Founded in 1805 as the first school and museum of fine arts in the United States, PAFA is a National Medal of Arts recipient that celebrates the transformative power of American art and art-making through its collections, exhibitions, and education programs.
"It’s just a few blocks on Arch Street between the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the oldest art school and museum in the United States, and the African American Museum in Philadelphia, founded in 1976 to celebrate the achievements of African Americans from pre-colonial times to the current…
Open to the public on March 23, the new exhibition hosted by the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts will explore a reoccurring question in American history.
On the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer today, Peter Dobrin writes 'Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts closes historic building to reimagine permanent collection.'
Pafa Alumni Dara Haskins (BFA '19), Athena Scott (MFA '22), and Meg Wolensky (BFA '14) have been awarded 2023 Wind Fellowships. Join their virtual artists’ talk on February 2nd.
CBS News interviews the artist for the exhibition Philip Cohn: My Life's Workon view in the Alumni Gallery, in "99-year-old Philly artist shows how fine arts keeps him young."
"The important big deal is me getting in front of the canvas and working today, that's the big deal, not the show," Cohn…
For her culminating work at PAFA, Zofia Chamera (MFA ’22) created Shedding Fear, a 7-foot paper figure which debuted at the Annual Student Exhibition in the spring of 2022 and then showed in Italy two months later for the Lucca Biennale, an art, architecture, and design exhibition dedicated to paper…
As part of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s series “A More Perfect Union,” which explores the roots of systemic racism in America through institutions founded in Philadelphia, Dr. Synatra Smith and Zoe Greenberg examined the legacy of Black artists at PAFA.
WHYY Host Priyanka Tewari sat down with Philadelphia-based artist, activist, and collector, Ofelia Garcia and Dr. Brittany Webb, curator of Gift/Deeds: Collectors at PAFA, to speak on how and why people collect art.
Peter Dobrin reports in The Philadelphia Inquirer that the artist Tanda Francis has been chosen to create a statue of the renowned vocalist Marian Anderson from South Philadelphia, to stand outside of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.
PAFA curator, Brittany Webb was on the jury panel that…
Julia Shipley reports on several national art scholars' favorite selections from the exhibition, including The Fox Hunt by Winslow Homer, as well as works by Harriet Hosmer, May Howard Jackson, and Georgia O'Keefe.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at visitorservices@pafa.org — we’d love to help!
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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.
