Image: Simone Leigh, Okwui, 2024. Bronze, 150.5 x 332.7 x 123.2 cm. Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery. © Simone Leigh. Photo: Timothy Schenck
The Royal Academy of Arts will present a solo exhibition by Simone Leigh in its Main Galleries from 18 September to 12 December 2027. The exhibition will bring together monumental bronzes and richly textured ceramics, according to the academy’s announcement, and will examine the breadth of the American sculptor’s practice through Black feminist thought and material traditions from across Africa and its diasporas.
The presentation will occupy the Royal Academy’s Main Galleries at Burlington House in London, and the academy describes it as Leigh’s first major UK presentation and her largest and most ambitious worldwide. Leigh became the first Black woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale in 2022. The institution’s 2027 programme also includes the Summer Exhibition, scheduled for 18 May to 15 August, and ‘Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen’, which will run from 19 November 2027 to 19 March 2028. Leigh’s exhibition follows ‘Rembrandt: Radical Printmaker’, on view from 9 April to 19 September 2027, making its opening date one day before the Rembrandt show closes.
The academy describes Leigh as an American sculptor whose work spans large-scale bronze sculpture and ceramics. The exhibition’s stated focus places those materials in relation to Black feminist thought and traditions connected to Africa and its diasporas. The Royal Academy’s exhibition page says the show will span sculpture, installation, film and performance, bringing together works from more than two decades, including new and previously unseen sculptures. It also states that the exhibition continues beyond the Main Galleries through Loophole of Retreat, Leigh’s ongoing artwork of dialogue and collective exchange, a programme convening artists, scholars, writers, performers, filmmakers and activists from around the world.
The material released for the exhibition includes an image of Leigh’s ‘Okwui’ from 2024, a bronze measuring 150.5 by 332.7 by 123.2 centimetres. The work is identified as being courtesy of the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery, with photography by Timothy Schenck. ‘Okwui’ also appears in the exhibition gallery on the Royal Academy’s own page for the show, alongside ‘Sentinel IV (Gold)’ (2021), ‘White Teeth (for Ota Benga)’ (2001–04), ‘Bisi’ (2023) and ‘Artemis’ (2022–24).
Leigh’s use of ceramics and bronze establishes a material contrast within the planned presentation. Ceramics are described as richly textured, while the bronzes are identified as monumental, suggesting a display that will move between intimate surface treatment and substantial sculptural scale. The academy has framed this range as evidence of the breadth and ambition of Leigh’s practice, without publishing a full list of works or production dates.
The exhibition has Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Ford Foundation as lead supporters. It is also supported by the Idan and Batia Ofer Foundation, while the Bukhman Foundation is named as lead supporter of a courtyard commission. The Royal Academy’s page identifies that commission as a major new sculptural installation for the Annenberg Courtyard, freely accessible to the public, with which the exhibition opens; no title or installation dates are given.
The Royal Academy’s announcement places Leigh’s exhibition within a programme combining historical and contemporary art. ‘The Summer Exhibition 2027’ is the academy’s annual presentation of art and architecture, while ‘Painting the French Riviera’, described as featuring works connected to Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne and Renoir, runs earlier, from 2 October 2026 to 31 January 2027. Leigh’s exhibition will remain on view in London through 12 December 2027.
