“The Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents “Manu-Facture: The Ceramics of Lucio of Fontana, the first museum exhibition dedicated exclusively to the ceramic work of Lucio Fontana (1899–1968), one of the most innovative, and in his unique way irreverent, artists of the twentieth century. While Fontana is best known for his iconic, slashed and punctured canvases of the 1950s and ‘60s, this exhibition casts a spotlight on a lesser-known but essential part of his oeuvre: his work in clay, which he began in Argentina in the 1920s and continued to explore throughout his life. Organized by art historian Sharon Hecker, this is the first solo show to offer an in-depth examination of Fontanaʼs ceramic production.” — Peggy Guggenheim Collection
As Hecker notes: “Long associated with craft rather than fine art, today Fontanaʼs ceramics are receiving attention due to the resurgence of interest in the medium within contemporary art.”
“Between suicide and travel, I chose the latter because I hope to still make a series of ceramics and sculptures that give me the pleasure or feeling of still being a living man.” — Lucio Fontana
“The Morgan Library & Museum presents Renoir Drawings, the first comprehensive exhibition in more than a century devoted to the works on paper of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919). On view from October 17, 2025, through February 8, 2026, the exhibition explores Renoir’s engagement with draftsmanship across his long and influential career. Organized with the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Renoir Drawings brings together over one hundred drawings, pastels, watercolors, prints, and paintings, inviting visitors to engage with Renoir’s creative process while offering insights into his artistic methods across five decades.
While Renoir’s paintings have become icons of Impressionism, his drawings are less well-known. Yet beginning in his earliest days as an artist-in-training and continuing until his very last years, Renoir regularly drew and painted on paper in a variety of media. The first comprehensive exhibition devoted to his drawings since Aquarelles, pastels et dessins par Renoir in 1921 at the Galeries Durand-Ruel, in Paris, Renoir Drawings assembles outstanding examples of all the media on paper in which Renoir worked, from pencil, pen and ink, chalk, pastel, and watercolor to etching and lithography. ” — The Morgan Library & Museum
The Great Bathers, 1886–87. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr. Collection, 1963, 1963-116-13
View of a Park, ca. 1885–90. Watercolor with white opaque watercolor on paper. Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2017.
Seated Woman Leaning on Her Elbow, ca. 1915–17. Black chalk. The Albertina Museum, Vienna; inv. 24330. Image: The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna.
Study for “The Judgment of Paris,” ca. 1908. Black, red, and white chalk. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC;. 1636, Acquired 1940.
Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) and Richard Guino. (1890–1973). The Judgment of Paris, 1914. Patinated plaster. Musée d’Orsay, Paris; RF 2745. Musée d’Orsay, dist. GrandPalaisRmn.. Photography by René-Gabriel Ojéda
“Renoir’s drawings reveal an artist of tremendous sensitivity and range,” said Colin B. Bailey, curator of the exhibition and Katharine J. Rayner Director of the Morgan Library & Museum. “This exhibition brings together rarely seen works on paper to provide a more complete view of Renoir’s creative process, offering visitors a fresh perspective on one of the most well-known and influential painters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.” Renoir Drawings, the first exhibition at the Morgan to be curated by Dr. Bailey, coincides with his tenth anniversary as its director. He is a noted specialist in eighteenth-century French art and a recognized authority on Renoir.
Organized by Colin B. Bailey, Katharine J. Rayner Director, and Sarah Lees, Research Associate to the Director.
Titlle image: Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Portrait of a Girl (Elisabeth Maître), 1879. Pastel on Ingres paper. The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – The Batliner Collection | Image: The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna.
Images courtesy The Morgan Morgan Library & Museum.
“This fall the Jewish Museum presents the first American museum exhibition to focus solely on the formative early work of renowned artist Anish Kapoor. These rarely seen works include Kapoor’s striking pigment sculptures, together with works on paper and sketchbooks. On view from October 24, 2025, through February 1, 2026, Anish Kapoor: Early Works reveals the experimental proclivities of a trailblazing artist at the beginning of his career. The exhibition opens concurrently with the Jewish Museum’s inauguration of its newly transformed collection galleries and learning center.” — The Jewish Museum
“The Jewish Museum has a long tradition of presenting contemporary art as part of its ongoing commitment to exploring the narrative of shared humanity worldwide, together with the rich diversity of the global Jewish experience,” said James Snyder, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director. “Anish Kapoor: Early Works reinforces this mission by exploring the boundary-pushing practice of one of the most influential artists of our time, while also highlighting themes of ritual, perception, and the power of materiality that resonate across the diversity of world cultures and histories.”
