Past Exhibitions

Part I: September 20 - December 15, 2024 | Part II: December 20, 2024 - April 6 2025

Beyond the Surface: The Art of Handmade Paper

More than just a surface on which to paint, draw, or sketch, paper can be a dynamic art form that encourages collaboration and welcomes spontaneity. 'Beyond the Surface: The Art of Handmade Paper' explores the shape-shifting quality of paper—how it can transform from pulpy fiber into vibrant works of art through hand papermaking.

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Beth Campbell, 'Endless Outcomes', 2017. Abaca, pigmented linen and cotton on handmade paper, 18 x 14 3/4 in. (45.7 x 37.5 cm). Gift of Dieu Donné, New York in honor of Nancy and Edwin Barnett.

September 2024 - January 2025

Andrea Morales: Roll Down Like Water

'Roll Down Like Water' features sixty-five photographs spanning a decade of work by the Memphis-based, Peruvian-American photographer Andrea Morales. Through her captivating images of the South in moments of turbulence, stillness, darkness, and beauty, Morales charts new paths in sustainable journalism, while reflecting upon identity, community, and the power of storytelling.

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Andrea Morales, Kaylin McCain and Jakayla Davis wait for their grandmother to sign up for the Affordable Care Act at Impact Baptist Church in Frayser, a Memphis, Tennessee, neighborhood, in February 2015.

Part I: November 17, 2023 – December 1, 2024

Thomas Jackson: Chaotic Equilibrium

Pennsylvania-based artist Thomas Jackson (b. 1971; Philadelphia) harnesses the wind and lightweight fabrics to create ethereal works of art that blur the boundaries between landscape photography, sculpture, and kinetic art.

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Thomas Jackson, 'Chaotic Equilibrium'. Photo Credit: Lucy Garrett.

Ongoing

In the Moment: Art from the 1950s to Now

Contemporary art can capture the political and cultural essence of our time while contemplating and transcending our everyday realities. As time passes, this art connects us with the defining spirit of an era, becoming a visual record of a moment.

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Rashid Johnson, 'Seascape "Milestones"', 2022 Oil on linen; 95 × 122 in. From the collection of Pitt and Barbara Hyde

Ongoing

Memphis on the Mississippi (Ode to Tom Lee)

To further build Memphis' Art Collection, the Brooks has commissioned the Memphis-based artist Carl E. Moore to create a work inspired by our soon-to-be new location Downtown on the banks of the Mississippi River.

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Carl E. Moore, 'Memphis on the Mississippi (Ode to Tom Lee)', 2022. Acrylic on canvas.

Ongoing

Art of the African Diaspora

As conversations around the African Diaspora shift and evolve, so too will this display, aided by the museum actively acquiring works that reflect these varied, global experiences.

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Ongoing

Power and Absence

This reimagining of the Schilling Gallery explores the representation of women in Europe from around 1500 to 1680, known as the Renaissance and Early Baroque period. Most of the works in this room have been made by men.

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Sofonisba Anguissola, 'Self-Portrait', 1560, oil on wood panel, Memphis Park Commission Purchase, 43.11

No exhibitions were found

October 14, 2017 - January 7, 2018

Coming to America: Lachaise, Laurent, Nadelman, and Zorach

The sculptures of Gaston Lachaise, Robert Laurent, Elie Nadelman and William Zorach embody the vitality and vision of four modern artists who—arriving as immigrants in the United States from the growing turbulence of pre-war Europe—responded to the challenges and excitement of American life with extraordinary creativity.

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Gaston Lachaise, United States, born France, 1882-1935, Standing Woman, 1912-1927, Bronze, 72 x 28 x 17 (including bronze base), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of R. Sturgis and Marion B.F. Ingersoll, 1962, 1962-182-1, © Gaston Lachaise Foundation Image Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

June 3 - August 27, 2017

100 Gifts for 100 Years

To mark the Brooks’ 100th anniversary, our dedicated, generous patrons and support groups have gifted the museum more than 100 spectacular works of art. Ranging from ancient coins to contemporary glass, from paintings to quilts, the exhibition will display all of these gifts in glorious profusion.

