Enhanced Sert Gallery opens at Carpenter Center

The newly renovated Sert Gallery opened last month providing increased gallery space for modern and contemporary art at the Harvard University Art Museums. Sert is the result of collaboration between the Art Museums and the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies (VES). Both the Gallery and VES are adjacent to the Fogg and Busch-Reisinger Museums, and are located within the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.

“The creation of the Sert Gallery continues the Art Museums tradition of working with other departments in the Harvard community to create new opportunities for teaching and research,” said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. “This new space furthers our commitment to modern and contemporary art by providing increased opportunities for exhibiting these growing collections.”

The Art Museums have actively collected contemporary art since the early 20th century. Over the years, these holdings have grown significantly, prompting the recent creation of a curatorial department of modern and contemporary art.

Peter Rose, a professor of architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, was selected as the architect of record for the renovation, further extending the intrauniversity collaboration for the project.

The refurbished gallery occupies the space of the original Sert Gallery, named for Josep Lluis Sert, former chairman of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Sert oversaw the building’s construction in 1963.