Press Releases
Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon: Masterworks from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society
On view March 13 through June 7, 2020, Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon showcases the broad range of bronzes, ceramics, and metalwork assembled by John D. Rockefeller 3rd (1906–1978) and his wife Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909–1992) between the 1940s and the 1970s. With highlights including Chinese vases, Indian Chola bronzes, and Southeast Asian sculptures, the collection reveals great achievements in Asian art spanning more than two millennia. Read More
NOMA’s Greenwood Parlor, Reimagined | Museum reinstallation of pristine parlor honors all lives lived at Greenwood Plantation
The New Orleans Museum of Art announces the permanent installation of The Greenwood Parlor, now on view. In 2014, NOMA acquired the parlor furnishings from Greenwood Plantation, today called Butler-Greenwood, in St. Francisville, Louisiana. The 1850s/60s parlor suite assembled by Harriet Flower Mathews (1794-1873) survives with original textiles and rich documentation. After careful conservation, the parlor is one of the South’s best preserved examples of a pre-Civil War interior. In this installation, NOMA takes thoughtful steps to present the parlor’s story and recognize all the lives lived at Greenwood Plantation—Harriet Mathews, her family, and, equally, the enslaved men, women, and children whose labor created their wealth. Read More
Portrait Miniatures: Intimate Images from the Latter-Schlesinger Collection
The New Orleans Museum of Art presents the museum’s Latter-Schlesinger Collection of Portrait Miniatures. Cradled in the palm of the hand or worn close to the heart, portrait miniatures were never intended for public consumption, but rather, functioned as personal tokens of affection, love, or memorial. Drawing from NOMA’s permanent collection, the installation of more than 100 portrait miniatures is now on view in the Lupin Foundation Decorative Arts Galleries on the museum’s second floor. Read More
Regina Agu: Passage | A Site-Specific Installation at NOMA
The New Orleans Museum of Art presents Regina Agu: Passage, an immersive, site-specific installation created by contemporary artist Regina Agu, on view November 22, 2019 through February 10, 2020. Inspired by the historical form of the panorama, Agu’s 100-foot-long installation weaves together imagery of waterways across Louisiana in an effort to explore how the landscapes, people and histories of the region are connected by and through water. Agu’s installation is created to coincide with Inventing Acadia: Painting and Place in Louisiana, the first major exhibition on Louisiana landscape painting in more than 40 years, on view November 16, 2019 through January 26, 2020. Read More
NOMA presents Odyssey 2019: Mystère Louisiane in partnership with IBERIABANK, 53rd annual event takes place on November 15, 2019
On Friday, November 15, 2019, the New Orleans Museum of Art celebrates Odyssey 2019: Mystère Louisiane presented by IBERIABANK. Now in its 53rd year, the premier event of the New Orleans gala season raises funds to support NOMA’s nationally-recognized exhibitions and educational programs, which bring more than 300,000 annual visitors to the museum and Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Read More
Inventing Acadia: Painting and Place in Louisiana
Inventing Acadia: Painting and Place in Louisiana, on view from November 16, 2019, through January 26, 2020, explores the rise of landscape painting in Louisiana during the 19th century, revealing its role in creating—and exporting—a new vision for American landscape art that was vastly different than that to be found in the rest of the United States. Read More
Tina Freeman: Lamentations | Considering Sea-Level Rise Through Wetlands and Glacial Landscape Photography
In Lamentations, photographer Tina Freeman pairs images from the Louisiana coastal wetlands and the glacial landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic in a series of diptychs that communicate the critical narratives of climate change, ecological balance, and the connectedness of disparate ecosystems across time and space. Read More
An Ideal Unity: The Bauhaus and Beyond
Celebrating the centennial of the Bauhaus (1919-1933), An Ideal Unity explores the artistic breadth of the innovative school that integrated fine arts and design. Including photographs and decorative arts from NOMA’s permanent collection, the exhibition underscores the principles of the Bauhaus aesthetic and mission. Read More