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Lino Tagliapetra, Mandara, 2005, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

May 8 - 24, 2017

Brooks Outside: Tape Art

The Rhode Island artist collective Tape Art, known for creating over 500 temporary murals installed around the world, ends our centennial celebration with a massive installation on the Brooks’ façade.

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A massive 20-day mural made for the Brooks Art Museum, Memphis, TN.

April 22 - July 30, 2017

A Feast for the Eyes: 200 Years of American Still-Life Painting

Featuring rarely seen works by major American artists—including James Peale, John F. Peto, Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O’Keeffe and Andrew Wyeth—this exhibition celebrates the history of still-life painting in the United States.

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Raphaelle Peale, Orange and Book, c. 1817, Oil on canvas, the Frank and Michelle Hevrdejs Collection. Thomas R. Dubrock, photographer.

January 28 - February 26, 2017

2017-mid-south-scholastic-art-awards

The Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards is an annual juried student exhibition presented by the Brooks and Brooks Museum League. As an affiliate of the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, the Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards honors exemplary art by students in seventh through 12th grades.

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Tram Le, Under Pressure, White Station High School

October 15, 2016 - January 8, 2017

Red Grooms: Traveling Correspondent

Grooms’s treatment of New York City and Tennessee provides the focus for Red Grooms: Traveling Correspondent. The distinct bodies of work reflect time spent in these radically different environments, specifically those that most define him as a person and an artist.

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Red Grooms, Rockefeller Center, 1995, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York

June 18 - September 4, 2016

Veda Reed: Day into Night

This influential Memphis artist was represented by 28 paintings spanning 1956 to 2016. The emphasis was on her recent luminous paintings of night skies populated with moons, clouds, and shimmering light. These poetic images represent what the artist herself feels are the zenith of her career.

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Vera Reed

May 26, 2016 – September 4, 2016

Hassan Hajjaj: My Rock Stars

This exhibition showcases Moroccan-born, UK-based art Hassan Hajjaj and the eclectic group of nine musicians from around the world whom the artist sees as his own personal “rock stars.”

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Hassan Hajjaj, Mr. Toliver, 2010, Collection of the Newark Museum

November 22, 2024 - January 2025

Starry, Starry, Winter Garden

For the museum’s inaugural Winter Art Garden, Memphis-based artist Greely Myatt uses found objects including metal scraps, neon, and discarded signage to create Starry, Starry – an illuminated starscape on the museum’s plaza. Teasing the boundaries of sculpture through the use of flat forms, Myatt ponders and plays with line and light.

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Big Star, 2023. Photography by Selavie Photography

Part II: December 4, 2024 – April 28, 2025

Thomas Jackson: Chaotic Equilibrium

Pennsylvania-based artist Thomas Jackson (b. 1971, Philadelphia) harnesses the windto create ethereal works that blur the boundaries between landscape photography,sculpture, and kinetic art.

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Thomas Jackson, Tulle no. 045, Nantucket, Massachusetts, 2022

March 19, 2025 - September 7, 2025

Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides

In her first solo museum presentation, Calida Rawles envisions water as a space for Black healing. Merging hyperrealism, poetic abstraction, and water's cultural and historical symbolisms, Rawles creates unique portraits of Black bodies submerged in and interacting with bright and mysterious bodies of water.

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Calida Rawles, 'Towner for Life', 2024 acrylic on canvas 72 x 102 inches 182.9 x 259.1 cm © Calida Rawles Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London. Photo by Marten Elder

May 22, 2025

Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet

'with abundance we meet' is an installation made of ‘fruit’ ('phala' in Hindi) sculptures by the artist Suchitra Mattai that are ripe with possibilities, conjuring wombs and fertility spirits.

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Suchitra Mattai, 'phala' (fruit), 2023. 15 components comprised of vintage saris, rope, and chain, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California; Photo: Robert Wedemeyer.

March - December 2026

Remembering the Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020

For eighty-four years, the Memphis College of Art offered a rigorous arts education to students from across the country and around the world. Through this exhibition of ninety faculty, administrators, and graduates, 'Remembering the Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020' reflects on the school’s historical impact and celebrates its continued legacy regionally and beyond.

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