Image: Arthur Ross Gallery, University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
An evening with Philadelphia-based artist Eileen Neff will take place on Thursday, October 22, 2026, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Neff’s research extends to the collections of Charles Willson Peale’s natural-history museum, founded in Philadelphia more than two centuries ago. Her project also involved photographing the restoration of two dioramas at the Academy of Natural Sciences, described as the first natural-history museum in the nation and founded in 1812. As part of that project, she conducted extensive archival research that included the work of painter and naturalist Charles Willson Peale.
The news that the Academy of Natural Sciences museum in Philadelphia was closing included the loss of access to the dioramas Neff had photographed in 2018 as part of her creative project. ‘It’s impossible not to acknowledge it, given how tied everything in my project is to the Academy of Natural Sciences,’ Neff said, calling the institution ‘a cultural treasure, especially for Philadelphians.’
‘Back in Place,’ a 2018 photograph by Neff, is included in the exhibition ‘Through That Which Is Seen.’ Neff is a lifelong Philadelphian and a multimedia artist who works primarily in photography.
The current Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition, ‘At Liberty: Life in the City of Brotherly Love During the Early Republic,’ examines Philadelphia and its residents during the decades around the nation’s founding, including the Peale family of artists and Benjamin Franklin.
