Arts Department, Special Collections
Fine Arts: Painting and Sculpture
Steve Paterson, Bust of Maya Angelou, 2015 John Francis Millet, Portrait of Kate Field, 1881 Francis Derwent Wood, Bust of Henry James, 1914
The Fine Arts collections include all publicly displayed paintings and sculptures located at the Central Library. The founding collection of painting and sculpture at Boston Public Library is representative of the collecting and exhibiting habits of the mid- to late-19th century: oil portraits, copies of antique statues, a variety of decorative arts, and portrait busts (all almost exclusively Neoclassical in style). Benefactors donated the majority of the artwork.
Now, the collection has been actively expanded to include work by renowned artists as well as collaborative, community-based projects. Fine Arts selects new collections and works that connect to and support the dynamic needs of our users, document the history of our time, and demonstrate the relevance and value of artistic practice in society.
For more information about and images of the murals by Puvis de Chavannes, John Singer Sargent, and Edwin Austen Abbey, please visit the Paintings and Fine Arts Collection at the Boston Public Library collection at Digital Commonwealth.
Other materials in the Arts Department include archival collections of individual artists, craftspeople, and local arts organizations from the 19th century through the late 20th century. These collections offer a critical perspective on the development of arts activities in Boston and New England. The Arts department also maintains an extensive collection of artist and gallery clippings files that document the history of the local art community in Boston, from the 1940s to the present day. For information on tours of the Boston Public Library, please visit our Art & Architecture page.
- Art on view in the Boston Public Library: Paintings, sculptures, and decorative art from the permanent collection can be found throughout the McKim and Boylston Street buildings. For architectural highlights of the McKim building, including the mural cycles by Edwin Austin Abbey and John Singer Sargent, please see our online tour, available here.
- Boston / New England Artist Files: News clippings, exhibition invitations, and correspondence about Boston and New England artists, compiled by Boston Public Library librarians and curators throughout the 1980s. These materials form a history through those years of Boston's art galleries, many of which have since closed.
**For more information on these collections, please inquire through specialcollections@bpl.org.***
Searching for Information on the Arts at the Boston Public Library:
To access materials related to general arts materials, you must have a BPL card, which can be obtained at any Borrowers' Services Desk in the library system, or you can get an eCard here.
There are four main steps to locate resources; in many cases, it is worth consulting all four resources.
Step 1: Online catalogs provide records for published sources on the topics of fine art, architecture, design; you can request these items through the catalog, designating "Delivery Desk" as the pickup point. However, items cataloged before 1980 may not be online. In which case...
Step 2: Card catalogs and microfiche provide a more complete record of the published material in the Fine Arts Department. Please see a librarian for assistance using specialcollections@bpl.org.
Step 3: Periodicals and Journals can be found in databases listed here, either by subject, format, or audience.
Step 4: Finding Aids provide access to structured descriptions of select collections of Fine Arts archival collections, such as card catalogs containing biographic and historic information about artists, architects, galleries, and craftworkers.
Many resources that will help you find Fine Arts collections are not yet all available online!
Some are searchable on-site at the library through guides such as card catalogs, paper finding aids, and inventories, and many require a librarian or curator to help. Researchers are strongly encouraged to send their questions about Fine Arts collections to specialcollections@bpl.org.
Are you looking for a particular work in our collection?
You can search by keyword, such as "Sargent." If you select a record, even if there is no image, it will take you to more information about the work.
While we are working to add images to every record, for now, you can view digitized images of our artwork through Digital Commonwealth.
Works of Art on View at the Boston Public Library contains works of art that are on long-term display at the Boston Public Library's Central Library as well as at some of the BPL branches.
Charles J. Connick, Christian Assembly Church, Pittsfield, Massachusetts (ca. 1945–1986)
Charles J. Connick Gouache Collection: Charles J. Connick (1875-1945) was one of the pre-eminent artists in stained glass artists of the early twentieth century; his stained glass studio created approximately 15,000 windows for over 5,000 commissions between 1912 to 1986. Boston Public Library's collection includes 2,150 studies in gouache, along with over 10,000 black and white photographs, and several stained glass windows. Additionally, Massachusetts Institute of Technology maintains a robust finding aid of related works by Connick.
***Please visit Boston Public Library's Archives and Special Collections page to search descriptions and inventories of other archival collections found within the Fine Arts collections.***