P·P·O·W gallery in New York is presenting "Martin Wong: Popeye," the gallery's sixth solo exhibition of the artist's work and his first solo show in New York in over a decade. Co-curated by Mark Dean Johnson and Anneliis Beadnell, the exhibition explores Wong's lifelong fascination with artistic subcultures, particularly comic book illustration and early tattoo imagery.
A major exhibition of William Nicholson (1872-1949) has opened at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, running from 22 November 2025 to 10 May 2026. It is his first major show in 20 years and spans his entire career, featuring bold posters, woodcuts, portraits, still lifes, and graphic works. The exhibition highlights his collaborations under the name J & W Beggarstaff, his celebrated series *An Alphabet* and *London Types*, and his portraits of both society figures and people from lower social classes. It also includes his book illustrations for works such as *The Velveteen Rabbit* and *Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man*.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has announced its inaugural exhibitions ahead of its opening on September 22. Founded by filmmaker George Lucas and philanthropist Mellody Hobson, the museum was designed by MAD Architects founder Ma Yansong. The opening will feature 18 thematic exhibitions showcasing over 1,200 works across 30 galleries, spanning genres such as cinema, photography, comics, manga, and anime, with dedicated shows for illustrators like Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Frank Frazetta. The collection also includes works by Beatrix Potter, Frida Kahlo, Winsor McCay, Alison Bechdel, Gordon Parks, and Dorothea Lange, alongside the Lucas Archives containing props and costumes from Lucas's film career.
The Skylands Museum of Art in Lafayette, New Jersey, presents "FINI...pas fini!" from May 16 to September 26, 2026, a temporary exhibition of over 30 works by the internationally recognized artist Leonor Fini (1907-1996). Drawn from the museum's permanent collection, the show includes original drawings, etchings, silkscreens, and lithographs featuring portraits, sphinxes, female figures, cats, and fantastical beings. Special events include an opening reception on May 16 and a gallery talk by art appraiser Carol Curci, a friend and authority on Fini, who will discuss the artist's life and work.
The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is presenting three simultaneous exhibitions focused on Henri Matisse, drawing from its world-leading collection of the artist's works. The shows include "Fratino and Matisse: To See This Light Again," pairing Matisse with contemporary artist Louis Fratino; "Matisse and Martinique: Portraits and Poetry," exploring a little-known book illustration series inspired by the artist's 1930 visit to Martinique; and "Matisse in Vence: The Stations of the Cross," featuring 85 rarely or never-before-seen works on paper from Matisse's only architectural project—a chapel in Vence, France. The exhibitions run through 2026, with the Vence show curated by scholar Yve-Alain Bois.
Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, is staging the first full survey of British painter William Nicholson (1872-1949) in 25 years, running from 22 November 2025 to 10 May 2026. The exhibition aims to present Nicholson's diverse output—including posters made with the Beggarstaff Brothers, woodcuts, book illustrations, theatre costumes, portraits, still lifes, and landscapes—as an integrated whole, rather than isolating individual media as past shows have done.
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta will present "Faith Ringgold: Seeing Children" from June 27 to October 12, 2025, the most comprehensive exhibition to date of the late artist's original paintings and drawings for her children's books. Featuring more than 100 works from a dozen titles including "Tar Beach" and "We Came to America," the show includes several never-before-exhibited artworks and is the eighth in the museum's series celebrating children's book art, presented in conjunction with a production by the Alliance Theatre.
The Arlington Museum of Art has opened "M.C. Escher: Infinite Variations," an exhibition featuring nearly 150 of the Dutch artist's prints, including his famous lithograph "Relativity" (1953). The show spans Escher's career from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, with themed galleries covering his early works, book illustrations, tessellations, and impossible worlds. The exhibition runs through August 3 and includes an Infinity Mirrored Room as an immersive finale.
The article details the enduring legacy of Hazel Westgate, a pioneering children's librarian who served the Iowa City Public Library for nearly 40 years until her death in 1988. Westgate's most visible contribution is a unique collection of original children's book illustrations, acquired through personal correspondence with legendary authors and illustrators like Dr. Seuss and Charles M. Schulz, many inscribed directly to her or the children of Iowa City. Her mission was to ensure the artwork reflected the children themselves, fostering a lifelong love of reading and literature.
Two previously unseen preliminary drawings of Winnie-the-Pooh by illustrator E.H. Shepard have surfaced for the first time on the centenary of the children's classic. Brought forward by Shepard’s family, the pencil sketches depict scenes from A.A. Milne’s original 1926 book that were never fully realized or published. These rare works, along with several other preliminary sketches that did make it into print, are currently on display and for sale at Peter Harrington Rare Books in London before traveling to the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.
The Arizona State University Art Museum is set to open "Carmen Lomas Garza: Picturing the Familiar" this May, a retrospective dedicated to the 76-year-old Chicana artist and author. The exhibition highlights Garza’s career-long commitment to documenting South Texas and Mexican-American life through paintings, prints, and children's book illustrations. Her work focuses on intimate, everyday scenes—from domestic interiors to community celebrations—that were heavily influenced by her involvement in the Chicano movement.
Two rare original watercolor illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s 1903 edition of The Jungle Book were rediscovered in a London family home and sold at Roseberys auction house for a combined £130,480 ($174,940). Created by twin brothers Edward Julius and Charles Maurice Detmold, the works—titled Mowgli and Bagheera and The Cold Lairs—had been hanging unassumingly for decades. The sale price significantly exceeded expectations, with the Mowgli illustration alone fetching more than four times its high estimate.
A new exhibition titled “A Whimsical Life—the art of Linda Catchlove” opens at the Museum of Economic Botany in Adelaide Botanic Garden, celebrating the late South Australian artist Linda Catchlove. The show runs from May 31 to September 14 and features her botanical watercolours, Disney animations, children’s book illustrations, and personal tools, blending meticulous botanical illustration with whimsical fantasy elements inspired by her early career at Disney Studios in Sydney.