Exhibition from August 28, 2015 through November 13, 2015. Larry Clark (b. 1943), an American photographer, film director and writer, documented his life and the lives of his friends and their drug use through the years of 1963–1971. The culmination of this series of photographs was a book, Tulsa, published in 1971, that shed light on the reality of drug use in suburban America. Clark’s gritty, unmodified photographs of teenage drug-use, sex and violence became a new style of documentary photography, one which photographers continue to pursue today. Clark’s lived experience while taking these photographs “upped the ante for engaged photography” requiring more involvement between the photographer and his subject matter. Through Tulsa’s harsh imagery a new form of documentary photography was developed.

Exhibition from April 27, 2015 through August 7, 2015. In the 1920s, the Romanian-born, Montreal-educated Gershon Benjamin arrived in New York City, and was soon befriended by a group of progressive artists who favored European modernism to the popular American Scene and Regionalist art of the day. Milton Avery was a member of this group, and he and Benjamin became close and life-long friends. Their circle included Rothko, Gottlieb, Gorky, Sloan and the Soyer brothers, among others. Exhibiting together, they were labeled "expressionists" and praised for their individualistic style and use of color. The Rincliffe Gallery show featured more than 60 works by the artist – portraits, still lifes, landscapes and city scenes – in oil and watercolor, representing all periods of Benjamin’s prolific seven-decade career.

Exhibition from January 16, 2015 through March 27, 2015. Combining images of historic interiors and examples of furniture and decorative arts, this exhibition offered the viewer a sense of the decorating techniques found during the dramatically changing world of the 19th century.

Exhibition from October 24, 2014 through December 18, 2014. Both decorative and durable, ceramic animal and human figurines have survived from as early as 24,000 BC. The first functional ceramics, used to store food and water, were produced in 9000 BC. Since the earliest years of production, ceramic technology and application have undergone continuous development and refinement, eventually achieving the numerous forms and elaborate colors found in ceramics today. Every step in the process of making a ceramic has an effect on the end result: anything from selecting the body type to changing the type of fuel used in the kiln can change the outcome. Individual cultures manipulated these techniques to create pieces specific to their regions, traditions and tastes.

Exhibition from August 11, 2014 through October 6, 2014. The value of ancient coins lies not in their monetary value but in what they can teach us about the civilizations from which they came. Ancient coins from the Greek and Roman civilizations were original works of art with indications of when and where they were made. The marks on coins are some of the first examples of how these people portrayed their gods, heroes and historical events. They depict lost monuments of architecture, sculpture and painting. One of the greatest values lies in the coins that portray rulers, some of which are the only representations we have of these historical figures.

Exhibition from June 9, 2014 through August 4, 2014. This exhibition displayed 32 photographs donated to The Drexel Collection by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ingersoll in 1985. Mr. Paul Ingersoll (1929–2012), a great-grandson of Anthony J. Drexel, embodied the Drexel family’s love and support of the arts, being an avid collector and a contributor to the cultural community. Ingersoll opened the Philadelphia office of Christie’s Auction in 1979, where he worked for 30-plus years. He was a trustee to the Atwater Kent Museum (now the Philadelphia History Museum), the Library Company and founder of Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The collection of photographs generously donated to The Drexel Collection includes some of the most influential and pioneering photographers including Eugene Atget, Edward Weston and Eadweard Muybridge, creating an indispensable asset to the collection.

Exhibition from March 21, 2014 through May 30, 2014. Violet Oakley was one of Drexel’s first students in the field of illustration and one of its most successful. With her training and drive Oakley broke into the predominantly male world of illustration and mural painting, with commissions that were many and varied.

Exhibition from January 10, 2014 through March 14, 2014. Every painter begins with a blank canvas, but not this one. The featured artist of the exhibition — “Simulated Fijnschilderij: Where Old Masters and Technology Meet” — began with a digital print and some very old recipes.

Exhibition from October 15, 2013 through December 13, 2013. A skull of conjoined calves, a 19th century medical amputation kit and a misassembled “Frankensquid” are mysterious on their own, but what’s even more puzzling is that these objects somehow ended up at Drexel University. Originally hailing from all around the world, thirty of Drexel’s most atypical items were featured in “Cabinet of Curiosity: Drexel’s Rare and Unusual Collections.”

Exhibition from August 5, 2013 through September 30, 2013. From the 14th century onward, as paper became more available, we find drawings to be indispensable to artists in preparation for their paintings or for the drawings themselves. Etchings and engravings were appreciated in their own right but also allowed artists to replicate works of other artists.