“These extraordinary early works are virtually unknown to American audiences and represent a side of Kapoor that will be revelatory,” said Darsie Alexander, Senior Deputy Director and Susan and Elihu Rose Chief Curator. “Our show offers a rare glimpse into Kapoor’s process of pairing of color and form to explore the spiritual, psychic, and physical possibilities of sculpture. A keen eye towards the placement of objects transforms how they are perceived by viewers and foretells a future making environmental works on a much larger scale. We are thrilled to be organizing this effort in collaboration with the artist.”
This exhibition is organized by the Jewish Museum’s Senior Deputy Director and Susan and Elihu Rose Chief Curator Darsie Alexander and Leon Levy Associate Curator Shira Backer, in close collaboration with the artist and his studio.
“The Jewish Museum debuts its reinstalled and reimagined collection galleries and new learning center on October 24, 2025. Marking the most significant renewal to the Jewish Museum in over 30 years, the $14.5-million project encompasses half of the public space within the Museum’s historic Warburg Mansion and centers cultural exchange and discovery as defining elements of the visitor experience. Central to this transformation is the integration of galleries and education spaces open to all on the Museum’s fourth floor, and the debut of a new collection installation and narrative on the third floor, tracing themes that have defined Jewish experience and highlighting histories resonant with those of other cultures.
Featuring more than 200 works, Identity, Culture, and Community: Stories from the Collection of the Jewish Museum unfolds across the Museum’s third floor in a thematic and chronologically integrated presentation of its unparalleled holdings. The installation design supports the display of art and objects of vastly varying scale and materiality, from delicate archaeological artifacts and Jewish ceremonial works to large-scale contemporary painting and sculpture. The Museum’s renewed and newly opened fourth floor features the Pruzan Family Center for Learning, where art and objects from the collection are displayed in gallery settings, adjacent to facilities for educational programming and hands-on artmaking. These two floors are joined visually by a renovated double-height gallery crowned by a dramatic, monumentally scaled installation ofmore than 130 Hanukkah lamps from around the world, and from antiquity to the present day, underscoring the central meaning of light as a symbol of enlightenment and hope across cultures.” — Jewish Museum
Installation view of “Identity, Culture, and Community: Stories from the Collection of the Jewish Museum.” Photo: Kris Graves/The Jewish Museum.Installation view of “Identity, Culture, and Community: Stories from the Collection of the Jewish Museum.” Photo: Kris Graves/The Jewish Museum. Installation view of “Identity, Culture, and Community: Stories from the Collection of the Jewish Museum.” Photo: Kris Graves/The Jewish Museum.Installation view of “Identity, Culture, and Community: Stories from the Collection of the Jewish Museum.” Photo: Kris Graves/The Jewish Museum. Installation view of the Pruzan Family Center for Learning at the Jewish Museum. Photo: Kris Graves/The Jewish Museum.Installation view of the Pruzan Family Center for Learning at the Jewish Museum. Photo: Kris Graves/The Jewish Museum.
“This milestone moment heralds a new chapter for the Jewish Museum. The Museum’s collections and programming have always been distinguished by their unique focus on the myriad manifestations of Jewish culture through the lens of art, offering powerful examples of cultural and artistic exchange. With this reimagining of our collection and education galleries, we hope visitors discover new points of connection and deepen their appreciation of the traditions that have shaped the Jewish experience throughout the global diaspora and in resonance with other cultures,” said James S. Snyder, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director.
The architectural design of the project was developed by UNS (United Network Studio), Amsterdam, and New Affiliates Architecture, New York, with Method Design, New York, as Architect of Record.
“Americas Society presents Amazonia Açu, an exhibition that sheds light on the multiplicities of the Amazon, a region which comprises many different communities each distinguished by its own belief system, culture, and language. On view from September 3, 2025 to April 18, 2026, the show includes paintings, textiles, ceramics, drawings, videos, photographs, and sculptures from artists and collectives of all nine countries of the Pan-Amazon region: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Amazonia Açu features over fifty contemporary artworks, from 1990 to the present. The exhibition provides a kaleidoscopic overview of the aesthetic, cultural, and material diversity found in the Amazon as a means to upend flattening generalizations typically associated with the territory and to frame the discourse surrounding the region within a context.” — Americas Society
“The ‘Amazonia Açu’ — the latter a Tupi-Guaraní word for ‘large’ or ‘expanded’ —is not only the largest carbon sink on Earth and a sanctuary of biodiversity, but also home to hundreds of languages and other forms of cultural expression,” said Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Americas Society’s Director and Chief Curator of Art. “The exhibition aims to highlight the diversity of the region, encouraging future research and other exhibition projects to expand study of the territory.”
