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.
Does your work in Once Upon a Place relate to your ideas for the Annual Student Exhibition (ASE)?
The city where countless people, animals, objects, future, present, past intersect is the subject of my work and one that I have found myself deeply interested in. This form of installation art allows…
PAFA’s Alumni Gallery is currently playing host to four graduates of its Master of Fine Arts program. Brian James Spies curated This Woman’s Work, which also features pieces by Sofya Mirvis, Daria Souvorova, and Ana Vizcarra Rankin. Spies’s body of work exploring gender first developed following the…
Karen Rogers reports on two major exhibitions at PAFA celebrating women artists for this week's "6abc Loves the Arts." Women in Motion: 150 Years of Women's Artist Networks at PAFA charts the untold stories of women artists' networking, innovating and collaborating. Joan Semmel: Skin in the Game is…
American+, a touring solo exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Michael Coppage (MFA ’05), kicked off the new year in PAFA’s School of Fine Arts Gallery. A venue for alumni showcases, the 2710 square-foot gallery is the largest that American+ has been shown in so far, allowing Coppage to display…
Two PAFA alumni, designer Elana Haglar (MFA '07) and sculptor Phebe Hemphill (Sculpture '87), created the depiction of astronaut Dr. Sally Ride on a new quarter released this year. The artists are employed at the US Mint as "Artist Infusion Program" Designer and "Medallic Artist" respectively, and…
WURD Radio has reshared the interviews from their Black History Month live broadcast at PAFA! Follow the link below to watch the full program and find more photos.
"Evening WURDs host Nick Taliaferro kicked off the event by interviewing Eric Pryor, PAFA’s first Black president in its 217-year…
The work of painting faculty, Peter Van Dyck, is explored in Trebuchet Magazine's latest issue, Process.
Van Dyck’s process brings whoever is watching into soft afternoons and empty streets touched with the light melancholy of contemplative solitude. Our eyes, following the graceful curves of…
The AXA Art Prize shines a spotlight on the re-emergence of figurative art and the undiscovered stars of its future.
"We're pleased to introduce Regional Juror, Clint Jukkala. Jukkala is the Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and previously served as the…
MFA student Marguerite Bosco reflects on this year's Open Studio Night:
"On February 25th, PAFA students opened their studio doors to welcome hundreds of visitors to a behind the scenes look at their creative process. This annual event presents an invaluable opportunity for students to make…
As part of their Black History Month series on "Visions" 6ABC reports on Eric Pryor's appointment as President & CEO, with video and article introducing his background and vision for PAFA.
"These amusing letters implied and enhanced so many intricacies in the maternal relationship depicted in Beaux’s Les dernier jours d’enfance, and they continue to make my understanding of the portrait that much richer. Beaux’s subjects were not merely symbols of a mother and child—they were a real…
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.
