Theodor Rombouts (Flemish, 1597-1637)
A Drinker with a Flask
Oil on canvas
Whitfield Fine Art, London

Wine has been instrumental in nurturing the human spirit since ancient times. No beverage or potion has a longer history than wine, whose transformative effects on both body and spirit were recognized from its beginnings in the Neolithic age. But until now, no serious art exhibition has coupled the histories of wine and art in a cross-disciplinary fashion. In September 2010, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in South Hadley, Massachusetts will open Wine and Spirit: Rituals, Remedies, and Revelry, focusing on the imagery of sacred, social, and restorative practices that have occasioned wine’s singular mystique in civilizations across nearly every age. More than 100 works of art and literature will be on view—the earliest a rare Neolithic wine jar from Hajji Firuz Tepe dating from 5400-5000 BCE. Seventeenth-century Dutch paintings by Pieter Claez. And Jan Steen will be featured alongside prints, drawings, and photographs by Honoré Daumier, Pablo Picasso, Jacob Jordaens, Roger Fenton, and others. Greek vases, Roman glassware, Renaissance drinking vessels, and medieval manuscripts are among the objects also included. The medicinal aspects of wine are revealed in a display of Italian Renaissance apothecary jars, early printed treatises, herbal books, and pharmacopiae that attest to the beverage’s purported benefits from antiquity to the present day. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walters Art Gallery, the Wadsworth Atheneum, Yale University Art Gallery, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Houghton Library at Harvard University are among the nearly two dozen lenders to the exhibition.

Unknown, Greek, Attica
Head of a woman from a grave stele
Marble, 4th century, BCE
Purchase with the Nancy Dwight Everett Fund

Occupying three stunning gallery spaces, 40 objects from the Yale University Art Gallery join 30 objects from the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in a unique collection-sharing exhibition that highlight daily life in the ancient world, representations of ancient women, and aspects of storytelling and mythology. Visitors are encouraged to explore these thematic groupings and consider how one can reconstruct an understanding of ancient history.

Isoda Koryūsai (Japanese, active 1766-1788)
A Party in the Yoshiwara from the series Shikidô tokkumi jûni-tsugai (Twelve Bouts of Lovemaking)
Woodcut, 1775
Gift of Mrs. Louis C. Black

From the tilling of the soil to the washing of the dishes, nearly every step in food's journey from production to consumption has been represented in the visual arts. Whether planted or hunted, cooked or purchased, eaten as basic sustenance or in celebration, food has worked its way into numerous prints, drawings, and photographs, as the focus of a composition or as an accessory. While still lifes featuring comestibles hold a prominent place in the history of art, artists have created food-related images in a broad diversity of styles, each presenting unique cultural concerns and associations. In the production of food, depictions of the farmer in fine art range from nostalgic to downtrodden, and have occasionally been elevated to political icon. Those who cook or prepare food experience no less iconographic manipulation in the hands of the artist, with gender roles also apparent. In its consumption, food is critical to both social interactions and religious practices. While specific rituals vary widely, as can be seen in images that range from an 18th-century Japanese woodcut illustrating the offering of sake to a courtesan to a 19th-century depiction of the Last Supper, food fuels not only the human body but also the relationships, religions, economies and other social structures that dictate our lives. From Seed to Supper is one of two Mount Holyoke College Art Museum exhibitions that are part of the Museums 10 collaboration, Table for 10.