Installation views of “Amazonia Açu”, on view September 3, 2025 to April 18, 2026 at Americas Society, Photos by Arturo Sanchez. Courtesy Americas Society.
“Very much like Amazonia, the exhibition is not self-contained. It is a space of openness, interconnection, and meeting. Each work selected, each narrative constructed, carries within itself a story that adds to other stories, creating a collective quilt,” said Eleison. “The curators, all from different Amazonian territories, are more than art mediators; they are guardians of their cultures, histories, and worldviews. They invite us to look beyond stereotypes of the Amazon, listen to its deeper tones, connect ourselves with its subtler layers.”
The show is co-curated by a committee of representatives from each country within the Amazon region: Curatorial Advisor Keyna Eleison and Mateus Nunes, of B razil, Elvira Espejo Ayca of Bolivia, María Wills of Colombia, Diana Iturralde of Ecuador, T2i and NouN of French Guiana, Grace Aneiza Ali of Guyana, Christian Bendayán of Peru, Miguel Keerveld of Suriname and Luis Romero of Venezuela.
“The Museum of Modern Art announces Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective, the first major museum exhibition to fully consider every aspect of the artist’s expansive, groundbreaking practice, on view from October 19, 2025, through February 7, 2026, in the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions. Coinciding with the centennial of the artist’s birth, the exhibition will include some 300 objects that highlight the core values of experimentation and interconnectedness pervading all dimensions of Asawa’s practice. The retrospective will span the six decades of Asawa’s ambitious career, presenting a range of her work across mediums, including wire sculptures, bronze casts, paper folds, paintings, and a comprehensive body of works on paper. Artworks will be accompanied by a rich array of archival materials—photographs, documents, and ephemera—that illuminate her public commissions, art advocacy, and meaningful, lasting relationships with members of her community. The exhibition will follow a loose chronological arc, interwoven with thematic sections elaborating on the artist’s inspirations and methods.” — The Museum of Modern Art
“What’s exceptional about Asawa’s practice is the multiplicity of her artistic pursuits and the marvelous ability to turn the simplest things into subjects of lifelong creative contemplation,” said Manes. “The exhibition aims to offer multiple points of entry into her work, reflecting what Asawa described as the ‘total act’ of artmaking.”
Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective is an exhibition partnership between the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA). The exhibition is organized by Cara Manes, Associate Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA, and Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family Chief Curator, SFMOMA; with Dominika Tylcz, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA; and Marin Sarvé-Tarr, Assistant Curator, and William Hernández Luege, former Curatorial Associate, Painting and Sculpture, SFMOMA.
“Divine Egypt at The Metropolitan Museum of Art—the first major exhibition of Egyptian art at the Museum in over a decade—will explore how images of gods in ancient Egypt were experienced not merely as spiritual depictions in temples, shrines, and tombs but were the instruments that brought the gods to life for daily worship, offering ancient Egyptians a vital connection between the human and divine worlds. Opening on October 12, the exhibition will bring together over 200 spectacular works of art to examine the imagery associated with the most important deities in ancient Egypt’s complex and always-expanding constellation of gods.” — The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Divine Egypt will immerse visitors in the breathtaking imagery of the most formidable ancient deities and expansive universe of the Egyptian gods,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “The Museum’s galleries for Egyptian art are among the most beloved by our millions of yearly visitors, and this dazzling exhibition brings together some of our most exquisite works with loans from leading global institutions for an exceptional, once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of ancient Egyptian art.”
“The ways in which the ancient Egyptian gods were depicted are vastly different from the divine beings in contemporary religions and therefore are intriguing to modern audiences,” said Diana Craig Patch, Lila Acheson Wallace Curator in Charge of Egyptian Art. “The identity of an ancient Egyptian god may at first seem easy to recognize but looks can be deceiving, as one form can be shared by many deities. Across more than 3,000 years of history, gods, attributes, roles, and myths were rarely dropped from use, yet the Egyptians of the time had no difficulty understanding and accepting the resulting multiplicity. Through hundreds of spectacular objects, Divine Egypt will allow visitors to understand the complex nature of these deities and help translate the images that were needed to make the inhabitants of the celestial realm available to ancient Egyptians.”
