Carefully restored, cared for and added to, the cast collection at PAFA is one of the few great collections in the United States. The objects in the collection are superior in craftsmanship, often being first castings from the original sculptures, and are now very rare.
Vincent Desiderio has played a major role in reclaiming painting as a valid and significant medium in late 20th-century art. He started out as an abstract painter before he focused on representational work.
As a contemporary painter, Barkley L. Hendricks has made pioneering contributions to African American portraiture and conceptualism. He is best known for his striking and provocative life-sized portraits.
Award-winning illustrator Kate Samworth studied traditional painting and drawing at an atelier, then transferred to PAFA for her BFA. She credits PAFA's printmaking and sculpture facilities as playing an important role in developing her creative voice: “[They] gave me the chance to experiment in new…
Jon Laidacker was the lead muralist on the 85,000-square-foot "How Philly Moves" image that graces the Philadelphia International Airport parking garage walls near Interstate 95.
“As a recent Fulbright Senior Scholar, my latest work in Nepal has inspired a renewed appreciation of my debt owed to PAFA. ... The school was crucial to my development as a global artist."
Passersby outside the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building are seeing PAFA in a whole new way: through the windows of the new Broad Street Studio, a permanent space dedicated to demonstrating the creative process that happens every day in studios and classrooms.
The oldest art museum and art school in the United States, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is dedicated to training fine artists from around the world and collecting, exhibiting, and researching the history of American art. If we were to borrow one work of art from the vast…
This fall, Didier William will become the new Chair of PAFA’s MFA program. He brings to PAFA’s two-year, interdisciplinary program an accomplished background, having served as Graduate Critic at Columbia University and Yale University, and Visiting Assistant Professor at Vassar College. Hailing from…
Work by PAFA’s accomplished alumni can be found everywhere. You might even have creations by one alumna in your pocket right now.
Perspectives
About PAFA
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is America's first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, PAFA offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the fine arts, innovative exhibitions of historic and contemporary American art, and a world-class collection of American art. 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.
