural history and history of technology, philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology. Students enrolled in the M.A. and PhD programs work closely with a distinguished faculty of active scholars in exploring the interrelationships between works of art and craft, design, places, ideas and social and cultural practice in courses ranging from antiquity to the 21st century.

Programs

Bard Graduate Center offers two programs of study, one leading to a

Masters of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree and the other to a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree. Students in these programs can select courses dealing with various aspects of the cultural history of the material world. Bard Graduate Center also has a Gallery presenting regular exhibitions relating to the history of the

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usua ...

, design and material culture, as well as Focus Project exhibitions, small-scale academically rigorous exhibitions and publications that are developed and executed by Bard Graduate Center faculty and postdoctoral fellows in collaboration with students in the MA and PhD programs. Students in the MA and PhD programs take the same courses. The curriculum for the master's degree includes a number of required courses, tutorials, independent studies, travel, and internships. Students otherwise construct their own program of study. The BGC is known for its focus on New York and American Material Culture; History and Theory of Museums; Modern Design History; Early Modern Europe; and Comparative Medieval Material Culture (China, Islam, Europe).

Teaching

In addition to formal classes, Bard Graduate Center runs a series of evening colloquia designed to function in a kind of polyphony with the “for credit” course offerings. Regular evening seminars, which are open to the academic public, serve as foci. In addition, the History and Theory of Museums program brings in speakers affiliated with current exhibitions, and the Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Europe group cosponsors two annual events with the Columbia University interdepartmental group on Medieval and Renaissance studies. The endowed lecture series bring in a regular sequence of speakers on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France and on the history of glass. Every May the BGC participates, as the founding organizer, in the Consortium for American Material Culture, along with

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

, the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 m ...

, the

University of Wisconsin—Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ro ...

, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, and our local partners at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

and the

New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...

. The hands-on examination of objects is an essential feature of study at Bard Graduate Center. Incorporated into the first-year Survey of the Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture course are “Materials Days,” events that focus on the making of things, so that students can experience materiality from the maker’s perspective.

Exhibitions

Bard Graduate Center Gallery present exhibitions and a broad range of exhibition-related programs including exhibition lectures, curatorial conversations, gallery talks, films, and exhibition catalogues devoted to enhancing knowledge and awareness of the material world.

Notable alumni

Notable Notability is the property of being worthy of notice, having fame, or being considered to be of a high degree of interest, significance, or distinction. It also refers to the capacity to be such. Persons who are notable due to public responsibi ...

graduates of the Bard Graduate Centre include: *

Grace Jeffers Grace Jeffers is an American writer, historian, educator and artist based in New York. She pioneered and continues to lead an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to the study of materials. Her writings and lectures draw on 20th century art, ...

, design educator - Master's degree in history of decorative arts (1996) * Sarah Archer, curator and writer - Master's degree in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture (2006) *

Daniella Ohad Smith Daniella Ohad is an American-Israeli design historian, educator, writer, and influencer. She teaches history of design, material culture, design connoisseurship, and design culture at Parsons School of Design and New York School of Interior De ...

, design historian and writer - PhD

References

External links

Bard Graduate Center
official site
Yale University Press
exhibition catalogs from the Bard Graduate Center {{Coord, 40, 47, 9, N, 73, 58, 16.6, W, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Universities and colleges in New York City Private universities and colleges in New York (state) University art museums and galleries in New York (state) Bard College Educational institutions established in 1993 Art museums and galleries in Manhattan Decorative arts museums in the United States Upper West Side Universities and colleges in Manhattan 1993 establishments in New York City