Submitted by First Parish on the Common in Bedford
Bedford resident Hina Hirayama will speak on her book, With Éclat: The Boston Athenæum and the Origin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2013.) at the Bedford Lyceum, First Parish in Bedford on Sunday May 19 at 9 am.
Her book chronicles the vital role that the Boston Athenæum played in the founding, in 1870 of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). A membership library founded in 1807, the Athenæum offered crucial assistance to the MFA both before and after the younger institution’s incorporation, ensuring its initial survival and later success.
The cooperation between the Athenæum and the MFA was remarkable in its intensity, intimacy, and informality, yet details of this fascinating partnership have never been fully documented or explained. This book charts the two institutions’ joint endeavors in greater detail than ever before and places this extraordinary collaboration in the context of Boston’s changing cultural landscape.
The book accompanies the current exhibition at the Boston Athenæum, “Brilliant Beginnings: The Athenæum and the Museum in Boston,” on view until August 3, which is open to the public (admission $5).
Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Hina Hirayama lived in Bedford for one year in the 1980s as an exchange student; later, after college, she returned to the town and became a resident. She holds a B.A. from Amherst College and a Ph.D. from Boston University. Her scholarly interest centers on art and cultural history of the late nineteenth-century Boston and New England. She has worked, among others, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. She is Associate Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Boston Athenæum, where she has worked since 1995.
The Lyceum meets in Room 202 at First Parish from 9am to 10am. It is free, open to the public and fully accessible.
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