Arts Summary

September 3, 2026

Brad Holland: Making it Personal at SVA Galleries, September 8, through September 19, 2026

School of Visual Arts (SVA) Galleries, in partnership with BFA Illustration and BFA Comics, and the Norman Rockwell Museum, will present “Brad Holland: Making it Personal,” a survey of works by the late American illustrator Brad Holland. The exhibition will be on view Tuesday, September 8, through Saturday, September 19, 2026, with a reception on September 9, 2026, at the SVA Gramercy Gallery, 209 E 23rd St (SVA Way), New York City.

“In my mind, Brad Holland’s greatest contribution was not a particular style but a philosophy. He demonstrated that illustration could be a form of visual thinking—an art of interpretation rather than explanation. He expanded the possibilities of the medium and elevated the expectations placed upon it,” says Plunkett. “Reviving his legacy today is not simply an act of honoring an important artist; it is a reminder that the enduring power of illustration lies not in the tools used to create it, but in the originality and humanity in every image.”

Brad Holland. *Cat Dancing* (1994). Mother Jones Magazine. (Acrylic on masonite, 16 x 20 1/4in)

Brad Holland. *Com Di Com Com* (2007). Serapions Odeon Theater
(Acrylic on gesso panel, 28 1/2 x 23 3/4in)

Brad Holland. *Parking Garage* (1986). The New Yorker Magazine
(Acrylic on illustration board, 13 1/4 x 11in)

Brad Holland. *Attica* (1971). The New York Times. (Ink on paper, 7 x 10in)

“Brad Holland was a fiercely independent man, and these strict instincts followed him across his career as an illustrator. Despite what was common practice at the time, he would rather have starved to death than execute somebody else’s ideas,” says Twingley. “And as he famously told Art Paul, founding art director of Playboy, in 1968, ‘I don’t know if my ideas will be better than yours, but they will be more personal.’ This, in a nutshell, was Brad’s way, and his lasting contribution to the spirit of modern illustration.”

“Brad Holland’s legacy deserves renewed attention today because the qualities that distinguished his work have become even more valuable. In an era when images can be generated instantly, and technical proficiency is increasingly accessible, originality of thought has become the defining characteristic of memorable visual communication. Holland’s illustrations remind us that the true role of an illustrator is not simply to produce attractive images, but to discover unexpected ways of seeing,” says Plunkett. “It will be meaningful to introduce his art and philosophy to new audiences, including art students and practicing artists, who will find inspiration in the work of this master of American illustration.”

Exhibiton was curated by SVA faculty member and alumnus Jonathan Twingley (MFA 1998 Illustration as Visual Essay), with advisement from alumnus and Chief Curator and Rockwell Center Director for the Norman Rockwell Museum Stephanie Plunkett (MFA 1990 Illustration as Visual Essay) and author, educator, and cofounder of the College’s MFA Design program Steven Heller.

Title image: Brad Holland. Stevie Ray Vaughn (1983). Epic Records. (Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24in). Images courtesy School of Visual Arts (SVA) Galleries.

August 2, 2026

Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte at The Jewish Museum, July 17 through November 15, 2026

“Opening in July 2026, the Jewish Museum presents a major cross-disciplinary exhibition showcasing the artistic and cultural legacies of women of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops). On view from July 17 through November 15, 2026, and presented in cooperation with the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte highlights how women played an underrecognized and yet central role in the workshop’s activities, focusing in particular on the many Jewish women who worked as designers and artists, as well as those who supported these efforts as patrons. Featuring a wide-ranging selection of media including fashion, ceramics, graphic design, decorative arts, and painting, the exhibition reveals the breadth and depth of these women’s contributions and the lesser-known ways in which they shaped modernist design languages through the platform of the Wiener Werkstätte.

Active from 1903 to 1932, the Wiener Werkstätte was founded by architect Josef Hoffmann, artist Koloman Moser, and industrialist art collector Fritz Waerndorfer as a multidisciplinary collective and commercial enterprise that embraced the synthesis of art and life (gesamtkunstwerk) as an essential condition of modern living. The establishment of the Werkstätte, which designed, produced, and sold high-quality goods, coincided in mutually supportive ways with the burgeoning economic opportunities available to women in Vienna during this same period.” — The Jewish Museum

Installation view of “Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte” at the Jewish Museum, NY, July 17– November 15, 2026. Photo by Kris Graves Projects / Julian Calero.

“Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte brings together art, design, fashion, and Jewish history to illuminate the central role Jewish women played in shaping modernity, both as visionary makers and as influential patrons,” said James S. Snyder, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director of the Jewish Museum. “Building on the Museum’s long-standing history of presenting design exhibitions that challenge traditional art-historical narratives, this exhibition reflects our commitment to foregrounding Jewish artistic traditions in ways that resonate across world cultures.”

“The Wiener Werkstätte is often celebrated for its role in shaping conceptions of modernism, yet these discourses have presented a complicated relationship to gender, craft, and ornamentation, which has, in turn, neglected a more complete picture of the Werkstätte’s output,” said Kristina Parsons, Leon Levy Assistant Curator. “In bringing together highlights from the remarkable body of work made by Jewish women for the Werkstätte, this exhibition spotlights their creativity, ambition, and influence, while inviting visitors to explore a group of artists who embraced decoration as a central expression of modernity.”

The exhibition Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte is a cooperation between the Jewish Museum, New York, and MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna. Curated by Kristina Parsons, Leon Levy Associate Curator, the Jewish Museum, New York, with curatorial consultancy by Anne-Katrin Rossberg, MAK, Vienna. Exhibition design is by Chelsea Garunay with exhibition graphic design by June Yoon.

Images courtesy Jewish Museum.

July 30, 2026

Bruna Esposito: In Light of Facts at Magazzino Italian Art, July 24, 2026 – February 1, 2027

“Magazzino Italian Art presents Bruna Esposito: In Light of Facts. Curated by Nicola Lucchi, the exhibition is installed in the Robert Olnick Pavilion and will be open to the public from July 24, 2026, through February 1, 2027. In Light of Facts brings together works never before exhibited in the United States: a substantial selection from the series inconveniente (2014) and the installation Oltremare (sotto terra vulnerabili) (2006–2011). Considered together, the works transform the museum’s temporary exhibition pavilion into a dialectical environment, in which common materials open possibilities for poetic and critical reflection. The title plays with the idea of bringing facts to light in both a physical and metaphorical sense: light becomes a tool for making visible aspects of the reality around us that are often overlooked. By reworking objects that evoke migration and trade across the Mediterranean Sea and other spaces of global transit, Esposito engages with themes of movement, labor, vulnerability, identity, and the forms of adaptation that characterize contemporary life.” — Magazzino Italian Art

*Bruna Esposito: In Light of Facts*, exhibition installation. Photograph by Marco Anelli and Tommaso Sacconi. Courtesy of Magazzino Italian Art.

Bruna Esposito, *inconveniente*, 2014. Market table, rescue blanket, shoe, bird deterrent. Courtesy of Wizard Gallery, Milan. Photograph by Marco Anelli and Tommaso Sacconi. Photo courtesy of Magazzino Italian Art.

Bruna Esposito, *In Light of Facts*, 2026. Rescue blanket, bird deterrent, led lamp. Courtesy of Wizard Gallery, Milan. Photograph by Marco Anelli and Tommaso Sacconi. Photo courtesy of Magazzino Italian Art.

Bruna Esposito, *Oltremare (sotto terra vulnerabili)*, 2006-2011. Loop video with sound, monitor, bags of rice, cemetery candles, copper, silk. Courtesy of Wizard Gallery, Milan. Photograph by Marco Anelli and Tommaso Sacconi. Photo courtesy of Magazzino Italian Art.

Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu, Co-Founders of Magazzino Italian Art, state: “Our friendship with Bruna Esposito is a longstanding one. It was born thanks to Dora and Mario Pieroni, and it flourished through the experience of the Olnick Spanu Art Program. Years later, it was a great pleasure for us to host Altri Venti – Ostro as part of Magazzino’s activities, and we are now delighted to present our public with an exhibition that fully reflects the museum’s mission: to promote greater knowledge of Italian artists whose work engages with the questions of our time without relinquishing the power of imagination.”

Nicola Lucchi, Director of Magazzino, adds: “In Light of Facts is an exhibition that insists on the relationship between documentation and evocation. Bruna Esposito’s works begin from circumstances and materials that belong to our present, but through the artist’s intervention these elements come to reveal the humanity—and therefore the poetry—that lies within the hardness of facts and things.”

Title image: Bruna Esposito: In Light of Facts, exhibition installation. Photograph by Marco Anelli and Tommaso Sacconi. Courtesy of Magazzino Italian Art.

