Museum

Cast of the sculpture Laocoön featuring the titular figure at center flanked by his sons.
PAFA's Cast Hall preserves a collection of over 120 fine plaster casts, including replicas of iconic sculptures such as Michelangelo’s David and the Nike of Samothrace. These casts serve as vital educational tools, connecting students to classical art traditions. Originally sourced from Paris in…
Stories
Curator Ali Printz behind a conservator working on Henry Carter's Coal Mine.
Behind the Canvas: The Art Conservator's Magic Touch showcases the restoration of key artworks for PAFA’s Layers of Liberty exhibition and the 2026 re-installation. Collaborating with Flux Art Conservation, pieces like Henry McCarter’s Coal Mine and John Carroll’s Agatha were carefully cleaned and…
Stories
A person standing in a gallery looking at an item in a display case.

Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic evokes memories with every step—if not your own, then ones you’ve heard from older friends and relatives.

"The show, a nod to the old museum’s informal title, Philadelphia’s Attic, features 600 objects from the Atwater Kent Collection (AKC), which was…

In the 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
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
sign for Making American Artists that feature Winslow Homer's Fox Hunt.

A Travel Log with Dr. Anna O. Marley

As a museum curator, when the opportunity arises to embark on new adventures, you not only seize it but relish every moment. In late May, PAFA Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Kenneth R. Woodcock Curator of Historical American Art, Dr. Anna O. Marley got to travel…

Stories
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
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
headshot of Anna Marley

TOLEDO, Ohio – Anna Marley, Ph.D., currently the Chief of Curatorial Affairs and the Kenneth R. Woodcock Curator of Historical American Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), has been named the Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA). In her new role, Marley…

Press Release
HLB exterior

PHILADELPHIA – June 28, 2024 | The iconic, Frank Furness-designed Historic Landmark Building (HLB) at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), 118 North Broad Street, will be temporarily “offline” for planned renovations to its HVAC system. The building will be unavailable to the public…

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

PHILADELPHIA–June 24, 2024 - The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) opens Layers of Liberty: Philadelphia and the Appalachian Environment, on view June 27 through November 7, 2024, in the Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building at 128 North Broad Street. Curated by Ali Printz, PAFA’s Terra…

Press Release

 

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