Featured image above: Art History Majors Committee co-chairs Nell Brayton (back row, first from left) and Eva Gamboa (front row, first from left) with four of the participants.
Photos by Eva Gamboa ’27 and Nell Brayton ’27
The elements paused for our art history students last Saturday, when they visited the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) in New Haven to enjoy a tour filled with lively conversations on art and the art history major.
Eight students took part in the September 26th field trip organized by the senior co-chairs of the Art History Majors Committee, Nell Brayton ’27 and Eva Gamboa ’27. The participants went on a free hour-long guided tour and had time after that to explore the museum on their own.
With “Crowds” as the theme of the guided visit, the group viewed four objects from the museum that depicted large groups of people. At the Art of the Ancient Americas section, they peered down on a ceramic model from Nayarit, Mexico which showed a traditional ballgame featured in many pieces of ancient Latin American art. “We discussed the role of the ballgame and speculated on the ways in which this object could have come into the collection of the YUAG,” Brayton said.
Moving on to the Gallery’s collection of European art, Brayton said they focused on the oil painting Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant (Hail Caesar! We Who Are About to Die Salute You) by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, “a gladiatorial scene about which we discussed the role of the crowd in the background.”
They absorbed the details of an elaborately decorated 19th century silver fireman’s trumpet with heroic scenes of firefighters at the American Decorative Arts wing, then checked out the American Paintings and Sculpture Collection. There, Brayton said, the students analyzed the hidden crowds in Italian-born Joseph Stella’s Battle of Lights, Coney Island, Mardi Gras.
“The YUAG felt like the perfect place for a quick trip with a group, because it was small enough to reconvene and discuss the works, but large enough that we could split up and head to whichever sections interested us most.”
Nell Brayton ’27
In addition, the co-chairs had a chance to share their knowledge of the Art History Program with the participants.
“It was wonderful to speak to a small group of majors and potential majors. We had great conversations about the department and the different directions majors can choose from.”
Eva Gamboa ’27
A weekend Nor’easter was in the forecast; while it was “a bit drizzly,” Brayton said “the rain held off for the most part and we weren’t outside for too long” at New Haven.
The Majors Committee provided transportation and lunch for the field trip. The next student-run activity is an Open House on Friday, November 6, at the Art History Commons. Current majors and minors are welcome to attend the noontime event to provide students interested in the art history major with more information!