150 Stories

Get your copy of 150 Stories: Lives of the Artists at the League and trace the last century and a half of art history and learn how artists like Jackson Pollock and Yayoi Kusama found their voices in our studios. 

150 Stories

150 Stories: Lives of the Artists at the League is a groundbreaking anthology featuring 150 artists who have studied or taught at the renowned art school since its founding in 1875, illuminating the broader artistic legacy of those who have passed through its studios.

Unlike conventional institutional histories, 150 Stories is an artist-centered collection of essays by nearly 140 contributing scholars, critics, artists, and curators, that focuses on the often-overlooked period of early artistic formation, offering closely observed portraits of artists in development. 

Supporters of the League's annual fund will receive a physical copy of 150 Stories  as a thank you gift for donations of $250 or more. 150 Stories  will be released on September 19, 2025 and copies are limited. Your gift must be picked up at the League.  

Featured Contributors

Elizabeth Ferrer, a curator and writer specializing in Latinx and Mexican art and photography, reflects on the legacy of Sophie Rivera ahead of a Spring 2026 retrospective at El Museo del Barrio.
Patricia Norby, curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, writes about George Morrison, the subject of a current Met exhibition to which the League has loaned several pieces of studio furnishings.
Helen Hsu, curator at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, contributes an essay on featuring one of Rauschenberg’s early League-era paintings, and is involved in several projects commemorating the artist’s centennial, including an upcoming exhibition of his work at the Museum of the City of New York and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Laura Katzman, professor of art history at James Madison University and co-curator of an exhibition on Ben Shahn at the Jewish Museum, contributes essays on both Ben Shahn and his son Jonathan Shahn, a longtime League instructor.
Leonard Marcus, renowned curator and historian of children’s literature, writes about Maurice Sendak, the acclaimed author and illustrator of children’s books including Where the Wild Things Are (1963), whose early years as a student at the League are little known but deeply formative.
Hallie Ringle, Chief Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia and co-curator of the museum’s Mavis Pusey survey exhibition, writes about the League’s pivotal role in transforming the artist’s life and career.

Physical copies of 150 Stories are only available to supporters of the League's Annual Fund.
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The publication of 150 Stories was supported by The Wyeth Foundation for American Art