July 27, 2026

L’SPACE Gallery presents Shape of Dreams: Sculptures by Leonora Carrington, until August 14, 2026

“L’SPACE Gallery is pleased to present Shape of Dreams, an exhibition of sculptures by Leonora Carrington. The exhibition marks a rare presentation of Carrington’s sculpture in the United States, offering a focused encounter with a body of work that has been less widely exhibited in this country. The presentation includes an interactive Tarot Reading Booth in which visitors encounter Carrington’s voice, reconstructed through AI, delivering intimate readings from the deck she designed.

Curated by the Director of L’SPACE Gallery in collaboration with Consigna Gallery in Mexico City, and presented with the support of the Leonora Carrington Council, Shape of Dreams situates the sculptures within Carrington’s broader cosmology, a world in which boundaries between human, animal, and spirit dissolve, and meaning unfolds through dream, ritual, and intuition.

The exhibition brings together a significant selection of Carrington’s bronze sculptures, such as Catwoman, The Ship of Cranes, The Palmist and Unknown all produced during her lifetime. Emerging directly from the same visionary universe as her paintings, these works translate her mythological figures, hybrid beings, and symbolic language into three-dimensional form. At once intimate and monumental, the sculptures embody Carrington’s enduring exploration of transformation, mysticism, and the subconscious her figures appearing to step out of her canvases and into physical space.” — L’SPACE Gallery

“I’ve always had access to other worlds. We all do because we dream.” — Leonora Carrington

Installation View of *Shape of Dreams* at L’SPACE Gallery

Installation View of *Shape of Dreams*, *Ship of Cranes* (detail) at L’SPACE Gallery

Installation View of *Shape of Dreams*, *Tarot Booth* (detail) at L’SPACE Gallery

Title image: Installation View of Shape of Dreams, The Palmist (detail), 2011, Lost-wax bronze casting, 103 x 50 x 33 in, 260 x 125x 82 cm.

Images courtesy L’SPACE Gallery.

July 16, 2026

Gabriel Orozco: Public Nature presented by Public Art Fund, July 8 – September 6, 2026

Public Art Fund presents Gabriel Orozco: Public Nature, an exhibition of 12 new photographs on view on 300 JCDecaux bus shelters in New York City, Chicago, and Boston. The images, captured by Orozco as he walked through public spaces, explore how nature and the built environment shape one another, and together comprise the artist’s first commissioned photographic series.

The following photographs are presented by Public Art Fund as a part of Gabriel Orozco: Public Nature, an exhibition on 300 JCDecaux bus shelters in New York, Chicago, and Boston, July 8, 2026 – September 6, 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Kurimanzutto Gallery.

Gabriel Orozco. *Montaña con cielo rosa (Mountain Under a Pink Sky)*, New York City, 2026. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY

Gabriel Orozco. *Jerga papalote*, New York City, 2026. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.

Gabriel Orozco. *Precaución ciclistas*, New York City, 2026. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.

Gabriel Orozco. *Altavista y Periférico (Altavista and Periférico)*, New York City, 2026. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.

Gabriel Orozco. *Botanas en el centro (Downtown Snacks)*, New York City, 2026. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.

“In this exhibition, Orozco uses the JCDecaux bus shelters as a framework to expand his longstanding interest in the built environment and bring it into a new register, where his images function as spatial interventions,” said Gabriela López Dena, Associate Curator of Public Practice at Public Art Fund. “The works create visual continuities between image and site, allowing elements within the photographs to appear as extensions of the surrounding urban landscape. As a result, the city itself becomes part of the work, and the work becomes part of the city.”

“When you see these images at the bus stop, you can imagine that you are physically in the landscape. It’s not just about the photography itself, but the photography in relationship with the body that is looking at that image, in that bus stop, on that street. The content of the images is in relationship with the urban context around them, and the size of the image is also in relationship with the body,” said Orozco. “I like to play in this friction between the natural world and the urban. The structured grid of cities is being challenged all the time by the way nature behaves.”

Gabriel Orozco: Public Nature is curated by Public Art Fund Associate Curator of Public Practice Gabriela López Dena.

Titlle image: Gabriel Orozco. Altavista y Periférico (Altavista and Periférico), 2026. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY. Presented by Public Art Fund as a part of Gabriel Orozco: Public Nature, an exhibition on 300 JCDecaux bus shelters in New York, Chicago, and Boston, July 8, 2026 – September 6, 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Kurimanzutto Gallery.

