Exhibits & Events

Join us on Sunday, March 15th from 10:30 to 11:45 AM to explore WEM’s Spring Exhibition Pennsylvania Modern: Regionalism and the Wharton Esherick Studio with a specialty talk involving a walk in and around the original portion of Wharton Esherick’s 1926 Studio led by WEM’s associate curator Holly Gore along with a look at rarely seen objects presented in the 1956 Workshop.  During the Studio talk, we’ll highlight Esherick’s Studio as a celebration of local architecture and modernism on its 100th anniversary. The talk will be focused on the original 1926 portion and take a deep dive into the artist’s exploration of local materials, modern and traditional architecture, and his collaborations with neighboring tradespeople.

Pennsylvania Modern: Regionalism and the Wharton Esherick Studio Opens This March

‍Marking one-hundred years of the Esherick Studio and the nation’s semiquincentennial, WEM illuminates the local roots of the artist’s 1926 studio, a building that is now an icon of handcrafted modern design and a National Historic Landmark for Architecture.

Malvern, PA – The Wharton Esherick Museum (WEM) is pleased to announce the opening of Pennsylvania Modern: Regionalism and the Wharton Esherick Studio, on view in the museum’s Visitor Center beginning March 1, 2026. In 1926, Wharton Esherick broke ground on a new studio, a building that is now an icon of handcrafted modern design and the centerpiece of the WEM campus. The site Esherick chose was on a slope of Valley Forge Mountain, amidst sandstone outcroppings and young forests that were overgrowing old farms. There, he and a crew of tradesmen raised a stone structure with a profound sense of rootedness in local geography and architecture. Drawn from the WEM collections, Pennsylvania Modern presents drawings, photographs, and archives bearing witness to Esherick’s eye to the local as he began one of his most magnetic creations.

‍“The U.S. Semiquincentennial is a moment where many museums are taking a critical look at our relationship with history and national identity,” describes Holly Gore, WEM Director of Interpretation and Associate Curator. “Here at WEM, this event coincides with another milestone, the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wharton Esherick Studio. This exhibition honors both with a reflection on Esherick as he rooted his building in the rich cultural history of Pennsylvania, and the interest in regionalism he shared with his contemporaries.”