Road Trip Close To Home: Princeton museum showcases ancient and modern masterpieces
More than 5000 years of art, culture and history are represented. There is work from every century and every continent.
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New Jersey's only Ivy League school is home to a major university art museum as the newly remodeled Princeton University Art Museum welcomes visitors.
James Steward, the museum's director, says the experience is accessible to all. "We are globe spanning and yet accessible, we are a free admission museum, it is possible to discover the world of art in a fulsome sense in a few hours," he said.
More than 5000 years of art, culture and history are represented. There is work from every century and every continent.
The building itself is described as both artificial and aesthetic, giving visitors a sense of traveling across the world and through time.
Contemporary American art reflects current issues, while Renaissance paintings show earlier struggles. There are also pieces from ancient Asian, Egyptian and Roman cultures.
Steward says one standout artifact is the first object seen in the Asian galleries. "An 800‑year‑old, so‑called Guan Yin figure," he said. "It has much of its original finish or patina. The mere fact that so much of its pigmentation has survived for such a long period of time, and it remains unbroken, is, to me, both an extraordinary thing. It's a beautiful object, but it's also, for me, an object of hope."
The museum also features iconic works, including Monet's "Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge," Warhol's "Blue Marilyn," and "George Washington at the Battle of Princeton."
The collection provides visitors with access to global culture and history without leaving Princeton.
