Betye Saar
By Ben Davis
They include Betye Saar, Jeffrey Gibson, and—just in time for America 250—Jasper Johns.
We are midway through the year, and I have just finished my quarterly “Museum Artist” list. Below is my ranking of which living artists have been getting the most attention in U.S. museum shows in June 2026.
This time out, I looked at about 350 museums, and found about 3,500 artists on view. Of those, just 720 appeared in more than one museum show during the month.
My rankings of the artists are based on a mix of breadth (presence in a great number of group shows) and depth (solo shows or special museum spotlights). To avoid clutter, I’ve moved my “Methodology” section, which has changed a bit, to the bottom. It explains the number that appears alongside each artist’s name. Basically, it adds up group show appearances, which I count as 1, with larger shows, which I rank from 2 to 6. I include the number for transparency’s sake, so you can see how I put this together, rather than out of a pretense at being scientific.
The project is fun to do because it gives a sense of which artists are having a moment. But in the end, it’s just a way to tell a story.
Museum websites are not always complete or reliable. I am certain that I miss some things. I’ll note any updates or corrections right here.
Thoughts on June’s List
Some names have risen and fallen since December 2025—but the truth is, a lot is the same.
The big theme of U.S. museum programming remains spotlighting Native and Black artists. Beyond this, the unique focus of summer 2026 is the 250th birthday of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However, because reckoning with histories of racism and colonialism was already the primary focus, the practical effect seems to be to amplify the artists whose work was already in heavy rotation. (See the entries, for instance, for Jeffrey Gibson, Sky Hopinka, or Carrie Mae Weems.)
Amusingly, nonagenarian proto-Pop/neo-Dada artist Jasper Johns also seems to get a little bump from the festivities. He is, at this point, basically part of U.S. history himself. As importantly: His work is very associated with the American flag.
Another birthday shapes the list: Betye Saar will turn 100 in July. She is widely loved by curators, and is receiving a tribute show at the Palmer Museum that celebrates her impact on other artists, plus a celebration of her doll collection at the New York Historical Society. And Saar was honored in June at MoMA‘s Party in the Garden—alongside with Martin Puryear, another storied Black artist who had a uniquely good month.
Artists who almost made the cut included Ai Weiwei, Carol Bove, Nick Cave, Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Glenn Ligon, Mickalene Thomas, Dyani White Hawk, Deborah Roberts, and Alison Saar.
Below, the 18 artists I think are having the biggest moment in June.
Betye Saar (16)
The tribute show to the about-to-be-centenarian is celebrated at the Palmer Museum is built around her influence, and centers her work Vision of El Cremo (1967). Another mark of that influence: Two other artists in the top ranks, Kara Walker and vanessa german, are also in that show.
TRIBUTES
— “Constellations: Celebrating the Legacies of Betye Saar” at Palmer Museum of Art, State College, Pennsylvania. May 9–September 13, 2026
SMALL SHOWS
— “Betye Saar’s Black Dolls,” the New York Historical, May 8–October 4, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
— “Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles” at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. February 11–June 7, 2026
— “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” at Getty Museum, Los Angeles. February 24–June 14, 2026
— “Little Boxes” at Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts. Through July 2026
— “From Now: A Collection in Context” at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York. November 15, 2025–August 16, 2026
— “Space Is the Place: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. April 5–September 6, 2026
— “The Expanding Field: MOCA’s Collection from the 1940s to 1970s” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. April 18–September 20, 2026
— “Positive Fragmentation: From the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Long Beach Museum of Art, California. June 26–September 27, 2026
— “David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship” at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami. February 21–October 11, 2026
Methodology
How this project works: I look at a huge list of museums to see what artists were on view at any time during a given month, in this case, June 2026. Combing through the data, I get a sense of who is getting a particularly large amount of attention from institutions.
I’m interested in breadth of influence, so I don’t weight “important” museums more than others.
While the count of shows is clear (if sometimes incomplete, for many reasons), how you value larger shows dedicated to an artist is more subjective. Art being art, there are many, many quirks when it comes to comparing shows.
For transparency, here is how I am valuing different types of shows.
—GROUP SHOW: 1
—BIENNIAL: 2
—SPOTLIGHT (a show that focuses on a single work of art): 3
—SMALL SHOW: 4
—SPECIAL COMMISSION (a new work made for the museum): 4
—TRIBUTE (a show about an artist’s influence, featuring the artist alongside others influenced by them; I added this just for Betye Saar): 4
—LARGE SHOW: 5
—MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE: 6
The most finicky decisions are in parsing “small” and “large” shows, and sometimes deciding if something is a “large” show or a “retrospective” when an artist is getting a substantial celebration earlier in their career. I’ve made note of my thinking in the entries when it’s a question.