Press Coverage

The Block Museum is frequently featured in national, regional and local media. Read our most recent stories below:

Splash Magazines: The 1968 Bursar’s Office Takeover and “Unbranded” Review- Northwestern University puts archives and images on display (July 15, 2018)

"Thomas explored the representation of the African-American male body in visual culture in his B(r)anded Series, about which critic Arwa Mahdawi , writing in The Guardian noted: 'Thomas’s work ‘unbrands’ advertising: stripping away the commercial context, and leaving the exposed image to speak for itself.'" -Debra Davy

Time Out Chicago: 60 exciting openings in Chicago in July (June 29, 2018)

"Chan unpacks the violent and sexual themes of Henry Darger’s The Story of the Vivian Girls through an 18-minute looping animation inspired by the artist's work." -Zach Long

Artforum: Hank Willis Thomas (June 2018)

"The wry, uncomfortable comedy of these works makes for a breath of fresh air in our acrimonious, often terrifyingly humorless times." -Abigail Winograd

Northwestern Engineering: Art + Engineering (June 2018)

"Over the past year, Northwestern students, faculty, and researchers from art, engineering, classics, and medicine have all come together to examine [the mummy's] journey, propose theories, conduct research, and ultimately to exhibit their work, all in the quest of solving the mystery." -Emily Ayshford

Chicago Tribune: $30,000 in cultural grants awarded to Evanston artists, programs (June 12, 2018)

"Theaters, musicians and artists all make up the group of 12 recipients of $30,000 in grant money awarded for the new fiscal year by the Evanston Arts Council’s annual Cultural Fund Grant Program...The goal of the program is to 'sustain and advance our community’s visual, performance, literary and media arts and to activate the extraordinary assets of the community to develop Evanston as an arts hub and destination.'" -Genevieve Bookwalter

Medill News: UNBRANDED (June 6, 2018)

"...the human experience is to exist with overlapping identities. The visualization of these converging identities is a form of artistic protest, Thomas said, because these images disrupt what the viewer assumes about an individual." -Savannah Christensen, Nicole Fallert, and Hannah Lindley

Times Literary Supplement: Cleansing the Doors of Perception (June 1, 2018)

"A handsomely designed book . . . including an excellent historical overview." -Alberto Rivero

WBEZ: Milos Stehlik Interviews Iranian Filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (May 25, 2018)

"WBEZ film contributor and director at Facets Chicago, Milos Stehlik, interviews the world’s great filmmakers. Today, he chats with renowned Iranian-Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi. [Ghobadi's] 'films tackle a variety of themes such as justice, dispossession and movement. Some ... focus on the plight of the Kurdish people … [and] modern-day Iran.'"

Newswise: Forum Promotes Collaboration, Innovation and Change (May 24, 2018)

"Highlighting partnerships, innovations and strategies that can be applied across our campuses, more than 240 faculty and staff gathered last week at Northwestern University’s 11th annual Best Practices Forum to share ideas – and learn from colleagues."

Northwestern Now: Renowned Iranian-Kurdish filmmaker screens three of his films at Northwestern (May 22, 2018)

"Ghobadi’s films tackle a variety of themes such as justice, dispossession and movement. Some of the films focus on the plight of the Kurdish people while others shed a light on modern-day Iran." -Mohamed Abdelfattah

Chicago Gallery News: An Interview with Lisa Graziose Corrin, Director of the Block Mueseum of Art (May 22, 2018)

"I relished the opportunity to create a new model for an academic art museum within a research university, a model that is focused on collaboration, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, rigorous research, and innovative exhibitions and programs." -Lisa Corrin in conversation with CGN

North by Northwestern: Hank Willis Thomas's Unbranded is a haunting take on American culture (May 17, 2018)

"Although the images were poached from a period of many perceived milestones for women and African Americans, they also make it clear that there are still many milestones to go." -Kathryn Rothstein

Daily Planet: What is a Portrait Mummy? [VIDEO] (May 2, 2018)

