Atomic Alert! Confronting “The Bomb” in the New Atomic Age

March 20 – May 6, 2020

The Soviet Union’s detonation of its first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949, thrust the United States into a new and more precarious era. Just four years after celebrating victory in World War II as the only nation with an atomic bomb, Americans now found themselves confronting the probability of an atomic war.

Atomic Alert!: Confronting “The Bomb” in the New Atomic Age explores the government’s efforts to educate Americans about what to do before an atomic attack; how to react to a sudden, blinding flash; and what action to take in the aftermath of an atomic blast.

Featuring artifacts and interpretation from Michael Scheibach, Ph.D., independent scholar and author, Atomic Alert! offers a unique opportunity to revisit the early atomic age when the world was divided between two atomic-armed adversaries: the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Art of Lesia Sochor

March 19 – August 2, 2020

Lesia Sochor is an artist of Ukrainian descent. Her paintings are narratives prompted by personal experiences. Sochor graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art with a degree in Fine Arts.

Tradition & Opulence: Easter in Imperial Russia

April 7 – August 7, 2020

No country is better known for its Easter eggs than Russia. Each year, Russia’s greatest jewelers, artists, icon painters, and craft persons were called upon to create new egg designs in every medium for the most important of the Orthodox Christian feasts.

This exhibition, of almost 200 objects, will explore the symbolism of the egg and Easter in Imperial Russia through the art and objects made to celebrate the religious holiday and the important role that imagery played throughout the entire year. It will include works from the firm of Fabergé and its competitors as well as designs by prominent artists and icon painters.

Image: Purpurine egg from the McFerrin Collection

The Long Way Home: Photographs by Gordon Lankton

May 16 – June 14, 2020

On November 6, 1956, armed with a camera, maps, passports, C-Rations, a budget of $5.00 per day ($3 food, $1 sleeping, $1 for gas and everything else) and little else, 25-year-old Gordon Lankton left Frankfurt, Germany on an NSU motorcycle and began an adventure that would come to influence the path he would take for the next 50 years.

Over 40 stunning photographs, taken by Museum founder Gordon Lankton during this life-changing journey, along with artifacts from the trip, will be on display.

Playground of the Autocrats

July 10 – November 8, 2020

Artist Anne Bobroff-Hajal has drawn on animation techniques, icons, and formats such as graphic novels to tell stories of Russian geography and history from Ivan the Terrible to Stalin (and Putin). These polyptychs portray – whimsically – the fiery struggles of individual human beings within vast social systems, as shaped by the landscapes in which those humans live.