The San Antonio Museum of Art is getting ready to unveil something spectacular. Ancient Beauty and Body Art from Four Continents, a brand-new exhibition, opens November 21, 2026 and runs through November 28, 2027 at the museum’s 200 West Jones Avenue campus.
The show explores how four great cultures — New Kingdom Egypt, early Imperial Rome, Classic Maya civilization and Tang dynasty China — shaped and adorned their appearance: hairstyles, piercings, tattoos, makeup and perfume as expressions of power, wealth, gender and lineage. Many of the works come from SAMA’s own ancient collections, some not displayed in years, joined by generous loans from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
It is a rare chance to travel across four continents and thousands of years without leaving San Antonio — and to discover that the human love of beauty and adornment is truly timeless.
Photo: San Antonio Museum of Art