"I always feel like a super-sleuth with the work that I'm doing, and science is a good tool to be able to better understand the historic record." -Marc Walton

The Dartmouth: Q&A with Seth Woods and Spencer Topel: 'Iced Bodies' (May 1, 2018)

"One of the things that really made me want to do it was how important it would be to address these issues today. It became a human expression, a human problem, not just some display of technology or of avant-garde art, but rather something that would intrinsically address the human condition — particularly, the American condition." -Spencer Topel in conversation with Elizabeth Garrison

Evanston RoundTable: Block Museum Exhibit Looks for Meaning in Unbranded Ads (April 18, 2018)

"He questions how ads reflect society’s hopes and dreams at a moment in time, as well as how they reveal popular ideas about race and gender."

The Hill: Reconnecting art and science in the classroom (April 18, 2018)

"A collaboration, rooted in a long-running program between Northwestern and the Art Institute of Chicago, resulted in a course and an award-winning exhibition featuring an ancient Roman-Egyptian mummy. It brought together Argonne National Lab, and Northwestern’s Block Museum of Art as well as students and faculty from classics, sound design, materials science, computer science, medicine, archeology, and art history." -Julio Ottino and Adrian Randolph

The Daily Northwestern: ‘Unbranded’ exhibition examines race, gender through advertisements (April 18, 2018)

"Thomas said he hopes the subversive titles will provoke new questions about what is being sold. 'I realized that ads are never really about the product,' Thomas said. 'It’s about what you get people to buy into through the language and the images and the stories that you tell.'” -Andrea Michelson

THE SEEN: Unbranded: reflections in black on a century of white women (April 18, 2018)

"Exploring the visualization of African-American identity and white femininity within the same eras, Thomas removes slogans and product names from historical and contemporary advertisements, asking us to confront the impact of images on the popular imagination" -Janet Dees and Tamar Kharatishvili

Chicago Reader: Let the pictures do the talking: Hank Willis Thomas deconstructs the ad game at the Block Museum (April 17, 2018)

"Both series show that advertising is never really about the product. It's about what myths or generalizations you can get people to buy into." -Hank Willis Thomas in conversation with Deanna Isaacs

Newcity Art: Ads Without Additives: 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Hank Willis Thomas Makes Advertisements Speak Truth to Power at the Block Museum of Art (April 13, 2018)

"At the Block Museum of Art in Evanston, two bodies of work by one artist are image lessons in advertising bias and persuasion. 'Unbranded' is a presentation of distinct but related projects by Hank Willis Thomas, an artist and 2018 Guggenheim fellow whose work has considered the relationship between consumer culture and identity for more than a decade." -Elliot Reichert

Chicago Magazine: Ten Things to Do in Chicago This Week (April 12, 2018)

"Thomas 'unbrands' advertisements from the last century by removing product names and all text, revealing how studio photography, clever design, and editing promoted and fueled an artificial lifestyle promised by consumerism."

Chicago Tribune: The Block goes through an experimental phase; ACRE looks for signs of intelligent life (April 12, 2018)

"As an institution, Northwestern’s Block Museum of Art is doing the work of connecting today’s political turbulence and social unrest with that of the ’60s and ’70s. While 'William Blake and the Age of Aquarius' ended its acid trip through the galleries on March 11, 'Experiments in Form: Sam Gilliam, Alan Shields, Frank Stella' rages on into the summer, recalling a movement of formalist defiance taking place from 1964 to 1975. Think of it as a history project — one that reports on a protest against the conventions of painting and printmaking." -KT Hawbaker

Northwestern Research: Art + science reveals ancient mysteries (April 12, 2018)

"The exhibit, 'Pain the Eyes Softer,' features mummy portraits produced in Egypt during the Roman period, a complete intact portrait mummy, and other archeological finds from the Fayum region. Combining expertise from across the University—including from classics, materials science, medicine, archeology, art history, and molecular biology—this groundbreaking installation explores how interdisciplinary partnerships can deliver new insights into ancient mysteries."

