During American Art Week 2026!
Boundless Horizons
IAC’s 30th Annual American Art Conference
May 14 – 16, 2026
Heritage Auctions
445 Park Ave.
New York, NY
Boundless Horizons, IAC’s 30th annual American Art Conference (May 14 – May 16, 2026) takes place at Heritage Auctions in New York City. Since 1996, IAC’s annual Conference has been the premier gathering of collectors, curators, dealers, museum professionals, academics, artists and all others interested in American art. It has been at the forefront of critical inquiry in the field, pushing the boundaries of accepted thinking and spotlighting pioneering perspectives.
Celebrating three decades of inquiry and America’s semi-quincentennial, the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States, IAC revisits the notion of the “horizon” a concept that has been central to American cultural identity and to American art. Transcending limits and challenging artificial divides right up until today, this long tradition of pushing against boundaries reveals a powerful truth: that our art links us to our past, informs our present, and points us toward a future that is ours to define.
In compelling and wide-ranging talks and panel discussions, we’ll explore how American art continues to transcend conventions in form, subject matter, and media, and has gone beyond the traditional tropes of pilgrims, cowboys and pioneers, while pushing the limits of inspiration and approach. Finally, we’ll consider the frame and how it can both express an artist’s intentions and affect our experience of the work.
Conference attendees will attend a private preview and reception for the American Art sale at Heritage Auctions and received an invitation to the Gala Opening of the American Art Fair at the landmarked Bohemian National Hall.
Participants will also attend an exclusive viewing of “The Founders of American Abstract Artists, a 90th Anniversary Celebration” at D. Wigmore Fine Arts, featuring paintings, reliefs, sculptures, collages, and drawings from 1935 – 1945 by members of the group. Formed in 1936, the American Abstract Artists group saw its mission as creating exhibition opportunities for artists committed to abstraction at a
time when American Scenic and narrative imagery dominated American art.
The 2026 Conference (May 14 – 16) coincides with the American Art Fair (May 16 – 19), TEFAF New York (May 15 – 19) and Frieze Art Fair (May 13 – 17).
We gratefully acknowledge Leadership Funding for Boundless Horizons from O’Brien Art Foundation and Anchor Sponsorship from Heritage Auctions.
We are grateful as well for funding from CollisArt LLC; CW American Modernism; D. Wigmore Fine Art; James Dicke II; Kenneth R. Woodcock; Lincoln Glenn; the Steven Alan Bennett Foundation; and anonymous donors (as of April 30, 2026).
We are deeply grateful for the media sponsorship provided by The Magazine ANTIQUES, and American Fine Art Magazine.
Program agenda
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Formal sessions take place at Heritage Auctions, 445 Park Ave, New York, NY (between 56th and 57th Streets).
| 8:45 – 9:30 a.m. | Registration and continental breakfast | |
| 9:30 – 9:45 a.m. | Introduction Lisa Koenigsberg (President / Founder, Initiatives in Art and Culture) |
|
| 9:45 – 10:30 a.m. | The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and The Middleton Family Landmark Exhibition of American Art Celebrating the Nation’s 250th Anniversary Kathleen Foster (Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator and Director, Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art) |
|
| 10:35 – 11:25 a.m. | Reconstructing the Landscape of Mid-century Display: At Home with Louise and Walter Arensberg’s Collection in the Heart of Hollywood’s Burgeoning Artistic Scene Mark Nelson (book designer and author, with Sarah Hudson Bayliss, Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder [Hachette, 2006]) |
|
| 11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | Boundless Horizons at the Archives of American Art Anne Helmreich (Director, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution) |
|
| 12:15 – 1:30 p.m. | Luncheon (on your own) |
|