July 10, 2026

Tate Modern, Julio Le Parc: Light. Colour. Action, June 11, 2026 – May 3, 2027

“Tate Modern opens an exhibition dedicated to the visionary work of Julio Le Parc (1928-2026). Organised in close collaboration with the artist and his Atelier, the exhibition features over 60 works spanning Le Parc’s extraordinary 70-year career, including interactive installations, striking light sculptures, and geometric abstract paintings. Arranged in a winding, maze-like manner, the exhibition follows Le Parc’s career-long mission to activate the viewer, using optical effects, sensory experiences and physical interactions to make audiences aware of the role they can play in bringing art to life.”—Tate Modern

Julio Le Parc at Tate Modern. Photo (c) Tate Photography (Kathleen Arundell) (11).jpg

Julio Le Parc at Tate Modern. Photo (c) Tate Photography (Kathleen Arundell).

Julio Le Parc was born in Argentina and studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. He moved to France in 1958 and joined the vibrant Parisian creative scene of the 1960s.

Julio Le Parc: Light. Colour. Action. is presented in The George Economou Gallery. Supported by Anthropic with additional support from the Julio Le Parc Exhibition Supporters Circle, Tate Members and Tate Americas Foundation. Curated by Val Ravaglia, Curator, Displays & International Art, and Francis Hardy, Assistant Curator, International Art.

Title image: Julio Le Parc, Blue Sphere, 2001-2022. Tate. (c) ADAGP, Paris and DACS. London 2025. Photo (c) Museum of Art Pudong.

Images courtesy Tate Modern.

July 9, 2026

Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy at The Met Fifth Avenue, through February 28, 2027

“From June 12, 2026, to February 28, 2027, an exhibition at The Met will focus on cross-cultural encounters in Europe and the Middle East during a period of growing imperialism and colonialism. Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy will present works of art traditionally identified as Orientalist in conversation with objects from the Middle East, fostering a deeper understanding of the contexts of exchange between cultures, beginning with Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798 and culminating in an exploration of the French-trained Ottoman painter Osman Hamdi Bey (1842–1910). It will highlight the traditions of Islamic art and culture that transfixed our 19th-century forebears alongside European and American creations, exploring complex issues surrounding influence and cultural appropriation. The exhibition will be the first at The Met dedicated to Orientalism, and the first major collaboration between the Departments of European Paintings and Islamic Art.” — The Met

“During the 19th century, unprecedented cross-cultural encounters fueled the accelerated absorption and reinterpretation of ideas shared between peoples,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. “Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy focuses on how cultural difference was perceived, reckoned with, and represented during this period, breaking down conventional hierarchies between the visual and decorative arts to offer new perspectives on a multifaceted subject.”

Installation views of Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy, on view June 12, 2026–February 28, 2027 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photos by Anna-Marie Kellen, Courtesy of The Met.

Exhibition co-curator Asher Miller, Eugene V. Thaw Curator of European Paintings, said: “One of the most interesting aspects of this exhibition will be the new light it sheds on Gérôme’s Bashi-Bazouk, the life-size painting of an Ottoman mercenary long favored by Met visitors, by presenting it alongside exceptional artworks that reveal untold stories about Orientalist portraits, likenesses, and types—and the fluid boundaries between those categories.”

Exhibition co-curator Maryam Ekhtiar, Patti Cadby Birch Curator of Islamic Art, said, “In the 19th century, Persian art and culture held a mesmerizing sway over the imaginations of Europeans and Americans, including writers, translators, poets, artists, craftsmen, architects, designers, and even composers, who regarded Persia (present-day Iran) as an unmatched wellspring of creativity and refinement, inspiring a vast body of literature, visual art, and music. Visitors to the exhibition will learn that this tendency was so pervasive that many designers and manufacturers marketed their creations as ‘Persian,’ regardless of where they were actually made.”

Exhibition co-curator Deniz Beyazit, Curator of Islamic Art, said: “A critical component of the exhibition is balancing Western perspectives with those from the Islamic world. One of the true discoveries for most visitors to the exhibition will be the section on Osman Hamdi Bey, one of the 19th century’s most intriguing and complex figures. For the first time, a significant group of his rarely seen paintings will be displayed alongside those by Gérôme and other painters who were his contemporaries. Such novel juxtaposition will reveal that, more than any artist of the 19th century, Hamdi represented modern cosmopolitan life in the Ottoman Empire from an insider’s perspective. His pictures offer an eye-opening response to the exoticized and stereotyped portrayals of ‘the East’ created by generations of European Orientalist painters.”

