What: <\/strong>\u201cThe Statue of Liberty from Bartholdi to Warhol\u201d<\/p>\n Where: <\/strong>Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth<\/p>\n When: <\/strong>10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m, Thursday; Admission: <\/strong>Free<\/p>\n Visions for the exhibition came into focus after the Carter\u2019s 2024 acquisition<\/a> of a rare cast of the famous sculpture. The show was also planned to coincide with America\u2019s 250th birthday this past July.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eschelbacher jokingly described the museum\u2019s bronze sculpture as its own version of Helen of Troy \u2014 an artwork that launched a thousand loan letters.<\/p>\n Lady Liberty\u2019s torch lit through the decades<\/strong> The Statue of Liberty exhibition is split across four sections on the second floor of the Carter: \u201cCreating a Monument,\u201d \u201cA National Monument,\u201d \u201cReimagining an Icon\u201d and \u201cThe Statue of Liberty Today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The first gallery focuses on the statue\u2019s origins and initial public reception in the decades between the Civil War and World War I. Maquettes, sketches, paintings and historic photographs illustrate Bartholdi\u2019s early vision of the monument as a testament to the French-American relationship and the abolition of slavery. This section displays period newspapers and paintings from Lady Liberty\u2019s dedication on Oct. 28, 1886.<\/p>\n Materials in the next space explain how the statue became a dominant American icon between World War I and the 1950s. Lady Liberty\u2019s likeness began to appear in advertisements, lithographs and government posters amid global conflicts.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the \u201960s, artists created new ideas around what the monument represented \u2014 a point emphasized in the third gallery. Since the statue\u2019s creation, diverse American communities have either felt represented by or excluded from its symbology of freedom, Eschelbacher explained on the tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis tension that emerges about what it is that the Statue of Liberty means is inherent in the object and is inherent in part of the origin story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Abad\u2019s 1992 mixed-media painting \u201cL.A. Liberty\u201d reimagines the monument as a brown-skinned woman dressed in a colorful, textured robe to honor the artist\u2019s Filipino American heritage.\u00a0<\/p>\n The exhibition ends with a selection of works by living artists who continue to illustrate Lady Liberty\u2019s evolving meaning in the 21st century, including Diego Romero, Paola Pivi<\/a> and Hank Willis Thomas<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following its closure at the Carter, the Statue of Liberty exhibition will be on view at the Denver Art Museum from March 14 through July 4, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org<\/a>. The Report\u2019s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust.<\/p>\n
noon-5 p.m. Sunday\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The second section of the exhibition, \u201cA National Monument,\u201d features a wall of government posters and advertisements using the Statue of Liberty, from World War I through the 1950s. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Abad_L.A.Liberty-650x1024.jpg\")
Pacita Abad\u2019s \u201cL.A. Liberty\u201d is displayed in the final gallery of the Statue of Liberty exhibition. The painting is made from cotton yarn, acrylic, buttons, mirrors and painted cloth. (Courtesy | Amon Carter Museum of American Art)<\/p>\n