Early in 2026, the marketing and exhibitions teams of the Driehaus Museum and the Newberry realized they had an opportunity: the chance to jointly promote concurrent exhibitions just blocks apart. The Driehaus was preparing for Ink & Outrage: 18th-Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin, and the Newberry was preparing for Conceived in Liberty: Cartoons, Caricatures, and Illustrations in the Wartime US, 1812-1918. Coincidentally, both exhibitions emphasized wit and artistic brilliance and the critiquing of civics and politics. The only gaps being the Atlantic Ocean and a full century separating the subject matter.
The Driehaus exhibition highlights the works of English artists James Gillray (1765-1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827), while the Newberry’s highlights Americans like Nina Allender (1873-1957), John T. McCutcheon (1870-1949), Leslie Rogers (1896-1935), Thomas Nast (1840-1902), and Art Young (1866-1943). Ink and Outrage is a bit more thematically expansive, satirizing society and culture in Georgian London; Conceived in Liberty is centered on the diverse, inspiring, and contradictory ways that liberty has been conceived and realized by the people of the United States—just in time for the commemoration of the United States at 250.
The two institutions have a slate of programs to go with the exhibitions, for anyone who wants to make a date with visual history.
Exhibitions
Ink & Outrage: 18th-Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin, Driehaus Museum, through September 13
Conceived in Liberty: Cartoons, Caricatures, and Illustrations in the Wartime US, 1812-1918, Newberry Library, through September 19
Public Programs
July 8
Sharing the Spirit of America: A Statewide and National Reading of the Declaration of Independence, 5pm, Newberry Library
July 9
18th Century Songs and Satire, 6pm, Driehaus Museum
July 18
NewberryFest: 250 Years of the United States, 10am, Newberry Library
August 27
Gardens of Resilience: A Panel Discussion, 6pm, Newberry Library