Title image: Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, Vesoul 1824–1904 Paris). Bashi-Bazouk, 1868–69. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2008 (2008.547.1). Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Images courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

June 17, 2026

Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now at Guggenheim New York, Two-part opening: June 5 and June 26 through January 10, 2027

“This June, the Guggenheim New York will unveil Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now, a focused exhibition exploring the museum’s holdings of Pop art and the movement’s enduring influence on artists working around the world today. Drawing on the institution’s history, Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now will illuminate a lesser-known chapter in the museum’s past while foregrounding the significant contributions of both historical and contemporary practices. This exhibition will reflect the spirit and complexities of Pop art and trace how the movement renders the familiar strange, elevates the commercial to the sacred, and transforms the banal into the spectacular, redefining what art could be from the 1960s to the present.

The Guggenheim’s relationship with Pop art dates to the tenure of British curator and critic Lawrence Alloway, curator at the Guggenheim from 1962 to 1966, who was instrumental in introducing the movement to American audiences. Alloway organized several groundbreaking exhibitions at the museum, including Six Painters and the Object (1963), the first museum exhibition of Pop art in New York. Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now will feature an eclectic selection of defining works from the collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Richard Hamilton, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. These works will be presented alongside recent acquisitions and gifts by contemporary artists such as Maurizio Cattelan, Alex Da Corte, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Lucia Hierro, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Liu Shiyuan, and Cara Romero, whose practices both interrogate and build upon the legacies of Pop.”— Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Installation view, *Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now*, June 5, 2026 – January 10, 2027, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

“Many visitors will recognize the iconic imagery and artists associated with Pop, but this exhibition invites them to look again,” said Lauren Hinkson, Curator, Collections. “By placing historic works from the collection alongside recent acquisitions by artists working today, Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now will demonstrate how Pop art, as a strategy, continues to inspire, challenge, and evolve.”

This exhibition is organized by Lauren Hinkson, Curator, Collections, with support from Faith Hunter, Curatorial Assistant, and Victoria Horrocks, Curatorial Fellow, Photography

Title image: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Soft Shuttlecock, 1995. Canvas, latex paint, expanded polyurethane foam, polyethylene foam, steel, aluminum, rope, wood, duct tape, fiberglass, and reinforced plastic; nine feathers, approximately 26 ft. (7.9 m) long, 6–7 ft. (1.8–2.1 m) wide each; nosepiece, approximately 6 x 6 x 3 ft. (1.8 x 1.8 x 0.9 m); overall dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Partial gift, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, New York 95.4488. © Estate of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Photo: Erika Ede, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

June 11, 2026

Hujar: Contact at The Morgan Library & Museum, May 22 through October 25, 2026

“This spring, the Morgan Library & Museum will present Hujar:Contact, an exhibition exploring the life, times, and creative evolution of photographer Peter Hujar (1934–1987). On view from May 22 through October 25, 2026, the exhibition features more than 110 contact sheets and 20 enlargements from the Morgan’s collection of Peter Hujar’s works.

In 2013, the Morgan acquired the 5,783 black-and-white contact sheets Hujar possessed at the time of his death, along with two notebooks, or ‘job books,’ in which he recorded his photographic assignments and personal projects from 1954 until 1985. Together, these materials provide a detailed record of an artist who left no written reflection on his work, yet carefully preserved the traces of his decades-long photographic life. Hujar:Contact foregrounds the material processes that structured photographic practice in the era of film and chemical printing. Visitors to the exhibition will be transported to Hujar’s darkroom, invited to study these small images with the same attentiveness and care that Hujar himself brought to them.”—Morgan Library & Museum

Capuchin Catacombs, Palermo, with Paul Thek, 1963, job 256.
The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.5269-5272. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

Joseph Raffael among other Stable Gallery artists and staff, ca. 1967, job 327. The Morgan Library & Museum, Peter Hujar Collection, Morgan Library & Museum, New York purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.499. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

The Cockettes at 10 East 23rd Street, 1971, job 519.
The Morgan Library & Museum, Peter Hujar Collection, New York purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.1560. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

Candy Darling in room 1423, Cabrini Health Care Center, 1973, job 587.
The Morgan Library & Museum, Peter Hujar Collection, New York purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.5770. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

