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Plot twist: there’s a future PAFA curator in this 2019 photo. 👀Anna O. Marley, then PAFA’s Chief of Curatorial Affairs a...
10/16/2026

Plot twist: there’s a future PAFA curator in this 2019 photo. 👀

Anna O. Marley, then PAFA’s Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Kenneth R. Woodcock Curator of Historical American Art, was giving students from her alma mater, the University of Delaware, a tour of From the Schuylkill to the Hudson: Landscapes of the Early American Republic. The exhibition explored the roots of American landscape painting and Philadelphia’s place in that history, before the rise of the Hudson River School.

And in the group? Lea C. Stephenson, who, six years later, would become PAFA’s next Kenneth R. Woodcock Curator of Historical American Art.

On November 6, Lea returns to the subject of American landscape painting for Horizons: American Landscapes from Tradition to Tomorrow, joining Kerry Bickford of the Brandywine Museum of Art for a conversation exploring the American landscape from the Hudson River School to the artists reimagining it today.

From student on the tour to curator leading the conversation.
❤️ We love a full-circle moment.

👉 Join us for Horizons on November 6. Register now.
🔗 https://buff.ly/dmBfXeK

New Continuing Education Faculty Spotlight!Join us in welcoming Matthew Courtney to the Continuing Education faculty ros...
10/14/2026

New Continuing Education Faculty Spotlight!

Join us in welcoming Matthew Courtney to the Continuing Education faculty roster. This fall, Matthew Courtney will be teaching a variety of techniques and forms in Creative Ceramics: Functional Forms.

Matthew Courtney (he/him) is an internationally recognized ceramic artist who creates representational sculptures, abstract sculptures, and functional pottery. He has taught at numerous Philadelphia-area institutions, including The University of the Arts, Temple University's Tyler School of Art, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

Explore his course and register for the remainder of the fall semester through PAFA Continuing Education. 🔗 https://buff.ly/ILvYhMj

George Washington posed for plenty of portraits, but what's happening outside the frame?Join Jill Vaum Rothschild of Geo...
10/14/2026

George Washington posed for plenty of portraits, but what's happening outside the frame?

Join Jill Vaum Rothschild of George Washington’sn George Washington's Mount Vernon for an Art At Noon exploring the estate during Washington’s presidency and the lives of the enslaved, indentured, and free people who lived and worked there.

Looking at Edward Savage’s depiction of Mount Vernon alongside individual stories from the estate, Rothschild will consider what art shows us, what it leaves out, and how we can learn to look more closely.

📅 Thursday, November 5, 12–1 PM
📍 Rhoden Arts Center
🎟️ Free with museum admission and always free for PAFA members
🔗 https://buff.ly/2zQJ195
🖼️ Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), George Washington (The Lansdowne Portrait), 1796. Oil on canvas, 109 1/2 x 74 1/2 x 7 in. Bequest of William Bingham, 1811.2.

One work leads to another.Opening October 16, One After Another: Series and Studies explores how artists develop, revise...
10/13/2026

One work leads to another.

Opening October 16, One After Another: Series and Studies explores how artists develop, revise, and transform their ideas through repetition.

📍 Fisher Brooks Gallery, Hamilton Building, PAFA Museum
📅 October 16, 2026–April 12, 2027
✨ PAFA Member Preview Hours: 10 AM - 12 PM

Learn more and plan your visit at the link in bio.

American art is not a fixed story. It continues to grow through the artists shaping it today.Last month, we welcomed Dya...
10/12/2026

American art is not a fixed story. It continues to grow through the artists shaping it today.

Last month, we welcomed Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota) to PAFA for a powerful conversation with scholar and PAFA curator Leah Triplett. Together, they explored how Native artists have shaped American visual culture for centuries, often without recognition, and how Indigenous knowledge continues to move contemporary art forward.

White Hawk’s She Gives (Quiet Strength VII), on view in A Nation of Artists, brings Lakȟóta visual traditions into conversation with Western modernist abstraction. Its countless hand-applied marks recall beadwork and quillwork, practices historically carried forward by Lakȟóta women. The work affirms that Indigenous artistic traditions are not separate from the history of American modernism, but deeply embedded within it.

Most recently, White Hawk debuted Wopila | Lineage (paper series I), a new edition created during her artist residency with the Brodsky Center at PAFA. Working with Brodsky Center printers, she incorporated the hourglass form of the Kapémni, a Lakȟóta symbol of balance and connection across land and life. Its parallel strokes honor the legacies of porcupine quillwork, lane-stitch beadwork, weaving, and other Indigenous art forms through contemporary printmaking. 🔗 https://buff.ly/oQgpeJX

PAFA continues to tell America’s diverse and evolving story through its collection and exhibitions. Indigenous artists are central to that story, expanding our understanding of American art and shaping what it can become.

We are open today for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Visit A Nation of Artists to experience She Gives (Quiet Strength VII) up close.
🖼️ Dyani White Hawk, She Gives (Quiet Strength VII), 2020. Acrylic on canvas. Museum Purchase, 2020.17.
🖼️ Dyani White Hawk, Wopila | Lineage (paper series I), 2026. Etching and relief with iridescent dusting, screenprint, and collage. Edition of 10. Published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA.

Who tells the story changes the story.In contrast to the idealized narrative presented in Benjamin West’s Penn’s Treaty ...
10/11/2026

Who tells the story changes the story.

In contrast to the idealized narrative presented in Benjamin West’s Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, Rose B. Simpson’s Delegate centers Indigenous presence and authorship.

Simpson, a member of Kha’po Owingeh, also known as Santa Clara Pueblo, draws from her community’s matrilineal ceramic traditions while working with contemporary materials. Created from glazed ceramic, steel, hardware, twine, rope, and grout, Delegate carries ancestral knowledge into the present without separating tradition from contemporary life.

