Title: A Moment Collected: Photographs at the Harvard Art Museum

Photographer/s: Jess T. Dugan

Contributor/s: Essay by Mary Malloy
Interview with Shellburne Thurber

Date of publication: 2011

Place of publication: Boston, MA

Dimensions: 8″ x 10″

Edition size: 250

Type of binding: Softcover, perfect bound

Number of pages: 96

Number of pictures: 49

Type of printing: Digital

Designer: Heather Latham

Language: English

ISBN: 978-0-9846346-1-3

Category: Artist book

Price: $20.00

Summary: An art museum is a tiny world unto itself, a complex web of individual people caring for and sharing their collection with the world. I like to think of these people as the keepers of the art, drawn to it by love and entrusted with its care for a period of time, ensuring that it will get passed along with admiration to the next generation. The Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University is a particularly special museum, full of character and life. Its building is old and eccentric, its collection is breathtaking, and its people are more like a family than a staff. I was drawn to working at the Fogg because of my love of photography, but quickly became enchanted with the museum itself, specifically the group of dedicated individuals who have walked its corridors for upwards of twenty years.

Using a large format view camera and a soft-edged lens, I began to photograph these people, one by one, in their respective jobs and roles, trying in earnest to capture the beauty of this place and the energy of pride in the air. What started as a small idea quickly grew into a larger project. When I began photographing, the museum was six months away from closing its doors for a five year renovation. Though everyone agreed the renovation was long overdue, it also brought with it the ending of an era, the disruption of the museum family, and the change of the Fogg as everyone had known it for the past several decades. Though it was not my intention from the onset, I found myself desperately trying to capture what made the Fogg so beautiful and unique before it was gone, at least as we know it today.

Ultimately, these photographs are about the strong sense of connection I found among the people and how deeply the spirit of the Fogg runs through its inhabitants. These photographs are about passion, community, and love, but they also speak to the passing of time, the idea of change, and the impermanent and fluid nature of each person’s involvement in a much larger existence.

Date and place of birth of photographer/s: b. 1986, Biloxi, MS

Website: www.jessdugan.com

Book link: http://www.jessdugan.com/Text_page.cfm?pID=4800

Donated by: Jess T. Dugan

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