Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

It’s been nearly 10 years and 20 issues since I started working with Paul on West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture. For this, I owe a debt to the journal that I can never repay. In Paul, I gained a mentor, colleague, and a lifelong friend. It’s strange to me how quickly this last decade has gone by but also not surprising since working closely with Paul has been one of my life’s great pleasures. I think I can safely say that he will be irreplaceable on West 86th Street. His presence on the fourth floor of building 38 always loomed large in the hall, and I always looked forward to seeing him in the morning at the end of a long commute from New Haven. As everyone who has been in contact with Paul knows, his sweeping and exact knowledge on an astonishing breadth of topics (not just of modernism, British and Central European design history, English and Scottish football, or punk music from the seventies and eighties) is matched only by his keen wit and often wicked sense of humor.

His genuine warmth, compassion, and empathy for students, colleagues, and friends has gotten us all through some tough times and always made people feel special. It won’t be the same around here without him, but I couldn’t be happier that he will continue on as Editor-in-Chief of the journal from his bucolic home in the Scottish borders, which will ensure that his influence will be ongoing for the foreseeable future. I, for one, am not ready to say goodbye, and BGC still has a lot left to learn from Professor Stirton.

– Dan Lee