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).

As the founder and director of Bard Graduate Center, my overall interests lie in the study of objects—not only what we can learn from them about how we live now, but how they teach us about how we lived in the past. My own research has focused predominantly on British decorative arts and design of the 18th and 19th centuries. I began my exploration of this area in my dissertation on the work of E.W. Godwin, followed by exhibitions and publications devoted to other British designers such as Thomas Jeckyll, James “Athenian” Stuart, and William Kent. However, over the past few years I have broadened my research beyond British design into other areas of material culture, such as the history of the American circus and Swedish wooden toys. These projects not only reflect my diverse personal interests but the overall breadth and depth of the BGC’s academic and exhibition programs.

Selected Recent Publications

Co-editor and contributing author, J. Lockwood Kipling: Bombay, the Punjab, South Kensington. New Haven: Yale University Press, forthcoming.

Co-editor and contributing author, Swedish Wooden Toys. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.

Editor and contributing author, William Kent, Designing Georgian Britain. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.

Co-editor and contributing author, American Circus. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.

Contributing author, Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.

Editor and contributing author, James “Athenian” Stuart. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Contributing author, Georg Jensen Jewelry. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.

Founder and publisher, Source: Notes in the History of Art, a quarterly devoted to art history and archaeology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980-present.