15 US Museum Shows We Can’t Wait For
Plus, artists on feeling deceived by a widely advertised summer residency that lured them in and never materialized.
The autumnal equinox isn’t for a few weeks, but we’re officially marking the start of another seasonal shift on the calendar: art-world fall. Nary a pumpkin-spiced drink is yet in sight, but many an empty plastic cup of cheap rosé will tumble down a Tribeca street this week as galleries and institutions let in a cool-ish breeze from the outside to freshen up their stuffy interiors.
We’re kicking off the festivities beyond the NYC bubble, with a must-read list of 15 exhibitions to see in museums across the US this fall, from Grandma Moses at Crystal Bridges to Karon Davis at the Seattle Art Museum. At the Canton Museum of Art in Ohio, an exhibition dedicated to the dynamic works of late artist and athlete Ernie Barnes just opened last month; Aaron Short sits down with his daughter, Erin Barnes, to trace the painter’s momentous legacy.
But most artists don’t have a big institutional show in the works, or a waiting list for their works. Emerging artists, among the most vulnerable in our field, were the main target of a controversial residency program that ghosted applicants this summer, leaving many in the lurch. Writer Rana Alsoufi has the story.
Sending you strength, kindness, and a deep cleansing breath, and I genuinely hope our paths cross this art-world fall!
—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor
15 Museum Exhibitions to See Across the US This Fall
The circus is coming to town, although maybe not in the form you’d expect. The art world, in all its acrobatics, pageantry, and occasional fun, is returning to cities across the United States this fall with a spate of acts.
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A Century Apart, Two Painters Distort the Body
Opening September 10, NORR COHAN presents Savdie / Soutine, an unprecedented exhibition pairing paintings by Chaïm Soutine (1893–1943) with new paintings by Ilana Savdie (b. 1986). Separated by a century and seen together for the first time, both painters make the instability of their subjects the substance of their work.
News
The Artist Residency That Never Was
Abstract Mag invited dozens of artists to participate in a summer residency in Georgia. Then its social media pages went dark. | Rana Alsoufi
Read More- An Argentine couple has been ordered to return a Nazi-owned painting to its rightful heirs after the work was discovered in their living room last year. [Infobae]
- In Trump's latest attack on the Smithsonian, officials told the institution that federal agencies could stop working with the museum network if its leaders did not abandon their "ideological agenda." [Washington Post]
Features
Preserving Ernie Barnes’s Legacy in Paint Tubes
The late artist and athlete who rendered joyous scenes of Black life, dance, and motion is the subject of renewed institutional attention as his daughter, Erin Barnes, works to conserve his studio practice. | Aaron Short
Read MoreIn Queens, Immigrant Women Sew a Truer Atlas
The largely undocumented Latin American women of New York’s “costureros,” or needlework circles, are creating a countermap to archive the stories of their lives. | Amalia Uribe Guardiola
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Mitchell Johnson: “Twenty-One Years in Truro (Selected Paintings 1988–2026)”
The artist’s sixth solo exhibition at Castle Hill will open to the public on September 8, 2026.
Opinion
The Pine Trees That Would Not Leave Me
While visiting the Lebanese mountain town Dhour El Choueir, I couldn’t shake off a painting and a poem I had translated two decades earlier. | Khatchig Mouradian
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Funding International Dialogue: The Asian Cultural Council Opens 2027 Global Grant Cycle
ACC invites artists, arts professionals, scholars, and organizations to apply from Oct 1 to Nov 10, 2026.
Hyper Links
- Palestinian writer Taqwa Ahmed Alwawi honors the students of Gaza's Class of 2026, who took their tawjihi exit exams amid an ongoing genocide.
- Artist Tucker Nichols's hilarious drawing about Trump removing Joel Shapiro's "Blue" sculpture is perfect. TAKE IT AWAY!!!!
- Did you know about votive candle vending machines?
ICYMI
15 Art Books for Your Fall Reading List
Guadalupe Rosales’s memoir, Christine Sun Kim’s artist book, Fady Joudah’s ode to the people of Gaza, and Elizabeth Alexander’s essay collection are among our most anticipated titles.
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