WICHITA, KS – Wichita Art Museum (Wichita, KS) 2024 begins with 200 years of American art from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and continues with new commissions by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz and a solo museum exhibition by Oklahoma-based artist Robert Peterson.

“The Wichita Art Museum is thrilled to bring such important exhibitions to our region,” said Anne Kraybill, Director/CEO. “The 2024 exhibition lineup expands the narratives and examples of what comprises American art.”

2024 Featured Exhibitions:

Making American Artists: Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1776–1976
January 28 – April 21, 2024

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 Winslow 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.
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Annie Leibovitz At Work
May 12 – September 1, 2024

Annie Leibovitz At Work features a new group of photographs highlighting current events and exceptional figures in today’s world. Anchored by these new works, the exhibition also features a complementary selection of Leibovitz’s photographs from the past decade. Displayed across both printed and digital mediums, the exhibition offers a dynamic peek into the artist’s contemporary practice and focus. Whether highlighting household names or local heroes, these works demonstrate Leibovitz’s discerning vision and desire to celebrate the extraordinary now. With more than five decades of experience photographing some of the most influential names in entertainment, politics, business, and athletics, Leibovitz has established herself as a keen watcher of society. In 1973, at the age of 23, Leibovitz became Rolling Stone magazine’s Chief Photographer. Through her long-standing work with Vanity Fair and Vogue, Leibovitz further honed her signature blend of grit and grace that has come to define much of her practice. In 1991 she became the first female artist to have a solo show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Annie Leibovitz at Work is organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.  
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Robert Peterson: Somewhere In America
September 29, 2024 – January 5, 2025

In his portraits, contemporary artist Robert Peterson renders African American life beautifully and joyfully, rejecting stereotypes to celebrate the “Black experience as [he] knows it.” The artist’s first major museum exhibition, Somewhere In America features key paintings from Peterson’s existing works, as well as over 30 new works, many painted on a monumental scale. Each painting—loving depictions of individuals, couples, and families in everyday moments—commemorates Peterson’s community in small-town Oklahoma, his wider circle of friends and family throughout the country, and the people he encounters that spark memories of those he has known, both past and present. Self-taught, Peterson picked up a paintbrush for the first time in 2012 to distract himself from an upcoming knee surgery. He had his first solo exhibition in New York City less than a year later. Today, his work sells out at art fairs and galleries and is collected by museums, with works at the Philbrook Museum of Art, Weisman Art Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg. Somewhere in America tells a deeply personal— yet widely recognizable—story of family, community, and legacy. Robert Peterson: Somewhere in America is organized by the Wichita Art Museum.

For more information:
Contact: Anne Kraybill | Director/CEO | kraybill@wam.org | 316-268-4921
Wichita Art Museum: 1400 West Museum Boulevard, Wichita, KS 67203 | 316-268-4921

Image credits, left to right:
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (The Landsdowne Portrait), 1796. Oil on canvas, 109 1/2 x 74 1/2 inches. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Bequest of William Bingham, 1811.2 

Robert Peterson, A Moment of Silence, 2023. Oil on canvas, 36 x 40 inches. Collection of Amy and John Phelan. Photography by Jim Brown 

Annie Leibovitz, Self Portrait, Brooklyn, New York, 2017. Archival pigment print. Photo courtesy of the artist. ©Annie Leibovitz