American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

June 13, 2026 – August 09, 2026

The Museum of Modern Art

The American folk art collected by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller—one of the three founders of MoMA, with Lillie P. Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan—was integral to the Museum’s early history, when folk art was positioned as an important antecedent to modernism. Works from Rockefeller’s collection were shown in the 1932 exhibition American Folk Art: The Art of the Common Man in America, 1750–1900, and several examples entered the Museum’s holdings in 1939 as a gift in celebration of MoMA’s 10th anniversary. Following the Museum’s 2024 presentation of Lillie P. Bliss: Birth of the Modern, this exhibition will showcase some 50 objects from Rockefeller’s collection (now held by the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, one of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg), including celebrated paintings such as Edward Hicks’s The Peaceable Kingdom (1832–34). A range of objects, both decorative and functional, made by craftspeople and other individuals who had not received formal artistic training will also be featured, from painted portraits and illustrated birth certificates to weathervanes, wooden toys, theorem paintings, and mourning pictures. These works will be presented in dialogue with selected paintings and sculptures in MoMA’s collection by modern artists who were inspired by or championed American folk art, including Elie Nadelman and Charles Sheeler, and by artists like John Kane and William Edmondson, who represent the ongoing relevance of self-taught artistic practices in the early 20th century. The exhibition will be accompanied by a 72-page, fully illustrated catalogue celebrating the collection.

American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller is curated by Starr Figura, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, and Lydia Mullin, Manager, Collection Galleries, Department of Curatorial Affairs, with Rachel Rosin, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints; and with the collaboration of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

The Museum of Modern Art gratefully acknowledges generous support for programming presented on the occasion of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller is made possible by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.

Arts Educator Memberships are made possible by Candace King Weir.

Wish Quilt: A Collective Activity is made possible by Paula Crown.

Generous support for these initiatives is provided by the Thomas H. Lee and Ann Tenenbaum Endowed Fund.

Press Kit

Images

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Wheat Stack. 1825-1850. Oil on glass, 11 13/16 x 9 1/2” (30 × 24.1 cm). The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of the Museum of Modern Art.

Edward Hicks. The Peaceable Kingdom. Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1832-34. Oil on canvas, 17 1/4 × 23 1/4″ (43.8 × 59.1 cm). The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of David Rockefeller.

Weathervane: Snake. Possibly Connecticut, c. 1850. Sheet iron, 8 3/4 × 29 3/4″ (22.2 × 75.6 cm). The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller.

Charles Sheeler. Bucks County Barn. 1932. Oil on board, 23 7/8 x 29 7/8″ (60.6 x 75.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Elie Nadelman. Woman at the Piano. c. 1917. Wood, stained and painted, 35 1/8 x 23 1/4 x 9″ (89.2 x 59.1 x 22.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Philip L. Goodwin Collection. © Estate of Elie Nadelman

Decoy: Crow. Probably Detroit, Michigan, 1900. Carved and monochromed Atlantic white cedar, 5 x 13 1/2 x 3 1/4″ (12.3 × 8.2 × 34.9 cm). The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of the Museum of Modern Art.

Two Children. c. 1810. Oil on white pine panel, 18 5/8 x 22” (47.3 x 55.9 cm). The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of the Museum of Modern Art.

Attributed to Abraham Huth. Birth Certificate for Nancy Loeffler. Probably Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, c. 1805. Watercolor and ink on wove paper, 12 1/4 x 15 3/16” (31.1 x 38.6 cm). The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of the Museum of Modern Art.

Joseph Pickett. Manchester Valley. 1914-18?. Oil with sand on canvas, 45 1/2 x 60 5/8″ (115.4 x 153.7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Installation view of American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, from June 13 through August 09, 2026. Photo by Jonathan Dorado © The Museum of Modern Art, New York