When Princeton University--then still known as the College of New Jersey--sought to modernize itself as a progressive institution of international stature, it did so in part by adopting a visual language drawn from the past: the Gothic vocabulary of the “ancient universities” of Oxford and Cambridge. Princeton and the Gothic Revival: 1870-1930 explores the Gothic Revival movement in architecture and design across America at the end of the nineteenth century, using Princeton's campus as a case study and launching point. This exhibition draws from the unique resources of Princeton's Firestone Library and the University archives, along with the painting and watercolor collections of the Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other institutions, to suggest the central role Princeton played in the Gothic Revival movement, its motivations, and its meanings in defining a great modern university.

Alexander Hoyle, 1882-1967 for Cram and Ferguson, architects Proposed exterior of chapel (S41) Watercolor on wove paper approximately 96.5 x 71.1 cm. (38 x 28 in.) Lent by the University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library GRP-19 Image Courtesy the University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Princeton and the Gothic Revival: 1870-1930 has been made possible by the generous support of Christy Eitner Neidig and William Neidig, Class of 1970, in memory of Lorenz E. A. Eitner, Graduate School Class of 1952; and by Christopher E. Olofson, Class of 1992; the Kathleen C. Sherrerd Program Fund for American Art; the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Exhibitions Fund; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Barr Ferree Foundation Fund for Publications, Princeton University. Additional funding has been provided by Herbert L. Lucas Jr., Class of 1950; Exxon-Mobil Corporation; and the Partners and Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum.

John Constable: Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum presents a thoughtful look at one of the greatest landscape artists of all time. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, this exhibition offers a rare opportunity to investigate the significance of John Constable's contributions to British art and ultimately to the rise of Romanticism across Europe and North America. The Princeton University Art Museum is one of only two North American venues for this insightful exploration of Constable's working process. Taking his easel into nature, Constable (1776-1837) was one of the first artists to work en plein air, "so as to note ‘the day, the hour, the sunshine and the shade.'" The openness of his brushwork and his concern for passing light effects were enormously influential for subsequent generations of artists, including the Impressionists of late- nineteenth-century France.

John Constable, Full-scale study for The Hay Wain, 1821. Oil on canvas. 137 x 188 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum (987-1900) © Victoria and Albert Museum / V&A images.

John Constable: Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum has been organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The exhibition at Princeton has been made possible by an anonymous benefactor, and by Christopher E. Olofson, Class of 1992, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Support was also provided by Duane E. Wilder, Class of 1951, John H. Rassweiler, the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Exhibitions Fund, and the Partners and Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

At the core of any encounter is a dialogue that can take the form of a chance meeting, an adversarial conflict, or an encounter with unknown realms or worlds. Every encounter fosters a questioning or confrontation of what is the same and what is different. What is accepted and familiar in the art and culture of any people at any time is often inconspicuous, hidden in the currents of tradition until there is an encounter with something that is different yet similar, or similar yet different. The connections or points of encounter occur across place and time, and the direction of a gaze controls how one culture sees another and how one sees oneself. Encounters draws from the arts of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe, spanning ancient to contemporary works, and includes media ranging from painting and sculpture to calligraphy, ceramics, and photography.

Winslow Homer, American, 1836-1910: The Trysting Place, 1875. Watercolor and gouache with selective application of clear, shiny coating over traces of pastel and graphite on cream wove paper, 30.5 x 20.5 cm. Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Division of Graphic Arts. Gift of the Estate of Laurence Hutton in 1913. L.61 photo: Bruce M. White

Root & Branch considers trees and branching forms in the history of art and scientific imagery—from a mythical narrative scene on an ancient Greek amphora to an eighteenth-century master drawing of an oak tree to an aerial photograph of erosion patterns in the American desert to a map charting one moment of global activity on the World Wide Web.

Thomas Cole, American, 1801-1848: Tree and Rock, 1823. Pen and black ink and graphite on cream wove paper, 22.8 x 34.2 cm. Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. (x1940-84) photo: Bruce M. White.

Dancing into Dreams: Maya Vases of the Ik’ Kingdom will offer an intimate glimpse at the exceptionally painted chocolate-drinking cups of a single Maya center located in modern-day Guatemala. Ik’ vases are acknowledged particularly for their naturalistic color, veristic portraiture, skillful rendition of graceful movement, and elegantly fluid, calligraphic line. Several Ik’ vases were also signed by their painters—a convention attested in the ancient Americas only among the Maya of this region. Complementing our important holdings of Ik’ vessels with loans of select masterpieces from other museum collections, the exhibition will both elucidate the courtly politics and dynastic history of the Ik’ kingdom and reveal the vital role of master artists in these intrigues.

Guatemala, Motul de San José or vicinity, Maya, attributed to Mo…?n Buluk Laj, Late Classic, ca. A.D. 755: Shallow bowl with flared rim. Ceramic with polychrome slip, h. 8.1 cm., diam. 20.0 cm. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. photo: Bruce M. White. y1993-19

This exhibition explores the history and archaeology of Polis Chrysochous, a town in the Republic of Cyprus that is the site of the ancient city of Marion and its successor city, Arsinoe. Celebrating the conclusion of more than two decades of excavations at Polis by the Princeton Department of Art and Archaeology, under the direction of Professor William A. P. Childs, City of Gold will feature 110 objects lent by the Cypriot Department of Antiquities, the British Museum, and the Musée du Louvre, including splendid gold jewelry and a rare marble statue of a kouros, or nude male youth.

Greek, Attic, ca. 520-510 B.C.: Statue of a kouros (nude male youth), from Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. Parian marble, h. 72 cm. The British Museum (1887.8-1.1). Copyright © The British Museum / British Museum Images.