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 The Studio Museum in November 2025. | |
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| Established | 1968; 57 years ago (1968) |
|---|---|
| Location | 144 West 125th Street Manhattan,New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°48′30.52″N73°56′51.12″W / 40.8084778°N 73.9475333°W /40.8084778; -73.9475333 |
| Director | Thelma Golden |
| Public transit access | Subway:  to125th StreetBus:M7,M60 SBS,M100,M102,Bx15 |
| Website | studiomuseum |
TheStudio Museum in Harlem is an African-Americanart museum[1] at 144West 125th Street in theHarlem neighborhood ofManhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African Americans, members of theAfrican diaspora,[2] 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 atFifth 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.[3] 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.
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.[4] It opened in 1968 in a rented loft, the Studio Museum in Harlem moved to its present location in 1982,[5] 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 byTom Lloyd, an artist who worked primarily in abstraction to create technology-driven light works.[6]
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 theWorks Progress AdministrationFederal Art Projectmurals in Harlem Hospital that were done byCharles Alston. She curated several major exhibitions, among them,Bob Thompson (which revitalized the recognition of Thompson's art work),Hale Woodruff: 50 years of His Art, andContemporary 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 painterWilliam 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 sculptorMelvin Edwards physically cleaned up and prepared the former industrial loft space at the museum's original location at 2033 Fifth Avenue (at 125th Street) for conversion into artists studios. The first artist to work in the top floor studio space was printmaker and sculptorValerie Maynard.[7]
The museum also maintains an education department; in the 1970s, artistsJanet Henry andCarrie Mae Weems worked in the Education Department.[8]
In 2001, architects Rogers Marvel Architects designed the building's entry pavilion, exhibition spaces and auditorium, as well as other facilities.[5]
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" (2016), "Artists in Residence 2014–2015" (2015), "Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974–1989" (2014), "Titus Kaphar" (2014), "Glenn Kaino" (2014), "Robert Pruitt" (2013), "The Shadows Took Shape," co-curated with Zoe Whitley (2013), and "Fore," co-curated with Lauren Haynes and Thomas J. Lax (2012).[9][10]
When the Museum opens its new space at 144 West 125th Street, the inaugural exhibit will features works byTom Lloyd "the innovative artist whose practice was the subject of the Studio Museum's inaugural exhibition in 1968 [Electronic Refractions II]"[11] and will be accompanied by a catalog, the first of Lloyd's work. On June 27, 2024, theAndy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts awarded the Studio Museum a $100,000 grant to provide exhibition support for theTom Lloyd show.[12] It will also exhibit "new works on paper by more than one hundred alumni of the Artist-in-Residence program"[11] and selections from their permanent collection.
In 2015 award-winning architectDavid Adjaye — whose firm Adjaye Associates designed theSmithsonian Institution'sNational Museum of African American History and Culture — was commissioned to design a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, which will allow the museum to expand its exhibition schedule.[13][14] In 2021, Studio Museum announced that it had raised $210 million for the construction, endowment and operating fund for its new building.[15] By 2023, the museum had severed its relationship with Adjaye in response to allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against the architect.[16] Work on the new museum building on 125th Street in Manhattan continued,[17] and the building opened on November 15, 2025.[18][19] The building cost $160 million.[20] In advance of the official opening, Studio Museum hosted a gala at the new building, raising over $3.7 million.[21][22]
The new building has a facade made of glass and grayprecast concrete, with openings of various sizes,[23][24] and is seven stories high.[20][25] Inside are five stories of exhibit spaces covering 82,000 square feet (7,600 m2), and there is aroof terrace on the top floor.[23] The museum building is centered around a design feature that resembles an inverted staircase, a reference to thestoops outside nearby houses.[26] The building also has a studio, a theater, a cafe, and educational facilities.[24]
The museum's first director wasCharles E. Inniss.[27] Directors since that time have been Edward Spriggs, Courtney Callender,Mary Schmidt Campbell, Kinshasha Holman Conwill,Lowery Stokes Sims, andThelma Golden, its current director.[28] In October 2024, theFord Foundation gave the museum a $10 million grant to fund an endowment for its director and chief curator positions.[29][30]
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.[31]
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 areTerry 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, andHale Woodruff, among others. The museum is also the custodian of an extensive archive of the work of photographerJames VanDerZee, the noted chronicler of the Harlem community during the 1920s, '30s, and '40s.[35] In 1985 the museum was the recipient of the Award of Merit from theMunicipal Art Society of New York City in recognition of its outstanding Black art collection.[2]