Joe Brainard at home, 1975, job 664.
The Morgan Library & Museum, Peter Hujar Collection, New York purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.2285. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

Marsha P. Johnson on Christopher Street Pier, Easter, 1976, job 719.
The Morgan Library & Museum, Peter Hujar Collection, New York purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.2624. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

Caven Point, New Jersey, with David Wojnarowicz, 1984, job 1063.
The Morgan Library & Museum, Peter Hujar Collection, New York purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.5789. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

“Following our 2018 exhibition Peter Hujar: Speed of Life, which explored the full length and breadth of Hujar’s artistic career for the first time, Hujar:Contact turns to his creative process,” said Colin B. Bailey, Katharine J. Rayner Director of the Morgan Library & Museum. “This exhibition advances the Morgan’s commitment to collecting and interpreting contemporary photography and to broadening appreciation for a medium that is both immediate and reflective.”

The exhibition elevates the contact sheet, traditionally a working tool, into an art object worthy of close visual reading in its own right. Each sheet reproduces an entire roll of film, allowing viewers to follow Hujar’s eye through a series of exposures. Many of the contact sheets include Hujar’s own handwritten notes, marks, and annotations, which indicate his changing approach to cropping and printing and elucidate the editorial decisions behind each final image.

“Contact sheets reveal an intimate history of Hujar’s habits, inspirations, and happy accidents—the intricacies hidden behind a final print,” said Joel Smith, curator of the exhibition and Richard L. Menschel Curator and Department Head of Photography at the Morgan. “Hujar:Contact illuminates the physical process that was central to his artistic practice.”

Hujar:Contact is organized by Joel Smith, Richard L. Menschel Curator and Department Head of Photography.

Title image: Peter Hujar, (1934 – 1987) Self-portraits at 189 Second Avenue, 1974, job 620. The Morgan Library & Museum, Peter Hujar Collection, New York purchased on the Charina Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.108:8.2110. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS).

Images courtesy Morgan Library & Museum.

June 8, 2026

Costume Art at The Met Fifth Avenue, May 10, 2026 through January 10, 2027

“The show examines the centrality of the dressed body, juxtaposing garments and works of art from across the Museum’s vast collection to create pairings that not only illuminate the indivisible connection between clothing and the body but also the complex interplay between artistic representations of the body and fashion as an embodied artform. Costume Art is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue from May 10, 2026, through January 10, 2027.”—The Met

Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer said: “Costume Art will present a dynamic and scholarly conversation between garments from The Costume Institute and an array of artworks from across The Met’s collection, elevating universal and timeless themes while bringing forward new ideas and ways of seeing. This immensely creative and collaborative show will demonstrate the Museum’s innovative and forward-thinking approach to presenting Costume Institute exhibitions and will highlight The Met’s unique ability to position fashion within the context of more than 5,000 years of art represented in its collection. The newly designed, state-of-the-art Condé M. Nast Galleries further reflect The Met’s commitment to displaying and appreciating fashion as an art form, and also to continually investing in gallery improvement projects that will benefit our visitors for generations to come. We are thrilled to announce such an esteemed group of co-chairs and members of the host committee, and further we are deeply grateful to all our donors for their remarkable generosity to create these new, grand public galleries.”

Naked and Nude Body, Gallery View. Photo © Anna-Marie Kellen / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Classical Body, Gallery View.. Photo © Anna-Marie Kellen / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Abstract Body, Gallery View. Photo © Anna-Marie Kellen / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pregnant Body, Gallery View. Photo © Anna-Marie Kellen / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inscribed Body, Gallery View. Photo © Anna-Marie Kellen / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Epidermal Body, Gallery View. Photo © Anna-Marie Kellen / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mortal Body, Gallery View. Photo © Anna-Marie Kellen / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, The Costume Institute, added: “For The Costume Institute’s inaugural exhibition in the Condé M. Nast Galleries, I wanted to focus on the centrality of the dressed body within the Museum, connecting artistic representations of the body with fashion as an embodied art form. Rather than prioritizing fashion’s visuality, which often comes at the expense of the corporeal, Costume Art privileges its materiality and the indivisible connection between our bodies and the clothes we wear. The opening of the new Galleries will mark a pivotal moment for the department, one that acknowledges the critical role that fashion plays not only within art history but also within contemporary culture. I am grateful to Max for his support and to the generous donors to the Galleries for their belief in fashion’s transformative possibilities.”

The exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, The Costume Institute, with the support of Costume Institute staff Stephanie Kramer, Senior Research Associate; Ayaka Iida, Research Associate; and Emily Mushaben, Research Associate. The exhibition is designed by Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich of Peterson Rich Office (PRO). Additionally, artist Samar Hejazi created bespoke heads for the show’s mannequins.

Images courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

June 8, 2026

Musical Bodies at The Met Fifth Avenue, June 7 through Sept 27, 2026

“From clapping hands and tapping feet to beatboxing and whistling, the human body is a musical instrument. In turn, instruments often draw their form and decoration from the body. Musical Bodies, which opens on June 7 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will explore the multifaceted relationship between musical instruments and the human body. This is the first major exhibition to address this theme and will bring together some 130 works from around the world and across time, including musical instruments, paintings, sculptures, and drawings from The Met collection along with important international loans.

Encompassing 4,000 years of music history and art, Musical Bodies will feature a range of objects from across the visual arts, literature, religion, pop culture, and mythology. This includes ancient Egyptian rattles, paintings by Titian and Degas, instrument-inspired apparel, and one of Prince’s most notable guitars. The ways in which the boundaries between body and instrument have been artfully blurred will be explored through visionary works such as Nam June Paik’s TV Cello; the PianoArc circular keyboard designed in collaboration with Brockett Parsons, keyboardist for Lady Gaga; and a steel guitar in the form of a crutch that was made for country music singer and songwriter Barbara Mandrell while she was recovering from an automobile crash.” — The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Installation view of *Musical Bodies*, on view June 7–September 27, 2026 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Eileen Travell, courtesy of The Met.

“Musical instruments, which represent an important part of the Met’s collection, have long been recognized and celebrated as dynamic tools for creative expression, and also as works of art in their own right,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. “This multisensory exhibition is the first to explore—through remarkable instruments, objects, and works of art—the fascinating ways in which sound, musical objects and the human form have been in conversation for millennia. Including outstanding instruments, powerful performances and immersive in-gallery experiences, Musical Bodies is a show that will resonate, fascinate and inspire.”

“Musical Bodies first formed in my mind as a deceptively simple question: Why are so many instruments shaped and decorated like the human body?” said Bradley Strauchen-Scherer, Curator in the Department of Musical Instruments at The Met.“The quest for an answer has become an exploration of humanity through the lens of instruments and music. We find ourselves represented in these instruments because, for much of our history, music has been central to who we are and what we do. I hope this exhibition will reconnect all of us with our innate musicality and shared heritage of harmony.”

Musical Bodies will be on view during the presentation of the exhibition Costume Art (May 10, 2026–January 10, 2027), which will examine the centrality of the dressed body in fashion and art. The two shows will provide visitors with distinct and engaging explorations of the body’s relationship to artistic expression.

Musical Bodies is conceived and organized by Bradley Strauchen-Scherer, Curator in the Department of Musical Instruments at The Met, assisted by Ava Valentino, Research Assistant in the Department of Musical Instruments.

Title image: Thomas Zach, Austrian, 1812–1892. Violino Harpa Forma Maxima, 1874. Wood (spruce, maple, ebony), metal strings. Approx dimensions: H: 27 in x W: 15 in x D: 3 in (70 x 55 x 10cm). Mus.e de la musique, Cit. de la Musique-Philharmonie de Paris IOI.009. Lender Name: Mus.e de la Musique, Cit. de la Musique. Courtesy of The Met.

June 2, 2026

El Pasado Mio/My Own Past: Afrodescendant Contributions to Cuban Art and Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection at The Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, through September 12, 2026

“The Lowe Art Museum proudly presents two exhibitions that are the most comprehensive presentation of Afro-Cuban art ever shown. After its debut in Cambridge, Harvard University’s exhibition organizers at the Afro-Latin American Research Institute selected the Lowe for ElPasado Mio/My Own Past: Afrodescendant Contributions to Cuban Art – the groundbreaking museum show that brings to light how Cuban artists of African descent were erased and sidelined. Concurrently, the Lowe is presenting the companion exhibition Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection. These two exhibitions feature more than 100 works of art spanning 200 years (created between 1822 and 2022), showcasing 58 Cuban artists in a new way.