Simpson’s fingerprints remain visible across the figure’s surface, preserving the presence of the artist’s hand. The work does not ask viewers to encounter Indigenous people through a story constructed about them. Instead, Delegate asserts its own presence, grounded in identity and cultural continuity.

Seen alongside Penn’s Treaty with the Indians in A Nation of Artists, Delegate invites us to consider not only how Indigenous peoples have been represented throughout American art, but also whose voices and perspectives have shaped those representations.

We will be open on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Monday, October 12. Visit A Nation of Artists to experience both works in person.
🖼️ Rose B. Simpson (b.1983), Delegate, 2022. Glazed ceramic, steel, hardware, twine, rope, and grout, 75 x 21 x 16 in. Museum Commission and Purchase, 2023.20.

Art can entertain and inspire reflection, but it can also tell stories about history, shaping the narratives through whi...
10/10/2026

Art can entertain and inspire reflection, but it can also tell stories about history, shaping the narratives through which the past is understood.

For generations, works like Benjamin West’s Penn’s Treaty with the Indians have influenced how Americans understood Indigenous history, even when the story presented was far removed from the realities of Indigenous experience.

West’s painting presents a mythologized vision of a 1682 meeting between William Penn and Tamanend of the Lenni Lenape at Shackamaxon. Completed nearly a century later, the painting was commissioned by the Penn family and created in London. It transforms a complex colonial history into an idealized scene of peaceful exchange.

The painting does not document the realities of colonial land theft, violence, and cultural erasure. Instead, it helped create a romanticized narrative about Pennsylvania’s colonial past. Its widespread reproduction in prints and decorative objects shaped how generations of Americans imagined this history.

Art does not simply preserve the past. It can reinforce the stories a culture tells about itself and influence what is remembered or erased.

PAFA will be open on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Monday, October 12. Visit A Nation of Artists to see this monumental painting in person alongside Rose B. Simpson’s Delegate, a contemporary work that centers Indigenous presence and authorship.
🖼️ Benjamin West, (1738–1820), Penn's Treaty with the Indians,1771–72. Oil on canvas, 87 ¾ x 120 x 5 1/2 in. The Joseph Harrison, Jr. Colleccon, 1878.1.10.

Explore PAFA Your Way 🎨 There’s more than one way to experience PAFA’s Museum and engage with American art from past to ...
10/09/2026

Explore PAFA Your Way 🎨 There’s more than one way to experience PAFA’s Museum and engage with American art from past to present.

🏛️ Public Tours
See exhibition highlights of A Nation of Artists and discover key themes with our knowledgeable docents.

🏗️ Architecture Tours
Explore PAFA's iconic Historic Landmark Building and uncover the history behind one of Philadelphia's architectural treasures.

💬 Gallery Talks
Join PAFA educators and docents for engaging conversations that offer fresh perspectives on art, artists, and ideas.

⭐ Members-Only Tours
Enjoy exclusive themed tours designed to take members deeper into the collection and exhibitions.

👥 Personal & Private Group Tours
Planning a special visit? Book a customized guided experience for friends, family, colleagues, or community groups.

Whether you're looking for a quick lunchtime conversation, a deeper look at A Nation of Artists, or a personalized group experience, there's a tour for you.

Explore upcoming tours and reserve your spot today.
With a PAFA Museum Membership, you’ll enjoy free admission, free public tours and gallery talks, plus access to exclusive members-only tours.

🔗 https://buff.ly/8Fl0r2y

Coming to PAFA for POST this weekend? Here’s what’s happening while you’re here. 👀Start Saturday with a free Alumni Pane...
10/09/2026

Coming to PAFA for POST this weekend? Here’s what’s happening while you’re here. 👀

Start Saturday with a free Alumni Panel + Networking event for prospective Fine Arts Certificate students featuring a candid conversation about building a sustainable career in the visual arts. Meet working PAFA alumni, enjoy coffee and light refreshments, and stay for POST as studios open across campus.

📅 Saturday, October 10
🎨 10 AM–12 PM: Alumni Panel + Networking
🏛️ 12–6 PM: Philadelphia Open Studio Tours at PAFA

📅 Sunday, October 11
🏛️ 12–6 PM: Philadelphia Open Studio Tours at PAFA
🖨️ 12–4 PM: Live PAFA shop demonstrations, including plaster casting and Gyotaku printing

Throughout the weekend, explore artists’ studios, specialized shops, and the Brodsky Center while connecting with PAFA’s creative community.

Both POST and the Alumni Panel are free, but advance registration is required for the panel. Register for POST or the Alumni Panel to receive a discount on museum general admission. A promo code will be emailed with your registration confirmation.

Come for one event, spend the day, or make a weekend of it at PAFA!

🔗 www.pafa.org/events

10/08/2026

How do museums tell the story of American art in 2026?

That question brought curators from PAFA and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art together for the 2026 Anne Sallee Greenwood Discovery Series, a conversation exploring what it means to reinterpret historic collections for audiences today.

Moderated by Dr. Kelvin Parnell of the University of Arkansas, the discussion brings PAFA curators Dr. Lea C. Stephenson and Leah Triplett into conversation with Crystal Bridges curators Larissa Randall and Dr. Josie R. Johnson. Together, they explore everything from chronology and unexpected juxtapositions to artist voices, interpretation, education, and the relationships that connect artworks across generations.

Couldn’t join us in Bentonville? The full conversation is now available to watch on PAFA’s YouTube channel.

▶️ Watch now: https://buff.ly/ShYPcVy

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128 N Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA
19102

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

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(215) 972-7600

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