Williams College Museum of Art

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Williams College Museum of Art The museum and its collection is a catalyst for student learning and community engagement.

The Williams College Museum of Art creates experiences with art that are integral to a liberal arts education and inspire lifelong learning and human connection. Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) sparks new ways of thinking about art and the visual world through its innovative exhibitions, programs, publications and projects. At the heart of the Williams College campus the museum draws on the collaborative and multidisciplinary ethos of the surrounding college to enliven the more than 14,000 works in its growing collection. This is the official page of Williams College Museum of Art is maintained by the museum's Communications Department. The page administrators encourage active dialogue among users of this page but reserve the right to remove comments that are deemed hurtful or disrespectful to users of the page and/or members of the greater Williams community. WCMA abides by Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (http://www.facebook.com/terms.php) and asks its Facebook users to do the same.

Consider this an invitation to spend your lunch hour with an emperor!Our "Art of the Opening" series continues Wednesday...
10/19/2026

Consider this an invitation to spend your lunch hour with an emperor!

Our "Art of the Opening" series continues Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 11:30, when Liz Gallerani, Senior Curator of Mellon Academic Engagement, introduces a work you'll meet in our inaugural installation: "Portrait of the Emperor Shah Jahan in Old Age."

That is Shah Jahan, the Mughal ruler who commissioned the Taj Mahal. This is a late 17th-century Mughal portrait of the emperor in his later years, standing against a green background. It's painted with extremely fine lines so it was made to be looked at up close, and it has gold embellishments so it shimmers when the light catches it.

Think of it as a fancy, personal portrait, and an invitation to lean in and notice all the details.

This piece came to WCMA in 1983 as a gift from Mrs. Horace W. Frost, who donated 76 South Asian paintings to the museum. It was just studied in Murad Mumtaz's Realms of Earth and Sky: Painting in South Asia, ca. 600-1857 class a couple of weeks ago (second slide).

That's all we're giving away here! Come see images with us and hear Liz tell the rest. There will be a light lunch, and reservations are appreciated via the link in our bio.

Got a WCMA favorite you would love to see in this centennial series? Be sure to drop it in the comments as we continue our countdown to our 100th birthday in April 🎂

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We're still thinking about all those delicious apple c***r donuts we ate on Mountain Day (which thank goodness was last ...
10/16/2026

We're still thinking about all those delicious apple c***r donuts we ate on Mountain Day (which thank goodness was last week, not today ☔)!

Of course, you couldn't have an apple c***r donut without apples and an apple tree 🍎

As we continue to celebrate WCMA's 100th year, enjoy this tranquil watercolor, "Apple Tree" by Maurice Prendergast. If you love this work, you'll be happy to know that our new museum will open with a gallery dedicated to the Prendergast brothers (in conversation with Andy Warhol, if you can imagine that!).

In the second slide, we have an untitled digital print by Kiki Smith. Her work centers on the female body and the meanings that adhere to it. These sensuous apples may suggest a reference to the apple plucked from the Tree of Knowledge and offered by Eve to Adam in the Garden of Eden. This piece is part of our WALLS collection; it was taken 69th last month and is now hanging on the wall of a lucky Williams College student (third slide).

Need a cure for the rainy day blues? Stop by the museum today and have a c***r donut on us while supplies last (password: I love Prendergast!). We're open 9-5!

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In honor of Ephelia, Williams College resident bovine icon (named 74 years ago this month!), we went digging through WCM...
10/15/2026

In honor of Ephelia, Williams College resident bovine icon (named 74 years ago this month!), we went digging through WCMA's collection to see how many cows have made it into our archive over our 100 years. 🐮

Turns out, there are a LOT.

We have cows in pastures. Cows in limestone. Cows rendered in oil. Print. Graphite.

Across many centuries and continents, artists just really can't resist a good cow. So consider this our unofficial herd tour!!

Swipe through a few of our favorites, and let us know in the comments if we missed your favorite four-legged muse. ⏬

(Oh, and remember the time Ephelia herself stopped by the museum in July to try on some construction gear? Check out the fourth slide!)