There are a total of nine paintings by Wifredo Lam in these exhibitions, including rarely seen early works from 1926, 1931 and 1937. The Lowe’s iteration of El Pasado Mio/My Own Past has been expanded with works from local collections in Miami, doubling the number of historical works created before 1959. Women artists were also excluded from the canon of Cuban art history, and El Pasado Mio features works by eleven female artists who are being exhibited together for the first time.” – Lowe Art Museum

El Pasado Mio/My Own Past: Afrodescendant Contributions to Cuban Art

“El Pasado Mio/My Own Past restores critical omissions in the annals of Cuban art history by elevating Afrodescendant artists who have been overlooked, forgotten, or written out of the historical record. The Lowe is honored to present this transformational exhibition, which not only contextualizes these lost voices but also brings them into dialogue with contemporary artists, and artists from the Cuban Vanguardia,” says Dr. Jill Deupi, the Lowe Art Museum’s Beaux Arts Executive Director and Chief Curator. “The latter is the intention of Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection, our companion exhibition which explores the complexities and contradictions of Afro-Cuban culture, which played a vital and persistent role in Cuban Modernism.”

The guest curator of both exhibitions is Dr. Alejandro de la Fuente, the Director of Harvard’s Afro-Latin American Research Institute. “Every artist in El Pasado Mio/My Own Past is Afrodescendant. This shows a different genealogy for Cuban art, because we are rescuing Afrodescendant figures who were sidelined by history and are presenting them with some of the most well-known Cuban artists who are also of African descent,” says de la Fuente. “We always wanted the city of Miami and the Lowe Art Museum to present this exhibition after Harvard. Both exhibitions are the first of their kind.”

Elio Rodriguez Valdes. *Naked Jungle*, 2020. Soft sculpture and acrylic. David Perez Collection.

Roberto Diago Querol. Eleggua’s Head, 1040. Gouache on cardboard. Private collection.

Maria Magdalena Campos Pons. *Finding Balance*, 2015. 28 polaroid prints. Courtesy of the artist and Bernice Steinbaum Gallery.

Alexandre Arrechea. *Cantor, Truth and Lies, Sound of Seas*, and *Desperate Measures*, 2019. UVI ink on wood

Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection

“The concurrent exhibition Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection is a parallel project meant to be viewed in conversation with El Pasado Mio/My Own Past. This exhibition presents a distinct group of artists, because all of them were racialized as white during their lives – except for Wifredo Lam, who is the only Afrodescendant artist in this exhibition. “Theirs is an external gaze – they were looking into the Afro-Cuban culture without really understanding it,” says Dr. de la Fuente. Afrocubanismo was a cultural movement – visual arts, literature and music – that emerged in the 1930s and peaked during the 1940s, during Cuba’s first Vanguardia wave. Many of these artists visited Paris in the 1920s. There they discovered, and were influenced by, the Parisian fascination with traditional sub-Saharan African art. On the one hand, some of these artists were seen as co-opting a history that was not theirs. Some of their works are seen as being exploitive, and as caricatures. On the other hand, some are seen as wanting to center and re-imagine Cuba through its African roots, Afro-religious forms, and Afro-Cuban cultures.

The exhibition Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection features 27 artworks by 14 Cuban artists. Drawing on the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection, the Lowe Art Museum’s exhibition — guest curated by Alejandro de la Fuente — presents key Afrocubanista works to illuminate the complex social and cultural forces shaping twentieth century Cuban art.

Some of the well-known artists include: Wifredo Lam, Agustin Cardenas, Juan Roberto Diago, Maria Magdalena Campos Pons and Manuel Mendive, among others. Some of the artists who were previously obscured include: Pastor Argudin, Maria Ariza, Antonio Argudin Chon, and Tony Ximenez, among others.” – Lowe Art Museum

Wifredo Lam. *En Lugar del Día (Au Defaut du Jour)*, 1945. Oil on canvas. 61 1/2 x 49 5/8 inches. The Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection, Miami.

Wifredo Lam. *Sin Título*. *Untitled (Enigmatic Woman)*. 1970. Oil on canvas. 63 x 51 inches. The Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection, Miami.

René Portocarrero. Diablito Abacua (Little Devil Abacua), 1962. Oil on canvas. 20 x 16 1/4 inches. The Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection, Miami.

Pedro Luis Martínez. *Mujer en Interior con Pájaro y Florero (Woman in Interior with Bird and Flower Vase)*, 1949. Mixed media on heavy paper laid down on canvas. 29 1/2 x 41 1/4 inches. The Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection, Miami.

Images courtesy The Lowe Art Museum.