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Spotlight Tour: Good Taste, with Isabelle Halsey ’25

A smiling young woman, standing near campus buildings, gestures toward a pair of hanging scrolls that appear to float. They represent a dramatic, misty landscape. She wears a striped long-sleeve T-shirt and blue jeans.
One work Isabelle Halsey will spotlight is Ode to the Red Cliff (1800), a painting on two hanging scrolls by Tani Bunchō 谷文晁.

Tour

In-Person
Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

This event does not require registration; see further details below.

What makes “good taste”? And what is “taste” to begin with? On this tour, Isabelle Halsey ’25 will discuss a variety of works that shed light on the ongoing history of what is considered in good taste, a topic increasingly relevant in a world shaped by algorithms and artificial intelligence. The stops on the tour are Calyx krater: Return of Hephaistos to Olympos (c. 500 BCE), attributed to the Kleophrades Painter; Odalisque, Slave, and Eunuch (1839–40), an oil painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres; and Ode to the Red Cliff (1800), a painting on two hanging scrolls by Tani Bunchō 谷文晁.

Spotlight Tours offer a chance to explore the collections of the Harvard Art Museums through the eyes of a Harvard student. Free and open to the public, these tours start outside the museum shop on Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 2pm. Drop in and join the conversation! And find out what the Student Guides are up to anytime on Instagram @harvardarthappens.

Please check in with museum staff at the Admissions desk in the Calderwood Courtyard to request to join the tour. Tours are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis; no registration is required.

The Harvard Art Museums are now offering free admission every day, Tuesday through Sunday. Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museums.

This program is supported by the Ho Family Student Guide Fund.

The Ho Family Student Guide Program at the Harvard Art Museums prepares students to develop original, research-based tours of the collections. Through their training, Student Guides gain knowledge of the collections and develop skills in critical thinking, visual analysis, public speaking, and leadership.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.