A&A Gallery
The A&A Gallery is located on the second floor of the Art and Architecture Building, 180 York St. The gallery has exhibitions of works by graduate students in the schools of Art and Architecture; one room is reserved for undergraduate courses and work by students majoring in art. In the fall, each school sponsors exhibitions featuring works by professional artists and architects. The gallery is open to the public without charge Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The Gutenberg Bible, Audubon's "Birds of North America" and sculptures by Isamu Noguchi are some of the holdings visitors can see at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Constructed of Vermont granite and translucent marble panels, the building is one of the largest in the world devoted to rare books and manuscripts. Scholars from Yale and beyond come to the Beinecke to study its medieval manuscripts, read its 18th-century newspapers, consult its collections of modern literary manuscripts, or investigate topics ranging from Martin Luther's theological tracts to the history of the American West.
The library's exhibition area is dominated by a glass book tower, six stories high, which houses at its base nearly 4,000 incunables -- books printed in Europe before 1500 -- and the 1742 Yale Library. Special exhibitions for the coming year include "`Petals on a Wet Black Bough': Modernism and the Orient," opening on Oct. 18 and continuing through December. The library sponsors lectures, readings and other programs throughout the year, which are listed in the Calendar section of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar.
The Beinecke Library is located at 121 Wall St. Reading room hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Monday-Friday. The exhibition area is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m. and on Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The library is closed Saturdays during Yale recesses, Labor Day, Thanksgiving weekend, Dec. 21-Jan. 2, Memorial Day andJuly 4. For more information, call 432-2977.
Collection of Musical Instruments
The Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Ave., contains over 800 instruments, the majority of which document the Western European music tradition. The collection is open to members of the Yale community free of charge -- $1 donation for the general public --. Hours are 1-4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday. The museum maintains permanent exhibits and presents lectures, special exhibitions and other events. A series of Sunday afternoon concerts featuring performances on restored instruments from the collection is presented annually. For information, call 432-0822. For information about the concert series, tickets and reservations, call 432-0825.
Peabody Museum of Natural History
The Peabody Museum's newest exhibition, "People of the Lake and Forest: The Semelai of Tasek Bera," offers a visual and audio portrait of the technology and culture of the Semelai in their tropical rain forest setting. It is the first such exhibit of this abor- iginal Malaysian culture presented in the United States. The exhibit is one of a series developed by the Peabody Museum that have addressed the unique cultural and economic characteristics of extant indigenous peoples from around the globe. It will remain on view through February, 1997.
In addition to the special exhibit, the Peabody Museum features a permanent collection of dinosaur fossils and prehistoric mammals on its first floor, which is also the location of the exhibits "Mexico to Peru," "Plains Indians" and "Pacific Cultures."
The second-floor mezzanine is devoted to meteorites. The third floor includes the Silliman Hall of Minerals and Rocks, dioramas of North American habitat groups, a display of birds of Connecticut and an exhibit illustrating the culture and technology of Connecticut's Native Americans. The Hall of Southern New England Habitat Groups and an exhibit devoted to the cultures of ancient Egypt are also on display on the third floor.
Visitors are encouraged to visit the Discovery Room, a hands-on mecca for children and others that is open daily. Special events and children's programs are scheduled throughout the year.
The museum is wheelchair accessible. Admission is free to Friends of the Peabody Museum, Peabody volunteers and members of the Yale community with valid I.D. For all others, admission is $5 for adults, and $3 for children ages 3-15 and senior citizens age 65 and older.
The museum is located at 170 Whitney Ave. It is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. The museum is closed on July 4 and Labor Day. It is also closed on Easter, Thanksgiving and Dec. 24, 25 and 31. Metered parking is available on streets adjacent to the museum. On weekends only, free parking is available in Yale lots 18, 22, 24 and 25. Additional parking is available Monday-Friday in the Audubon Court garage on Audubon Street for $1.50 -- plus tax -- per visit with receipt or membership card. For taped information about exhibits and events, and for directions, call 432-5050.
