PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Museum of Art is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ellsworth Kelly’s birth with a new exhibition highlighting an extraordinary group of drawings that Jack Shear, the artist’s longtime partner and husband, has generously offered along with a related painting and sculpture as gifts to the museum. They come just as the museum has dedicated Gallery 275 as the newly endowed Jennifer Rice and Michael Forman Gallery, which has long showcased the early work of Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) and will be devoted to artist’s work and legacy.
Eakins painting ‘sails’ to Nelson-Atkins to settle Super Bowl bet
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City Chiefs victory in a hard-fought Super Bowl brings a winning painting to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Thomas Eakins’ Sailing is the trophy following #MuseumBowl23. Had the game ended differently, the Nelson-Atkins would have packed one of its own treasures to send to Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Museum of Art devotes center to African and African diasporic art
PHILADELPHIA – Sasha Suda, the George D. Widener director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, announced on February 23 that the museum will create a new center to be endowed by Trustee Ira Brind that will be dedicated to the study, acquisition, and care of art from continental Africa and the African Diaspora. This transformational investment in the curatorial future of the museum will establish the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art, with the specific goal of expanding the scope and reach of the collection, a key objective of the newly published PMA Equity Agenda.
Leading Philadelphia, Kansas City museums make art-related Super Bowl bet
PHILADELPHIA and KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It’s the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection versus the BBQ Capital of the World. As the Philadelphia Eagles prepare to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 12, a battle for the masterpieces will also be at play, accompanied by a pigskin scramble on social media as two major art museums stake a precious work of art on the likelihood of their city’s Super Bowl victory.
Philadelphia Museum of Art workers ratify pact, end strike
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art are returning to work after reaching agreement on a contract that ended a strike of almost three weeks. The Philadelphia Museum of Art Union announced on October 16 that members had “voted 99 percent in favor” of ratifying what it called “our hard-won first contract.”
Workers at Philadelphia Museum of Art begin walkout
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art began a strike September 26, citing wage and health care issues as the institution said it would remain open during the walkout.
Philly museum hosts medieval treasures from Glencairn Museum
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently hosting Medieval Treasures from the Glencairn Museum, a rich display of 18 works of French Romanesque and Gothic art on loan from the museum in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, which is renowned for one of the world’s finest collections of medieval sculpture and stained glass from 12th-century France. Glencairn Museum is currently closed to the public for extensive infrastructure renewal, presenting the opportunity to display highlights from its collection in context in the medieval galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibit will continue through Fall 2023.
Sean Scully exhibition in Philadelphia through July 31
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Museum of Art will present a major survey of Irish-born American artist Sean Scully, featuring paintings and works on paper from the early 1970s to the present. Sean Scully: The Shape of Ideas will chart the artist’s significant contributions to the American and European history of abstract painting as it has developed during the last half-century, while emphasizing the integral relationship between Scully’s paintings, drawings, watercolors and prints, which are rarely exhibited together. The exhibition will be on view from April 11 to July 31.
Important Jasper Johns retrospective runs through Feb. 13 in NY and Philly
NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA — The most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of Jasper Johns, organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, will remain on view concurrently in the two cities through February 13, 2022.
Emma Amos retrospective on view at Philadelphia Museum of Art
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents the first major retrospective exhibition of the work of Emma Amos. Titled Emma Amos: Color Odyssey, it opened October 11 and will continue through January 17, 2022.