MEDARDO ROSSO: SECOND IMPRESSIONS. This exhibit of Medardo Rosso’s sculptures is the first at a U.S. museum in 40 years. Medardo Rosso, an “impressionist sculptor,” saved and exhibited his wax casts rather than transforming them into bronzes. Focusing on five Rosso works, the exhibit attempts to determine what he was after when he sculpted 50 different variations of heads and busts. These range from the early “Aetas aurea” (The Golden Age, 1886-87), to the full-figure “Bookmaker” (1894), to his last and greatest work “Ecce puer” (Behold the Child, 1906). Through Oct. 26. Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday: 1 to 5 p.m. $6.50, $5 students/seniors, free for Harvard ID holders. Sacker Museum, 485 Broadway. (LAP)

THE CITY OF SARDIS; APPROACHES IN GRAPHIC RECORDING. The historic architecture and landscape of Sardis—the capital of the Lydian kingdom in westsern Turkey—are presented. The drawings range from the oldest, hand-measured pencil and ink versions from the Age of Enlightenment (1750s) to the latest electronic and computerized technologies that are expanding the traditional aims of graphic recording. Through Nov. 16. Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday: 1 to 5 p.m. $6.50, $5 students/seniors, free for Harvard ID holders. Fogg Art Museum, 32 Quincy Street. (LAP)

HATCHING THE PAST: DINOSAUR EGGS, NESTS AND YOUNG. This new fall exhibit, exploring the social aspects of dinosaurs, features a wide variety of dinosaur nests and eggs from around the world. Visitors can see and touch real dinosaur bones and a dinosaur nest nearly eight feet in diameter. The exhibit presents new theories about dinosaur reproduction and general behavior. Other attractions include the longest eggs ever discovered born of an oviraptor from China, a 75 million-year-old titanosaur egg the size of a bowling ball and a DVD presentation on baby dinosaurs and embryos. Runs through Sept. 1. $7.50 adults, $6 seniors/students. Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St. (CCS)

THESE SHOES WERE MADE FOR ... WALKING? This extensive collection of shoes from around the world concentrate on the rise from sensiblity to the height of fashion. 60 pairs of shoes, sandals and boots are exhibited from different cultures and different times. The ethnographic collection from the Peabody Library should appeal to shoe and fashion aficianados alike. Through Feb. 2004. Tozzer Library, 21 Divinity Ave. Free with Harvard ID. (CCS)

IN HER OWN HAND: OPERAS COMPOSED BY WOMEN, 1625-1939. This exhibit focuses on the contributions of women through the development of opera. It follows the origins of Italian opera in the courts of Versailles in the 17th century to public opera in post-revolutionary Paris and beyond. For music lovers and history buffs alike. Through Dec. 1, 2003. Loeb Music Library, Music Building. (CCS)

WHERE TRADITIONS MEET: PAINTING IN INDIA FROM THE 14TH THROUGH THE 17TH CENTURY. This exhibit explores the evolution of Indian painting, from early illustrations of Jain and Buddhist manuscripts to refined paintings done in the Rajput courts and under the Mughal emperors. Being in an area of germination and intersection of artistic traditions, India attracted numerous artists, many of whom illustrated religious and allegorical subjects using vibrant indigenous styles. Through December 7. Hours: Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. $6.50 adults, $5 students/seniors, free with Harvard ID. Arthur M. Sacker Museum, 485 Broadway. (LAP)

BUDDHIST ART: THE LATER TRADITION. This exhibit explores Chinese, Korea and Japanese works of art from the 8th to the 18th century, including paintings, sculptures, sutras (Buddhist sacred texts), ritual objects and textiles. Buddhist art evolved immensely during these ten decades. Early Buddhist art emphasized the religion’s major deities; Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats and human and animal guardians, whereas later Buddhist art, which evolved largely in East Asia and changed due to the Buddhist church’s becoming increasingly sectarian, accentuated on the a wider variety of subject matter and style. This ranges from the furious deities of the Esoteric tradition to moralistic paradise and hell scenes of the Pureland school to the simple ink play of Zen. Through January 4, 2004. Hours: Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. $6.50 adults, $5 students/seniors, free with Harvard ID. Arthur M. Sacker Museum, 485 Broadway. (LAP)

‘LE COQ D’OR’: NATALIA GONCHAROVA’S DESIGNS FOR THE BALLETS RUSSES. Inciter of the Moscow pre-World War I art scene, Natalie Goncharova designed stage sets and costumes for the Ballet Russes production of Le coq d’or, an opera-ballet premiered in Paris and London in 1914. This exhibit brings together Goncharova’s stage and costume designs, curtain studies, and preparatory drawings from the Harvard Theater Collection; the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Through August 24. Hours: Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, 1-5p.m. $6.50, $5 students/seniors, free for Harvard ID holders. Busch-Reisinger Museum, Werner Otto Hall. (LAP)

readings

KATY LEDERER. Lederer, an American poet well known for her collection Winter Sex, attempts prose in her memoir Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers. The book brings the world of professional gambling to life, offering a perceptive account of growing up as well as gambling. Lederer’s childhood includes an English professor father, a mother hooked on crossword puzzles, solitaire, and scotch and two older siblings who rob their mother’s purse. All gamblers and all fiercely competitive, the family becomes split after the kids go to college and the parents divorce. It is in the central hub of American gambling—Las Vegas—that the family comes back together for their love of betting and winning. Lederer’s thoughtful prose describes in vivid, poignant detail all the hardships of finding one’s place in the world. The book will be presented on August 18 at 7:00 p.m. Free. Wordsworth Books, 30 Brattle St. (MCH)

Happening was edited by Ryan J. Kuo ’04 with John P. Kehoe and compiled by Megan C. Harney, Mallory R. Hellman, Heloisa L. Nogueira, Lara A. Pedrini, Caitlin C. Southwick and Eric Wang.