This photo appeared on display as part of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders The Black List at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, October 28, 2011 through April 22, 2012
"My work in understanding art and in understanding culture has come by following artists—by looking at what artists mean and what they do and who they are…” – Thelma Golden Ted Talk Feb. 2009
“…Often as a curator you’re doing two things at once: you are looking and seeing, but you are also trying to frame ideas…Coming to understand the difference means working through one’s ideas.” – Thelma Golden; Post/Black Atlantic: A conversation with Thelma Golden and Glenn Ligon at The Studio Museum of Harlem, Sept. 28, 2009
Selected Exhibitions:
Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art
Nov.10, 1994-Mar. 5, 1995
The Whitney Museum of American Art
(Golden, Thelma. Black Male: Representations in Contemporary American Art: The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994)
This exhibition examined how Black males had been depicted from the 1960s to the present date (then 1994) through contemporary art. The show ranged in perspective on the topic of Black masculinity, a topic that previous to this exhibition had limited discourse surrounding it.
Freestyle
April 28-June 24, 2001
The Studio Museum of Harlem
(Kim, Christine Y., and Franklin Sirmans. Freestyle: The Studio Museum in Harlem. Studio Museum in Harlem, 2001)
Through this exhibition Golden wanted to “bring the museum (Studio Museum of Harlem) back to the mission of its founding” which is to present innovative contemporary art. Twenty-eight black emerging artists working in a wide range of mediums were selected for the exhibition. A few artists included were Sanford Biggers, Laylah Ali, Kojo Griffin, Jerald Leans, Julie Mehretu, Clifford Owens and Eric Wesley. Through their medium, exhibited artists helped to shape “post-black”, a term coined by Thelma Golden and artist Glen Ligon.
Frequency
Nov 9, 2005 - Mar 12, 2006
The Studio Museum of Harlem
(Kim, Christine Y., and Thelma Golden, Frequency: The Studio Museum in Harlem. Studio Museum in Harlem, 2005)
Frequency consisted of over eighty-five new works ranging in medium from thirty-five emerging artists. As a follow up exhibit to Freestyle, this exhibition presented a group of artists within an era Golden had previously defined as “post-black”. Nick Cave, Nyame Brown, Mickalene Thomas, Dametrius Oliver and Hank Willis Thomas were among the exhibited artists.
Biographic Information:
Having grown up in Harlem, NY, from a young age, Thelma Golden was intrigued by Black culture and fascinated by art. She pursued her interests in art, receiving her BA in 1987 from Smith College in Art History and African American Studies. Previously she served as a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art where she organized many exhibitions including the 1994 exhibition, Black Male. She is generally credited with defining “post- black”, an art movement oriented around artists of African descent who reject the idea of solely creating black art but whose art is immersed in the black experience and perhaps redefines a black contemporary aesthetic. Thelma Golden is the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Major contribution to curatorial practice:
Thelma Golden continues to champion emerging black artists and representation of artists of color within museums and contemporary art. Renee Green, Glen Ligon, Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Nari Ward, Carrie Mae Weems, Fred Wilson, and Ellen Gallagher are all artists Golden has given a platform within the contemporary art world.
