In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
– from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot, 1920

In physics the passage of time has been deemed false–there is no flow, no passage–it simply is. There is no denying, however, the cycles of life, the ebb and flow of time’s passing. Eliot’s character J. Alfred Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons, but multiple signposts are used to mark life’s progress. This exhibition brings together works from the MFA collection that address the passing of time in nature and in human life.

Colombet creates meditative landscapes, representing the movement and erosion of natural formations. In her Fallout: Beauty Lost and Found series, Reingold addresses “the loss of beauty and its resurrection” by drawing the results of her daily hair loss.

Toland is an extremely accomplished ceramicist, adept at creating large-scale, life-like works. Often representing humanity at its most vulnerable, she draws attention to the fragility of life, and gives it a sense of beauty and dignity. Taken together, these works allow for a reflection on the passages of time, and a consideration of how it is measured.

Visit this exhibition in the Lee Malone Gallery within the MFA Collection.