Making Beauty: Hooks Brothers Studio, 1907-1984

When the new Memphis Art Museum opens on Front Street on December 6, 2026, its largest inaugural exhibition will be Making Beauty: Hooks Brothers Studio, 1907-1984. The show gathers more than 200 photographs from the renowned Memphis studio, based in its early years on Beale Street, in a major survey presented in partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum. According to the museum, the exhibition centers on the Hooks brothers' philosophy of making beauty as an act of Black resistance and pride during the Jim Crow era. It opens as the Memphis Art Museum, successor to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, debuts a downtown building with 50 percent more dedicated gallery space and 20 inaugural exhibitions across 30,000 square feet.