The Boston America 250 Guide, From Revolutionary Landmarks to Historic Hotels and Lobster Rolls
- 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115
For the 250th anniversary of American independence, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts undertook a major reinstallation of its Art of the Americas Wing. The resulting display is comprised of eight galleries, each of which delves into a specific theme relating to our nation’s history. To help tell the story of how art and artists shaped national identity in the 18th century and beyond, you’ll find more than 400 objects that the MFA curated from its own collections of Native and non-Native, North, South, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as new items borrowed from local scholars, artists and community members like the City of Boston Archaeology Program. John Singleton Copley portraits of founding fathers like John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren, in addition to artifacts of resistance like cowrie shells, help to give a more tangible look into American history from all angles. For Nonie Gadsden, the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the MFA, two of the standout pieces—Paul Revere’s Sons of Liberty Bowl and a Copley portrait of Revere—can be found side-by-side in the Something’s Brewing gallery, which examines the commercial and social impact of tea, coffee, chocolate and mate. “He purposely wanted to show himself in his work shirt sleeves with the tools of his trade, looking at a teapot,” Gadsden tells Observer, pointing out the political symbolism. “It’s not a coincidence that he is showing a teapot here; this is the same year that the taxes on tea started,” she says of the 1768 painting.
As it is one of the largest art museums in the U.S., the MFA has plenty of other offerings to check out, too. From Egyptian sculptures to a Japanese garden and five galleries dedicated to ancient Greece, Rome and the Byzantine Empire, there’s something to cover every artistic preference. An ongoing jewelry exhibition showcases more than 150 pieces from the MFA’s collection, and the museum’s Impressionism and Beyond gallery includes works by Monet, Renoir and a Degas little dancer sculpture. Additionally, the MFA houses the most complete collection of works by John Singer Sargent, ranging from paintings and drawings to sculpture.
Admission is $30 for adults.
