Speaker will be in person in the theatre.

September 13, 2025

The Universe Next Door

Summary of the Talk: Abelardo Morell will discuss his most recent work including Tent-Camera pictures made in France in the landscape of Van Gogh and Monet, and pictures made of painted interiors.

Bio:

Abelardo Morell was born in Havana, Cuba in 1948. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1962.  Morell received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and his MFA from The Yale University School of Art. He has received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College in 1997 and from Lesley University in 2014.  He was professor of Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston from 1983 to 2010.

His publications include a photographic illustration of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1998) by Dutton Children’s Books,  A Camera in a Room (1995) by Smithsonian Press,  A Book of Books (2002) by Bulfinch Press, Camera Obscura (2004) by Bulfinch Press, Abelardo Morell (2005) by Phaidon Press, The Universe Next Door (2013) by The Art Institute of Chicago, Tent-Camera (2018) by Nazraeli Press, and Flowers for Lisa(2018) by Abrams Books.

He has received a number of awards and grants, which include a Guggenheim fellowship in 1994 and an Infinity Award in Art from ICP in 2011. In November 2017, he received a Lucie Award for achievement in fine art. His work has been collected and shown in many galleries, institutions and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, The Chicago Art Institute, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Houston Museum of Art, The Boston Museum of Fine Art, The Victoria & Albert Museum and several other museums in the United States and abroad. A retrospective of his work organized jointly by the Art Institute of Chicago, The Getty in Los Angeles, and The High Museum in Atlanta closed in May 2014 after a year of travel. His Tent-Camera work made in U.S. National Parks was included in the travelling exhibition Ansel Adams in Our Time at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville. Most recently, in the fall of 2024 a selection of his Tent-Camera work made in England and France was shown at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Education

• Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, Doctor of Fine Arts, Honorary, 2014
• Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, Doctor of Fine Arts, Honorary, 1997
• Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT. MFA, 1981
• Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME. BA, 1977 

Academic Appointments

• Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 1981-82. Assistant Professor (Sabbatical Replacement).
• Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, 1983-2011. Retired from teaching as a Full Professor and former Chair, Department of Photography.
• Princeton University, Visting Professor in the Council of Humanities and Class of 1932 Fellow in the Visual Arts, Princeton, NJ, 2006. 

Professional Memberships

• Board of Overseers Member, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (elected, 2004)
• Saturday Club Member, Boston, MA 

Birthdate & Place

• 1948, Havana, Cuba 

Awards

2017

• Lucie Award / Achievement in Fine Art

2011

• Infinity Award in Art/ International Center of Photography. New York, NY

2006

• The DeCordova Museum Rappaport Prize

1995

• Botolph’s Club Foundation Award
• New England Foundation for the Arts Fellowship

1993

• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship

1992

• Cintas Foundation Fellowship 

Residencies

2017

• Villa La Pietra, NYU | Florence, Artist in Residence, Florence, Italy

2015

• Terra Summer Residency, Senior Artist, Giverny, France

2011

• Pasadena City College Artist in Residence, Pasadena, CA
• Alturas Foundation Artist in Residence, Texas

2008

• Happy and Bob Doran Artist in Residence, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

2006

• Princeton University, Visting Professor in the Council of Humanities and Class of 1932 Fellow in the Visual Arts, Princeton, NJ

2000

• Acadia Summer Art Program/Kippy Camp, Bar Harbor, ME
• Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbertide, Italy
• Artist-in-Residence, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA

1995

• Artist-in-Residence, The Boston Athenaeum

1998

• The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA

1995

• The Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA

Abe Morell’s work is currently in an exhibition at Atlanta’s High Museum.

The exhibition units more than 100 works from the High’s robust photography collection to trace the impact of the New Vision movement from its origins in the 1920s to today. These works include century-old photographs exemplifying themes from the movement and modern and contemporary images that emphasize the relevance of current artistic and social practices as a response to the technological and cultural changes that occurred in the early 20th century.

“Photography’s New Vision: Experiments in Seeing”
June 13, 2025 – January 4, 2026