MUSEUM NEWS
Gillett G. Griffi n Legacy
PRINCETON—Legacy: Selections from the Gillett G.
Griffi n Collection celebrates the life and career of Gillett
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G. Griffi n (1928–2016), highlighting a selection
of artworks and artifacts from the thousands that he
donated and bequeathed to the Princeton University
Art Museum. Griffi n was not only a respected curator,
scholar, and collector but also a beloved teacher—
and one of the most memorable fi gures in the
history of the university and of the Princeton community.
Among the fi fty-fi ve pieces in the exhibition are
Greek, Roman, Egyptian, ancient Near Eastern, Islamic,
African, Chinese, Japanese, and Pre-Columbian antiques
and antiquities, as well as European and American
prints, drawings, and sculptures, showing Griffi n’s
remarkable range of connoisseurship. A handful of
paintings and drawings attest to Griffi n’s own talents
as an artist. The exhibition opens July 20, 2019, and
will be on view through October 6, 2019.
Mind-Altering
Substances
BERKELEY—If you take a sip of coffee,
are you on drugs? If you have a
sweet tooth, are you a sugar addict?
If you try psychedelics, are you committing
a crime? Since the beginning
of human existence, peoples of the
world have altered their minds with
countless plant-based substances.
They have done so for many reasons,
ranging from pleasure to health to
ceremony, with effects both harmful
and benign, inconsequential and
profound. While mind-altering plants have been used
by indigenous peoples everywhere, the methods of
control exerted by colonial powers infl uenced how
these psychotropics would migrate around the world,
be used, and be viewed in a global context today.
Pleasure, Poison, Prescription, Prayer: The Worlds
of Mind-Altering Substances at the Hearst Museum
considers the complex social and economic dynamics
behind ten mind-altering drugs. Drawing from the
Hearst Museum’s permanent collection, this exhibit
highlights the incredible range of tools people have
made to process, consume, and transport mind-altering
substances. The exhibition will be on view through
December 15, 2019.
ABOVE: Yarn painting with
peyote motifs. Wixáritari
(Huichol); Nayarit, Mexico.
Yarn on plywood, beeswax.
61.2 x 61 cm.
Collected by Terry Rockwood, 1969.
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of
Anthropology, inv. 3-28635.
ABOVE: Small-mouthed jar
in the form of a man holding
a pipe. Early Chimú; Grave
12, Moche Site F, Moche
Valley, Peru.
Terracotta with multicolor slip.
Collected by Max Uhle, 1899–1900.
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of
Anthropology, inv. 4-2964.
LEFT: Standing woman
(detail). Xochipala, Guerrero,
Central Mexico. 400 BC–AD
200.
Ceramic with traces of red pigment.
Princeton University Art Museum,
bequest of Gillett G. Griffi n.
Photo: John Bigelow Taylor.