UPCOMING EXHIBITION
Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon opens to the public on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.
Invite only preview events will be held prior to the exhibition’s public opening for our Leadership Circle and Friends of the Magnes level donors.
On View:
Location:
2121 Allston Way | Berkeley , CA
Gallery Hours:
Dear Mark Di Suvero,
I am a photographer working on a book of photographic portraits. My portraits are of people who have contributed to society. Could you give me one hour in your studio for a portrait? I can be available at your convenience.
— Nancy Lee Katz, 2010
Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon explores the artist’s decades-long effort to photograph artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers she admired. Between 1986 and 2010, Nancy Lee Katz photographed nearly 200 cultural figures creating a photographic “temple.” Made in studios, workplaces, and other intimate settings, these portraits reveal the interplay between public achievement and private presence. Presented in two parts over the course of a year, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience the breadth of Katz’s enduring vision.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Nancy Lee Katz, 1994. Gift of Michael S. Sachs, 2024.1.51
Exhibition Team
Guest Curator:
Lauren Graves
Coordinating Curators:
Alissa Schapiro and Hannah Weisman
Registrar:
Andrea Calderon
Head Preparator:
David Sullivan
Design:
Carole Jeung
Special thanks to Michael S. Sachs, who has made this exhibition possible through his generous gift of Nancy Lee Katz’s Pantheon (2024.1), loan of additional prints, and gracious consultations.
Maya Lin by Nancy Lee Katz, 1998. Gift of Michael S. Sachs, 2024.1.75
Louise Bourgeois by Nancy Lee Katz, 1986. Gift of Michael S. Sachs, 2024.1.17
Roy Lichtenstein by Nancy Lee Katz, 1986. Gift of Michael S. Sachs, 2024.1.74
About the photographer
Nancy Lee Katz (1947–2018) was a prolific photographer who spent her life documenting people and places. Katz was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles and traveled extensively in her youth, exploring Europe and Morocco before beginning work as a film editor’s assistant and still photographer. From 1986 to 2010, she created a remarkable pantheon of portraits, focusing on artists, musicians, writers, and thinkers whose work she respected, though she never sold nor published her prints. She also pursued music, art, and travel, documenting traditional cultures worldwide. Katz’s independence and passion left a lasting mark on those who knew her.
While Katz considered each of these sitters to be part of her Pantheon when she created the portraits between 1986 and 2010, some of the figures have controversial and problematic pasts that might disqualify them from a pantheon created today. The Magnes presents Katz’s project as a historical and artistic record while acknowledging that some sitters’ legacies are contested and that professional achievement does not erase personal misconduct.