Splash Magazines: “Mummies” at the Field Museum Review – Cutting-edge Technologies at Work (April 7, 2018)

"[The Block exhibition] was also a good introduction to techniques that are being used broadly to investigate previously unknown “secrets” about what lay underneath the wrappings of the mummies." -Barbara Keer

Evanston Magazine: A Moveable Fest (April 2, 2018)

"The festival has many goals, but primary among them is to cast a spotlight on the robust selection of literary events already going on in Evanston—a city that is home to an impressively vast population of readers, writers, and publishers. Coordinated specifically to coincide and partner with the Northwestern Spring Writers’ Festival in mid-May, the festival also aims to “bridge the literary gap” between the university and city." -Sherry Thomas

North Shore Modern Luxury: Images of Power (April 1, 2018)

"'Willis Thomas stripped advertising images of all logos and text so we can contemplate what the images themselves are communicating,' says exhibition curator Janet Dees. It's a comment on race, gender, class, and how advertising as a form of mass communication shapes those narratives." -Laura Hine

Northwestern Magazine: Who's that mummy girl? (April 1, 2018)

"'This is a unique experiment, a 3-D puzzle,' says Stuart Stock, a professor of cell and molecular biology at the Feinberg School of Medicine who led the experiment at Argonne. He hopes their analysis can help researchers understand more about the mummy's history and how best to conserve it."

Northwestern Research: Who is she, this little mummy girl? (April 1, 2018)

"Northwestern scientists and students have worked to unravel some of her mysteries, including how her body was prepared 1,900 years ago in Egypt, what items she may have been buried with, the quality of her bones, and what material is present in her brain cavity."

Newcity: Art Top 5: April 2018 (March 26, 2018)

"1. Hank Willis Thomas - Block Museum of Art. Advertisements stripped of everything but figures demand a fresh focus on the ways that gender and race are shaped by commodities." -Elliot Reichert

The Art Newspaper: Why choosing a name for an exhibition is anything but straightforward (March 26, 2018)

"Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, enlists national and international experts to assist with titles. Its 2016 traveling exhibition on the artist Charlotte Moorman was nearly called Think Crazy—a reference to the slogan used to promote the New York Avant-Garde Festival founded by Moorman." - James H. Miller

College News Updates: Block Museum of Art releases strategic plan through 2022 (March 20, 2018)

“For our campus community and the many publics we serve, the Block is a space for examining assumptions, reframing questions and bridging perspectives."

Crain's: 7 cool exhibits, some a little quirky (March 9, 2018)

"To expose how advertising depicts women and African-Americans, Thomas has collected decades of print ads, stripped out the text and put the images alone on display." -Graham Meyer

Chicago Reader: Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and more of the best things to do in Chicago this weekend (March 9, 2018)

“Fri 3/9-Sun 3/11: 'William Blake and the Age of Aquarius,' which illustrates the impact the Romantic poet had on American artists—from Allen Ginsberg to Jimi Hendrix—closes after this weekend.” -Rachel Yang

Crain's: University-based art museums are raking it in (March 9, 2018)

In January, Block's board donated a total of $1 million to establish an endowment for the museum. In 2017, major gifts from two couples with ties to Northwestern established entities at the Block: $1.5 million established the Susan & Stephen Wilson Block Museum Engagement Fund, and $1 million established the Steven & Lisa Munster Tananbaum curator of modern and contemporary art. - Lisa Bertagnoli

The Daily Northwestern: Artist in Residence Jen Bervin leads workshops, classes on interdisciplinary art practice (March 7, 2018)

“'During Jen’s visit, the care and sensitivity … and broadened vision I saw in meetings she and I were having were both fun and deeply philosophical,' Bielak said. 'As a curator, I saw clearly how wonderful it would be to have her at Northwestern and the kind of value she’d bring here.'” -Christopher Vazquez

