WILMINGTON, DE.- This fall, the Delaware Art Museum (DelArt) will present Imprinted: Illustrating Race, a powerful exhibition organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum, on view from October 18, 2025, through March 1, 2026. The exhibition completes DelArt’s Year of the Illustrator, which kicked off last fall with Jazz Age Illustration, and is presented as part of a special partnership between two museums dedicated to expanding access to important narratives in American illustration.

Cocurated by Robyn Phillips-Pendleton, a Delaware-based artist and Professor of Visual Communications at the University of Delaware, and Stephanie Haboush Plunkett from the Norman Rockwell Museum, Imprinted: Illustrating Race explores how the printed image has both challenged and reinforced cultural stereotypes in the United States from the Civil War era to the present day. With over 200 works by artists such as Romare Bearden, Emory Douglas, Howard Pyle, Kadir Nelson, and Loveis Wise, the exhibition provides a wide-ranging historical and cultural survey of illustration as a tool for activism, storytelling, and representation. Works by Norman Rockwell—including his iconic Civil Rights-era images—anchor the show and are presented in dialogue with historical and contemporary responses that deepen understanding of race, identity, and power in American visual culture.

Imprinted will travel to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, in 2026. Admission at DelArt will require a $7 special exhibition ticket in addition to general museum admission, with free admission to the exhibition available on Thursday evenings sponsored by the Gilliam Foundation. Museum Members receive free entry.

Extensive programming will accompany Imprinted, co-developed with local community advisors to ensure inclusive, relevant engagement. Highlights include DelArt’s third annual Hip Hop Cultural Summit on October 18, which will be headlined by Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, hands-on workshops, live musical performances, and gallery talks and tours. The full schedule will be announced in early fall.

Imprinted is part of a broader collaboration between the Delaware Art Museum and the Norman Rockwell Museum, which includes a reciprocal loan exchange. While Imprinted is on view in Wilmington, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, will present DelArt’s 2024 exhibition Jazz Age Illustration, which explores 1920s–30s illustration through the lens of fashion, music, advertising, and the Harlem Renaissance. This partnership furthers both institutions’ missions to preserve and elevate the history of American illustration through groundbreaking scholarship and public engagement.

Fall Photography Shows

In tandem with Imprinted, the Museum will also present two exhibitions that explore the natural world through photography:

Warm Room: Photographs from Historic Greenhouses by Peter A. Moriarty invites visitors into lush botanical environments through rich silver-gelatin prints of historical greenhouses and exotic plant life.

In Focus: Photographing Plants delves into botanical photography from DelArt’s permanent collection, featuring historical platinum prints by William Post alongside modern masterpieces by Imogen Cunningham and Paul Caponigro, and contemporary works by Alida Fish, Caleb Cain Marcus, and others.

"DelArt's fall exhibitions offer so many entry points into creativity—from illustration as activism to the quiet elegance of plant photography," said Heather Coyle-Campbell, Curator of American Art. “Together, these shows reflect the Museum’s commitment to showcasing diverse artistic voices across time and media.”