The American Federation of Arts (AFA), the nonprofit that pioneered the concept of traveling exhibitions more than a century ago, has announced its new season of shows touring from fall 2025 through 2027. The program will reach museums in more than 11 cities across the United States, with additional venues to be confirmed. For the AFA, which has organized over 3,500 exhibitions since its founding in 1909, the announcement underscores its role as both a cultural convener and a catalyst for patronage in the arts.
“The AFA’s expansive panorama of new exhibitions demonstrates the importance of listening to the input of visual arts leaders nationwide, focusing on what audiences want to see, and continuing our legacy of shining a light on new artists and trends.”Pauline Forlenza, Director and CEO of the American Federation of Arts
Among the most anticipated exhibitions is Abstract Expressionists: The Women, which repositions female artists as central, not peripheral, to the first globally recognized American art movement. Featuring 47 works from The Levett Collection by more than 30 artists, the exhibition includes pieces by Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, and others who transformed mid-century abstraction.
“Too often, the canon of art history has relegated women artists to supporting roles in major art movements. This exhibition upends that narrative, asserting that women painters were critical contributors to the formulation of Abstract Expressionism from the very beginning.”Pauline Forlenza, Director and CEO of the American Federation of Arts
Organized with the Female Artists of the Mougins Museum in France and curated by Ellen G. Landau, PhD, this show serves as both a scholarly corrective and a celebration of artistic innovation.
Other highlights are equally ambitious in scope. Civic Virtue in Rembrandt’s Amsterdam brings together 17th-century group portraits that have rarely left the Dutch capital. These works, by artists including Ferdinand Bol, Bartholomeus van der Helst, and Rembrandt himself, illuminate the civic and mercantile foundations of Amsterdam’s Golden Age while acknowledging the trade wars and colonial exploitation that underpinned its prosperity.
At the other end of the timeline, Experimental Ground: Modernist Printmaking in Paris & New York at Atelier 17 revisits the revolutionary printmaking workshop that shaped the careers of Joan Miró, Louise Bourgeois, Jackson Pollock, and countless others. This is the first large-scale survey of Atelier 17 prints to tour the U.S. in 50 years.
Photography also takes center stage with Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder, featuring works by Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Nan Goldin, Gordon Parks, and Edward Weston, among others. Spanning portraiture, reportage, and landscapes, the exhibition probes how images hold the fullness of human experience.
Alex Katz: Theater and Dance presents the artist’s collaborations with choreographers and avant-garde theater ensembles across six decades, demonstrating the interplay between painting and stage design. Meanwhile, Making American Artists: Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1776–1976 reframes U.S. art history through women artists, LGBTQ+ creators, and artists of color, alongside iconic figures such as Mary Cassatt and Georgia O’Keeffe.
The season also includes Willie Birch: Stories to Tell, the artist’s first career retrospective, and Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection, which traces the intergenerational dialogues of women artists from the postwar era to the present.
For the Smithsonian, the AFA remains “a vital part of American art history,” recognized for breaking barriers of distance and language to expand appreciation of the visual arts. The organization’s new slate continues that founding principle while reflecting today’s demand for inclusivity and global context.
“Equally talented and visionary, the female artists featured in this show helped put American art on the map.”Pauline Forlenza, Director and CEO of the American Federation of Arts
By bringing rarely seen works to audiences nationwide, the AFA is not only broadening cultural access but also shaping collecting trends, just as it has for more than a century. From Rembrandt to Katz, Birch to Krasner, the 2025–2027 season stands as both a history lesson and an invitation to reconsider the narratives that define art.
Links to all of the AFA’s 2025 through 2027 exhibition tours may be viewed at: current shows and upcoming tours.
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