The Portraiture Project
The Portraiture Project
Mission & Goals
The Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project commissions, curates, and uplifts portraiture that reflects the breadth of Harvard College’s community and contributions. By elevating voices historically underrepresented in campus imagery, the project advances intercultural understanding, fosters a sense of belonging, and integrates inclusive storytelling into daily campus life.
This project aims to increase the representation in portraits across Harvard College and center storytelling through the art of portraiture. Portraiture humanizes history and serves as a powerful conduit to further conversation about the multiplicity of the human experience. A portrait invites each of us into our own transcendent conversation with the artwork that evokes empathy, introspection, and connection. Often commissioned to honor its subjects’ contributions by commemorating their likeness, portraits harness the transformative power of art to bridge time, cultures, and people.
History of the Project
The Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project was created in 2002 by Dr. S. Allen Counter, founding Director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations and Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School. Its aim was to increase ethno-cultural diversity in the portraits that currently exist on the walls and in the Harvard University Portrait collection.
While the Harvard Portrait Collection began in 1680, and today includes more than 1,200 objects, the majority of its subjects historically came from similar societal and socioeconomic backgrounds aligned with traditional power structures, resulting in a largely homogeneous collection. The Portrait Collection did not portray other community members who were equally deserving of commemoration based on their individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work, so the Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project sought to more accurately reflect the wide array of individuals who have served Harvard University with exceptional distinction and/or for an extended tenure.
Dr. Counter requested and received funds from the Office of the President of Harvard University to support the Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project Initiative, and in 2003, a committee of Harvard faculty and administrators organized the governance of the Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project. The Committee commissioned Mr. Stephen Coit ‘71 to create these works that supplement the current collection. Since the Project’s inception, Coit has painted 20 portraits for this project, and he has also hosted portraiture workshops for students to learn about the painting process.
In 2025, after the closing of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, the new Harvard Foundation has taken on this important work.
The Harvard Foundation coordinates the installation of all portraits with the support of the Harvard Art Museums.
The Portraits
Archie C. Epps III
Dean of Students
Rulan Chao Pian
Professor - Ethnomusicology
David Evans
Admissions Officer
Stanley Tambiah
Professor- Sociology & Anthropology
Kiyo Morimoto
Director - Harvard Bureau of Study Counsel
Eileen Southern
Professor - Musicology
Martin Kilson
Professor- Government
Harold Amos
Department Chair - Harvard Medical School
John Monro
Dean of Harvard College
Preston Williams
Professor - Black Christian Ethics
Chester Pierce
Professor - Psychiatry
Lester Fred Jewett
Dean of Harvard College
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck
First Indian to graduate from Harvard
Florence Ladd
Director of the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College
Annemarie Schimmel
Professor - German & Islamic Studies
Rosa Rios
Class of '87, Harvard Foundation Associate & Organizer of the first Cultural Rhythms
Orlando Patterson
Professor - Sociology
Richard T. Greener
First Black undergraduate to receive a bachelor's degree
S. Allen Counter
Inaugural Director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations
Professor
Lucien V Alexis
First Black lacrosse player
Please note: The subjects included in the Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project were selected by consensus of prior committees based on their contributions to the Harvard community. Inclusion in the collection does not imply endorsement of the subjects’ beliefs, actions, or legacies, whether known or unknown to the committee at the time of selection.
Upcoming Event
On April 29, 2026, come connect with a curated collection of Bridge Builders from the Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project at a mini-installation at Adolphus Busch Hall. Portraits usually displayed across the Harvard campus will come together for this unique and limited display that highlights a range of subjects who served the Harvard College community.
