NYC art exhibitions we’re most excited about in fall 2024

Now-December 15 | Pioneer Works

Le’Andra LeSeur's Monument Eternal dissects the way that monuments erected to commemorate racist legacies have altered the mental psyche of Black communities. She explores how these legacies manifest in the physical body, especially when presented with, and situated in, the sonic rhythms that reverberate across these sites of violence.

She specifically features Stone Mountain, a public park in Georgia known for its three-acre-wide carving of Confederate leaders. This is her first institutional solo presentation in New York. 

Now-February 2 | New-York Historical Society

When Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker was first published 50 years ago, the book's release was met with great anticipation. Excerpts in The New Yorker gained lots of attention—including from the biography's subject, NYC government official Robert Moses, who described the deeply researched book as "venomous." Even so, it was impossible to predict whether a 700,000-word biography would resonate with readers. 

The book quickly earned acclaim, winning the Pulitzer Prize and finding a home on bookshelves across America, especially among New Yorkers. Now, five decades later, the monumental work still resonates for its look at NYC’s past and the lessons it holds for our future. The book and its tenacious author are the subject of a new exhibit "Robert Caro’s The Power Broker at 50." See it at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library on the Upper West Side.

September 25-January 6 | International Center of Photography

We Are Here: Scenes from the Streets spotlights contemporary street pictures from over 30 international iconic street photographers, including Devin Allen, Shoichi Aoki, Farnaz Damnabi, Debrani Das, Romuald Hazoumè, Youcef Krache, Josué Rivas, Randa Shaath, Jamel Shabazz, Trevor Stuurman, Alexey Titarenko, and Nontsikelelo Veleko. The exhibit is an in-depth exploration of contemporary life in diverse public and community spaces, with some photos dating back to the 1970s.

“We Are Here invites viewers to confront the richness and complexities of our modern, multifaceted life, emphasizing our shared humanity beyond geographic and cultural divides,” said curator Isolde Brielmaier. “Today’s world moves fleetingly, but these images prove that though circumstances might change, humanity is not going anywhere; the stories of our lives will remain.”

September 25-December 28 | Grolier Club

It's a different world for politicans trying to make a name for themselves nowadays. TikToks, Instagram posts and televised debates are the method du jour. But back in the 1800s, books made Abraham Lincoln.

He became a lawyer through self-disciplined study, won the White House through the concurrent rise of American popular publishing, and remains one of the most written about figures over the 160 years since his death. "Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print" uses original printings of books and ephemera to create a sweeping, conceptual portrait of the man.

The exhibition features important editions of Lincoln’s greatest accomplishments, including the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, the Cooper Union Speech, his debates with Stephen A. Douglass, and many others. More than 150 objects describe the life of Lincoln as he was born in the American West, captivated by literature, shaped by the portentous 1850s, tested by the American Civil War, responsible for the end of slavery, and murdered and mourned at the age of 56.

September 25-February 9 | The Whitney

Edges of Ailey is the first large-scale museum exhibition to reflect on the life, work and legacy of the visionary artist Alvin Ailey. Ailey founded his eponymous dance company in 1958, creating a platform for modern dance through his innovative repertoire and the unflinching support of other dancers and choreographers. His creative pursuits even extended far beyond dance.

This multimedia cross-disciplinary exhibition—presented in the museum’s 18,000+ square-foot fifth-floor galleries—brings together painting, sculpture, photography, drawings, print, and video made before, during, and after the artist's lifetime (1931-1989). 

September 26-February 23 | Poster House

Just Do It. Er, Just Frame It. That's the motto of this exhibition at Poster House, a museum in Chelsea that's dedicated to posters. 

"Just Frame It: How Nike Turned Sports Stars into Superheroes" explores how one company paved the way for modern sports advertising. During the 20th century, it became a rite of passage for a professional athlete to cement their icon status by having their persona memorialized on a Nike poster. Today, in an age where athletes’ images are much more accessible and "just like us," these 60 posters may seem quaint—but they’re also larger-than-life and undeniably entertaining, just like the stars they depict.

September 27-June 22 | New-York Historical Society

Fancy gowns and celebrity outfits are no strangers to museum collections. But the everyday clothing found in closets across America typically gets overlooked by fashion exhibits.

A new show coming to the New-York Historical Society, titled "Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore,” changes that. The newly announced exhibit will feature everyday women’s clothing from the past two centuries, including a well-worn Depression-era house dress, a college girl’s psychedelic micro mini, and an Abercrombie & Fitch wool suit bought off-the-rack in NYC in 1917 that was remade into a Relief uniform worn behind enemy lines in France.

October-April 2026 | High Line

Most New Yorkers encounter pigeons every day and don't pay much attention to these ubiquitous birds often maligned as "flying rats." But this new pigeon—a 16-foot tall aluminum version—will be impossible to ignore. 

Called “Dinosaur,” this colossal pigeon will find its perch on the High Line this October where it will lord over the intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street in Chelsea not far from Hudson Yards. This artwork by Iván Argote isn't just a hyper-realistic rendering of the bird; instead it will challenge traditions of who and what we monumentalize, as well as explore ideas around migration and the long view of history. The pigeon statue was one of the most polarizing proposals when High Line Art shared artwork suggestions a few years ago, so it's sure to ruffle some feathers.

September 30-March 16 | The Met

This will be the first major exhibition to examine the career of the influential 20th-century architect. A proponent of concrete and Brutalist methodology, he designed Halston’s spectacular town house and Yale’s iconic Art and Architecture Building. The Met calls him "one of the most significant, yet underrecognized architects of the 20th century."

October 4-October 5 | The Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is gearing up to celebrate its 200th anniversary, and it’ll come in hot with a year-long lineup of special events, exhibits and programming starting in October. 

The celebrations will kick off on Friday, October 4, with an exhibition highlighting the contributions of Brooklyn artists throughout the years and on Saturday, October 5, it’s hosting a special edition of First Saturdays, their popular monthly event series.

The 200th anniversary celebration will continue in the months to come. Check out the museum’s website for more information and updates on programming.

October 13-January 26 | The Met

The first major exhibition in the United States focusing on early Sienese painting, this show will examine a period of phenomenal artistic innovation and activity at the dawn of the Italian Renaissance including seminal paintings by Duccio, Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and Simone Martini. 

October 25-May 4 | The Morgan

Explore the legacy of Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950). The Morgan’s first director, she is one of the most prominent librarians in American history. American financier J. Pierpont Morgan hired her as his personal librarian in 1905.

After Morgan’s death in 1913, Greene continued as the librarian of his son and heir, J. P. Morgan Jr., who transformed his father’s library into the public institution we know today.

October 25-April 27 | New-York Historical Society

New York City residents have always cherished their pets, and the New-York Historical Society is here to document that. In the new special exhibition titled Pets and the City, they’ll feature an array of artwork—primarily obtained from the New-York Historical’s Museum and Library collections—that document the multidimensional roles animals have played to serve and coexist alongside human beings. 

Through photographs, memorabilia, film and television clips, the exhibition explores how the relationship between humans and their pets has transformed alongside the ever-changing New York City landscape. 

November 22-April 13 | The Morgan

See the original manuscript of Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis, along with manuscripts of his novels Amerika and The Castle. They'll be presented alongside correspondence, diaries and photographs related to Kafka.