Exhibitions
The Gallery hosts exhibitions of scholarly importance drawn from its collections and those of other institutions and lenders. The exhibitions coordinate and complement the museum’s collections holdings.
Image: detail from Takahashi Shotei (aka Hioaki), Teahouse in Rainy Night at Kiridoshi, ​Woodblock print: ink and color on paper, c. 1930s, 2018.3.12, Purchase of The Trout Gallery at Dickinson College.
Recent Acquisitions: American Stories
Jun. 12 - Sep. 26, 2026
This exhibition celebrates recent acquisitions to The Trout Gallery’s permanent collection. The selected works on display are by American artists and focus on the diversity of American stories. Select artists include Alfred Jensen, Rudy Ayoroa, Guerrilla Girls, Roberto Lugo, Maria Martinez, Audrey Flack, Mel Edwards, and Cindy Sherman, among others.
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Image: Cindy Sherman, Untitled (detail), 2000/2025, C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital Paper Type DPII, 16 x 9.4 in. (40.64 × 23.81cm). Purchase of the Friends of The Trout Gallery.
BRANCH:
Trees in American Art
Jun. 12, 2026 – Jan. 26, 2027
This exhibition tells stories of America through a variety of artworks representing trees. From nineteenth century paintings that reveal how timber played a central role in the colonization and exploitation of the land, to works by Indigenous artists that emphasize reciprocal relationships with the natural world, the exhibition highlights how artists use trees to express national, cultural, spiritual, and personal identities in the United States.
BRANCH coincides with nation-wide commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and invites viewers to consider how trees can be seen as arboreal sentinels to American interests in expansion, occupation, conservation, and culture. Although unified by a single motif, the diversity of locations, species, and perspectives represented in the artworks mirrors a varied ecosystem and contributes to a more inclusive national narrative.
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For additional information about America250PA events and other historical locations and activities happening in Cumberland County throughout 2026: https://www.visitcumberlandvalley.com/explore/america-250/
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​Image: Kay WalkingStick (b. 1935), Spirit Center II (detail), 1992, oil stick on paper mounted on canvas, 30 x 60 in. Art Bridges.
Artifice:
Aura and Authenticity from Ancient Molds to Machine Learning
Oct. 9, 2026 - Apr. 3, 2027
Beginning in 3500 BCE with the invention of cylinder seals to create multiple images and extending to the use of apprentices in Renaissance art workshops and finally to technologies of mass-production and the ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence, artistic practices have consistently challenged the definition of art as something solely unique. This exhibition focuses on tech-driven, collaborative, and reproducible art-making practices. Artifice: Aura and Authenticity from Ancient Molds to Machine Learning connects cultural assumptions about labor, authenticity, and the “aura” of a work of art to current anxieties about generative AI and originality. By focusing on the evolution of the art “assistant” and examining different notions of authorship, the exhibition considers how we define, protect, and value human expression.
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​Image: Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), Ladies and Gentlemen, 1975, Screenprint on Arches paper, 43.75 x 29 in. (111.125 x 73.66 cm), The Trout Gallery, Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation, 2014.1.2
Native Customs and Habits:
Midcentury East Asian Paintings and Prints
Feb. 5 - Apr. 3, 2027
The postwar period between the 1940s and 1970s was a time of healing and renewal. In Chinese villages, colorful and charming depictions of rural life emerged, while in Japan, artists expressed a deep fascination with indigenous customs and ways of life outside the urban centers. Common themes such as the celebration of labor, tender depictions of children, and the joy found in both everyday life and festive occasions not only resonated with domestic audiences but also gained commercial success abroad. Genre paintings depicting local customs and habits have long existed in East Asia, but this midcentury search for artistic inspiration in village life took place amid unprecedented social changes in Japan and economic hardship in China. Featuring recent gifts from Dr. Kathy M. Linduff (Class of 1963) alongside new acquisitions, the exhibition brings together vibrant Chinese peasant paintings and Japanese creative prints that captured both the optimism and the uncertainties of the time.
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​Image:: Ling Guo, (Chinese, b. 1981), Shepherd, 21st c., Watercolor on paper, 18 x 27 in. (45.72 x 68.58 cm), The Trout Gallery, Purchase of the Friends of The Trout Gallery, 2025.28.26
2027 Senior Studio Art Exhibition*
Apr. 16 - May 17, 2027
Over a year-long seminar, senior studio art majors engage in sustained and critical studio inquiry that results in the creation of ambitious and cohesive bodies of artwork, a selection of which are included in the end-of-year thesis exhibition. Under the collective direction of Dickinson’s studio art faculty, the students develop individual projects made in a variety of media, but share a commitment to the investigation of conceptual, material, formal, historical, political, and aesthetic concepts in their scholarship.