Imagining Museums: The Next 150 Years of Stewarding Art at Wellesley

In this hybrid, bilingual symposium hosted by the Davis Museum at Wellesley College in English and French, students, scholars, and alumni around the world will extend Wellesley’s legacy of learning directly from works of art. Held in Tishman Commons and live-streamed, the symposium will propose new strategies for the ethical stewardship of artworks collected by the College since 1875. In collaboration with the Wellesley Club of France, Centre International de Recherches André Malraux, Pluralism Initiative, French House, and French, Francophone, and Italian Studies Department, the symposium pays special attention to the influence of novelist, politician, and cultural critic André Malraux on Wellesley’s museum in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

March 26, 2026: Day 1 of 2

In-Person Schedule at a Glance

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Coffee, Tishman Commons

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM: Opening Remarks, Tishman Commons

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM: Session One: Imagination at Non-Imaginary Museums, in collaboration with the Art Department, Tishman Commons

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM: Lunch Break (lunch not provided).

Guest are encouraged to explore eateries on and off campus. Bae Pao Lu Chow Dining Room, Emporium Cafe, are in the same bulding as Tishman and Collins Café is across from the Davis Museum.

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Session Two: Malraux in 2175, in collaboration with the Centre International de Recherches André Malraux, Wellesley French House, and Wellesley French, Francophone, and Italian Studies Department, Tishman Commons

3:00 PM: Tours and Discussions in the Galleries, Davis Museum

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Reception, Tishman Commons

4:15 PM: Brief Remarks Celebrating Wellesley’s 150th Anniversary

This symposium is supported by the Mary Hammond Norton ‘54 Endowed Fund for the Davis Museum and co-sponsored by the Pluralism Initiative, French House, Art Department, Religion Department, Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities, and Africana Studies.

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Host or Publisher Davis Museum at Wellesley College