Further readings:
Firstenberg, Lauri “Towards Abstraction: Indeterminacy and the Internationalization of Julie Mehretu's Painting” Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context, and Enquiry. Issue 14 (Autumn/Winter 2006), pp. 90-97
Rothkopf, Scott. Glenn Ligon: America. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art: New Haven. 2011 Yale University Press
Storr, Robert, and Thelma Golden. Art: 21 - Art in the 21st Century (Vol 1). 2001. Harry N. Abrams
Video link:
How Art Gives Shape to Cultural Change (2009)
https://www.ted.com/talks/thelma_golden_how_art_gives_shape_to_cultural_change?language=en
Tags: #blackmale #blackart #curatorial #studiomuseum #Harlem #blackartists #postblack
Research conducted by: Rhea Beckett
"My work in understanding art and in understanding culture has come by following artists—by looking at what artists mean and what they do and who they are…” – Thelma Golden Ted Talk Feb. 2009
“…Often as a curator you’re doing two things at once: you are looking and seeing, but you are also trying to frame ideas…Coming to understand the difference means working through one’s ideas.” – Thelma Golden; Post/Black Atlantic: A conversation with Thelma Golden and Glenn Ligon at The Studio Museum of Harlem, Sept. 28, 2009
Selected Exhibitions:
Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art
Nov.10, 1994-Mar. 5, 1995
The Whitney Museum of American Art
(Golden, Thelma. Black Male: Representations in Contemporary American Art: The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994)
This exhibition examined how Black males had been depicted from the 1960s to the present date (then 1994) through contemporary art. The show ranged in perspective on the topic of Black masculinity, a topic that previous to this exhibition had limited discourse surrounding it.
Freestyle
April 28-June 24, 2001
The Studio Museum of Harlem
(Kim, Christine Y., and Franklin Sirmans. Freestyle: The Studio Museum in Harlem. Studio Museum in Harlem, 2001)
Through this exhibition Golden wanted to “bring the museum (Studio Museum of Harlem) back to the mission of its founding” which is to present innovative contemporary art. Twenty-eight black emerging artists working in a wide range of mediums were selected for the exhibition. A few artists included were Sanford Biggers, Laylah Ali, Kojo Griffin, Jerald Leans, Julie Mehretu, Clifford Owens and Eric Wesley. Through their medium, exhibited artists helped to shape “post-black”, a term coined by Thelma Golden and artist Glen Ligon.
Frequency
Nov 9, 2005 - Mar 12, 2006
The Studio Museum of Harlem
(Kim, Christine Y., and Thelma Golden, Frequency: The Studio Museum in Harlem. Studio Museum in Harlem, 2005)
Frequency consisted of over eighty-five new works ranging in medium from thirty-five emerging artists. As a follow up exhibit to Freestyle, this exhibition presented a group of artists within an era Golden had previously defined as “post-black”. Nick Cave, Nyame Brown, Mickalene Thomas, Dametrius Oliver and Hank Willis Thomas were among the exhibited artists.
Biographic Information:
Having grown up in Harlem, NY, from a young age, Thelma Golden was intrigued by Black culture and fascinated by art. She pursued her interests in art, receiving her BA in 1987 from Smith College in Art History and African American Studies. Previously she served as a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art where she organized many exhibitions including the 1994 exhibition, Black Male. She is generally credited with defining “post- black”, an art movement oriented around artists of African descent who reject the idea of solely creating black art but whose art is immersed in the black experience and perhaps redefines a black contemporary aesthetic. Thelma Golden is the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Major contribution to curatorial practice:
Thelma Golden continues to champion emerging black artists and representation of artists of color within museums and contemporary art. Renee Green, Glen Ligon, Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Nari Ward, Carrie Mae Weems, Fred Wilson, and Ellen Gallagher are all artists Golden has given a platform within the contemporary art world.
Further readings:
Firstenberg, Lauri “Towards Abstraction: Indeterminacy and the Internationalization of Julie Mehretu's Painting” Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context, and Enquiry. Issue 14 (Autumn/Winter 2006), pp. 90-97
Rothkopf, Scott. Glenn Ligon: America. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art: New Haven. 2011 Yale University Press
Storr, Robert, and Thelma Golden. Art: 21 - Art in the 21st Century (Vol 1). 2001. Harry N. Abrams
Video link:
How Art Gives Shape to Cultural Change (2009)
https://www.ted.com/talks/thelma_golden_how_art_gives_shape_to_cultural_change?language=en
Tags: #blackmale #blackart #curatorial #studiomuseum #Harlem #blackartists #postblack
Research conducted by: Rhea Beckett
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