Divine Egypt is curated by Diana Craig Patch, Lila Acheson Wallace Curator in Charge of Egyptian Art at The Met, with Brendan Hainline, Research Associate, Department of Egyptian Art.
“Beginning this fall, The Frick Collection presents a stunning exhibition of more than forty objects on loan from the Terra Sancta Museum. Ranging from liturgical objects in gem-encrusted gold and silver to richly decorated vestments in velvet, damask, and other fine materials, the works were created for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and were largely unknown until their rediscovery by scholars in the 1980s. They represent the pinnacle of European craftsmanship in these fields during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and many have no parallel anywhere in the world. To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum offers visitors the opportunity to view these objects for the first time in North America.” — The Frick Collection
Commented Salomon, “This exhibition represents a completely unique opportunity for visitors, building on the Frick’s successful past presentations highlighting masters of European decorative arts. Displayed for the first time in the United States, the exquisite objects in this show are rare survivals, as similar objects were often severely damaged, melted down, or otherwise lost—nothing like them survives in the countries in which they were created. We are deeply grateful for this collaboration with the Custody of the Holy Land as we look ahead to the opening of the Terra Sancta Museum, which will offer a more permanent public display of these treasures.
Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing Antonio de Laurentiis’s Throne of Eucharistic Exposition (Naples, 1754) (center) and other works from the Kingdoms of Naples, Portugal, and Spain, courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing works from the Kingdom of Spain, courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing Pietro, Eutichio, and Sebastiano Juvarra’s Throne of Eucharistic Exposition (Messina, 1665) (top center) and other works from the Kingdom of Spain, courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing Al San Lorenzo Giustinian Workshop’s Pair of Torchères (Venice, 1762) flanking Gennaro De Blasio’s Altar Frontal or Antependium (Naples, 1731) along with other works from the Kingdom of Naples and Republic of Genoa, courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem . Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing Al San Lorenzo Giustinian Workshop’s Pair of Torchères (Venice, 1762) flanking Gennaro De Blasio’s Altar Frontal or Antependium (Naples, 1731), courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem . Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing The Resurrection (Naples, 1736) (left) and the Chasuble from the Red “Jerusalem Cross.”Set of Pontifical Vestments Sent by the Commissariat of Lombardy (Milan or Genoa, probably 1600) (right), courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing two Chasubles (Milan or Genoa, probably 1600) flanking the entry to a room with works from the Kingdom of France, donated by King Louis XIII, courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem . Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.
Installation view of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum at The Frick Collection, showing Claude Caignet’s Large Sanctuary Lamp (Paris, 1617–18), Large Processional Cross (Paris, ca. 1620), and Six Altar Candlesticks (Paris, 1620–21 and 1623–24) and Alexandre Paynet’s (or Penet’s) Red Pontifical Vestments (Paris, 1619), donated by King Louis XIII, courtesy the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.
The exhibitionis organized by Xavier F. Salomon, the Frick’s Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, along with Jacques Charles-Gaffiot and Benoît Constensoux, members of the Terra Sancta Museum’s Scientific Committee.
Title image: Antonio de Laurentiis. Throne of Eucharistic Exposition. Naples, 1754. Gold, gilt copper, almandine garnets, amethysts, rock crystal, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, carnelians, peridots, smoky quartzes, glass, and doublets. 68 3/4 × 32 1/4 × 15 3/8 in. (174.5 × 82 × 39 cm). Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.
“The New York Historical presents The New York Sari, an exploration of one of the world’s oldest-known garments and its impact on New York. Originating in South Asia, the sari has spread across oceans through trade, colonialism, and migration, becoming a truly global garment. This exhibition traces how the sari—and those who wear it—found a home in New York City. Once seen as a marker of distance and exoticism, the sari has become woven into the city’s cultural fabric, embraced by new generations of artists, dancers, entrepreneurs, community leaders, scientists, and changemakers.
The sari, with its endless variations in fabric, pattern, and draping style, carries a story shaped by centuries of textile artistry, global trade, and cultural exchange that began long before Portuguese ships arrived in India in 1498. The distinct variations we see today are a powerful representation of regional tradition, cultural identity, and personal expression. For many, the sari evokes rituals, milestones, and womanhood; for others, it becomes a bold statement of reinvention.” — The New York Historical
Installation views of The New York Sari at The New York Historical, September 12, 2025 – April 26, 2026. Photos by Glenn Castellano. Courtesy The New York Historical.
