NEWLY OPENED EXHIBITION
Zhang Huan 張洹, Foam, 1998. Princeton University Art Museum. Gift of Larry Warsh / Art Issue Editions. © Zhang Huan 張洹
What Photographs Look Like
June 13, 2026 – December 5, 2026
Photographs today are often thought of as images, not objects—representations that circulate widely and effortlessly, appearing on our devices without clear origins or destinations. For much of the history of photography, however, photographs were physical objects meant to be held, treasured, traded, or displayed in albums.
The phrase “What Photographs Look Like” is borrowed from Peter Bunnell, who was hired by Princeton in 1972 as the first endowed professor of the history of photography in the United States, and who later served twice as director of the Museum. Bunnell used the phrase to upend his students’ expectations of photographs as strictly two-dimensional prints and to invite delight in the expansive nature of the medium, from photographic drawings to malleable photo-sculptures.
Photography continues to adapt and evolve today. The collections-based exhibition “What Photographs Look Like” underscores the medium’s enduring ability to surprise.
To learn more, click here.
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
Installation view, Huo Pavillion. Photo: Richard Barnes
Journeys Real and Imagined in East Asian Art
Ongoing
Huo Pavilion of Asian Art
South Asian Art
Ongoing
South Asian Art Gallery
Trade and the Arts of Islam
Ongoing
Art of the Islamic World Gallery
TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
Warrior Aesthetics in East Asian Art
March 15 – July 26, 2026
Allen Adler & Frances Beatty Adler Gallery
Willem de Kooning: The Breakthrough Years, 1945–50
Opening June 2026
Huo Pavilion of Asian Art
Takeda Hideo’s Genpei: Defying Authority
August 30, 2026–January 3, 2027
Allen Adler & Frances Beatty Adler Gallery
PAST EXHIBITION
Toshiko Takaezu, Sunrise Egg, ca. 2003–4, refired 2006. Princeton University Art Museum. Gift of the artist. © Toshiko Takaezu. Photo: Bruce M. White
Toshiko Takaezu: Dialogues in Clay
October 31, 2025 – July 5, 2026
Related Program: Art for Families: Friday, May 22 from 10am-1pm
David Nasher Haemisegger Gallery
Toshiko Takaezu: Dialogues in Clay presents the work of the groundbreaking ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011), who taught at Princeton University for almost three decades.
Drawing from the Museum’s deep holdings of Takaezu’s ceramics, Dialogues in Clay explores the artist’s experimental practice, including her signature “closed” forms and painterly glazing. Placing Takaezu’s sculptures in conversation with the work of her teachers and contemporaries who embarked on parallel pathways of innovation—including Helen Frankenthaler, Maija Grotell, Robert Motherwell, Isamu Noguchi, Lenore Tawney, and Peter Voulkos,— alongside reflections by her students, the exhibition positions Takaezu as one of the most important ceramic artists of the twentieth century.
Toshiko Takaezu was an instructor at Princeton University for many years. She had a deep respect for the wonders of the natural world and often found inspiration in nature. For our related program, Reunions edition of Art for Families on May 22, we invite makers to explore Takaezu’s work and sculpt their own clay vessels inspired by nature. All ages are welcome; no tickets or reservations required. Tigers, please plan to supervise your cubs.
To learn more, click here.
