Picturing the Modern Metropolis brings together more than 100 prints, photographs, and drawings from The Block’s collection The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University presents Picturing the Modern Metropolis: Prints and Photographs from The Block’s Collection, on view September 9 through December 6, 2026. Bringing together more than 100 works focused primarily on the […]
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Artist: Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy, born 1978)Title: Untitled Date: 2023Medium: Unique relief print and embossment with handwoven Wabanaki basket on handmade Dieu Donné paperCredit: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University. Purchased from Karma Gallery, 2026. 2026.8. Centered on a cream-colored sheet of handmade paper is the blue-gray impression of a woven rectangle. The […]
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In May 2026, The Block Museum hosted an online conversation about Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #215 (1973). Erica DiBenedetto, curator at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a scholar of LeWitt’s work, joined Block Academic Curator Corinne Granof to discuss the wall drawings as a practice: how they are made, why LeWitt […]
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This spring, Associate Professor Carolyn Tang Kmet brought her Medill Integrated Marketing Communications graduate students to The Block for an experiential learning module exploring how consumers engage with physical, digital, and spatial representations of the same object. The project, led by Kmet and developed in partnership with Sony XYN and Northwestern Emerging Technologies Lab, gave […]
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Spanning more than three decades, the gift brings works addressing displacement, human rights, and environmental justice to Northwestern’s art collection The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University has received a major gift of fourteen photographs by internationally acclaimed artist Fazal Sheikh, given by the artist in honor of Interim President and […]
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On April 2, 2026, The Block Museum of Art hosted an online collection talk exploring artworks from the museum’s collection in dialogue with the biography Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline. Led by Curatorial Associate Llewyn Blossfeld and facilitated by Engagement Coordinator and Educator Isabella Ko, the program considered how […]
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Artist: Soo ShinTitle: Pas de Deux 3.13.24-4 (Pacific Ocean)Date: 2024Medium: Ink, Pacific Ocean water, paperCredit Line: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Block Board of Advisors Endowment Fund purchase In 2024, Shin began work on Pas de Deux, a series of collaborative and experimental drawings. For these works, she constructed a floating wooden apparatus designed to fit […]
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What happens when we look at modernist art through the lens of horror? This fall, The Block Museum of Art invites visitors to explore that question in a collection-based exhibition created in collaboration with students in Northwestern’s Spring 2025 Art History seminar “Horror Modernism.” Taught by Art History professor Jessy Bell in partnership with The […]
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The Block Museum has recently received a significant bequest from the estate of Thomas J. Hamilton (1931–2022) (MBA ’79), a Washington, DC, theater artist, playwright, and director of the Source Theatre who was also a dedicated collector of modern and contemporary works on paper. Hamilton grew up in the Midwest and maintained connections to Chicago […]
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The Block Museum is pleased to announce that its Collection Council has selected and supported for acquisition works by Martin Wong and Sammy Baloji. The Collection Council convened virtually throughout the 2024–25 academic year, debating and narrowing down a shortlist of artists nominated by its members and The Block’s curatorial team. Focused on works reflecting […]
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