The BC Eagle: A Japanese Masterpiece Restored Lecture

Free; open to BC Alumni and Museum Members; please register at https://goo.gl/wt8ERW

The McMullen Museum welcomes its own Diana Larsen, Assistant Director and co-curator of the spring 2019 exhibition, "Eaglemania: Collecting Japanese Art in Gilded Age America," for a lecture recounting the history and recent restoration of the original BC eagle sculpture.

Boston College’s iconic golden eagle in front of Gasson Hall has a storied past. The eagle currently atop the column is a copy of a bronze masterpiece made in Japan in about 1890 when it was purchased by the diplomat Larz Anderson and his wife Isabelle as the centerpiece of their Japanese garden at their summer home in Brookline. In 1954 the Andersons’ estate gave the sculpture to Boston College. Over its many years outdoors, the Meiji-period eagle sustained damage and thus was removed from the column in the 1990s and replaced with a replica. The original eagle languished in a storage facility until recently when it was rediscovered and restored to its former glory. In 2019 the eagle will return to Boston College, where it will be featured in a comprehensive exhibition exploring its artistic significance, history, and conservation. Eaglemania: Collecting Japanese Art in Gilded Age America opens on February 11, 2019.

Sesh by The Boston Calendar | Advertise Terms | Privacy Policy | About