Sheldon Museum of Art will open four exhibitions on Aug. 15 celebrating painting — particularly abstract painting — across generations of American artists. Anchored by two major loan exhibitions spanning mid-century and contemporary practice, the fall season brings exceptional paintings to Nebraska that likely won’t be seen here again for years to come. The exhibitions will be on view through Jan. 3, 2027.
“It is a rare opportunity to witness major artworks from top-level public and private collections gathered together in one place,” said Magdalena Moskalewicz, Sheldon’s chief curator and associate director for curatorial affairs. “In the museum world, an exhibition like the one featuring Grace Hartigan is a once-in-a-generation event.”
‘Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention’
At the center of the fall lineup is “Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention,” the first exhibition to explore how New York poets such as Daisy Aldan, Barbara Guest, James Merrill, Frank O’Hara and James Schuyler shaped the career of American artist Hartigan (1922-2008), widely regarded as one of the most important visual artists of her generation. The exhibition arrives in Lincoln for its third and final stop.
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Drawn from major public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibition unites works created between 1952 and 1968, a period marking Hartigan’s deep engagement with these writers and her rapid ascent in the art world. Hartigan recalled that the rebellious spirit of the poets, many of whom were queer, fueled her own independent artistic vision — their bold lyricism and critical support deeply inspiring her and playing a crucial role in her success. Through themes of patronage, poetic inspiration and collaboration, “The Gift of Attention” reveals how these exchanges shaped Hartigan’s career as she moved between abstraction and figuration.
“The Gift of Attention” is organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, and curated by Jared Ledesma, curator of 20th century and contemporary art. The Sheldon presentation is organized by Christian Wurst, associate curator for exhibitions.
Ledesma will travel to Lincoln to deliver an opening day lecture on the exhibition from 2 to 3 p.m. Aug. 15, with a special welcome and poetry reading by JC Andrews. Ledesma has organized major exhibitions at the North Carolina Museum of Art; Akron Art Museum; Des Moines Art Center, including the landmark exhibition “Queer Abstraction”; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and will offer insight into Hartigan’s practice and creative exchange with the New York poets.
Andrews, a lesbian poet from Springfield, Arkansas, and a University of Nebraska–Lincoln doctoral candidate, brings a local and literary connection to the program. Her debut collection, “Of an Ilk,” won the 2026 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition and will be published by Yale University Press in 2027.
Exhibition support was provided by Melanie and Jon Gross and Rhonda Seacrest.
The exhibition is accompanied by an award-winning hardcover catalog, published by the North Carolina Museum of Art and available for sale at the museum store. Featuring 128 pages of full-color plates — including landmark works alongside rare archival materials — it offers a groundbreaking look at how queer literary figures and mid-century poets radically shaped Hartigan’s artistic vision.
‘Gender, Genre, Generation: Women Painting Abstraction’
Presented alongside Hartigan’s historical works, “Gender, Genre, Generation: Women Painting Abstraction” offers a living, contemporary response, featuring recent paintings by four artists working today: Candida Alvarez, Rochelle Feinstein, Carrie Moyer and Amy Sillman. Together with the Hartigan exhibition, “Gender, Genre, Generation” makes the case for painting — specifically abstract painting — as a vital form across generations of American artists, pairing mid-century masterworks with the practice of a still-active generation carrying that legacy forward.
Born between 1947 and 1960 and active since the 1980s, the four artists share not only a generation, but decades-long careers as art school professors, extending their influence beyond the gallery through teaching and mentorship.
Working with deep understanding of — though not necessarily full deference to — the established formats of 20th century modernism, these women construct visual languages for the contemporary moment, grounded in their lived experiences. The exhibition asks what abstraction — after decades of use as metaphor, as expression, as gesture — can still do today.
“Gender, Genre, Generation: Women Painting Abstraction” was organized by Moskalewicz.
Feinstein, professor emerita at Yale School of Art, will discuss her multi-decade practice and the works featured in the exhibition at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 12, exploring how abstract painting can respond to the cultural, political and media realities of contemporary life.
Exhibition support was provided by Jennifer and Brian Cintani and Donna Woods and Jon Hinrichs.
‘Remembering Modern Art: The Collection of the Museum of American Art, Berlin’
“Remembering Modern Art” presents, for the first time in the United States, the collection of the Museum of American Art, Berlin, an artist-run institution established in 2004 and dedicated to examining how the canon of modern art was constructed in America. Composed entirely of copies of canonical abstract expressionist paintings, the collection links celebrated works with the institutions, people and strategies that promoted them worldwide through the museum’s International Program beginning in 1952 — asserting American abstraction’s supremacy abroad during the Cold War.
The exhibition’s story runs parallel to Sheldon’s history as an institution whose collection was built largely on the Museum of American Art’s model in the mid-20th century. As in its original Berlin installation, the gallery is staged as a mid-century apartment and will be activated through regular guided tours every Friday at noon, every Saturday at 1 p.m. and First Fridays at 5:30 p.m. through the end of the year.
“Remembering Modern Art” is organized by Moskalewicz, in collaboration with the Museum of American Art, Berlin.
Moskalewicz will lead a special guided tour from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Aug. 15, offering insight into the collection and Sheldon’s place in the history of modern art.
Exhibition support was provided by Kristen and Geoff Cline and Roseann and Phil Perry.
‘New Horizons’
Rounding out the fall lineup, “New Horizons” presents photographs of the Great Plains that explore the horizon as a point of connection. Curated by University of Nebraska–Lincoln students in a landscape photography seminar taught by Dana Fritz, professor of art, and coordinated on behalf of Sheldon by Erin Hanas, curator for academic and campus engagement, “New Horizons” will be on view in the Charlotte and Charles Rain Gallery, a space dedicated to faculty- and student-curated exhibitions drawn from the Sheldon collection.
Additional support for the new exhibitions was provided by the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Sherwood Foundation, and Sheldon Art Association members.
