Image: Nancy Lee Katz, Raphael Soyer, 1986. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Michael S. Sachs, 2024.1.118. Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Berkeley
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the University of California, Berkeley, will open ‘Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon’ on September 2, 2026, bringing together the photographer’s complete ‘Pantheon’ portrait project for the first time. The two-part exhibition will present all 133 small-format photographs acquired by the Magnes in 2024, alongside 40 large-format prints loaned for the exhibition by Katz’s life partner, Michael S. Sachs.
Katz (1947–2018) photographed nearly 200 artists, writers, musicians and thinkers between 1986 and 2010. Working in personal studios, workplaces and other intimate settings, she focused on people whose creative and intellectual achievements she admired. The resulting portraits examine the relationship between public accomplishment and private presence, looking beyond the sitters’ professional reputations to their individual demeanors and surroundings.
The exhibition is curated by Lauren Graves, with Alissa Schapiro and Magnes Executive Director Hannah Weisman as coordinating curators. Graves describes the complete project as a collective meditation on photography’s ability to foster connection, presenting Katz’s acts of admiration as a sustained tribute to figures who shaped the cultural landscape of their time. The exhibition includes portraits of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, visual artist Raphael Soyer, architect Maya Lin and musician André Watts, among others.
Born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles, Katz traveled through Europe and Morocco before working as an assistant film editor and still photographer. She later concentrated on her own photographic practice. Although she continued making portraits for more than two decades, she kept the ‘Pantheon’ project private during her lifetime: according to the Magnes, she did not exhibit, sell, publish or show the photographs to anyone.
The Berkeley presentation will extend beyond the photographs themselves. Visitors will be able to hear archival speeches and musical recordings and explore books by and about selected sitters with connections to the Magnes, UC Berkeley and the Bay Area. Works from the Magnes collection made by, or related to, members of Katz’s ‘Pantheon’ will be installed adjacent to the exhibition gallery. The museum’s exhibition materials also acknowledge that some sitters’ legacies are contested, presenting the project as a historical and artistic record without suggesting that professional achievement erases personal misconduct.
‘A Private Pantheon’ is scheduled in two parts at the Magnes, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley. Part one will be on view from September 2 through December 17, 2026; part two will open January 19, 2027, and continue through May 13, 2027. The Magnes plans gallery tours and public programs during the academic year. An opening-day roundtable, ‘On Nancy Lee Katz’s Photography,’ will bring together Graves, master printer Brian Young, Sachs and Katz’s sister, Virginia Katz, on September 2 from noon to 1 p.m. Admission to the museum is free, with regular hours on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
