Studio Museum in Harlem


The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African Americans, members of the African diaspora, and artists from the African continent. Its scope includes exhibitions, artists-in-residence programs, educational and public programming, and a permanent collection. The museum building was demolished and replaced in the 2020s; a new building on the site opened in November 2025.
Since opening in a rented loft at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street, the Studio Museum has earned recognition for its role in promoting the works of artists of African descent. The museum's Artist-in-Residence program has supported over one hundred graduates who have gone on to highly regarded careers. A wide variety of educational and public programs include lectures, dialogues, panel discussions and performances, as well as interpretive programs, both on- and off-site, for students and teachers. The exhibitions program has also expanded the scope of art historical literature through the production of scholarly catalogues, brochures, and pamphlets.
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History

The idea that became the Studio Museum was developed by a diverse group of founders in the belief that the African-American community should include a museum as part of its everyday experience, and to reflect their interests. Mahler B. Ryder was a founding secretary. It opened in 1968 in a rented loft, the Studio Museum in Harlem moved to its present location in 1982, where it focuses on exhibiting works by both emerging and established artists of African descent.
The museum celebrated the opening in September 1968 of its first exhibition, Electronic Reflections II, featuring works by Tom Lloyd, an artist who worked primarily in abstraction to create technology-driven light works.
From 1970 to 1978, Gylbert Coker, the first chief curator of the museum set up the registration system for the SMH art collection which was later housed in The State Office Building. She arranged for the saving and cleaning of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project murals in Harlem Hospital that were done by Charles Alston. She curated several major exhibitions, among them, Bob Thompson, Hale Woodruff: 50 years of His Art, and Contemporary African American Photographers.
Originally, the museum focused on workshops and exhibition programs that were designed to give artists a space to practice their craft, create works and show them. This idea led the trustees of the museum to start an Artist-in-Residence program. The proposal for the studio component of the museum was then written by the African-American painter William T. Williams, who believed it was important to have black artists working in the Harlem community, and also exhibiting their work in that community. Williams and sculptor Melvin Edwards physically cleaned up and prepared the former industrial loft space at the museum's original location at 2033 Fifth Avenue for conversion into artists studios. The first artist to work in the top floor studio space was printmaker and sculptor Valerie Maynard.
The museum also maintains an education department; in the 1970s, artists Janet Henry and Carrie Mae Weems worked in the Education Department.
File:Hammons flag.jpg|thumb|left|220px|David Hammons' African-American Flag flying outside the museum
In 2001, architects Rogers Marvel Architects designed the building's entry pavilion, exhibition spaces and auditorium, as well as other facilities.
The museum's Artist-in-Residence program celebrated its 40th year in 2010. It has helped to cultivate the art-making practices and careers of more than one hundred artists, and the museum has fostered the careers of numerous museum professionals as well.
Naima Keith, a former associate curator, created several exhibitions during her tenure, including: "Rodney McMillian: Views of Main Street", "Artists in Residence 2014–2015", "Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974–1989", "Titus Kaphar", "Glenn Kaino", "Robert Pruitt", "The Shadows Took Shape," co-curated with Zoe Whitley, and "Fore," co-curated with Lauren Haynes and Thomas J. Lax.
When the Museum opens its new space at 144 West 125th Street, the inaugural exhibit will features works by Tom Lloyd "the innovative artist whose practice was the subject of the Studio Museum's inaugural exhibition in 1968 "Β and will be accompanied by a catalog, the first of Lloyd's work. On June 27, 2024, the Andy [Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts] awarded the Studio Museum a $100,000 grant to provide exhibition support for the Tom Lloyd show. It will also exhibit "new works on paper by more than one hundred alumni of the Artist-in-Residence program" and selections from their permanent collection.

