What’s Under the Hood?

A peek at some of the rarest and most offbeat items housed in the College's Hood Museum of Art.

WHAT DO PABLO PICASSO AND YOKO Ono have in common? Both have works featured in Dartmouth's own Hood Museum of Art. Surprised? So were we. Together with Hood Museum director Derrick Cartwright, DAM uncovered seven of the more surprising—some might say strange—pieces found in the Hoods collection. (Warning: You'll never look at a couch the same way again.)

Mermaidcirca 19th century

Museum curators might have thought there was something fishy about the mermaid fossils, known as "Japanese mermaids," being sold to them by 19th-century East Asian profiteers. Nonetheless, these small, grotesque specimens—identified today as monkey skeletons crudely fused with petrified fish tails—made their way into exhibitions across the country. In the early 20th century most museums, seeking greater scholarly credibility, destroyed their mermaid mockups—but not the Hood; Cartwright says officials saw their faux fossil, named Mermaid, as a valuable vestige of a time when fairy-tale wonder' trumped scientific reasoning.

The Jolly Washerwoman,by Lilly Martin Spencer, 1855

Lilly Martin Spencer was arguably the premier genre painter of her day "who happened to be a woman," says Cartwright. In the mid-19th century, when glass ceilings were all but opaque, Spencer s talent for oil painting helped her transcend gender limitations to gain international acclaim. Only about a hundred known works by Spencer exist today and a decade ago at a German auction, the Hood managed to snag this one, which depicts a smiling housekeeper leaning over a washbasin.

Rape of the Sabine Womenby Dr. Seuss, circa 1930-1935

Some time before embarking on signature books such as Norton Hears a Who, Theodor Seuss Geisel '25 heard the call of the canvas and painted Rape of the SabineWomen, a humorous, cartoon-style portrayal of a legendary event in Roman history. Geisel's version depicts a pint-sized soldier walking through a forest with a large, naked woman slung over his shoulder. On the periphery of the scene are creatures that prefigure the illustrated characters of some Geisel's best-loved books.

Accumulation II by Yayoi Kusama, 1962

Although the sight of Accumulation II may leave many speechless, Cartwright says, "This is a sculpture of an ordinary thing, one that is completely transformed, made uncanny in both visual and tactile terms by the artists introduction of tubelike forms." Created by Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist who was strongly influenced by American pop culture and once worked with famed postmodernist Andy Warhol, the sculpture is roughly the size and shape of a standard couch. But Cartwright wouldn't recommend sitting on it—any sort of weight or pressure might damage the delicate plaster that makes up the sculptures many protruding parts.

Imaginary Prisonsby Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1753

For Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi, cell blocks were the stuff of dreams. The 18th-century architect and draftsman etched portrayals of imaginary prisons so complex and fantastical that, even today, they reach across the artistic spectrum to inspire musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma as well as filmmakers. Cartwright suspects that set designers for the recent Harry Potter films drew from Piranesi's work. A number of museums own various Piranesi plates, but the Hood, with its 1753 edition of Imaginary Prisons, is among the few to own a rare, complete set, numbering 16 prints. Pictured is the print titled Prisonerson a Projecting Platform.

Guitar on Table by Pablo Picasso, 1912

In Guitar on Table, Picasso experimented with oil, sand and charcoal to create one of his most important early paintings. "Beyond its inherent interest as an image, the painting has significance because of its prior ownership," says Cartwright. The powerful Cubist painting—which "will stop you in your tracks," according to Cartwright—arrived at Dartmouth as a gift from Nelson Rockefeller 30, who had bought it from Gertrude Stein, who had bought it from Picasso himself.

A Box of Smileby Yoko Ono, 1971

Avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, known most famously as John Lennon's widow, gave viewers a reason to smile with A Boxof Smile, a piece that is part sculpture, part perfomance art. The small metallic box—one of several made by Ono that reside in museums around the world— doesn't seem to offer much in the way of artistic value until you open it; an unsuspecting viewer will find a mirror at the bottom of the box that will flash back his own surprised, inevitably smiling reflection. "Most people get the joke," says Cartwright.

A fishy mermaid

A Seussian Rape

A jolly washer

A fuzzy couch

An imaginary prison

ALICE GOMSTYN, a former DAM intern, isa staff writer for The Providence Journal inProvidence, Rhode Island.