The article reports on a museum exhibition that leverages the intersection of art and sports to draw in visitors. By showcasing works that explore athletic themes, movement, and sports culture, the exhibition aims to broaden the museum's audience beyond traditional art enthusiasts.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present "Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson" this fall, the largest-ever exhibition of works by American artist John Wilson (1922–2015) and his first solo museum show in New York. Featuring over 100 artworks—including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and archival material—the exhibition draws from The Met, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a dozen other lenders, with many works never before shown. Co-curated by Jennifer Farrell and Leslie King Hammond, the show spans Wilson's six-decade career, addressing themes of racial violence, labor, the Civil Rights Movement, and family life.
Philadelphia-based queer artist Daniel de Jesús, also a cellist and composer, is featured in a group exhibition at the William Way LGBT Community Center that opened July 10, 2025. In an interview with Emma Cieslik, de Jesús discusses their paintings blending Catholic iconography, mysticism, and queer identity, drawing on symbols like Saint Sebastian and the unicorn. They describe how a Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition on colonial Latin American art inspired their exploration of religious syncretism and the reclamation of Catholic imagery by queer and trans people.
Five new art books are set for release this autumn, covering topics from US monuments and Vermeer's techniques to post-war British culture and contemporary Pakistani-American art. Titles include 'Closer to Vermeer' (Thames & Hudson), 'Monumental: How a New Generation of Artists Is Shaping the Memorial Landscape' (MIT Press), 'British Blonde' (Paul Mellon Centre), 'Art Is: A Journey into the Light' (Yale), and 'Shahzia Sikander' (Lund Humphries), each offering fresh scholarship or monographic depth.
Cranbrook Art Museum has opened a new design exhibition titled “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the United States,” showcasing over 200 works by nearly 100 designers, including Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll Bassett, and Charles and Ray Eames. The show draws from the museum's extensive collection of mid-century modern artifacts—furniture, textiles, ceramics, lighting, and graphic design—spanning 1945 to 1970, and is curated by director Andrew Satake Blauvelt and MillerKnoll Curatorial Fellow Bridget Bartal.
The Yale University Art Gallery has withdrawn two federal grant applications submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for an upcoming exhibition on African art exploring the migration of Nguni peoples, scheduled for 2026. The gallery objected to new anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, which require that funded projects do not promote certain ideologies based on race or gender. The gallery will instead use Yale University's $46 billion endowment to cover the $200,000 exhibition costs. This follows a previous instance where the gallery opted out of NEA funding, and a separate $30,000 NEA grant for the exhibition "Nusantara: Six Centuries of Indonesian Textile" was rescinded, though that show will proceed with support from the Robert Lehman Endowment Fund.
A new exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution spotlights the history and artistry of American state and county fairs, featuring unusual exhibits such as crop art and butter sculptures from Minnesota. The show explores how these community events have long served as platforms for creative expression, agricultural pride, and local tradition.
The Denver Art Museum is hosting 'Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors,' a major exhibition of the Cree artist's provocative, large-scale paintings that challenge Western art history through an Indigenous lens. The show, co-organized with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, runs until August 17 before traveling to Montreal in September. It has drawn widespread critical acclaim and emotional visitor responses, with reviewers praising its blend of humor, beauty, and political urgency.
The Art Institute of Chicago announces a major retrospective of Elizabeth Catlett, titled “A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies,” on view from August 30, 2025, through January 4, 2026. The exhibition brings together over 100 works spanning Catlett’s career as a sculptor, printmaker, feminist, and social activist, highlighting her enduring influence and her commitment to addressing poverty, racism, and imperialism through art and activism.
The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts in Spring, Texas, has opened an interactive exhibition called "Art Unleashed" that invites visitors to touch tactile recreations of famous artworks, including Leonardo da Vinci's "The Mona Lisa" and Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night." The show features contoured bronze and three-dimensional reproductions, fabric sculptures, and woven textiles, all designed to be handled. Each piece includes braille placards, and the exhibition is free and runs through August 30.
Artist Amy Sherald has canceled her upcoming solo exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, scheduled to open September 19. The cancellation stems from a dispute over her painting *Trans Forming Liberty* (2024), which depicts a trans woman with pink hair and a blue gown holding a torch. Sherald stated that the museum expressed concerns about including the portrait, leading to discussions about removing it. She claims the Smithsonian planned to replace the painting with a video of people reacting to it, which she opposed as it would debate the value of trans visibility. The Smithsonian denies the painting was to be replaced, saying the video was meant to provide context. Sherald's exhibition, *Amy Sherald: American Sublime*, was organized by SFMOMA and is currently on view at the Whitney Museum.
