Exhibitions & Publications

McMullen Museum exhibitions, more than eighty-five over three decades, comprise works loaned from institutions and collectors around the world. Research-driven with the aim of generating new knowledge on subjects relating to all areas of art history, exhibitions are curated by transdisciplinary teams of faculty scholars and international specialists.

McMullen Museum publications, edited by faculty curators, published by the Museum, and distributed by the University of Chicago Press, accompany exhibitions. Books are available for purchase in the Museum’s Atrium Shop and via Amazon and the University Chicago of Press. Click here to visit the free online archive of McMullen publications.

Upcoming

Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World February 9–June 1, 2025

 

Past

States of Becoming September 9–December 8, 2024

The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde | La generación perdida: mujeres ceramistas y la vanguardia cubana January 29–June 2, 2024

Gateway to Himalayan Art September 5–December 10, 2023

Landscape of Memory: Seven Installations from the Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharjah, UAE) January 30–June 4, 2023

American Alternative Comics, 1980–2000: Raw, Weirdo, and Beyond September 6–December 4, 2022

Arnie Jarmak: Photographing Chelsea in Transition, 1977–89 September 6–December 4, 2022

Martin Parr: Time and Place January 31–June 5, 2022

Aftermath January 31–March 14, 2022

Mariano: Variations on a Theme | Variaciones sobre un tema September 7–December 5, 2021

Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s February 1–June 13, 2021

Indian Ocean Current: Six Artistic Narratives January 27–November 24, 2020

William Trost Richards: Hieroglyphs of Landscape September 9–December 8, 2019

Simon Dinnerstein: “The Fulbright Triptych” September 9–December 8, 2019

Alen MacWeeney and a Century of New York Street Photography September 9–December 8, 2019

Mary Armstrong: Conditions of Faith September 9–December 8, 2019

Eaglemania: Collecting Japanese Art in Gilded Age America February 11–June 2, 2019

Cuenca: City of Spanish Abstraction February 11–June 2, 2019

Carrie Mae Weems: Strategies of Engagement September 10–December 13, 2018

Hartmut Austen: Not There, Not Here September 10–December 13, 2018

Cao Jun: Hymns to Nature February 5–June 3, 2018

Nature's Mirror: Reality and Symbol in Belgian Landscape September 10–December 10, 2017

New England Sky: Alston Conley September 10–December 10, 2017

Esteban Lisa: The Abstract Cabinet September 16–December 10, 2017

Rafael Soriano: The Artist as Mystic January 30–June 4, 2017

Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections September 12–December 11, 2016

Andrew Tavarelli: Global Convergences September 12–December 11, 2016

The Arts and Crafts Movement: Making It Irish February 6–June 5, 2016

John La Farge and the Recovery of the Sacred September 1–December 13, 2015

Roman in the Provinces: Art on the Periphery of Empire February 14–May 31, 2015

Wifredo Lam: Imagining New Worlds August 30–December 14, 2014

Paris Night & Day: Photography between the Wars February 15–June 8, 2014

Courbet: Mapping Realism; Paintings from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and American Collections September 1–December 8, 2013

Portugal, Jesuits, and Japan: Spiritual Beliefs and Earthly Goods February 16–June 2, 2013

Paul Klee: Philosophical Vision; From Nature to Art September 1–December 9, 2012

Rural Ireland: The Inside Story February 10–June 3, 2012

Making History: Antiquaries in Britain September 4–December 11, 2011

Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity February 5—June 5, 2011

Literary Lives: Portraits from the Crawford Art Gallery and Abbey Theatre, Ireland September 4—December 5, 2010

Asian Journeys: Collecting Art in Post–War America February 6–June 6, 2010

First Hand: Civil War Era Drawings from the Becker Collection September 5-December 13, 2009

The Book as Art: Artists’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts February 14–May 31, 2009

Mystic Masque: Semblance and Reality in Georges Rouault, 1871–1958 August 30–December 7, 2008

Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire February 17–June 8, 2008

Pollock Matters September 1–December 9, 2007

A New Key: Modern Belgian Art from the Simon Collection February 10–July 22, 2007

Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen September 1–December 31, 2006

SecularSacred: 11th to 16th Century Works from the Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Public Library February 19–June 4, 2006

The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons August 22–December 4, 2005

GONE: Site-Specific Works by Dorothy Cross April 14–July 12, 2005

TREE: A New Vision of the American Forest April 14–July 12, 2005

Accommodations of Desire: Surrealist Works on Paper Collected by Julien Levy January 15–March 24, 2005

Fernand Khnopff: Inner Visions and Landscapes September 19–December 5, 2004

Refigured June 14–August 29, 2004

Sarah Westlake: Drawings ↔ Sculpture June 14–August 29, 2004

Matta: Making the Invisible Visible February 1–May 18, 2004

Reflections in Black: African American Photographs from the Smithsonian Institution September 26–December 7, 2003

Abyssinia, 1867–1868: Artists on Campaign; Watercolors and Drawings from the British Expedition under Sir Robert Napier June 11–September 7, 2003

Common Ground: Photographers in the Street June 11–September 7, 2003

Ancient Microworlds June 11–September 7, 2003

Éire|Land February 2–May 19, 2003

Reclaiming a Lost Generation: German Self-Portraits from the Feldberg Collection October 6–December 8, 2002

Cowboys, Indians & the Big Picture October 6–December 8, 2002

In a Perfect World: Bermuda in the Context of American Landscape Painting May 16–September 15, 2002

André Masson Inside/Outside Surrealism: Works from the Gotlieb Collection January 28–April 28, 2002

Hope [Photographs] September 30–December 9, 2001

House: Charged Space June 11–September 16, 2001

Edvard Munch: Psyche, Symbol and Expression February 5–May 21, 2001

Forbidden Art: The Postwar Russian Avant-Garde October 15–December 10, 2000

Françoise Gilot, 1940–1950 June 14–September 24, 2000

Hand-Held Delight: The Eighteenth-Century Fan June 14–September 24, 2000

Fragmented Devotion: Medieval Objects from the Schnütgen Museum, Cologne February 6–May 22, 2000

Irish Art Now: From the Poetic to the Political October 1–December 12, 1999

Artists at Boston College: Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence in the Visual Arts June 16–September 12, 1999

Saints and Sinners: Caravaggio and the Baroque Image February 1–May 24, 1999

Imaging Meiji: Emperor and Era, 1868–1912; Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Collection of Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf October 4–December 6, 1998

Art and Literature: Three Exhibitions June 23–September 20, 1998

Visionary States: Surrealist Prints from the Gilbert Kaplan Collection January 18–May 17, 1998

Re/Dressing Cathleen: Contemporary Works from Irish Women Artists October 5–December 7, 1997

In Print: Contemporary Artists at the Vinalhaven Press June 18–September 14, 1997

Original Visions: Shifting the Paradigm, Women's Art 1970–1996 January 26–May 18, 1997

J. M. W. Turner and the Romantic Vision of the Holy Land and the Bible October 8–December 15, 1996

A Shadow Born of Earth: New Photography in Mexico June 5–September 15, 1996

America’s Eye: Irish Paintings from the Collection of Brian P. Burns January 26–May 19, 1996

Protection, Power and Display: Shields of Island Southeast Asia and Melanesia October 6–December 10, 1995

Memory and the Middle Ages February 17–May 23,1995