| 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. | New Horizons: The Western Landscape Tony Abeyta (contemporary Navajo Diné artist living between Berkeley, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico); Erika Doss (Distinguished Chair, Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas); Don Stinson (Austin-based artist known for panoramic oil paintings that explore the physical and cultural geographies of the West); moderator: Andrew J. Walker (former Executive Director, Amon Carter Museum of American Art) |
|
| 2:35 – 3:15 p.m. | “Specific Mysteries”: Race, Feminism, and Spirit in Beadwork Joyce Scott (artist, sculptor, quilter, performance artist, installation artist, printmaker in conversation with Lowery Stokes Sims (specialist in modern and contemporary art, craft, and design) |
|
| 3:15 – 3:30 p.m. | Break | |
| 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. | Only an Artist: Protestations About Craft From Robineau to Voulkos Garth Johnson (Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics, Everson Museum of Art) |
|
| 4:20 – 5:15 p.m. | New Perspectives on N C Wyeth and Narrative Art: From Illustration to Murals Amanda Burdan (Senior Curator, Brandywine Museum of Art); Kristin deGhetaldi (Delaware-based paintings conservator); Laura Polucha (fine art specialist and art historian, senior director, sales & curatorial, The Illustrated Gallery) |
|
| 5:15 – 6:30 p.m. | Private reception and preview of the American Art Sale, Heritage Auctions Remarks. Aviva Lehmann (Deputy Chairman, Fine Art, Heritage Auctions) |
Friday, May 15, 2026
Formal sessions take place at Heritage Auctions, 445 Park Ave, New York, NY (between 56th and 57th Streets).
| 8:45 – 9:15 a.m. | Registration and continental breakfast | |
| 9:15 – 9:30 a.m. | Introduction Lisa Koenigsberg |
|
| 9:30 – 10:25 a.m. | Fulfilling Purpose in the Face of Heightened Challenges: Funding, Oversight, and Infrastructure Randall Griffey (Director, American Art, The Luce Foundation); Asma Naeem (Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, Baltimore Museum of Art); Jami C. Powell (Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth); moderator: Robert Cozzolino (independent curator, art historian, and critic based in Minneapolis) |
|
| 10:25 – 10:45 a.m. | Break | |
| 10:45 – 11:35 a.m. | The Couple with the Pitchfork: Dissecting an Art Icon Wanda M. Corn (Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Art History Emerita, Stanford University whose numerous publications include The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915 – 1935) |
|
| 11:40 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | American Gothic: An Artist’s Purposeful Choice of Frame in Support of Artistic Vision Suzanne Smeaton (pioneer in the study and scholarship of America period frames, advisor to public and private clients, curator and co-curator of frame exhibitions at major museums) |
– |
| 12:15 – 1:30 p.m. | Luncheon (on your own) | |
| 1:30 – 2:15 p.m. | Jack Damer and Roger Anliker: Two 20th-Century “Insider, Outsiders” Larry List (independent curator and writer whose most recent publication is Permanent Attraction: Man Ray & Chess: Dada & Surrealist Chess Art) |
|
| 2:20 – 3:30 p.m. | New Deal Art: Expanding Horizons Erika Doss; Dan Shogren (long-time collector of WPA art with his wife Susan Meyer); Janneeken Smucker (Professor of History, West Chester University and author, New Deal for Quilts [2023]); moderator: John Murphy (Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar colleage; author, New Deal Art: Culture and Crisis in the Great Depression) |
|
| 3:35 – 3:55 p.m. | Break |
|
| 3:55 – 5:00 p.m. | New Deal Art: Culture in Peril Jennifer Gibson (former director, GSA’s Center for Fine Arts, Art in Architecture Program); Laura Katzman (Professor of Art History, James Madison University and the curator and author of Ben Shahn: On Nonconformity); David Olin (conservator); Michelle Arcari Rose (Executive Director, Washington Heritage Museums; board member, Living New Deal; Adjunct Professor, University of Mary Washington); moderator: John Murphy |
|
| 5:00 – 5:15 p.m. | Closing Remarks: What’s Over the Horizon? Lisa Koenigsberg |
|
| 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. | Conference participants will be guests of The American Art Fair’s Invitation-Only Gala Preview. Bohemian National Hall 321 East 73rd Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues) New York, NY |
Saturday, May 16, 2026 (10:00 – 11:30 a.m.)
Light refreshments and private viewing at D. Wigmore Fine Art (152 W 57th Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY).
