Nickolas Muray (1892-1965), Frida with Her Pet Eagle, Coyoacán, 1939, printed 2024. Inkjet print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Nickolas Muray Photo Archives. ©Nickolas Muray Photo Archives.
Frida Kahlo Exhibition
An exhibition honoring the art of famed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is set for early 2026 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in Texas. Celebrating Kahlo’s life and legacy, Frida: The Making of an Icon features over 30 works by Kahlo, as well as 120 additional works by artists that she inspired. This is the first major exploration of the artist’s transformation from a relatively unknown local painter to a universal icon and global brand. Departing from the traditional retrospective format, the exhibition revolves around a selection of Kahlo’s masterworks, memorabilia and documents from her archives.
John Singer Sargent: The Later Portraits, by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray.
Digital Sargent catalog
A digital catalog raisonné of John Singer Sargent: The Complete Paintings, by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, was recently released through the Paul Mellon Centre and A&AePortal. The nine-volume catalog brings together 600-plus portraits and more than 1,000 other paintings in oil, watercolor and pastel by Sargent, one of the most esteemed painters of the 20th century. The digital release also marks the 100th anniversary of Sargent’s death in April 1925.
Portland Art Museum Renovation
A massive renovation at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, will open to the public in November. The project, which aims to create a vital “cultural commons” in the heart of downtown Portland, adds 100,000 square-feet of new or upgraded public and gallery space, providing increased access to the museum’s various exhibitions and programs. “Expanded public and gallery spaces will allow the museum to…broaden representation in the collection, including new acquisitions by a roster of renowned regional and international artists,” the museum notes.
Thomas Sully’s portrait of Patrick Henry, 1851. 38¾ x 33½ x 2¾ in. Gift of Thomas Sully. Courtesy the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.
Give Me Liberty
On view through January 4, 2026, at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Give Me Liberty is the first major museum exhibition in America to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. The exhibition presents a robust collection of artifacts, documents and artwork, including a painting of George Washington as Colonel in the Virginia Regiment by Charles Willson Peale; the Broadside of Dunmore’s Proclamation, Nov. 7, 1775; Patrick Henry’s spectacles and an ivory paper cutter associated with his “Give Me Liberty” speech; a manuscript certification of an enslaved man’s enlistment into the Continental Army to do a tour of duty for his enslaver; and a rare copy of Virginia’s 1776 Declaration of Rights.
Wilhelm Kuhnert (1865-1926), Giraffes in Blooming Field, Ulanga, Tanzania. Oil on canvas, 30 x 47 in. Collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, Netherlands. Photograph by Rik Klein Gotink.
Survival of the Fittest
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, presents its first exhibition devoted to wildlife art with the major traveling exhibition Survival of the Fittest: Picturing Wildlife and Wilderness. The exhibition highlights the artwork of the “Big Four” wildlife painters: Richard Friese, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Bruno Liljefors and Carl Rungius, taking visitors across the world as they immerse themselves in the animals and natural habitats these artists captured. Survival of the Fittest will be on view through August 24.
People & Places
Kerry BickfordKerry Bickford is the Brandywine River Museum of Art’s new associate curator, where she will help steward, present and interpret the museum’s permanent collection and develop new exhibitions.
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art has appointed Charles Wylie as the museum’s curator of photography. Wylie joins the Carter from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, where he has served as the inaugural curator of photography and new media since 2016.
Lea StephensonThe Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts recently announced Lea Stephenson as the museum’s next Kenneth R. Woodcock Curator of Historical American Art. In this role, Stephenson will work to strengthen the development, research, presentation and growth of PAFA’s renowned collection of historic American art.
Shawn YuanShawn Yuan joins the Norton Museum of Art in Florida as its Elizabeth B. McGraw Senior Curator of Asian Art. Yuan will oversee the Asian collection, which primarily focuses on Chinese art. In his new role, Yuan also will focus on works created by artists of other Asian cultures.
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