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The art collections at HBS serve as a key teaching and learning resource for the HBS community and beyond. The collections are especially remarkable in terms of their international, global scope and diversity. Highlights of the HBS Art & Artifacts Collection include the Tethys mosaic; marine paintings by James Buttersworth and Fitz Henry Lane; 19th-century landscape paintings by Thomas Doughty and Alvan Fisher; a group of Currier and Ives hand-colored lithographs; tapestries and prints by Joan Miró; works by Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Helen Frankenthaler, Roy Lichtenstein, Nam June Paik, Aaron Siskind, and Lois Tarlow; contemporary sculptures by Mary Frank, Jaume Plensa, and Joel Shapiro; and portraits of HBS Deans, faculty, alumni, donors, and others with connections to the School, such as the recently commissioned portraits of Dean Nitin Nohria (2023) and Dr. James I. Cash (2022). Many works in the HBS Art & Artifacts Collection have direct ties to archival collections in Baker Library and the collecting efforts of the HBS Business Historical Society.
The Schwartz Art Collection consists of over 370 works of art, in a wide range of media, by emerging and established contemporary artists from around the world, including works by Marina Abramović, Shimon Attie, Radcliffe Bailey, Lynda Benglis, Roz Chast, Spencer Finch, Zhang Hongtu, Sky Hopinka, William Kentridge, Whitfield Lovell, Robert Mapplethorpe, Zanele Muholi, Vik Muniz, Lorraine O'Grady, Martha Rosler, Doris Salcedo, Larry Sultan, Carrie Mae Weems, Marie Watt, and David Wojnarowicz. Displayed prominently throughout the campus, this engaging collection aims to encourage conversation and to inspire students to think creatively and incorporate art into their lives. Gerald Schwartz (MBA 1970) believes the presence of provocative art promotes creative thinking, stating, “Artistic presence was the only thing missing at HBS when I went there. I wanted to change that.”
The C. Ludens Ringnes Sculpture Collection was established in 2018 through the generosity of Christian Ringnes (MBA 1981) during the Harvard Business School Campaign. This gift enables the acquisition of contemporary sculpture, most recently Wind Sculpture (SG) V by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, which was installed on the Executive Education lawn in 2021. The gift also supports the School’s ongoing exhibition of outdoor sculptures, which has featured works by Lynda Benglis, Yoan Capote, Melvin Edwards, Antony Gormley, Jenny Holzer, Bharti Kher, Thaddeus Mosley, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Ai Weiwei.
Simone Leigh's sculpture, Sentinel (Mami Wata), is currently on view in Mellon Courtyard, through the generosity of Bridgitt (MBA 1986) and Bruce Evans (MBA 1986) and the establishment of the Bridgitt and Bruce Evans Contemporary Art Fund.
A map of the sculpture currently on view on campus is available.
The Stamps Reading Room in Baker Library houses the HBS Art Book Collection, which contains books and exhibition catalogues on artists that are represented in the Schwartz Art Collection, C. Ludens Ringnes Sculpture Collection, and HBS Art & Artifacts Collection, as well as publications on artists who have been featured in temporary exhibitions at HBS.
