Past Exhibitions
The Secrets of Tomb 10A
Egypt 2000 BC
In a 1915 excavation, archaeologists from the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition discovered the entrance to a tomb at the...
Patterns of Long Ago
Reflections of China in Japanese No Costume
Just as the stories of many No plays—peopled with historic and legendary figures, gods, spirits, and ghosts—are drawn from the classical literature of...
Luxuries from Japan
Cultural Exchange in the 17th and 18th Centuries
More than 400 years ago, Japan forged strong trading partnerships with China and the West, and Japan’s lacquer and porcelains were among the most...
Tibet/China Confluences
The Carpenter gallery is usually home to Chinese paintings, of which the Museum of Fine Arts holds one of the world’s great collections. The current...
Glorious Beasts in Persian Painting
Using selections from the Museum’s collection of Persian paintings for inspiration, Conley Harris, an artist and collector of Indian and Persian art...
Echoes of Heian Kyo
Court Culture in the Floating World
Look back to the glorious past of the ancient Japanese imperial capital of Kyoto, originally called Heian-kyō, as it was envisioned by artists of the...
A New and Native Beauty
The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene
In 1915, architect Charles Greene (1868-1957) wrote, "I seek till I find what is truly useful, and then I try to make it beautiful." The architecture...
Contemporary Outlook
Seeing Songs
Technology has rendered music more accessible and pervasive than ever before. MP3 players are omnipresent; every cell phone can make a statement about...
Vida y Drama
Modern Mexican Prints
Alberto Beltran's large drawing titled "Vida y drama de Mexico," made in 1957 as a preparatory design for a poster, sums up the spirit of this...
Viva Mexico!
Edward Weston and His Contemporaries
In the decades following the Constitution of 1917, Mexico became a powerful magnet for foreign artists and intellectuals drawn to its ideal climate...