Stay tuned for more from the collection (cow-related and otherwise) as we count down to our 100th birthday in April 💯🎉🔥

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Slide 1:
1. Cattle at Pasture, Anton Mauve
2. Plaque (Oba sacrificing cow), Chief Ovia Idah (Nigerian/Edo, 1903-1968)
3. Undated Egyptian Stele
4. Texas State Fair, Dallas, Texas, Garry Winogrand

Slide 2:
1. Huber Butler with a Cow, Lenox, Massachusetts #2, James Augustus, Joseph Van Der Zee
2. Untitled, (from "Cow" Series) David Stoltz
3. Cow, Thomas Bewick
4. Egyptian Amulet of two headed Cow

Slide 3:
1. White Calf, Thomas Hart Benton
2. The Flying Cow, Marc Chagall
3. Cow in Circle, British/Horse Brass
4. Sunset, Charles Prendergast
5. The New Born, Millard Owen Sheets

Did you know our "Diana of the Tower" exists in colossal form?Let's investigate this gorgeous piece as we continue to ce...
10/13/2026

Did you know our "Diana of the Tower" exists in colossal form?

Let's investigate this gorgeous piece as we continue to celebrate our 100th year 💯

The sculpture in our collection is a 41-inch-tall bronze (first slide), but Augustus Saint-Gaudens first created a 14.5-foot-tall, 700-pound version made of gilded hollowed copper, which stood atop the second Madison Square Garden building from 1893 to 1925 (second slide). After the building’s demolition in 1925, Diana was gifted to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1932 and has stood on the balcony of the museum's Great Stair Hall ever since (third slide).

The bronze in our collection is part of a series created after the popularity of the 700-pound version. It came to us in 1956, a gift of William E. Greene, Class of 1897, and has been showcased in many exhibitions over the years, including "The Persistence of Classicism" in 1995; "Celebrating 75 Years: American Dreams" in 2001-03; "American Art: Colonial Period Through Mid-Twentieth Century" in 2014; and "Both Sides Now: Lexa and Dan Walsh" in 2016.

It is unique because most of these miniature bronzes do not include the "tower piece" beneath the sphere that indicates the original's architectural context.

Follow along as we count down to our 100th birthday to learn more about WCMA and our collection 🎉

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Happy Indigenous Peoples Day—and Reading Day to all you Ephs out there! Can you believe you’re nearly halfway through th...
10/12/2026

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day—and Reading Day to all you Ephs out there! Can you believe you’re nearly halfway through the fall semester?

We’re thrilled that 39 class sessions have already been held here in the museum this fall, showcasing our collection to hundreds of Williams College students.

Here are some pictures from two recent classes: Jessica Fisher’s Introductory Workshop in Poetry and Murad Mumtaz’s Realms of Earth and Sky: Painting in South Asia, ca. 600-1857.

Not a student? Come visit Object Lab through Dec. 23 to get a taste of what students are working on this semester. We’re open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (including today, if you have the day off and want to explore some art 👏).

Another opportunity to join the WCMA team 🔥We are seeking a Security and Visitor Services Manager!As the Security and Vi...
10/12/2026

Another opportunity to join the WCMA team 🔥

We are seeking a Security and Visitor Services Manager!

As the Security and Visitor Services Manager, you will manage a specialized department who are critical to operations and who create a safe and welcoming experience for all who visit the museum. You lead your team in identifying potential security and safety hazards, and assessing, reporting, and responding to incidents or potential criminal activity at the museum’s building and 6.75-acre grounds. Under the leadership of the Deputy Director for Operations and Art Services, and working closely with the Museum Building Manager and the Manager of Museum Experiences and Events, you are on the front line for all day-to-day building needs. 

Williams College invests in its employees, offering generous health care, tuition reimbursement, professional development opportunities, paid leave, access to gym facilities, discounts with local vendors, retirement plans and more.

Visit the link in our bio for more details!