Forward: The Oscars, Mario Vargas Llosa’s Latest And More To Read, Watch And Do This Weekend (March 1, 2018)

"If you want to know what links the Romantic poet and painter William Blake with the beat poet Allen Ginsberg, the Northwestern Block Museum of Art’s exhibit 'William Blake and the Age of Aquarius' will make sure you’re informed." -Talya Zax

Mental Floss: See Lifelike Mummy Portraits From Roman Egypt, Now at Northwestern University (February 25, 2018)

"The exhibit is titled 'Paint the Eyes Softer: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt,' a reference to a note to the artist that was discovered with one of the sketches. The portraits, drawn in ink, chalk, or paint, were fastened to the subjects they represented with the same linens used to wrap the bodies." -Michele Debczak

Discovery Channel: Daily Planet (February 20, 2018)

A daily science magazine show that delivers a fascinating mix of documentaries and features, with hosts Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin. The Hibbard Mummy experiment is featured at 35:45-36:30.

Poetry Foundation: Northwestern's Block Museum Hosts Jen Bervin as Winter Resident (February 19, 2018)

"Poet and artist Jen Bervin is in residence at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art this winter, and her work will connect her with students as well as allow for some cross-disciplinary research 'in the diverse collections of Northwestern University Libraries – from its John Cage archives in the Music Library to textiles and ancient manuscripts in the Melville J. Herskovits Africana Library.'" -Harriet Staff

Science News: Modern tech unravels mysteries of Egyptian mummy portraits (February 19, 2018)

"The mummy was the first ever to be brought to the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, where it was exposed to synchrotron radiation from the lab’s Advanced Photon Source. High-energy X-ray beams could offer new information about the mummy." -Howard Wolinsky

NewCity Art: The Eyes Were A Portal, Even Way Back Then: A Review of “Paint the Eyes Softer: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt” at the Block Museum of Art (February 15, 2018)

"Gallery signage tells us that an edict by the Roman Emperor Diocletian listed panel painters as among the most highly-paid craftsmen in the empire, and it’s not hard to see why...Despite the differences in age, gender and proportion, each volumetric face seems to be saying 'Here I am.'" -Chris Miller

North by Northwestern: Review: The Block's Paint the Eyes Softer exhibit (February 13, 2018)

"One section of the exhibition celebrated the extremely talented “panel painters” of the ancient world. Of the later masks, three of the portraits on display are possibly from the same workshop...Even though these funerary masks are essentially the only art to have survived from then to now, the exhibition overall is an interesting delve into a form of portraiture." -Kathryn Rothstein

Washington Post: Here’s a chance to see what people who became mummies looked like (February 10, 2018)

"The free exhibition has plenty of portraits to explore but also delves into the scientific mysteries of the mummies. Intact mummy portraits are very rare, and in November the university took one of its specimens to the nearby Argonne National Laboratory for an X-ray experiment that revealed information about the workshop that probably did the painting and about the materials inside the mummy." -Erin Blakemore

Chicago Review: William Blake and the Age of Aquarius (February 8, 2018)

"If the young Ginsberg found a universe of revolutionary imaginative potential in Blake’s works, the older Ginsberg found a set of reflections on what it means to outlive a revolution. As Blake might put it, the key to both the 1790s and the 1960s is to understand the relationship between Innocence and Experience." -Sam Rowe

Chicago Tribune: Women embroider Black Lives Matter quilt as part of domestic violence awareness (February 5, 2018)

"'This isn't about making the perfect square,' Blount reminded participants. 'It's about being here and bearing witness.'" -Genevieve Bookwalter

Medill Reports Chicago: Composing Music for Mummies (February 1, 2018)

"'We really wanted something that was subtle…and respectful,' Rönkkö said, describing the final choice. 'Thomas’s [track] really captured what we had in mind beautifully.'" -Jourdan Kerl

The Daily Northwestern: Evanston artist hosts quilt circle, commemorates BLM movement (February 1, 2018)

