American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Nearly 50 works from Abby Aldrich Rockefeller's 19th-century folk art collection—painted portraits, weathervanes, wooden toys, and stenciled still lifes—return to MoMA for the first time in over 70 ye

Why go

Rockefeller's pioneering vision of folk art as integral to American modernism is revisited at a pivotal moment: these works, which shaped how artists and curators understood cultural production in the 1930s–40s, are shown again in dialogue with the living artists they once inspired.

What to expect

The exhibition presents nearly 50 objects—functional and visually expressive works by professional craftspeople, students, and self-taught makers from the Northeast—arranged on Floor 3 to trace connections between 19th-century folk traditions and 20th-century artistic practice.

Things to know

• Nearly 50 works returning to MoMA for the first time in over 70 years, originally transferred to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's folk art
• Organized by Starr Figura (Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints) and Lydia Mullin (Manager, Collection Galleries) with Rachel Rosin (C
• Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, MoMA cofounder, loaned and donated key pieces in the 1930s–40s that appeared alongside the Museum's growing modern
• Works include painted portraits, stenciled still lifes, weathervanes, and wooden toys produced across the nation's Northeast.
• Exhibition presented on the occasion of the United States' 250th anniversary.
• Made possible by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.