“At The New York Historical, we are committed to telling stories that reflect the full breadth of the American experience,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of The New York Historical. “The New York Sari illuminates how a centuries-old garment continues to shape identity, artistry, and community-building across our city. This exhibition is a celebration of the sari’s complexity—not only as a textile but as a powerful cultural symbol shaped by trade, migration, and personal expression. By centering voices from across the diaspora, we invite all New Yorkers to consider the rich histories woven into the fabric of everyday life and how a single garment can hold memory, spark dialogue, and foster belonging in a city as dynamic as New York.”
“This fall, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents Sixties Surreal, a sweeping, ambitious, revisionist look at American art from 1958 to 1972 through the lens of the ‘surreal,’ both inherited and reinvented. Opening on September 24, the exhibition features the work of 111 artists who embraced the psychosexual, fantastical, and revolutionary energy of an era shaped by civil unrest, cultural upheaval, and boundless experimentation.
Rather than adhering to familiar movements of the 1960s like Pop Art, Conceptualism, or Minimalism, Sixties Surreal uncovers alternate histories and recontextualizes some of the decade’s best-known figures alongside those only recently rediscovered. The exhibition considers how artists turned to Surrealism, not as a European import, but as a way to navigate the strange, turbulent realities of American life. Featuring iconic works by Diane Arbus, Yayoi Kusama, Romare Bearden, Judy Chicago, Nancy Grossman, Christina Ramberg, David Hammons, Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Fritz Scholder, Peter Saul, Marisol, Robert Crumb, Faith Ringgold, H.C. Westermann, Jack Whitten, and many others, the exhibition brings new visibility to a generation of artists who challenged mainstream narratives in pursuit of radical freedom.” — Whitney Museum of American Art
“Sixties Surreal has been nearly three decades in the making, dating to my time as a Whitney intern and subsequent college thesis. Through intense collaboration with curatorial colleagues Dan Nadel, Laura Phipps, and Elisabeth Sussman, the project has grown into a sweeping reexamination of a turbulent and transformative chapter in American life and art,” said Scott Rothkopf, the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney. “Sixties Surreal reveals how artists across the country embraced and reinvented surreal tendencies to challenge conventions and mirror the strangeness of a time marked by radical political, social, and cultural change. By bringing their visionary contributions into fuller view, this exhibition helps to reshape how we understand the art and spirit of the 1960s, as well as our own roiling moment.”
Sixties Surreal is organized by Dan Nadel, Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints; Laura Phipps, Associate Curator; Scott Rothkopf, Alice Pratt Brown Director; and Elisabeth Sussman, Curator; with Kelly Long, Senior Curatorial Assistant, and Rowan Diaz-Toth, Curatorial Project Assistant, at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
“This fall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, the largest exhibition of this artist’s work and his first solo museum show in New York. For over six decades, American artist John Wilson (1922–2015) made powerful and poetic works that reflected his life as a Black American artist and his ongoing quest for racial, social, and economic justice. His art responded to the turbulent times in which he lived, with a focus on such subjects as racial violence, labor, the writings of Richard Wright, the Civil Rights Movement, and street scenes, and also captured intimate images of family life, with a particular focus on fatherhood. Drawing from the collections of The Met, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a dozen other lenders, this exhibition features over 100 artworks made over the course of Wilson’s career, including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture, as well as illustrations for children’s books and archival material; many of the works have not been shown before.” — The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“While the powerful impact of John Wilson’s art and the enduring relevance of the themes he explored are undeniable, he has not yet received the recognition his work so deeply deserves,” said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Met. “This landmark exhibition honors Wilson’s extraordinary artistic achievements—illuminating the incredible range of work he produced over five decades— and affirms his place in art history as one of the foremost artists devoted to social justice and portraying the experiences of Black Americans.”
Installation views of Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, on view September 20, 2025–February 8, 2026 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photos by Hyla Skopitz, Courtesy of The Met.
Jennifer Farrell, exhibition co-curator and Jordan Schnitzer Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Met, said, “Wilson’s art is imbued with compassion and empathy while conveying his anger and distress at the wrenching effects of disenfranchisement, racism, and economic inequality. Challenging deep-seated prejudices and omissions within our national history, Wilson centered the experiences of Black Americans to create images that convey strength, resilience, and humanity. Deeply personal yet widely resonant, his work continues to offer a powerful lens through which to consider today’s urgent dialogues about race, equality, and representation.”
