Image: Huntsville Museum of Art
The exhibition runs from November 13, 2026, through February 14, 2027, at the Huntsville Museum of Art. 'Valor: A Tribute to American Veterans' explores how military service shaped the lives and artistic practices of influential American artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The roster includes Romare Bearden, Sam Gilliam, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Indiana, Palmer Hayden, Charles White, Hayward Oubre, Benny Andrews, Roger Shimomura, Barkley Hendricks and Jacob Lawrence, alongside painters, sculptors, photographers and printmakers.
The exhibition examines how service, war, displacement, travel, trauma and cultural exchange informed American art. By presenting works across a wide range of styles and media, it demonstrates that military service did not produce a single aesthetic response: for some artists, war prompted direct reflections on conflict and human struggle, while for others, exposure to new cultures broadened their artistic horizons and introduced global traditions that transformed their work.
Works include Hayward L. Oubre Jr.'s 'A Missile Breaking the Sound Barrier Causing Sonic Booms' from 1961, Rudolf Baranik's 'Napalm Elegy ES' from 1973 and Conrad Marca-Relli's 'Cristobal' from 1962.
Organized by the Huntsville Museum of Art with support from the Art Dealers Association of America Foundation and Art Bridges, the exhibition draws works from major museums, galleries and private collections across the country.