Happy Mountain Day 🎉Mountains like the ones in our backyard, as well as ones thousands of miles away, have inspired arti...
10/09/2026

Happy Mountain Day 🎉

Mountains like the ones in our backyard, as well as ones thousands of miles away, have inspired artists for ages.

Enjoy "Autumn, Berkshires" by Rockwell Kent, which will be on view in our inaugural exhibition when our new building opens. Also here for your mountain enjoyment are "Haystack Mountain, Vermont" by Horace Talmadge Day, as well as "View at Hara in Suruga Province" by Hiroshige II.

Get outside today wherever you are, and keep following along as we celebrate our centennial year 👏

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Who should we thank for the existence of WCMA? Karl E. Weston 🎉Weston was born 152 years ago today in Winchendon, Massac...
10/07/2026

Who should we thank for the existence of WCMA? Karl E. Weston 🎉

Weston was born 152 years ago today in Winchendon, Massachusetts. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College in 1896. He later returned to the college as a professor of Romance languages before joining the Art and Civilization Department and becoming the Amos Lawrence Professor of Art.

In 1926, he established the Lawrence Art Museum as the first director, with the intent of providing Williams students the opportunity for firsthand observation of fine works of art. The museum officially opened on April 19, 1927, and Weston served as director until 1948, when S. Lane Faison, Jr., Class of 1929, came on board.

Not only did Weston bequest some of his own collection to WCMA, a fund established in his memory, the Karl E. Weston Memorial Fund, has enabled us to purchase hundreds of works of art over the years to grow our collection. One of those is a new acquisition seen on the second slide: this conceptual installation by Hervé Youmbi, purchased in 2025, that will be on display when our new building opens!

Weston’s impact stretched beyond WCMA, though. He was also integral in convincing Robert Sterling Clark to establish the The Clark in Williamstown, shaping our region into the arts destination it is today.

And guess what? The E of his middle name stands for Ephraim! (Go, Ephs 💜💛)

Learn more about WCMA's past, and our future, by following along here as we celebrate our centennial 💯

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Let’s look at a recent acquisition by artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga) as we continue countin...
10/05/2026

Let’s look at a recent acquisition by artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga) as we continue counting down to our 100th birthday in April 🎉

Hopinka’s photograph seen here, “Wiisacą,” acquired earlier this year with funds provided by Brendan Burns '98 and Robin Sanders '98, is on display through December 23 in “Object Lab.”

“Wiisacą” is part of a series, all titled with numbers in Chinuk Wawa, a language indigenous to the Lower Columbia River Basin. Hopinka inscribed each work in the series with lines of poetry from a chapbook he wrote called “Denizens of Hell.” These lines wrap around the frame or meander through branches and roots (seen here on the detail of the second slide), and are not intended to directly reference the landscape shown, but to capture an additional fragment of personal experience.

Hopinka was our featured Plonsker Lecture speaker in April 2026 here at Williams College (third slide, and you can watch the video on our YouTube page 📹). His film “Powwow People” is also being screened TONIGHT at Images Cinema (slide four) to kick off their month-long Indigenous Peoples Film Festival.

Learn more about “Wiisacą” on our Bloomberg Connects digital guide. WCMA joined Bloomberg Connects in 2022 to share more information about our exhibitions and collection, as well as to provide audio tours, and it is now available for desktop and mobile (link in bio).

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Today’s not Mountain Day yet here 😢 But the shape of our new museum is still celebrating the beauty of the Berkshires a...
10/02/2026

Today’s not Mountain Day yet here 😢 But the shape of our new museum is still celebrating the beauty of the Berkshires as we enter October and continue into the second month of celebrating our centennial year 💯

Designed by , the roofline mimics and reflects the flowing shape of the mountains behind it.

Swipe through to see the roofine renderings and a recent drone photo by of the roof construction in process looking back toward campus.

We invite you get outside today and enjoy the one-of-a-kind surroundings that have inspired us for generations 🌲

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Address

15 Lawrence Hall Drive
Williamstown, MA
01267

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14135972429

Website

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