Hammer Museum Will Open Mavis Pusey Exhibition October 11

The retrospective showcases over 60 works tracing the artist’s diverse career across multiple international cities.

Updated on Oct. 9, 2026 in Fine Art

Hammer Museum Will Open Mavis Pusey Exhibition October 11

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The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles will open Mavis Pusey: Mobile Images on October 11, 2026. This survey features more than 60 oil paintings, etchings, silkscreens, and drawings previously displayed at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.

Why it matters

This exhibition highlights the career of Mavis Pusey, who lived and worked in New York, London, and Paris, following recent efforts to recover her archive. Her work previously appeared in a UCLA exhibition in 1966.

The exhibition displays more than 60 distinct works, including oil paintings and etchings. These pieces span the prolific career of the Jamaican-born artist who was born in 1928 and passed away in 2019.

The players

Mavis Pusey

Born in 1928 in Retreat, Jamaica, she was an artist who spent her career moving between New York City, London, and Paris.

Hammer Museum

This Los Angeles-based cultural institution is hosting the upcoming exhibition of Pusey’s works.

Hallie Ringle

She is the curator who was instrumental in locating Mavis Pusey in Virginia in 2018, which led to the recovery of her papers.

The details

Curators have rearranged the thematic sections from the Philadelphia show into chronological chapters specifically for the Los Angeles presentation. Researchers successfully identified the collection after locating Pusey in rural Virginia in 2018.

1966: Pusey’s work was featured in a UCLA exhibition.
2018: Curator Hallie Ringle located the artist in rural Virginia.
2025: The survey exhibition opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.
October 11, 2026: The exhibition opens at the Hammer Museum.

Industry Dynamics

This retrospective marks a significant moment in the ongoing archival efforts to rediscover and canonize artists who worked across global art hubs. The Hammer Museum’s presentation acts as a historical bookend to the 1966 UCLA exhibition of Mavis Pusey.

Local visitors can access the complete survey starting October 11, 2026, as the exhibition transitions to its West Coast run. The show offers an opportunity to view works previously limited to the Philadelphia circuit.

The takeaway

This exhibition underscores the importance of persistent archival research in reclaiming the legacies of artists who moved frequently across borders. Interested attendees should look for the chronological curation style that distinguishes this iteration from previous versions.