Institutional portraits on display in buildings across Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus have historically served to celebrate the achievements of the people portrayed and to promote the collective ideals and values of the university. What is not seen are the myriad decisions made long before a portrait is hung on the wall: Who will be commemorated? Will it be donated, purchased or commissioned? How much will it cost, and who will provide the funding? Where will the portrait be displayed and for what reasons might it eventually be removed from view?
Until recently, the impact of these questions was not fully considered, resulting in a portraiture collection comprised of 95 percent make subjects, 100 percent of whom were white. As part of a larger reparative process to make these historical biases visible and more so, to correct them going forward, Tufts University Art Galleries presents the remaining 5 percent - a group of institutional portraits of seven women (and one child), most of which have rarely or never been on display.
Hung together for the first time, these portraits, painted between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, function as part of a larger narrative about historical gender biases and the age-related prejudices of the past. While only a small installation, this long-overdue presentation celebrates the personal history of each sitter along with a history of the objects themselves, some of which bear visible scars consistent with decades spent in storage. Embodying the university's updated, more inclusive values, behold this exhibit for what it is - a prompt to simply do better.
Overlooked is organized by Laura McDonald, Head of Collections and Registrar, TUAG with Yuting Liu (MA '24).
