In the early afternoon on Sept. 8, a line of tents and sleeping bags began to form outside of Lawrence Hall. Students spent the night braving the cold rain in anticipation of the next morning, when the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opened its doors for another year of Williams Art Loan for Living Spaces (WALLS). This year, 125 students borrowed works of art from the museum’s collection to live with for the next few months. Here are the pieces that the first five students chose.
First pick: Emma Neuhauser ’25.5
Neuhauser got first dibs and selected Bradford Washburn’s photograph Don Sheldon with his Super Cab Plane in the Great Gorge of the Ruth Glacier at the foot of Mt. Dickey, Alaska, 1955. In an email to the Record, Neuhauser wrote that she had been eyeing the piece for quite some time and, determined to claim it, set up camp at 2 p.m. on Sept. 8.
Second pick: Fior Cecchi-Rivas ’25
Cecchi-Rivas chose second and borrowed Marc Chagall’s La création (The Creation), 1960. According to WCMA Associate Curator of Campus and Community Engagement Rachel Heisler, it was no surprise that Chagall’s piece was chosen early, as it has consistently been one of the first 10 works selected in years past.
Third pick: Katherine Sedlock-Reiner ’28
Käthe Kollwitz’s piece Self-Portrait in Profile, 1927, was then selected by Sedlock-Reiner. In an email to the Record, Sedlock-Reiner explained that Kollwitz’s self-portrait has been one of the least popular WALLS pieces over the years. “Not anymore,” she wrote. “I would do anything for Käthe Kollwitz, least of all stay up all gelid night to be third in line come morning: The texture, the depth and, in short, the alive-ness of Kollwitz’s lithographs and etchings are a great inspiration to me.”
Fourth pick: Elsie Qiu ’25
Qiu was next in line and chose Zhang Kechun’s photograph entitled The Yellow River, 2011. In an email to the Record, Qiu shared that she first saw the piece in person during her summer internship at WCMA. “It is the biggest work in the collection, but I picked it not only for its dimensions,” she wrote. “The Yellow River is an important cultural symbol in China, and I appreciate the opportunity of living and resonating with a work closely related to my culture.”
Fifth pick: Rebecca Gross ’25
Gross, who had fifth pick, reunited with Alexander Calder’s lithograph Acrobats, 1975. She had brought the same piece home from WALLS last year. “To me, it is perfect: spirited, aesthetic, and just the right amount of cheeky,” Gross wrote to the Record.
