Studio Museum in Harlem
144 West 125th Street | Harlem | built 2024
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1979
The Studio Museum is given a former bank building on West 125th Street and picks J. Max Bond Jr. to renovate it
The museum had outgrown its space above a liquor store at 2033 Fifth Avenue. Around 1979 it was given 144 West 125th Street, a building that had held the New York Bank for Savings. The architect J. Max Bond Jr. was chosen to adapt the bank for a museum, and the larger space would allow bigger exhibitions, more programs and storage.
Source: studiomuseum.org
- 1982
The Studio Museum moves from a Fifth Avenue loft to 144 West 125th Street
The Studio Museum in Harlem was founded in 1968 in a rented loft at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street to champion artists of African descent. It moved to this address in 1982, occupying an earlier building on the site. Its Artist-in-Residence program, which gives emerging artists studio space and a stipend for 11 months, has launched more than a hundred careers. The old building closed in 2018 and was torn down for a new one.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
The new West 125th Street galleries open with Ritual and Myth, a survey of African American art
Ritual and Myth: A Survey of African American Art ran at 144 West 125th Street from June 20 to November 1, 1982, and was the first exhibition installed in the museum's new location. It assembled over seventy works by forty-five artists. The selection ranged from African art to contemporary installation.
Source: studiomuseum.org
- 1985
Excavation begins on the empty lot at 142 West 125th Street to enlarge the museum
In 1985 the museum started digging on the vacant lot next door at 142 West 125th Street, which it rented from the city. Over the next twenty years the museum and the city kept renovating the building and the lot, adding another gallery, more lobby room, a theater and flexible open-air space.
Source: studiomuseum.org
- 1990
Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition opens, and a version travels to the Venice Biennale
Following a three-year research effort across Africa and the United States, the museum opened Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition on January 21, 1990. It featured nine artists from six African countries. A version of the show was presented at the 1990 Venice Biennale, which was the first time contemporary African artists were officially included there.
Source: studiomuseum.org
- 1990
The Decade Show, with the New Museum, brings together ninety-four artists
The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s opened on May 19, 1990 and ran until August 8. The Studio Museum organized it with the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art. Its ninety-four artists came from Hispanic, Asian, African-American, Native American and European backgrounds.
Source: studiomuseum.org
- 1995
The Listening Sky opens the first public space for outdoor sculpture by artists of African descent
The Listening Sky, the inaugural exhibition of the garden, opened on September 15, 1995 and stayed up until October 27, 1996. It presented work by twelve artists. The museum describes the garden as the first public space dedicated to outdoor sculpture by artists of African descent.
Source: studiomuseum.org
- 2001
Freestyle, curated by Thelma Golden, starts a series of shows of emerging artists of African descent
Freestyle, curated by Thelma Golden and Christine Y. Kim, opened on April 28, 2001. It was the first of the museum's so-called F shows, which present emerging artists of African descent. The museum went on to mount four more exhibitions in the series, and it counts them among the landmark contemporary art shows it has held.
Source: studiomuseum.org
- 2023
The Studio Museum and architect David Adjaye part ways
After a Financial Times investigation reports sexual misconduct allegations against David Adjaye from three former employees, the Studio Museum and the architect of its new building agree to part ways. A museum spokesperson says the allegations are "counter to the founding principles" of the institution. Construction continues under Adjaye Associates' New York office alongside Cooper Robertson, and the building opens two years later.
Source: hyperallergic.com
- 2025
The Studio Museum opens its first purpose-built home
Seven years after its old building closed, and after a campaign that raised more than $300 million, the Studio Museum opened its new seven-floor, 82,000-square-foot building on November 15, 2025. Adjaye Associates designed it with Cooper Robertson, drawing on Harlem's brownstones and churches. It was the first home in the museum's 57-year history built for it, and it opened with a retrospective of Tom Lloyd, subject of the museum's first show in 1968.
Source: studiomuseum.org
Further reading
- Studio Museum in HarlemWikipedia
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