By the end of her life, the self-taught artist Nellie Mae Rowe (1900–1982) had been widely recognized for her unique artistic practice, finding both institutional and commercial success for her drawings and sculptures made from all manner of household materials. But a new exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta is the Georgia-born artist’s first major exhibition in 20 years. After it closes at the High in January, “Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe” will embark on a national tour with the Art Bridges Foundation through 2024. The exhibition is drawn largely from the museum’s deep holdings of the artist’s work,...

“Horace Pippin: Racism and War” debuted in the Trout Gallery on Friday, September 24th. The exhibit, open until Feb. 19, 2022, centers around Pippin’s painting “Mr. Prejudice,” on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art through the Art Bridges Initiative program. Read the Article

Two paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner in the Dallas Museum of Art’s small but rich show on the artist — fresh from months of painstaking conservation treatment — offer a glimpse into the world of sophisticated expatriate Americans in Paris in the years around 1900. The exhibit shows the importance of the new, and well-endowed Art Bridges Foundation, which funded the conservation and study of the paintings on view. The foundation’s mission is to promote American art in museums throughout the United States. Read the Article

The Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa., now features an exhibition highlighting the influences that shaped the work of sculptor and woodworker Wharton Esherick. “Daring Design: The Impact of Three Women on Wharton Esherick’s Craft” runs through February 6, 2022. The exhibition explores the significant impact of three women – industrialist Helene Fischer, artist Hanna Weil, and photographer Marjorie Content – on Esherick’s career and development at a pivotal creative moment for the artist in the 1930s. This is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art...

Two works by one of the most revered African American painters, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), recently received a thorough conservation treatment and subsequent study by the DMA team. The paintings The Thankful Poor (1894), on loan from Art Bridges Foundation (which also funded the conservation efforts) and the DMA’s Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures (1908) are paired in an intimate installation. Read the Article