La voie de Povreté ou de Richesse (The Way of Poverty or of Wealth). Paris, France, 1430 [Free Library of Philadelphia, MS Widener 1, fol. 15v].
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 29, 6-8pm
205 Hudson Gallery
205 Hudson Street (at Canal St.)
New York, NY 10013
On view: October 29, 2026—February 6, 2027
The Hunter College Art Galleries are pleased to present Know-How for a New Era: City Living / City Learning, circa 1400-1550, an exhibition that showcases over fifty illustrated books, images, and objects that capture the dynamism of city living and intellectual life between roughly 1400 and 1550 in northern Europe.
The century-and-a-half covered in the show was an era of rapid change—social, technological, economic, intellectual, and artistic. In this period, lay people claimed the city as their own, often outright dismissing the authority of the Church. They amassed great wealth through entrepreneurship and global trade and orchestrated a dynamic intervention into governance.
The show focuses on illuminated manuscripts and printed books commissioned by the newly rich and is organized around five themes: City Living; Travel and Astronomy; Technology and Labor; Home Life and Leisure; and Health: Living and Dying Well. The volumes taught fundamentals for self-care, medicine, and natural history. They flaunted both knowledge of antiquity and excitement for navigation and technology. They celebrated relationships and home life with images and objects depicting games, music, and dance.
Public programming will feature academic lectures and workshops related to crafts—including perfume production, spinning, and printmaking.
Lenders include: The Morgan Library and Museum, New York, NY; The New York Public Library, New York, NY; The New York Academy of Medicine Library, New York, NY; Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ; University of Pennsylvania Library, Kislak Special Collections, Philadelphia, PA; The Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; Les Enluminures Gallery, Paris and Chicago; and Private Collections.
Curated by Cynthia Hahn (Distinguished Professor, Hunter College and the CUNY Grad Center) and Nina Rowe (John L. Marion Professor, Fordham University), with Harper Montgomery, Susan and David Bershad Professor of Art History & Director of the Hunter College Art Galleries, and MA, MFA, and PhD students at Hunter and CUNY Grad, including those enrolled in the Advanced Curatorial Certificate Seminar. Curatorial fellows: Cole Ashby, Emily Da Silva-Prado, Julia Smart, and Elizabeth Wickersham.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Magic, Science & Technology in the Early Renaissance with Anthony Grafton
November 3, 2026
6:30–7:30 PM
2nd Floor Flex Space, 205 Hudson Street
Anthony Grafton, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and author of several acclaimed books on Renaissance Europe, will speak on research from his book Magus: The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa, examining the intersections of science, technology, and magic in the Early Renaissance.
Roundtable: Merchants, Money & Material Culture in Renaissance Europe with Ittai Weinryb, Stefano Locatelli, and Areli Marina
November 17, 2026
4:00–6:00 PM
205 Hudson Gallery, HCAG
A roundtable guided by Ittai Weinryb (Professor of Medieval Art History, Bard Graduate Center; author of The Bronze Object in the Middle Ages, ICMA Book Prize winner) with Stefano Locatelli (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, University of Milan & Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies), who will speak on “Learning the Art of Trade: Merchants’ Notebooks between Knowledge and Uncertainty in Renaissance Florence,” and Areli Marina (Professor of Art History, University of Kansas), who will speak on “Paradise Before War: Pietro Azario’s Canavese Territory in an Uncourtly Register.”
Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art with Elly Truitt & Leah DeVun
December 8, 2026
6:30–7:30 PM
2nd Floor Flex Space, 205 Hudson Street
A conversation between Elly Truitt (Professor, University of Pennsylvania), author of several influential books on medieval science and technology, and Leah DeVun (Distinguished Professor of History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University), author of several award-winning books on gender, science, and religion in premodern Europe. Truitt will discuss her book Medieval Robots, on the history of automata and mechanical invention in medieval Europe.
PRESS INQUIRIES
E-mail hcag@hunter.cuny.edu.