Ancestors in Stone: Showcasing NOMA’s Akwanshi Monolith
A recently acquired akwanshi monolith from the Cross Rivers region of Nigeria forms the centerpiece of a focus exhibition, showcasing stone as a material used in ancestral veneration among African cultures. Read More
The Quilts of Gee’s Bend: Extraordinary 20th-Century Quilts of Gee’s Bend, Alabama
The Quilts of Gee’s Bend exhibition features five extraordinary twentieth-century quilts made by the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, that elevate a traditional craft form to masterful work of intentional art. The women’s use of bold geometric shapes and a fiercely independent design process brought international acclaim to Gee’s Bend quilters. Read More
LOVE in the Garden presented by Hancock Whitney celebrates New Orleans art, cuisine, and libations
The New Orleans Museum of Art will celebrate LOVE in the Garden presented by Hancock Whitney on September 27, 2019. Now in its fifteenth year, guests will enjoy cuisine from over sixty of New Orleans’ finest restaurants, and craft cocktails from New Orleans’ top bartenders as they vie for first place in the sixth-annual LOVE Cocktail Challenge. Local New Orleans food trucks presented will provide late-night fare to keep the party going into the evening. Read More
You Are Here: A Brief History of Photography and Place
You Are Here, on view April 26–July 28, 2019, both embraces and challenges the photograph’s role as a faithful record of place, examining photography’s successes and failures in rendering and sharing fragments of the world. Drawn almost exclusively from NOMA’s permanent collection, the exhibition traces a history of photography and place from the origins of the medium to the present. Read More
Paper Revolutions: French Drawings from the New Orleans Museum of Art
Paper Revolutions: French Drawings from the New Orleans Museum of Art, on view through July 14th, 2019, traces the politics of draftsmanship in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries during the France’s Age of Revolution (1789–1870). Read More
Bodies of Knowledge: NOMA hosts international contemporary art exhibition
NOMA presents Bodies of Knowledge, on view June 28–October 13, 2019. The exhibition brings together ten international contemporary artists to reflect on the role that language plays in defining our cultural identities, and will be the first global contemporary exhibition of its kind at NOMA. Read More
NOMA’S Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden Expansion Incorporates Innovative Architectural Elements
The six-acre expansion of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art opens to the public on May 15, 2019. With environmental impact at the forefront of planning, the sculpture garden expansion emphasizes the distinctive character of the Louisiana landscape. Read More
Art in Bloom 2019 Looks to the Future at NOMA: Illuminations: Looking Within and Beyond in Partnership with IBERIABANK March 27-31
With a focus on light, transformation and discovery, the theme of Art in Bloom 2019 at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) is Illuminations: Looking Within and Beyond. This highly anticipated springtime event takes place March 27-31. After an extraordinary Tricentennial year of reflection and celebration, 2019 presents the opportunity to look ahead with limitless imagination and innovation. Illuminations: Looking Within and Beyond is in partnership with IBERIABANK. Read More
NOMA announces artists selected for Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden expansion
Opening on May 15, 2019, the expansion of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art will feature 26 new works by artists working primarily in the 21st century. The expansion, which broke ground in December 2017, builds on the success of the museum’s existing five-acre Besthoff Sculpture Garden, widely regarded as one of the top sculpture gardens in the world. The existing site is home to 64 sculptures from renowned artists from the 19th century to the present. Read More
Bondye: Between and Beyond | Tina Girouard’s Flags on View for Mardi Gras
NOMA presents Bondye: Between and Beyond, on view January 25 through June 16, 2019, featuring a series of sequined prayer flags by Tina Girouard with Haitian artists in Port-au-Prince. Inspired by the blend of Caribbean, African, and European culture in her own Louisiana hometown, these flags reference a range of international traditions expressed in Vodou, from All Saints Day in France to New Orleans Mardi Gras and Haitian Kanaval. Read More