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City has launched the Discoverer program, offering free admission and educational programming to low-income New Yorkers who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The program, developed with NYC's Department of Cultural Affairs and Human Resources Administration, allows SNAP beneficiaries to bring up to four guests and reserve advance tickets online, with membership renewable annually. Nearly 1.8 million city residents rely on SNAP, and the initiative aims to remove financial barriers to museum access.
Seattle's visual arts scene remains vibrant after the Seattle Art Fair, with a packed schedule of exhibitions and events. Highlights include the politically charged "Latin American Land/Escapes" at SOIL Gallery, featuring 14 Mexican artists whose names were withheld due to immigration concerns; "Hugh Hayden: American Vernacular" at the Frye Art Museum, the artist's first solo museum show on the West Coast; a new mural by Charlene Liu at the Henry Art Gallery; and the ongoing "Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei" at the Seattle Art Museum. The Belltown Mural Festival also returns for a second year, with live painting performances starting Aug. 4.
The article is a visitor's guide to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., describing its hidden, underground location behind the Smithsonian Castle and its extensive collection of ancient and modern African art. It highlights specific works on display, including a mixed media piece by Mary Sibande titled *Sophie-Merica* (2009), a sculpture by Ghada Amer titled *The Blue Bra Girls* (2012), and *Untitled* (2009) by El Anatsui, along with numerous masks, textiles, and photography exhibits by artists such as Lalla Essaydi.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Drawings and Prints has installed a new rotation in the Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery titled "Allegory and Abstraction." The exhibition features up to 100 works on paper, including Henri Matisse's 1947 series "Jazz," Louise Bourgeois's "He Disappeared into Complete Silence" (1947), and watercolors by J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Girtin marking the 250th anniversary of their births. The show explores how artists embed complex meanings through symbols (allegory) or through line, color, and pattern (abstraction).
The Frye Art Museum in Seattle has opened three new summer exhibitions: Hugh Hayden's 'American Vernacular,' Jamie Wyeth's 'Unsettled,' and the latest installment of the 'Boren Banner Series' featuring photography by Tarrah Krajnak. The exhibitions were launched with a summer reception on July 11. Krajnak's banner, which blends performance, art, and photography, is displayed on the museum's exterior wall until Sept. 28. Wyeth's indoor exhibit includes paintings and sculptures, notably pieces from his 'Screen Door Sequence,' and runs until Oct. 5. Hayden's show, a collection of mixed-media sculptures organized into thematic spaces like the nursery and the gym, is on view until Sept. 28.
Fundación Cervieri Monsuárez (FCM), a contemporary-art space designed by the late Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly, has opened in the exclusive coastal village of José Ignacio, Uruguay. The foundation aims to become a year-round hub for Latin American art, launching with a reinstallation of the Uruguay Pavilion from the 2024 Venice Biennale, featuring artist Eduardo Cardozo's work "Latente." FCM presents three exhibitions per year, giving curators carte blanche, and has already hosted shows by Vivian Suter, Claudia Casarino, and Gabriel Chaile, with upcoming exhibitions by Chonon Bensho and Ana Segovia.
Tate and the National Portrait Gallery in London have jointly acquired William Dobson's rare self-portrait (circa 1635-40) for £2.4 million, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The painting will debut at Tate Britain in November before touring the UK. Separately, the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, will digitize the complete moving-image works of Bill Viola, following a donation of over 200 works by the Viola-Perov Trust. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has acquired a monumental Tiffany Studios stained-glass window by Agnes F. Northrop, originally installed in a San Antonio chapel, for its campus expansion opening in 2026.
The article reports on the exhibition "The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, which challenges visitors to reconsider how American sculpture has reinforced racist social orders. The show features 82 works from 1792 to 2023, including John Rogers’ 1864 sculpture "The Wounded Scout, a Friend in the Swamp," and includes interpretive prompts about race as a human invention and a tool of power. President Donald Trump issued an executive order condemning the exhibition for promoting "divisive narratives," and Vice President JD Vance, who sits on the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, has been tasked with stopping government funding for exhibits that do not align with a celebratory national agenda. The Smithsonian has begun a review of content across its museums, raising concerns about future candid discussions of race and history.
The Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, in collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem, has opened "Mavis Pusey: Mobile Images," a retrospective of the Jamaican-born abstract artist Mavis Pusey (1928–2019). The exhibition spans two floors of Pusey's paintings and archival materials, showcasing her geometric abstractions that translate urban construction and gentrification into fractured planes and rhythmic blocks of color. The show was sparked by Studio Museum director Thelma Golden's discovery of Pusey's work in an online auction catalog a decade ago, leading to a collaboration with curator Hallie Ringle.