New building at 144 West 125th Street

In 2015 award-winning architect David Adjaye β€” whose firm Adjaye Associates designed the Smithsonian Institution's National [Museum of African American History and Culture] β€” was commissioned to design a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, which will allow the museum to expand its exhibition schedule. In 2021, Studio Museum announced that it had raised $210 million for the construction, endowment and operating fund for its new building. By 2023, the museum had severed its relationship with Adjaye in response to allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against the architect. Work on the new museum building on 125th Street in Manhattan continued, and the building opened on November 15, 2025. The building cost $160 million. In advance of the official opening, Studio Museum hosted a gala at the new building, raising over $3.7 million.
The new building has a facade made of glass and gray precast concrete, with openings of various sizes, and is seven stories high. Inside are five stories of exhibit spaces covering, and there is a roof terrace on the top floor. The museum building is centered around a design feature that resembles an inverted staircase, a reference to the stoops outside nearby houses. The building also has a studio, a theater, a cafe, and educational facilities.

Museum directors

The museum's first director was Charles E. Inniss. Directors since that time have been Edward Spriggs, Courtney Callender, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Lowery Stokes Sims, and Thelma Golden, its current director. In October 2024, the Ford Foundation gave the museum a $10 million grant to fund an endowment for its director and chief curator positions.

Artist-in-residence program

Each year, the Studio Museum offers an 11-month studio residency for three local, national, or international emerging artists working in any media. Each artist is granted a free non-living studio space and a stipend. Artists have access to the museum's studios and are expected to work in the studio a minimum of 20 hours per week and participate in open studios and public programs. At the end of the residency, an exhibition of the artists' work is presented in the museum's galleries.
ArtistYear of residency
Mequitta Ahuja2009–10
Njideka Akunyili2011–12
Sadie Barnette2014–15
Kevin Beasley2013–14
Sanford Biggers1999–2000
Chakaia Booker1995–96
Jordan Casteel2015–16
June Clark1996–97
Gregory Coates1996–97
Bethany Collins2013–14
William Cordova2004–05
Sonia Louise Davis2023–24
Louis Delsarte1979–80
Abigail DeVille2013–14
Lauren Halsey2014–15
Allison Janae Hamilton2018–19
EJ Hill2015–16
Jibade-Khalil Huffman2015–16
Texas Isaiah2020–21
Steffani Jemison2012–13
Lauren Kelley2009–10
Autumn Knight2016–17
Simone Leigh2010–11
Eric N. Mack2014–15
Jeffrey Meris2022–23
Meleko Mokgosi2011–12
Devin N. Morris2022–23
Sana Musasama1983–84
Marilyn Nance1993–94
Jennifer Packer2012–13
Kamau Amu Patton2010–11
Malcolm Peacock2023–24
Julia Phillips2016–17
Valerie Piraino2009–10
Zoe Pulley2023–24
Elliot Reed2019–20
Tanea Richardson2007–08
Andy Robert2016–17
Jacolby Satterwhite2020–21
Tschabalala Self2018–19
Paul Mpagi Sepuya2010–11
Xaviera Simmons2011–12
Sable Elyse Smith2018–19
Cullen Washington, Jr.2012–13
Charisse Perlina Weston2022–23
Kehinde Wiley2001–02

Collection

The Studio Museum's permanent collection contains approximately 2000 works, including drawings, pastels, prints, photographs, mixed-media works and installations. It comprises works created by artists during their residencies, as well as pieces given to the museum to create a historical framework for artists of African descent. Featured in the collection are Terry Adkins, Laylah Ali, Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Skunder Boghossian, Frederick J. Brown, Stephen Burks, Elizabeth Catlett, Robert Colescott, Gregory Coates,William Cordova, Melvin Edwards, Kira Lynn Harris, Richard Hunt, Hector Hyppolite, Serge Jolimeau, Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Wardell Milan, Philome Obin, Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, Merton Simpson, Nari Ward, and Hale Woodruff, among others. The museum is also the custodian of an extensive archive of the work of photographer James VanDerZee, the noted chronicler of the Harlem community during the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. In 1985 the museum was the recipient of the Award of Merit from the Municipal Art Society of New York City in recognition of its outstanding Black art collection.