Exhibition · Midtown West
At MoMA in Midtown, NYC: "It's Alive!" Traces a Century of Animation, From Gertie to MTV
MoMA's It's Alive! gathers more than 200 drawings, cels and films from 1908 to 2020, centered on over 35 artists working largely in New York. On view since August 1 and running into summer 2027, it is joined by a matinee screening series that began October 21.
The Museum of Modern Art has had It's Alive! A Century of Animation from the Collection on view since August 1, 2026, and it runs into summer 2027. The show looks at the roughly hundred years before digital technology transformed the medium, and it centers on more than 35 artists and filmmakers who worked largely in New York.
More than 200 pieces of production art and films from the museum's holdings fill the galleries, made between 1908 and 2020. Named artists include Jane Aaron, John Canemaker, Sally Cruikshank, Tissa David, Jerome Hill, Candy Kugel, Emily and Faith Hubley, David Ehrlich, George Griffin, Jeff Scher and Michael Sporn.
The checklist reaches well beyond the New York story. Winsor McCay's drawings for Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are ink on rice paper. Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) is represented by film stills, and Hans Richter's Dadascope title cards from 1961 include one for Marcel Duchamp. Other items include John Hubley's concept art for Rooty Toot Toot, a pre-production drawing by Tissa David for Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, and material tied to Felix the Cat and Famous Studios. Buzzco's MTV cel setups from around 1983 feature David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner, and they sit alongside Sally Cruikshank's cel from Quasi at the Quackadero. Taken together, the objects cover commercial, independent and avant-garde work.
A theatrical series, It's Alive! Animation Archive Matinees, accompanies the exhibition. Screenings began October 21, 2026, and the program includes shorts and features by exhibited artists and by other animators in MoMA's collection.
The exhibition was organized by Ron Magliozzi, Francisco Valente, Katie Trainor and Cara Shatzman of the Department of Film. Magliozzi has described the show as a celebration of animation's roots in New York and of the city as a hub for innovative work that shaped pop culture. MoMA's own Instagram account has pointed visitors to the exhibition as a way to learn the history of animation, alongside a film in the museum's theaters. MoMA is at 11 W 53rd St in Midtown.
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