Howard Gardiner Cushing: Rediscoveries
July 11, 2026 – December 31, 2027
Cushing Gallery
In 2025, the Newport Art Museum presented Howard Gardiner Cushing: A Harmony of Line and Color, a landmark exhibition curated by Ricardo Mercado that brought renewed attention to one of Newport’s most significant artists. Drawing upon extensive research and loans from private collections, the exhibition revealed previously undocumented works and expanded our understanding of Howard Gardiner Cushing’s remarkable career.
Howard Gardiner Cushing: Rediscoveries broadens that effort. Bringing together paintings from private and institutional collections, including works that have rarely—or in some cases never—been exhibited publicly, the exhibition invites visitors to reconsider Cushing through new discoveries and recent scholarship.
Trained at the Académie Julian in Paris, Cushing (1869–1916) combined the technical rigor of academic painting with a deep interest in beauty, design, and atmosphere—qualities that shaped much of American and European art at the turn of the twentieth century. His work ranges from elegant portraits and atmospheric genre scenes to decorative compositions, mural projects, and imaginative tableaux. Influenced by James McNeill Whistler and the Aesthetic Movement, Cushing believed that art could be valued for its beauty and visual impact rather than for conveying a particular message or narrative. For many artists of his generation, this represented a distinctly modern way of thinking about art.
Today, the Newport Art Museum holds the largest public collection of Cushing’s work. More than a century after his death, these newly reunited paintings offer fresh insight into the breadth of his achievements and affirm his place within the broader history of American art.
The Newport Art Museum extends its sincere gratitude to Minnie Cushing Colman, Alexandra Howard, and Ricardo Mercado for their invaluable scholarship and contributions to this exhibition. We are also deeply grateful to our lending institutions: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Newport Historical Society, the Preservation Society of Newport County, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as to private lenders Caterine Milinaire Cushing, Kitty Cushing, Duncan Kennedy, Phillip Kennedy and Mary and Guy Van Pelt for their generosity and support. This exhibition has been made possible in part through the generosity of the supporters of the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Exhibition Fund.