"The quilt is beautiful in itself, but it’s the idea that over a hundred people came together to work on it and sit together and have conversations about it. Art as an impetus to action is the unifying element between our artwork." -Tejas Sekhar

The Daily Northwestern: 'The Other Kids' attempts to reinvent teen drama as part of New Docs series (January 31, 2018)

"(It) was just a great experience to have him in and to be able to learn this unique way that he makes his work,” Henry said. “It opens up possibilities to say that there (aren’t) one or two or three ways to make a film; there are many ways to make a film." -Crystal Wall

Art Journal: Book Review - “A Lunatic of the Sacred”: The Life and Work of Charlotte Moorman (January 2018)

"By asking us to regard Moorman as a constitutive force in the 1960s avant-garde, A Feast of Accomplishments was a revelation on many fronts. The galleries produced a kind of awe in viewers and listeners, owing to one’s reeducation not only in Moorman’s experimental activities but also, more crucially, in the sheer capacity and scope of those activities. The Block Museum embraced the chaos of her music and art, and in doing so, demonstrated the tenaciously collaborative way in which she lived and worked—a mode of labor with its own gendered politics. A Feast of Astonishments left little doubt: Moorman was a transformational figure in the advancement and promotion of the avant-garde in the late twentieth-century, and we should all be eager to learn more." -Nicole Woods

WTTW: Rare Mummy Portraits Offer Peek into the Past at Block Museum [VIDEO] (January 24, 2018)

"I think that this is quintessentially Northwestern, to be able to bring together multidisciplinary aspects and create something new out of it. But at the Block Museum in particular, it’s the nexus of these activities, bringing these crosscurrents together so we can actually explore one theme in depth from a number of different perspectives, giving a richer view of the subject matter." -Marc Walton

Chicago Reader: Egyptian death-mask portraits bring their subjects back to life after 2,000 years (January 23, 2018)

"No matter how sophisticated our technology becomes, it's doubtful that a device will ever be invented to explain the impulse to render the human image for posterity. The desire to make a picture in which we recognize our own faces is as basic to the human condition as the need for food or shelter. The 2,000-year-old ancestors looking out from the walls of the Block Museum are a reminder of that. Even if they were originally meant as death masks, these portraits look as alive as you or me." - Dmitry Samarov

Daily Northwestern: “Paint the Eyes Softer” features local mummy and student research (January 18, 2018)

“I don’t think in any other kind of museum you could go to a professor at the medical school to see if you could get the mummy scanned at the hospital,” Rönkkö said. “It’s one of those examples of what an academic museum can do on a campus.” - Andrea Michelson

Clyfford Still Museum: Still Life (January 17, 2018)

"Blake essentially became an artistic icon for the counterculture, and this could have made him especially appealing to Still. The curators of the Block exhibition seem to think so because they’ve included an early section which focuses on artists, including Still, working in the 1940s 'who discovered Blake’s unique voice in such poems as ‘The Tyger’ and the ‘Shepard’.'"

City Pages: Pink dolphins, zombies, and Ojibwe tales: How friends Andrea Carlson and Heid E. Erdrich inspire each other (January 15, 2018)

The two often enhance each other’s storytelling. Erdrich has written exhibition statements for Carlson and has penned poems based on her art. Carlson has contributed art to Erdrich’s poetry books and video poems." -Justin Curto

The Spectator: What do Walt Whitman, Jackson Pollock and Jimi Hendrix have in common?(January 13, 2018)

"Accompanying an exhibition at Northwestern University in Illinois, William Blake and the Age of Aquarius is the most intriguing book on Blake since Marsha Keith Schuchard’s exposé of him as a swinger, Why Mrs Blake Cried (2006). America’s postwar Blakeans rebelled against expensive advertising and contemptible comfort. However misplaced the fury, and despite a preponderance of ‘fashionable Fools’, the results were not all contemptible." -Dominic Green