News

a woman looks down at a display case

"Representing 350 years of Philadelphia history, Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic is an interactive exhibition of over 600 artifacts from the Atwater Kent Collection (AKC) at Drexel University on display at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). Hundreds of historical images…

In the News
People standing in a gallery featuring historic objects on display.

"For as much history as Philadelphia represents, the city no longer has a physical location for its history museum. After the Philadelphia History Museum shuttered in 2018, its collection was transferred to Drexel University. Renamed the Atwater Kent Collection, it contains more than 130,000 objects…

In the News
open attic space

"Key to the institutional retooling are repairs to one of the crown jewels in the relatively small inventory of surviving Frank Furness-designed structures — PAFA’s historic landmark building just north of City Hall. The Academy has about $5.5 million in hand for a $10 million project to replace the…

In the News
People standing in a gallery featuring historic objects on display.

"A stadium turnstile and crushed copper kettles.

Quaker-made lacework and murals from Gimbel’s.

A Miss Flora McFlimsey with hair done in rings …

These are a few of Philly’s favorite things — at least that’s what Drexel University hopes.

About 650 objects selected from the Philadelphia historical archive…

In the News
Oil on canvas painting featuring buildings in industrial Philadelphia.

"At an exhibit opening Thursday, visitors can get a snapshot of Philadelphia history from its 17th century beginnings to its more recent baseball victories.

" Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic" will tell the story of the city through 650 items. Some, like the teapot fragments recovered from…

In the News
Hubert Davis, Spring in the Coal Regions, 1944, oil on canvas, 26” x 36”, 1945.2.

Lately, museums have been exploring our complicated, often rapacious relationship with the natural world. DC’s National Portrait Gallery is currently showing Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism, and last year the Brandywine Museum of Art mounted an exhibition titled Fragile Earth…

In the News
Installation view of Artists as Cultivators looking through a doorway to the Washington Foyer and another doorway

River Towns Magazine | Spring 2024
"Birthplace of the American Art Museum" By Patti Zielinski

"The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia, holds a dual distinction as America’s first art school and first museum of fine arts. Inside the museum, visitors will find a world-class…

In the News
Color photograph of John Rhoden posing by a public art sculpture in front of the entrance to the African American Museum in Philadelphia.

"You might not know much about John Rhoden’s Nesaika, but you have walked past it every time you have passed Seventh and Arch Streets. The 9-footbronze sculpture, which stands outside the African American Museum in Philadelphia, was dedicated on June 10, 1976, by Mayor Frank L. Rizzo.

Eight days…

In the News
View of a wooden sculpture on display in an art gallery with a person in the background.

Némesis Mora attended the John Rhoden Catalogue Launch and Symposium and wrote an article for ¡Presente! Media:

"In a remodeled four-story building at 23 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn, New York, 20th-century African-American sculptor John Rhoden lived with his wife, Richanda Rhoden, from the 1960s…

In the News
John W. Rhoden, (1916-2001) (Bust of Richanda), n.d.

In Determined to Be: The Sculpture of John Rhoden, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts presents the first comprehensive retrospective of the sculptor and international envoy, who absorbed cultures and networked with artists from Zanzibar to Uzbekistan.

Read the full article "A World at His

In the News
John Rhoden at the installation of his sculpture, Zodiacal Curved Wall, at the Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia in 1957.

The first retrospective for John Rhoden at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts sheds light on the history and meaning behind his public art in Philadelphia. 

In the latter half of the 20th century, the renowned Black American sculptor completed several commissions in and around the region. 

One…

In the News
Black and white image of John Rhoden sculpting

From Oct. 5 through April 7, his work will be on display in “Determined to Be: The Sculpture of John Rhoden” at PAFA. Through about 70 of his works in bronze, stone, and wood, as well as archival materials, the exhibit will seek to tell the story of an artist some people say is unsung, yet ahead of…

In the News

 

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About PAFA

Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the United States’ first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, PAFA offers a world-class collection of American art, innovative exhibitions of historic and contemporary American art, and educational opportunities in the fine arts. The PAFA Museum aims to tell America's diverse story through art, expanding who has been included in the canon of art history through its collections, exhibitions, and public programs, while classes educate artists and appreciators with a deep understanding of traditions and the ability to challenge conventions. PAFA’s esteemed alumni include Mary Cassatt, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, William Glackens, Barkley L. Hendricks, Violet Oakley, Louis Kahn, David Lynch, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.