Current and Upcoming Exhibitions
A Tale of Today Presents Brendan Fernandes: In the Round
April 10–11, May 6–9, September 16–19, October 14–17, November 11–14, 2026
Brendan Fernandes: In the Round is the next iteration of its A Tale of Today series that places contemporary art in dialogue with the art, architecture, and design of the Museum. The Museum’s first artist-in-residence, Fernandes will transform the Museum’s 1926 Murphy Auditorium into a dynamic site for sculptural installation, movement, sound, and dance. Conceived as an evolving, episodic residency, In the Round will unfold throughout 2026 with performance dates and public programs announced at intervals across the year.
Inspired by the pioneering spirit of New York City’s Judson Dance Theater and their Concerts for Dance, Fernandes will create and present a program of newly commissioned performances called Scores for the Murphy Auditorium. Dancers will interact with minimalist site-specific installations developed in collaboration with AIM Architecture (Antwerp, Shanghai, Chicago) and textile-based works by the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia), echoing the multidisciplinary ethos of Judson Dance Theater.
Residency Dates: April 10–11, May 6–9, September 16–19, October 14–17, November 11–14
Lead support for Brendan Fernandes: In the Round is provided by Cari and Michael J. Sacks.
Major support is provided by the Driehaus Trust Company, LLC, Anne L. Kaplan, and Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson.
Generous support is provided by the Kovler Family Foundation, Elizabeth Liebman, and Abby Pucker.
Additional support is provided by Friends of Brendan Fernandes.
Image: Brendan Fernandes: In the Round, Driehaus Museum, 2026. Photo by Robert Chase Heishman for Bob. Dancers: Hanna DiLorenzo, Nick Kearns, Xenia Mansour. Courtesy of the artist, Monique Meloche Gallery (Chicago), and Susan Inglett Gallery (New York)
Ink & Outrage: 18th Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin
May 15-September 13, 2026
Ink & Outrage: 18th-Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin is a lively and revelatory exhibition that explores the golden age of caricature and the networks of art, politics, and piracy that connected Britain and Ireland.
The exhibition examines how artists such as James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, and Isaac Cruikshank used humor and exaggeration to lampoon the great and powerful—giving rise to one of the most distinctive visual languages of dissent in Western art. It also highlights how, exploiting a legal loophole in British copyright law, Dublin publishers pirated London satires, creating their own inventive and often subversive versions. These Irish “copies,” far from derivative, reveal an independent wit and political perspective that captured the pulse of a nation on the edge of revolution and reform.
Major support for Ink & Outrage: 18th Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin is provided by the Driehaus Trust Company, LLC., Karen Z. Gray-Krehbiel and John H. Krehbiel Jr., and the Irish Georgian Society.
Generous support is provided by Joyce and Bill Gordon, Ellen O'Connor and Friends of Ink & Outrage.
Image: After James Gilray, Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt, Published by William McCleary, Dublin.
Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History
October 8, 2026-April 18, 2027
Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History examines the full scope of Stebbins’s history‑making career as one of the most significant American sculptors of the nineteenth century. From 1857 to 1870, she created innovative marble and bronze sculptures while living in Rome with her wife, the renowned Shakespearean actress Charlotte Cushman. Her work models inventive and incisive interpretations of literary and biblical subjects, as well as unprecedented allegories of American industry.
With the Bethesda Fountain in 1863, Emma Stebbins became the first woman to earn a commission for a public sculpture from the City of New York. As a professional sculptor in a female marriage, she reimagined what a woman’s life could be in the mid‑nineteenth century. Her life and art speak to some of the most compelling issues of her time.
Exhibition organized by The Heckscher Museum of Art
Curated by Karlin Wurzelbacher, Ph.D. Chief Curator
Support provided by Art Bridges
