Arc of Promise

Dr. Kornhauser is one of the country’s leading specialists and curators of American art. She has been at The Metropolitan Museum since 2010 and completed work on the American Painting and Sculpture galleries which opened in January 2012. Most recently, she served as co-curator of two major exhibitions at The Met: Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo (2021), which traveled to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Thomas Cole’s Journey: Atlantic Crossings (2018), which traveled to the National Gallery, London. Dr. Kornhauser also co-curated: Rediscovering Thomas Hart Benton’s “America Today” Murals (2014); Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River (2015); and John Singer Sargent’s Portraits of Artists and Friends (2015). An expert in the field of American paintings, she has broadened the American Wing’s collection with major acquisitions, while also expanding historical narratives to highlight the works and contributions of women African Americans, and Indigenous peoples. In honor of her notable career at The Met, she will be recognized as Curator Emerita.

For generations, the American landscape has brought joy and inspiration to its human inhabitants. Today, amid uncertain environmental futures, how might visitors to The Met’s American Wing experience nineteenth-century landscape paintings? Caroline Gillaspie’s recent reinstallation of the American landscape galleries at The Met aims to foreground historic and present-day environmental concerns, Indigenous perspectives and ecological knowledge, and varying attitudes toward our responsibility to the land. The galleries include the loans of a Frederic Church homage to Thomas Cole (Above the Clouds at Sunrise) and a Kay WalkingStick painting (Thom, Where are the Pocumtucs (Oxbow)). Dr. Gillaspie will discuss her display and interpretive strategies for this refresh, and how the work is always ongoing. Caroline Gillaspie joined the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum in 2025 as a specialist in American painting and drawing. She received her BA from Mount Holyoke College and her PhD in Art History from the CUNY Graduate Center, focusing on Art of the United States and Latin America, particularly hemispheric landscape painting and environmental approaches to art history. Formerly an Assistant Curator at the Brooklyn Museum, she contributed to the transformative reinstallation of the American Galleries (Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art) and its accompanying publication.

Join Woodmere docent, Judy Smith-Kressley, and enjoy an engaging talk in Woodmere’s special exhibition, Arc of Promise, which celebrates America’s 250th anniversary. Learn about the surge of American landscape painting in the 19th century, led by artists Frederic Church and Thomas Cole.

Join Woodmere Art Museum for our 2026 Juneteenth Celebration, The Joy of Juneteenth, an afternoon of art, storytelling, music, and community honoring Black history, culture, and joy on Friday, June 19th, 2-4 pm. From 2–3 PM, families can enjoy drop-in artmaking and storytelling activities exploring themes of freedom, legacy, and self-expression. From 3–4 PM, the celebration continues outdoors, weather permitting, on the front porch and pavilion with performances by students from local schools, including the DC DIAMONDS Step Team, and storytelling, poetry, music, and dance with Mama Nzinga, affectionately known as “The Poet.”

Join historian Victoria Johnson to explore the life, art, and legacy of 19th-century American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church, widely regarded for creating some of the most breathtaking landscape paintings in American history. Drawing on her book Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Edwin Church Brought America to the World and the World to America, Johnson will examine how Church came to dominate nineteenth-century American painting with expansive, awe-inspiring scenes that honor the natural world. His life is intricately woven into the story of the United States, making him an especially fitting artist to celebrate in the nation’s 250th year—coinciding with the 200th anniversary of his birth. A book signing will follow the lecture.

Celebrate Indepndence Day with Wawa Welcome America, a festival of events and activations throughout the city. As part of Welcome America, guests will enjoy free admission days to museums throughout the city, including Woodmere! Learn more at https://july4thphilly.com/events/