Leslie King Hammond, exhibition co-curator and art historian, professor emerita, and founding director of the Center for Race and Culture at Maryland Institute College of Art, said, “John Wilson was an artist of profound resilience and passion for the innate essence of dignity, beauty, and humanity of Black Americans, which he witnessed in families, community, and all humankind. He was intentional and relentless throughout his life to create imagery that demanded respect for the Black body in an America struggling with its contested legacy of slavery.”
Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson is co-curated by Jennifer Farrell, Jordan Schnitzer Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints at The Met; Leslie King Hammond, art historian, professor emerita, and founding director of the Center for Race and Culture at Maryland Institute College of Art; Patrick Murphy, the MFA’s Lia and William Poorvu Curator of Prints and Drawings; and Edward Saywell, the MFA’s Chair of Prints and Drawings.
Title image: John Wilson (American, 1922–2015). My Brother, 1942. Oil on panel. 12 x 10 5/8 in. (30.48 x 26.9875 cm). Smith College Museum of Art, Purchased (SC 1943.4.1). Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson.
“The Morgan Library & Museum presents Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life, the first exhibition of its kind devoted to the importance of the Psalms throughout medieval art, prayer, and everyday life. On view from September 12, 2025, through January 4, 2026, Sing a New Song traces the impact of the Psalms on people in medieval Europe from the sixth to the sixteenth century, encompassing daily practices and performance, as well as the creation and illumination of Psalters (Books of Psalms). Drawing on five years of scholarly research, the exhibition and accompanying publication take the Psalms out of their established place in religious texts and paint a vibrant picture of the people who used them—men, women, and children—both religious and lay.” — The Morgan Library & Museum“
The Morgan is very pleased to present this comprehensive, interdisciplinary exhibition, which draws on years of research into a topic that is largely unknown to the general public,” said Colin B. Bailey, Katharine J. Rayner Director of the Morgan Library & Museum. “It continues a now well- established tradition at the Morgan of organizing ambitious medieval projects that reflect the strength of our holdings and our commitment to making the latest scholarship available to as wide an audience as possible.”
Winchester Bible Leaf. David and Goliath. England, Winchester, ca.. 1160–1180. Morgan MS M.619v. Single Leaf. 580 x 390 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Graham S. Haber.
David Slays Goliath. Crusader Bible. Paris, France, ca. 1244-1254. Morgan MS M.638, fol. 28v. Single Leaf. 390 x 300 mm. David. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.638, fol. 28v. Photography by Graham S. Haber.
Books of Truth (Sefrei Emet). Written by Isaac ben Ovadiah for Jacob, son of. Rabbi Benjamin of Montalcino. Illuminated by Mariano del Buono. Italy, 1467. New Haven, Beinecke MS 409, fol 3r. Codex. 111 x 80 mm. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Ingeborg Psalter Workshop. God Commanding Adam and River of Paradise. Psalms in Latin with interlinear French translation and French commentary of Simon de Tournai. Belgium, Tournai, ca. 1200. Morgan MS M.338, fol. 42r. (detail). Codex. 335 x 238 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Janny Chiu.
Attavante degli Attavanti. Pope Leo X Vesting; Leo X Praying. Praeparatio ad missam of Leo X. Italy, Rome, 1520. Morgan MS H.6, fols. 1v-2r. Codex 396 x 266 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS H.6 fols. 1v-2r. Photography by Janny Chiu.
Silvestro dei Gherarducci. Ascension. Gradual of San Michele a Murano. Italy, Florence, ca. 1392–1399. Morgan MS M.653.3. Single Leaf. 590 x 400 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Graham S. Haber.
Giulio Clovio. Death of Uriah and David in Penance. Farnese Hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. Morgan MS M.69, fols. 63v-64r. Codex (only, no binding). 173 x 110 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Janny Chiu.
This exhibition and the accompanying publication really do ‘sing a new song’ as they explore, in a manner that has not been done before, how life and art in the Middle Ages and Renaissance were permeated by psalms,” said Roger S. Wieck, Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum. “Along with my colleagues Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts; Joshua O’Driscoll, Associate Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts; and Frederica Law-Turner, Contributing Guest Curator, all of whom helped to shape and broaden the exhibition, I am grateful that the Morgan is able to present an exhibition and handbook as a frame of reference for understanding the role of the Psalms in medieval life.”
Title image: Chanting Clerics, from the Windmill Psalter, England, London, late thirteenth century. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.102, fol. 100r (detail). Photography by Carmen González Fraile.
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