Ebook Highlights "Hidden Gems in New England Museums"

A new e-book of Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee’s popular “Frame by Frame” columns is now available from the Boston Globe. The book, "Frame by Frame: Treasures Tucked Away in New England Museum Collections" offers an up-close look at dozens of hidden gems in the permanent collections of New England museums, including three works from the Davis Museum at Wellesley College:

• The Peres Maldonado Ex-voto, which Smee called “an “alarming, macabre, and swarmingly beautiful picture that shows an upper-class Mexican woman undergoing breast cancer surgery in the late 18th century;”
• Alice Neel’s Wellesley Girls, (pictured) a portrait of Wellesley alumnae Nancy Selvage ‘67 and Kiki Djos ‘68, that Smee called “one of those rare portraits that creates a real psychological itch, one that can be satisfied only by more looking;”
• And, Raymond Duchamp-Villon’s sculpted terra cotta head of the poet and critic Charles Baudelaire, about which Smee said  "One feels Baudelaire himself...would have approved."

“Sebastian’s ‘Frame by Frame’ columns shine a light on the extraordinary range of art in New England museums," said Lisa Fischman, the Ruth G. Shapiro ’37 Director of the Davis Museum,  "How wonderful to have his insightful essays compiled in an easily accessible e-book–and how delightful to see three great pieces from the Davis collections included!" 

Radio Boston's Adam Ragusea (WBUR) spoke with Smee recently about the Davis Museum’s Peres Maldonado Ex-voto and four other works featured in the book. Listen to the interview.

The Davis Museum’s summer hours are Tuesday through Friday, 12:00-4:00 p.m. Regular hours resume on Tuesday, September 4. The museum is free and open to the public.

For more information about the Davis, visit: www.davismuseum.wellesley.edu