African American Museum

New landmark slavery exhibit makes U.S. premiere at Dallas-Fort Worth museum

Much of the exhibit focuses on Sally Hemings.

Photo courtesy of African American Museum

Dallas-Fort Worth will have the first opportunity to explore a groundbreaking new touring exhibition, "Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty," opening September 22 at the African American Museum in Fair Park.

The exhibit uses Monticello, the home and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, to explore the dilemma of slavery and the lives of the enslaved families and their descendants. Jefferson owned over 600 slaves through the course of his lifetime.

Visitors will view more than 300 objects, works of art, documents, and artifacts that were found at the plantation. Never-before-seen items will be on display, as well as a special feature on Sally Hemings, one of the most famous African American women in American history and mother of at least six of Thomas Jefferson’s children.

“'Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty' explores how the author of the Declaration of Independence who introduced a fledgling nation to the concept that all men are created equal could own slaves while 20 percent of Americans were also held in chains and designated 3/5 human," says T.D. Jakes, senior pastor of Dallas' The Potter’s House, in a release. "How do we view such contradictory posturing through a 21st century lens? I urge people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds to come and discover the other side of American History.”

The exhibit will give guests an in-depth perspective on the enslaved families who lived at Jefferson’s plantation and on how slavery affected their descendants. They'll also learn a bit about Jefferson’s views and actions — and inaction — against slavery at the time.

The exhibition began as a partnership between the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, D.C. and traveled on a four-venue tour between 2012 and 2015. Dallas is the first city to display the updated exhibition, which includes a special emphasis on Hemings.

According to the release, highlights of the updated exhibit include:

• A featured section on Sally Hemings and her children.

• “Picturing Mulberry Row,” a digital recreation of the lost landscape of Mulberry Row, the industrial hub of Jefferson’s plantation that describes how the plantation thoroughfare changed over the course of Jefferson’s lifetime.

• The Getting Word film introduces some of the descendants of Monticello’s enslaved families, shares their perspectives on the role of Monticello in their family histories, and highlights the important contributions their families have made towards shaping America.

• New descendant stories, recorded by Monticello historians through the Getting Word Oral History Project since 2012.

• Slavery at Monticello App: Debuted in 2015, the app makes use of the most recent scholarship on Monticello’s enslaved community and the activities and livelihoods centered on Mulberry Row.

Gayle Jessup White, Monticello’s community engagement officer who is also a descendant of Jefferson and the Hemings family, says in a release, “our sweeping American story, wonderful and woeful as it is, leaves out too many people who have been denied and disregarded, folks who should be returned to our national narrative. This exhibition breathes life into those forgotten individuals, restoring to them their humanity and their place in history.”

"Paradox of Liberty" will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am-5pm. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for kids 3-12. Thursdays are free for seniors aged 65 or older.

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Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit

Lorenzo di Masi/Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Nile

A major exhibition of ancient Roman masterworks is coming to the U.S. for the first time to be viewed at only three museums — including the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Called Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection, it's an assemblage of works stewarded by the Torlonia Family beginning in the early-19th century, and will be installed at the Kimbell from September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026.

As part of the Foundation’s mission to showcase these historical works to the public, the exhibition will premiere at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 15 through June 29, before traveling to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Its third stop will be at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from March 14 - July 19, 2026.

The Torlonia Collection was established during the course of the 19th century by the Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, then handed down over generations, eventually growing into the largest private collection of ancient Roman sculptures.

Today, the Torlonia Foundation represents the culmination of the Family’s continued passion for art. Created at the behest of Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1925–2017), the Foundation’s mission is to preserve and promote the Torlonia Collection and Villa Albani Torlonia.

In 1876, Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) created a museum to house and exhibit the Family’s holdings, which was open to small groups until its closure at the onset of World War II. The sculptures remained unseen by the public from that time until the Foundation’s first exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome in 2020. That was followed by a stint at the Louvre, the first presentation of the collection outside of Rome, where it has drawn more than 600,000 visitors to date, an unprecedented feat.

The exhibit
The curators of Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection are Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and The Museum Box. All of the sculptures in the exhibition have been restored by the Foundation with the support of Bvlgari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, edited by Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff, with essays by Silvia Beltrametti and Salvatore Settis.

The North American presentation will feature 58 highlights from the Torlonia Collection, including 24 newly restored works that have not been on view in nearly a century. The sculptures date from approximately the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority of the works dating to the High Imperial period (1st–2nd centuries CE). Highlights include examples of the most emblematic genres of ancient marble sculpture, acquired by the Torlonia Family from the most prominent collections of Rome’s patrician families, as well as from excavations made on the Family’s own estates throughout Italy.

“The Foundation is excited to be sharing the Torlonia Collection with audiences in North America for the first time. This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome, as well as the vision and passion of multiple generations of the Torlonia Family,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, President of the Torlonia Foundation.

The presentation is organized thematically in six sections, featuring sculptures found on the Torlonia Family’s properties in Rome and the surrounding suburbs and their estate in Porto, Portugal, as well as a number of exceptional sarcophagi (stone coffins), among the largest sculpted works in marble to survive from ancient Rome.

The tour reinforces the work of the Foundation to advance the appreciation and understanding of this unparalleled collection and the rich cultural heritage it represents. The Foundation’s mission is carried out through a continuous joint effort between the public and private sectors, including with the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Foundation is supported by a longstanding collaboration with Bvlgari as the principal sponsor of the restoration project since its inception in Rome and throughout the global tour, and Chiomenti, who has lent invaluable support to the Foundation’s core activities.

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