The Allen presents changing exhibitions along with engaging guest speakers and public programs.
Learn MoreThe Allen's collection is particularly strong in 17th century Dutch and Flemish painting, Japanese prints, early modern art, African art, and more.
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These focused installations provide students with ongoing access to visual material throughout the semester. In addition, they provide opportunities to highlight new directions in scholarship and to share those ideas with our broader public.
Developing an exhibition takes at least four semesters, and requires faculty involvement during all steps of the process. Faculty members work closely with the curator of academic programs to develop a proposal that defines the scope of the exhibition, as well as to identify objects to for inclusion. The museum favors exhibition proposals that demonstrate a clear connection to a specific class taught at Oberlin and that contribute to research on the collection or showcase underutilized areas of the collections.
This Spring 2025 exhibit was curated by Associate Professor of History Ellen Wurtzel and her students in the History course “Of Miracles and Microscopes: A History of Science from 1200–1800.” Drawn from the Allen’s collections, it showcases the innovation that characterized scientific and medical thought during the early modern period (1500-1800), both within the academy and the spaces of practitioners. Curatorial assistance was provided by former Curator of Academic Programs Hannah Wirta Kinney, Assistant Curator of European and American Art Marlise Brown, and Elsa Friedmann (OC 2024).
This Spring 2025 exhibition showcases works in the East Asian Eight Views tradition. The Eight Views tradition reflected different viewpoints of the same landscape, focusing on atmospheric moments such as night rain, descending geese, or temple bells. This exhibition was curated by East Asian Studies Professor Ann Sherif alongside the students of her class “Green Japan” in collaboration with Joan L Danforth Curator of Asian Art Kevin R. E Greenwood.
This Fall 2024 exhibition features the work of Albrecht Dürer. Albrecht Dürer was Renaissance Germany’s leading artist and a pivotal figure in European art history. Best known as a printmaker, his skill and ingenuity raised woodcuts and engravings to new levels of aesthetic brilliance. This exhibit was curated by Mildred C. Jay Professor of Art History Erik Inglis in collaboration with former Curator of Academic Programs Hannah Wirta Kinney. It was timed to support Erik Inglis’ Art History course “Albrecht Dürer and German Renaissance Printmaking.” Curatorial assistance was provided by Lauren Marohn (OC 2024).
This Fall 2023 exhibit was curated by Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Ana María Díaz Burgos and her students in the two Hispanic Studies courses: “Saints, Sinners and Other Cursed Women” and “Inquisitorial Practices: Heretics, Torture, and Fear.” This exhibit visually explores the subversive opportunities spells offered and the oppressive tactics used to suppress them through colonial European prints and contemporary works.
This 2023-2024 exhibition was curated by Associate Professor of History Ellen Wurtzel and her students in the History course “Lords, Peasants, and Pigs on Trial.” It focuses on the 1700s practice of owning and displaying mass quantities of luxury goods and colonial commodities that was common among the European upper classes.
A spring 2022 exhibition tracing the 50-year history of Contact Improvisation, a collaborative dance form whose roots can be found in a 1972 winter-term residency by Steve Paxton. Paxton was a part of Grand Union, an improvisational group invited for Oberlin’s 1972 winter term. Collective Gestures juxtaposes archival material with works from the Allen's collection. The show is presented in conjunction with a yearlong celebration of the history of contact improv, and was organized by Ann Cooper Albright, professor of dance at Oberlin College.
Organized by five faculty members in spring 2019, this exhibition presented an interdisciplinary look at artistic representations of women. The show interrogated the selection and depiction of women—some historical, some imagined—engaged in a variety of activities and within a range of spaces. Spanning a period of 500 years, the works explore ideas of women as mothers, sinners, saints, witches, warriors, citizens, socialites, and sometimes simply as bodies.
Curated by Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Chie Sakakibara in conjunction with her spring 2017 courses “Indigenous Environmentalism” and “Nature, Culture, and Interpretation.” Curatorial assistance was provided by Sam Tunick ’18.
On view during the fall 2015 semester, this exhibition was curated by Associate Professor of English Wendy Beth Hyman and students in her spring 2015 senior seminar “Words and Things.” Curatorial assistance was provided by Wendy Kozol, professor of comparative American studies and Curator of Academic Programs Liliana Milkova.
In the fall of 2015, students in Professor of Comparative American Studies Wendy Kozol’s course “Visible Bodies and the Politics of Sexuality” curated an online exhibition titled Capturing the Body: Ownership and Resistance in Visual Culture using works drawn from the AMAM and the Oberlin College Libraries. This exhibition was conceived as a virtual counterpart to the teaching exhibition The Body: Looking In and Looking Out. “Capturing the Body” focuses on works of art that use the body to explore questions about identity, power, and oppression.
This exhibition was curated by Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Stiliana Milkova in conjunction with her spring 2015 course “Literature, Architecture, and Real Estate.”
Curated by Libby Murphy, associate professor of French, in conjunction with her fall 2013 course La Comédie Humaine: Social Identities in Nineteenth Century France. Assistance was provided by Curatorial Assistant Sara Green ’12 and former Curator of European and American Art Andaleeb Badiee Banta.
Organized by Curatorial Assistant Sara Green ’12 and Professor of Medieval Art Erik Inglis in conjunction with his spring 2013 courses.
On view during the spring 2013 semester, this exhibition was curated by Ian MacMillen, postdoctoral fellow at Oberlin College, with assistance from Dessane Cassell ’14.
Curated by Visiting Assistant Professor of Art and Religion and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow Esra Akin-Kivanc, with assistance from Anna-Claire Stinebring ’09. The exhibition coincides with Professor Akin-Kivanc’s fall 2012 course “Approaches to Islamic Art and Architecture” and his spring 2013 course “Introduction to Muslim Cultures and Civilizations: A Humanistic Approach.”
This exhibition was curated by Sarah Hamill, assistant professor of modern and contemporary art, in conjunction with her fall 2012 course “Sculpture and Photography.” Curatorial assistance was provided by John Michael Morein ’13.
Curated by Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Janet Fiskio in conjunction with her spring 2012 course “Nature, Culture, and Interpretation.”
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