With a body like a polished stone and a handle reminiscent of indigenous Mexican animal figures, a recently acquired teapot seems to be of both nature and man, both ancient and modern. This elegant 1941 teapot by the prominent African American Modernist sculptor Sargent Claude Johnson is an extraordinary new addition to NOMA’s decorative arts collection. Read More
NOMA’s vast collection of photography includes numerous examples of religious practices captured on film. Featured here are eight selections —ranging from an evangelistic preacher in 1930s-era Harlem to Muslim women in mid-century Kashmir — chosen by Brian Piper, Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator for Photography, and Russell Lord, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings…. Read More
John Genin’s panoramic portrayal of a leisurely day at the beach in Surf Bathing, Grand Isle (c. 1885–1890) is a scene familiar to generations of Louisianians who have enjoyed carefree excursions to Louisiana’s only inhabited island in the Gulf of Mexico. Read More
From Romeo and Juliet to the dynamic designer couple of Charles and Ray Eames, NOMA’s galleries feature an array of backstories about famous couples. Join us on Valentine’s Day, February 14, for a Friday Nights at NOMA concert with jazz vocalist Meghan Stewart. Read More
In 2014, NOMA acquired the parlor furnishings from Greenwood Plantation, today called Butler-Greenwood, in St. Francisville, Louisiana. In its installation, NOMA has taken thoughtful steps to present the parlor’s story and recognize all the lives lived at Greenwood Plantation—original purchaser Harriet Mathews, her family, and, equally, the enslaved men, women, and children whose labor created their wealth. Read More
The Latter-Schlesinger Collection of Portrait Miniatures, from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, were given to NOMA in 1974 by Shirley Latter Kaufmann in honor of her parents, Harry and Anna Latter. More than one hundred portrait miniatures are on view in a new, specially-designed cabinet in the Decorative Arts Galleries. Read More
Radiantly glazed and richly imaginative, Fairyland Luster pottery represent one of the most extraordinary technical achievements in the modern ceramic industry. Pieces of this Wedgwood collection from the early 20th century are on view in the second-floor elevator lobby. Read More
NOMA is renowned for its collection of French art. As the museum opens its doors for a French Fête on Friday, August 9, from 5-9 p.m., we invite you to share the vision of Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin, and Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, among the many French artists represented in the museum’s collection. Read More
American art is as diverse as the nation itself. NOMA’s collection spans the country’s historical evolution and diverse ethnicities, from pre-Columbian Native American tribal art to cutting-edge contemporary works that express the freedom of unbound creativity. Read More
The Northern European European galleries were entirely reconceived in May, thanks to the generosity of Alvin and Carol Merlin. Several paintings from NOMA’s permanent collection have undergone much-needed conservation and were reinstalled with new interpretive texts based on the latest art-historical research. Read More
NOMA recently acquired a jardinière that was crafted around 1890 at the short-lived New Orleans Art Pottery. Though this small operation only produced pots for a few years, it carries outsized significance as one of the earliest American art potteries and an important precursor to the cherished pottery that thrived for decades at New Orleans’s Newcomb College. Read More
A diminutive portrait of an African woman by Willem van Mieris is an extraordinary acquisition, broadening NOMA’s presentation of art from the global Dutch Golden Age. Read More
In the spring of 2018, NOMA acquired a monumental mural painting by Clementine Hunter (1887–1988), one of Louisiana’s most beloved and accomplished artists. An extremely rare example of one of the large-scale, site-specific murals Hunter created for the interiors of Melrose Plantation in the Cane River region near Natchitoches, where she spent much of her life working as a field hand before pursuing her talent as a painter after age 50. Read More
Recent research into a Malian terracotta architectural model by a Djenne artist, circled at the base with serpent figures and currently on view in NOMA’s François Billion Richardson Gallery of African Art, provides an example of how science can enhance a deeper analysis of a piece of sculpture. Read More
Ron Arad is one of the most influential designers of our time, known for his daring forms that span the disciplines of furniture, sculpture, and architecture. His Big Easy chair is a stunning addition to NOMA’s decorative arts collection. Read More
A photograph by Clarence John Laughlin was added to NOMA’s permanent collection thanks to a donation from Abry Brothers, Inc., a New Orleans-based shoring contractor in business since 1840 that shares a special relationship with this image made in 1946. Read More
The Lupin Foundation Decorative Arts Galleries on the museum’s second floor have reopened with a new installation drawn from the permanent collection, and for the first time include contemporary design and craft of recent decades. Read More
NOMA’s permanent collection galleries now tell a more robust, inclusive story about the history of twentieth-century art, thanks to a major reinstallation of the museum’s collection that has unfolded across four galleries over the course of the past year. Read More