Calendar of Events

Special guest Jennifer Tonkovich, curator of drawings and prints at the Morgan Library & Museum, joins Linda Roth, Wadsworth curator of European decorative arts, in a conversation about the new book Morgan the Collector (2023).

The publication offers a series of essays illustrating a multifaceted portrait of J. Pierpont Morgan as a collector and pays tribute to Roth, who has dedicated much of her career to researching Morgan and the over 1,500 works from his collection now in the Wadsworth’s collection. Keep an eye on your inbox for an email invitation and registration link.

Celebrate Latine heritage and culture with art making, music, and performances. Work alongside teaching artists from Bomba De Aqui in a vejigante mask-making workshop. Watch Mexican folkloric dancer Tere Luna perform in collaboration with Mariachi Mexico Antiguo. Then participate in an interactive dance presentation by Movimiento Cultural Afro-Continental and learn the history of Bomba, an Afro-Puerto Rican style of music and dance. Admission is free noon–2pm.

Please note: The Hartford Marathon runs on October 14. Check hartfordmarathon.com for best access to downtown Hartford, parking bans, and road closures.

Join us at the Mattatuck Museum for an exclusive tour and conversation about the exhibition Uprooted: Afghanistan to Connecticut led by curatorial fellow Hamid Hemat, and exhibiting artists Alibaba Awrang and Matin Malikzada. Through their artwork, Awrang and Malikzada share the experience of being displaced by the Taliban’s rise to power in 2021 and the physical and emotional process of creating a new home in Connecticut. The talk explores the history and contemporary practice of two important Afghan art forms, Nastaliq calligraphy and pottery. Keep an eye on your inbox for an email invitation and registration link. Registration is required; space is limited.

Above: Alibaba Awrang (b. 1972), Eternal Beauty, 2022. Ink and gold leaf on paper. Collection of Robert and Martha Bernstein

When confronted with the loss of a loved one, art can be a powerful tool to help us acknowledge and work through our grief. Join Melinda Bottone, bereavement coordinator at Masonicare Home Health, Hospice & Palliative Care, and museum educator Lindsey Fyfe as they reflect on artworks in Between Life & Death and the museum’s collection that connect with loss and the grieving process. Free with admission.

Presented in partnership with Masonicare, Connecticut’s largest not-for-profit integrated senior care continuum responsible for the care of more than 4,600 Connecticut patients and residents a day across the state.

Image: William E. Rinehart (American, 1825–18740), Sleeping Children, modeled 1859, carved 1872. Marble. Gift of General Lucius A. Barbour, 1910.9

New England Ballet Theatre’s contemporary interpretation of the story inspired by the 1948 film is set in Hartford in 1954 where young dancers yearn to become prima ballerinas amidst a flourishing arts scene. A pair of blood-red ballet shoes promises unparalleled dance prowess, but the Shoemaker’s dark price taints their ambitions. As Karen rises to prominence after acquiring these enchanted shoes, her relationships falter and her longing for stardom isolates and consumes her. In the aftermath, she discovers that success emerges from within, yet the Shoemaker’s sinister influence continues to lurk, tempting new hopefuls to tread his treacherous path. Visit neballettheatre.com for tickets.

Directed and choreographed by Rachael Gnatowski.

New England Ballet Theatre’s contemporary interpretation of the story inspired by the 1948 film is set in Hartford in 1954 where young dancers yearn to become prima ballerinas amidst a flourishing arts scene. A pair of blood-red ballet shoes promises unparalleled dance prowess, but the Shoemaker’s dark price taints their ambitions. As Karen rises to prominence after acquiring these enchanted shoes, her relationships falter and her longing for stardom isolates and consumes her. In the aftermath, she discovers that success emerges from within, yet the Shoemaker’s sinister influence continues to lurk, tempting new hopefuls to tread his treacherous path. Visit neballettheatre.com for tickets.

Directed and choreographed by Rachael Gnatowski.

11am curator talk with Jared Quinton, noon–5pm gallery viewing

Rules & Repetition: Conceptual Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum highlights an underrecognized legacy within the museum’s contemporary art program. Join curator Jared Quinton for a first look at the exhibition, which features familiar collection works alongside important gifts and acquisitions on view for the first time.

Image: Lorna Simpson (American, born 1960), Bits and Pieces, 1989. Black and white photographs, plastic plaques. Purchased through a gift of H. Hilliard Smith, 1989.20 

Old North Cemetery, Hartford

Join former Wadsworth curator William Hosley for a walk through Hartford’s Old North and Spring Grove Cemeteries, veritable museums without walls, filled with statuary, folk art, and local history. This tour leads to the final resting places of Daniel Wadsworth and his wife, Faith, painter Frederic Church, sculptor Edward Bartholomew, and Frank B. Gay, the first director of the Wadsworth (1911–27), during whose tenure the Colt, Morgan, and Avery wings were built. Capacity is limited and registration is required. Keep an eye on your inbox for an email invitation and registration link.

Between Life & Death: Art and the Afterlife offers a glimpse into this mysterious passage through American, European, and Mexican works of art from the collection. Join Wadsworth director Matthew Hargraves, curator Vanessa Sigalas, and artist Carlos Hernández Chávez as they explore the exhibition and reflect on an ofrenda, a traditional Mexican memorial alter, created by Chávez to celebrate Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Free with admission.

Image: Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957), Young Girl With a Mask, 1939. Oil on canvas. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund. © 2023 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York