Yale Center for British Art
The Yale Center for British Art, designed by Louis I. Kahn and located at the corner of Chapel and High streets, is the largest resource of British paintings, prints, drawings, watercolors and rare books outside England. Assembled by Paul Mellon '29, the collection highlights the development of British art from Elizabethan times onward and includes masterworks by Turner, Constable, Stubbs, Gainsborough and van Dyck.
Approximately 250 paintings and sculptures are displayed in the second- and fourth-floor galleries. Additional works are on view in the fourth-floor Study Gallery, Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4:30 p.m. Rare books, prints and drawings may be consulted in the Study Room on the second floor Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and at other times by appointment. The Reference Library is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
In addition to special exhibitions, the center offers a variety of public programs, including gallery talks, lectures, films, concerts and symposia. Tours of the center may be arranged by calling 432-2858. The center is open without charge, Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon- 5 p.m. The building is fully accessible for people with disabilities. For information, call 432-2800 or 432-2850.
Yale University Art Gallery
The permanent collection of the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., includes works from every period in the history of art, from ancient Egypt to the present day. Visitors will find collections of Etruscan and Greek pottery; pre-Colum-bian, African and Asian art; Italian medieval and Renaissance painting and sculpture; European painting and sculpture of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries; the Societe Anonyme collection of early modernist art; a comprehensive collection of prints, drawings and photographs; and one of the world's foremost collections of American painting and decorative arts. Highlights include works by Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Picasso, Homer, Eakins and Hopper.
Two exhibitions of major importance will be at the art gallery this fall. On view from Sept. 6 through Dec. 1 will be "I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome," which explores the private lives and public roles of em-presses and freed slaves, grandmothers and adolescents through the visual culture of ancient Rome. The 170 objects in this exhibition -- ranging from a life-size marble portrait of Livia and Nero to a silver statuette of a young dancer and from betrothal rings to a divorce document -- are seen in three architecturally appropriate spaces displaying the public, domestic and funerary realms. The exhibition, organized by Diana E.E. Kleiner, the Dunham Professor of Classics and the History of Art and deputy provost for the arts, and Susan B. Matheson, curator of ancient art, is accompanied by a brochure and catalog. To complement "I, Claudia," a hortus Romanus will be designed and planted by Michael Cunningham, a member of the Art Gallery Associates Advisory Board, and members of the New Haven Garden Club, in the art gallery's sculpture garden.
The second exhibit, "Thomas Eakins: The Rowing Pictures" features all the known rowing pictures by the American realist painter Thomas Eakins -- 1844-1916 --. On display Oct. 11-Jan. 14, the exhibit brings together for the first time 23 images -- oils, oil studies, watercolors and perspective drawings -- portraying oarsmen racing or practicing on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Considered the most ambitious project of Eakins' early career, the rowing pictures are also viewed as a landmark in the history of American realism. The artist, who brought to his theme his own experience as an avid amateur rower, created the pictures during a three-year period between 1871 and 1874. The exhibition was organized by Helen A. Cooper, the Holcombe T. Green Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, and will be accompanied by a catalog and brochure. Before coming to Yale, the exhibit was at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The Yale Art Gallery also offers special events in conjunction with its exhibits, as well as lectures, symposia, weekly gallery talks and docent-led tours throughout the semester. Films, concerts, panel discussions, performances and children's programs are frequently offered on Sundays. Most exhibits and events are free and open to the public.
The art gallery and sculpture garden are open to the public without charge Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 2-5 p.m. It is closed Mondays, Thanksgiving Day,Dec. 24, 25 and 31, Jan. 1 and July 4, as well as the month of August. A wheelchair-accessible entrance to the gallery and lecture hall is at 201 York St., with a reserved parking space nearby. For more information about disabled access, call 432-0601. The art gallery's general information number is 432-0600.