Press Releases
America 250: Arthur Ross Gallery fall exhibition considers the role of visual culture and perceptions of Philadelphia during the Revolutionary era
July 27, 2026
At Liberty: Life in the City of Brotherly Love During the Early Republic will be on view Aug.
28 through Dec. 13.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — July 27, 2026 — The Arthur Ross Gallery’s fall exhibition, At Liberty:
Life in the City of Brotherly Love During the Early Republic, asks visitors to consider the role of
visual culture in creating collective conceptions of Philadelphia and its residents, including
America’s first international celebrity Benjamin Franklin, in the decades just before and after the
nation’s founding.
On view Aug. 28 through Dec. 13, the exhibition is curated by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw,
Inaugural Faculty Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, and the James and Nan Farquhar
Professor of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania.
The celebratory reception will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in the Gallery.
Numerous exhibition-related events are planned, including lectures, conversations, and tours.
The objects in the exhibition are on loan from several cultural institutions, including the
University’s Penn Art Collection and Pennsylvania Hospital, as well as the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts, the Winterthur Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 41
works on view — including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture — portray notable figures
alongside depictions of daily life in Philadelphia.
In addition to historical pictures and objects from the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition will
include images of the era made to celebrate important national anniversaries, such as the marking
of America’s 150th in 1926, through to the present moment, inviting exploration of Philadelphia,
the birthplace of the nation and its first capital.
“Rather than viewing these works simply as windows onto the past, we invite visitors to consider
them as products of artistic and curatorial choice, and to think about who is visible, who is
absent, and how objects circulate across trade, empire, and institutions. Consider what their
makers felt ‘at liberty’ to show, emphasize, or omit,” Shaw says.
“I want viewers to ask themselves, how might our understanding of early Philadelphia change if
it were shaped by a different selection from the larger artistic record?” she says. “And because I
am also interested in the impact of AI on how we see the past, I would like people to consider
how contemporary visual images made with digital assistance change our understanding of that
past?”
The artworks include a recently restored portrait of British abolitionist Samuel Romilly by artist
Gilbert Stuart that hung for many years in Penn’s Houston Hall. Two rarely seen works by the
American-born, English-trained painter Benjamin West, given to Pennsylvania Hospital in the
18th century, also have received special conservation work to prepare them for exhibition. A suite
of drawings by the German-born painter John Lewis Krimmel depicting typical street scenes
from around 1813 complements selected plates from William Birch’s “Views of Philadelphia”
published a decade earlier.
Other highlights include several portraits of Penn’s founder Benjamin Franklin, painted by artists
who were active in the era of the Revolution, including Charles Willson Peale. The exhibition
includes works by three members of Philadelphia’s famous Peale family of artists. Student-
created videos from Drexel University’s Digital Peale Project present a fresh, contemporary take
on the historical material, aided by digital visualization tools and artificial intelligence.
“For the past decade, I have been working with colleagues across Philadelphia who are interested
in reimagining the City’s past” Shaw says. “This exhibition brings that work together,
showcasing work by colleagues at Temple and Drexel universities, as well as our resources at
Penn. I hope At Liberty will inspire our students to dive deeper into historical resources as well
as gain a better understanding of how contemporary technology can be a partner in researching
the past.”
Image caption: Attributed to John Lewis Krimmel (1786–1821), Nightlife in Philadelphia—an
Oyster Barrow in front of the Chestnut Street Theater (1811–ca. 1813). Watercolor and Graphite
on white laid paper. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Additional artwork images upon request.
Events
All events are free and open to the public.
Opening Reception: Wednesday, Sept. 9, 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the Gallery. Remarks by exhibition curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw and Emma Hart, Professor of History and the Richard S. Dunn Director, The McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Also featuring themed refreshments inspired by the Revolutionary era, and a live performance by the Penn Shabbatones student a capella group. Register here.
Tours with Penn student Gallery Guides: Penn students will be available in the Gallery for tours on most Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00-3:00 p.m., and Wednesdays from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Penn Lifelong Learning Lecture: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 12:00-1:00 p.m. online. Join exhibition curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw and Lynn Smith Dolby, Director of the Penn Art Collection, for a virtual exhibition tour, followed by a Q&A.Register here.
Artist lecture: Thursday, Oct. 22, 5:00 p.m. in the Gallery. Conceptual artist Eileen Neff will preview a photographic installation, Through That Which Is Seen, in a lecture. This project explores the history of dioramas from Peale’s Museum to the current renovations being undertaken at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
Curators’ Conversation and Homecoming Weekend in-person tour: Saturday, Nov. 14, 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the Gallery. Join curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw for a conversation about exhibiting early American art and history during “America 250,” with Penn School of Arts & Sciences alumnae Sylvia Yount, G’90 and GR’95, the Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Jill Vaum Rothschild, G’14, GR’21, Associate Curator of Fine and Decorative Art at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. The panel will be followed by a tour of the exhibition as part of Penn’s Homecoming Weekend activities. Register here.
At Liberty: Life in the City of Brotherly Love During the Early Republic is curated by Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Inaugural Faculty Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, and the James and Nan Farquhar Professor of the History of Art. The exhibition is supported by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
ABOUT THE ARTHUR ROSS GALLERY
The Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania is a catalyst for creativity with a mission to engage, educate, and inspire. Founded in 1983, the Gallery is a resource for the University across schools and departments, as well as the local Philadelphia community, and scholars worldwide. We are a learning lab where people engage with important, and often rarely seen, art and artifacts from a diverse range of time periods, media, and cultures. Located in the Fisher Fine Arts Library building at the heart of Penn’s campus, the Gallery is open to the public, and admission is free.
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