Nandi Guillaume, Opening of Black Artists in the New York Scene. The Daily World, September 10, 1974. Image courtesy of Tamiment Library & Wagner Labor Archives. © The Daily World.
Acts of Art in Greenwich Village
November 7, 2024 – March 22, 2025
Public Opening Reception: November 7, 6–8 pm
Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery
Hunter West Building
132 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
Acts of Art Gallery was founded in downtown Manhattan in 1969 by artists Nigel Jackson and Patricia Gray to showcase the work of Black artists “outside of the ghetto areas.” This exhibition—the first comprehensive exploration of the gallery’s six-year history—will feature works from the late 1960s and 1970s by artists close to the gallery including: Benny Andrews, James Denmark, Lois Mailou Jones, Dindga McCannon, Ademola Olugebefola, Ann Tanksley, Lloyd Toone, Frank Wimberley, and Hale Woodruff. A catalog with the gallery’s complete exhibition history and essays on key group exhibitions, including the first show of the Black women artists collective “Where We At,” will be published with Hirmer Publishers in 2025.
Curated by Howard Singerman and students in the Advanced Curatorial Certificate Seminar with Katie Hood Morgan, Chief Curator and Deputy Director, Hunter College Art Galleries. Graduate curatorial fellows: Eve Arballo and Nicolas Poblete.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Public Opening Reception - RSVP HERE
Thursday, November 7, 6-8pm
Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery
Hunter West Building
132 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
Acts of Art Community Conversation - *Additional details forthcoming
Saturday, November 9, 2-5pm
Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College
47-49 E 65th St, New York, NY 10065
PUBLICATION
The exhibition will be accompanied by a full-color catalog co-published with Hirmer Publishers and distributed in North America by the University of Chicago Press. In addition to an introductory essay and complete exhibition history, the volume will include biographies of the gallery’s key artists and entries on important group exhibitions, events, and affiliated organizations. The publication is designed by Natalie Wedeking and edited by Re’al Christian and Liz Rae Heiss-Glass.
This exhibition is made possible by the The Leonard A. Lauder Exhibition and Catalogue Fund. The exhibition's catalog has been supported by a grant from the Wolf Kahn Foundation and the Emily Mason and Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation on behalf of artists Emily Mason and Wolf Kahn.
ABOUT THE HUNTER COLLEGE ART GALLERIES
Part of the college’s Department of Art and Art History, the Hunter College Art Galleries have contributed to New York City’s vital cultural landscape since their inception over a quarter of a century ago. The galleries provide a space for critical engagement with art and pedagogy, bringing together historical scholarship, contemporary artistic practice, and experimental methodology. Located on Hunter’s main campus at 68th Street and Lexington Avenue, the Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery presents research-driven historical exhibitions that provide new scholarship on important and often under-represented artists and art movements. The 205 Hudson Gallery on the department’s MFA Studio Art Campus in Tribeca is dedicated to presenting exhibitions and programming that engage issues critical to contemporary art and artists. In Spring semesters, the gallery also hosts a series of MFA thesis exhibitions. The Hunter East Harlem Gallery, located in the Silberman School of Social Work at 119th Street and 3rd Avenue, is dedicated to collaborative social practice and art and artists engaged with issues relevant to the East Harlem community and to the city more broadly.
For more information about exhibitions and public programs visit: huntercollegeartgalleries.org
PRESS INQUIRIES
E-mail Aleeq Kroshian, aleeq.kroshian@hunter.cuny.edu
