Williamstown, MA—Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) will offer free public tours of its permanent collection and changing exhibitions this summer. From July 9 through August 24, WCMA's Museum Associates, a group of Williams College students and community members, will lead gallery tours on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. Tours will begin in the atrium of the museum and will last approximately 45 minutes. No advance reservations are needed.

"These popular tours have long been a part of our summer time programming," says Associate Director John Stomberg. "They allow our visitors an opportunity to see the museum from a fresh point of view. While each Museum Associate knows the collection deeply, their engaging talks always differ in emphasis. We are proud of the combination of information and perspective that our associates bring to this exciting program, and even prouder that we can continue to offer all of our programs for free to the community."

A Diverse Range of Exhibitions

The summer tours will feature a diverse range of works from temporary exhibitions as well as from the permanent collection. One of the highlights of these tours will be Tibet: Mountains and Valleys, Castles and Tents from the Newark Museum Collection, an exhibition featuring rare artifacts and documentary materials illustrating Tibetan society and history (on view until August 3, 2003).

Other summer highlights include Nicole Cohen: My Vie en Rose, opening July 19. WCMA's Media Field gallery will be transformed into a French salon as Los Angeles-based Cohen presents a new installation of video projections inspired by La vie en rose, the decorative and fanciful painting by Raoul Dufy. You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé, organized by the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, displays the works of two portrait photographers from Mali. Their mesmerizing photographs portray the people of Mali before and after it achieved independence from France.

These tours may also include several exhibitions highlighting WCMA's permanent collection. American Dreams: American Art to 1950 in the Williams College Museum of Art takes into account a unique vision of experiences and ideas of America. Masterpieces Ancient to Modern displays some of the finest and most diverse art in the museum's permanent collection. Masterpieces Ancient to Modern includes works by Pablo Picasso, Larry Rivers, and Mary Cassatt, as well as Mayan terracotta and ancient Greek art. Finally, Stones of Assyria: Ancient Spirits from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II displays the museum's pair of nearly 3,000-year-old relief sculptures from what is today Iraq, with a multimedia accompaniment.

Special group tours for adults or children are also available and can be scheduled by calling the museum's Education Department at 413.597.2038.

Publicity Images Available

Publicity images for all summer exhibitions can be found at www.wcma.org/press.

The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and the museum is wheelchair accessible.

Contact: Jonathan Cannon, Public Relations Coordinator
413.597.3178; WCMA@williams.edu