Culture Type has published its annual list of new appointments among museum curators and arts leaders for the first half of 2025, highlighting two dozen hires and promotions at major institutions. Notable appointments include Deana Haggag as program director for arts and culture at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ann Collins Smith as chief curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art (the first Black American in a full-time curatorial role there), and Vincent van Velsen as head of exhibitions at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. The list also features curators such as Alisa Chiles at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Brittany Webb at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
NYU’s Grey Art Museum will present the exhibition ‘June Leaf: Shooting From the Heart’ from September 9 to December 13. The show focuses on the work of American artist June Leaf, known for her expressive drawings, paintings, and sculptures that explore the human figure and emotional states.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will open "The Magical City: George Morrison’s New York" on July 17, the first solo exhibition for the late Minnesota-born Ojibwe artist. The show features over 30 works by Morrison, an abstract expressionist who painted alongside Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Franz Kline, and whose large wood-and-granite collages, totems, and paintings are widely installed across Minnesota and internationally. The exhibition coincides with a surge in demand for his work, driven by recent high-profile gallery shows and a 2022 USPS Forever Stamp series.
The Art Institute of Chicago is presenting "Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds," an exhibition running from March 29 to July 13, 2025. It focuses on Kahlo's first and only trip to Europe in 1939, where she fell ill and convalesced at the home of American avant-garde bookbinder Mary Reynolds. The show features approximately 100 objects, including paintings, book bindings, and letters, drawn from the Art Institute's Mary Reynolds Collection and loans from the US, Mexico, and Europe.
Museums are rethinking decades-old climate control standards that dictate strict temperature and humidity ranges for preserving collections. These guidelines, originally based on 1970s research for paintings in London, have been widely adopted globally despite being designed for temperate climates. Conservator Caitlin Southwick of Ki Culture argues this is a "big misunderstanding," as the standards were never intended for diverse collections like stone in Brazil or tapestries in Italy. Climate control systems now account for 60-70% of a typical museum's energy consumption, creating high costs and carbon footprints.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and its Art Bridges Foundation have acquired 90 contemporary works by Indigenous artists from the John and Susan Horseman Collection. Art Bridges will receive 81 works for long-term loans across the U.S., while nine pieces will join Crystal Bridges' permanent collection. Artists include Kent Monkman, George Morrison, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Cannupa Hanska Luger. The acquisition is part of a broader strategy to expand the museum's holdings in Indigenous and craft art, with works set to debut in exhibitions starting November 2024.
The Bronx Museum of the Arts has appointed Shamim M. Momin as its next director and chief curator, effective September. Momin, who previously served as director of curatorial affairs at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, succeeds Klaudio Rodriguez, who left to lead the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is also a co-founder of the Los Angeles Nomadic Division and has curated biennial exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
American photographer Nan Goldin was confronted by a protester during her acceptance of the 2025 Women In Motion Award at the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival. Goldin used the occasion to speak about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, describing the conflict as "the first live-streamed genocide" and projecting images of Gaza before and after the Israeli military campaign. A woman in the audience repeatedly shouted, "Why don't you talk about the hostages?" while other audience members chanted "Free Palestine." Goldin responded by acknowledging the 7 October attacks but emphasizing the scale of Palestinian casualties. She also accused the Israeli government of conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism and of putting drugs in flour delivered to Gaza, a claim not independently verified.
The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University will present "Fred Wilson: Reflections," a major survey of the artist's work from 2003 to the present, on view from August 20, 2025, through January 4, 2026. Curated by Dr. Gannit Ankori, the exhibition spans three sections, including Wilson's glassworks inspired by the 2003 Venice Biennale, his black-and-white Flag paintings, and the debut of a new immersive installation, "Black Now!," which features over 2,500 found objects collected since 2005 that explore themes of race, identity, and material culture.
Manchester International Festival 2025 presents "Football City, Art United" at Aviva Studios, a group exhibition co-curated by former footballer Juan Mata, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Josh Willdigg. The show pairs eleven international footballers with artists across media—including Ryan Gander with Eric Cantona, Keiken with Ella Toone, and Suzanne Lacy with Vivianne Miedema and Ali Riley—to explore intersections of sport and contemporary art. Works range from a holographic tribute to Diego Maradona by Jill Mulleady to an interactive installation by Stefano Boeri Architetti with Sandro Mazzola. The exhibition runs through August 24, 2025.