Left: Earl Martin in the Object Lab with Wedgwood miniature tea sets, a recent acquisition from Anne Pasternak. Right: Josh Massey in the Object Lab viewing stereographs from the collection.

RECENT ACQUISITIONS 

Despite the pandemic, the Study Collection has grown steadily over the past two years. Stefan Heidemann, former BGC visiting professor and professor of Islamic history and artistic and material culture, dropped off a collection of 1930s through 1970s household items from his family’s residence in Versmold, Germany, in March 2020, just moments before BGC closed its 86th Street buildings and he stepped on a plane bound for Hamburg. Since then, we have received close to 400 individual items from donors, and since officially reopening our doors in August 2021, nearly 600 photographs of fully-cataloged items have been added to Artstor.

Last Study Collection gift received before the pandemic forced BGC to shut down in March 2020. Items donated by Stefan Heidemann.

One of the most substantial gifts in the past two years is a collection of approximately 100 Southeast Asian traditional textiles made between the 1960s and mid-1990s. They were donated by retired lawyer John Lillis, who began collecting them in 1991 in northeast Thailand. This gift encompasses pieces ranging from sarongs and shawls to blankets from countries such as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. The textiles represent the work of ethnic tribal groups such as the Karen, Akha, Tai Dong, and Tai Dam people. Barb Elam is currently working with Josh Massey to catalog this collection. 

Additional selected new acquisitions include:

• Three well-preserved hinged wooden boxes, including a circa 1700 Baroque writing box with original key, donated by Wolfram Koeppe, BGC board member and Marina Kellen French Senior Curator, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art
• A collection of Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation posters designed and donated by Willi Kuntz
• Hats, hat forms, and other items from the millinery studio of Rod Keenan, donated by Keenan
• Several donations from Susan M. Yecies, including a collection of jewelry that consists of objects from Ted Meuhling, Tina Chow, Gabriella Kiss, that supplements two earlier gifts of jewelry; decorative bags from Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan; wooden marriage bowls, likely from Bolivia; a large late nineteenth- or twentieth-century Japanese basket, and other items.
• Dyed porcupine quills used in Native American quillwork donated by Allan Kohl, Librarian, Visual Resources and Library Instruction, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
• Plate from Service Rousseau (Service Japonais) designed by Félix Bracquemond (French, 1833–1914)
• Nineteenth-century carved oak panel in the Gothic Revival style from Patricia Levy and BGC board member Martin Levy

Hat form from the studio of Rod Keenan New York, wood. Bard Graduate Center Study Collection, Gift of Rodney Keenan.

Additional gifts from faculty and BGC Community members 

The BGC community is welcome to propose gifts for the Study Collection. We continue to receive donations from faculty and staff, including a recent collection of items from BGC faculty member Jeffrey Collins comprised of objects such as seventeenth-century copper alloy candlesticks, likely Spanish; Chinese porcelain dishes; and samples of carved “vegetable ivory,” also known as tagua nut, from Boyacá, Colombia. We are especially interested in objects from BIPOC makers and encourage potential donors with items that fit these parameters to contact us. 

Collection of carved “vegetable ivory” (tagua nut) objects and a tagua nut shell (foreground), Colombian, purchased by donor in 2014. Bard Graduate Center Study Collection, Gift of Jeffrey L. Collins. 

Viewing Objects

The Study Collection is now fully open for object viewing and can be accessed most weekdays. Please contact barb.elam@bgc.bard.edu for an appointment. Appointments can also be made through Earl Martin earl.martin@bgc.bard.edu or by contacting the library at group.library@bgc.bard.edu.