Making American Artists: Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1776-1976 presents 74 of the most acclaimed and recognizable works of American art, which have played a demonstrable role in shaping conversations about the nation's history and identity. The exhibition offers new narratives of the history of American art, embracing stories about women artists, LGBTQ+ artists, and artists of color within a visual and thematic structure that also features iconic works traditionally associated with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) such as Gilbert Stuart's George Washington (The Lansdowne Portrait) (1796) or Windslow Homer's The Fox Hunt (1893). Making American Artists presents PAFA's formidable collection of well-known historic works alongside pieces by traditionally underrepresented artists to pose questions about what it meant to be an American artist when the institution was founded and what it meant to be an American artist by the late-20th century. Making American Artists: Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1776-1976 is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
