Students give gallery talks at MFA

By Ted Nesi '07

In an impressive display of Wheaton's commitment to experiential learning, two students recently had the chance to give gallery talks at Boston's venerable and prestigious Museum of Fine Arts, accepting an invitation extended to them by one of the museum's top curators.

Skye Monson '07 and Alicia LaTores '09 told a large crowd of museum visitors about the history and significance of two pieces in a current exhibition, Donatello to Giambologna: Italian Renaissance Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which runs through July. The pair were supported by a group of fellow students who traveled from Norton to Boston on a college-chartered bus to attend.

The world-renowned MFA -- home to the second largest permanent museum collection in the Western Hemisphere, topped only by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art -- is one of Boston's cultural landmarks and a top attraction, and the two women described it as a great honor to spend an evening as resident experts.

Monson discussed a detailed wood sculpture from the early sixteenth century, "Massacre of the Innocents, with Herod in his Court, and the Flight into Egypt," by the Milanese artist Giovanni Angelo del Maino. She called the lively relief "dramatic," pointing to the turmoil depicted in its Biblical scenes.

The senior, a Studio Art and Art History double major, also shed light on period opinions about the nature of art.

"In our culture we think of art as the intellectual property of the artist," Monson told the attentive crowd, "but in the Renaissance era art was thought of in two ways: as the invention of an image, and as the execution of a work of art."

LaTores, in her talk, described the history and meaning of the ceramic "Bust of a woman," a large-scale central Italian sculpture dating from between the years 1490 and 1500.

The sophomore Art History major spoke of the woman depicted in the bust almost as a friend. Her love of the form, she explained, comes from her own deep connection with it.

"Sculpture has a tactile quality that I love and many art forms lack," LaTores said, "and understanding how an object is made can make something that much more impressive."

Calling her "not all that attractive" but "very distinctive," LaTores explained that the bust is a bit of a mystery; most such sculptures depicted either a gorgeous or repulsive woman, but she is neither. Was she a real person?

"I think that she is," LaTores declared.

Monson and LaTores were invited to give the talks by Marietta Cambareri, an Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture in the MFA's Department of the Art of Europe, after taking a class last spring on Italian Renaissance sculpture taught at the Museum by Cambareri.

"Typically grad students give gallery talks, not undergrads, so that in itself is a huge accomplishment," LaTores said.

Monson agreed, adding, "Many of these pieces of sculpture had little or no information written about them, and many of them were in very poor condition, so there was a lot of work to be done to prepare for this exhibition; I am really proud to have been a part of that."