Image: Akron Art Museum
Akron Art Museum will present ‘Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors’ in its Karl and Bertl Arnstein Galleries from April 11 to August 16, 2026. The museum describes the show as a presentation of large-scale paintings that draw on the tradition of history painting while upending its conventions to address contemporary concerns through Indigenous perspectives. The exhibition closes on August 16.
The museum’s exhibition page says the term ‘history painting’ was introduced by the French Royal Academy in the 1600s for large-scale works with historical, mythological or biblical subjects. Monkman’s paintings, the museum states, represent the peoples and territories that have shaped present-day Turtle Island, and use that genre to explore current social issues. The exhibition carries a content note for depictions of violence and nudity, with a recommendation that parents and guardians preview it.
Kent Monkman, born in 1965, is identified by the museum as an interdisciplinary visual artist and a member of ocêkwi sîpiy (Fisher River Cree Nation) in Treaty 5 Territory, Manitoba. He lives and works in New York City and Toronto. The museum’s materials say his work responds to Western European and American art history and addresses colonization, sexuality, loss and resilience across painting, film/video, performance and installation.
Monkman’s recurring alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, is also part of the exhibition’s framing. The museum says the gender-fluid character appears as a time-travelling, shape-shifting, supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze and challenges received ideas about history and Indigenous peoples. The exhibition page also notes that Monkman’s practice examines the complexities of historical and contemporary Indigenous experiences.
The Akron presentation is organized by Curator Wendy Earle. According to the museum, the exhibition itself was organized by the Denver Art Museum and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and developed with support from the D. R. Sobey Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Henry Luce Foundation. The Denver and Montreal presentation was curated by John Lukavic and Léuli Eshrāghi.
The museum is also scheduling public programs around the exhibition’s run. An opening celebration and free artist talk with Monkman are listed for April 10, 2026. Other programs include a May 7 free Thursday tour in the Arnstein gallery, a May 19 lunch-and-learn with Curator Wendy Earle, and a June 4 Queer Art Night that includes tours of the Kent Monkman and Jess T. Dugan exhibitions, drag performances and art-making activities.
In an August 3 e-newsletter, the museum said visitors can still see ‘Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors’ before it closes after Sunday, August 16. The same newsletter noted that the museum’s Mindful Art yoga program on August 9 will be offered in the Natural World gallery in honor of the exhibition’s final week, alongside works by other Indigenous artists on loan from Art Bridges.
