US Museums Unveil Fall 2026 Slate: From Grandma Moses to Abbas Akhavan's Debut
Institutions across the US present major surveys and debuts this fall, including a Grandma Moses retrospective, Tony Cokes's multimedia showcase, and Abbas Akhavan's first US museum survey.
A Season of Surveys and Debuts
This autumn, museums across the United States are opening a wide-ranging slate of exhibitions that trace historical legacies, probe contemporary themes, and introduce artists to new audiences. From a major Grandma Moses retrospective at Crystal Bridges Museum of Art to Abbas Akhavan's first US museum survey at the Walker Art Center, the season reflects a mix of canonical revisits and fresh voices.
Reviving Postwar Legacies
At Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, "Grandma Moses: A Good Day's Work" runs from September 12 to March 29, 2027, reviving the postwar legacy of Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses, who opened her first solo exhibition at age 80. The show features intimate depictions of rural life, including "Deep Snow" (1957) and "Black Horses" (1942), highlighting her enduring appeal.
Meanwhile, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia presents "From Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America" (September 20 to January 10, 2027), reconsidering how six Japanese American artists, including Isamu Noguchi and George Nakashima, shaped modern American aesthetics across objects from album covers to lamps, designs informed by the traumas of World War II and wartime incarceration.
Multimedia and Text-Based Practices
Tony Cokes's survey, "Texts, Tracks, Talks (1992–2026)" at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University (September 18 to February 21, 2027), returns to his alma mater. The exhibition presents his existing works alongside new commissions, using text and sampled media to challenge dominant narratives around production, artistic intent, and identity.
Similarly, at the Institute for Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, Wilmer Wilson IV's "SKIRL!" (September 26 to February 21, 2027) debuts as the inaugural project of a new research-driven residency. Wilson's installations, sculptures, and performances examine the eastern gray squirrel's civic and cultural significance, portraying the species as pest, pet, and wildlife.
Craft and Materiality as Statement
Bernhard Schobinger's "Going Underground: The Jewels of Bernhard Schobinger" at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (September 3 to January 3, 2027) transforms scavenged materials like fishing lures and asphalt chunks into idiosyncratic jewelry, disrupting luxury conventions through influences from Dada, punk, and Japanese culture.
In Cleveland, "The Gift: Emma Amos with Friends" (September 13 to January 24, 2027) reunites the complete suite of 48 watercolor portraits Amos painted for her daughter's 20th birthday, depicting women artists, historians, and critics, including Elizabeth Catlett, Lorna Simpson, and Lucy Lippard. The exhibition represents the first time the full suite has been on view in two decades.
Diva Culture and Circus Archetypes
The Denver Art Museum's "DIVA" (October 4 to January 31, 2027) spans nearly 150 years of entertainment history, mapping the on- and offstage expectations of performing virtuosas from opera to modern pop, exploring star power's social currency.
At the Seattle Art Museum, "Karon Davis: Not My Circus" (November 5 to July 4, 2027) uses plaster-cast sculptures to evoke carnivalesque tableaux, with a despairing clown and vulnerable knife-thrower's assistant capturing the insidious tango between lighthearted spectacle and bleak performance.
Environmental and Social Critiques
Joe Feddersen's "Earth, Water, Sky" at the Missoula Art Museum (September 4 to December 31) probes the human-nature bond over four decades through woven baskets, monoprint collages, and sandblasted glass, while Abbas Akhavan's "Variations on a Garden" at the Walker Art Center (November 12 to April 18, 2027) uses soil, fauna, and water to explore conflicts between privacy and preservation, marking his first US museum survey since representing Canada at the 61st Venice Biennale.
The Milwaukee Art Museum's "Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography" (October 23 to January 18, 2027) juxtaposes the histories of mining and photography, and the Nasher Museum's "Turn the Volume Up!" (August 27 to July 11, 2027) chronicles collective action through voting, featuring works by Carrie Mae Weems, Kara Walker, and others amid America's 250th anniversary.
