Acts of Art in Greenwich Village

The Hunter College Art Galleries are pleased to present Acts of Art in Greenwich Village, the first comprehensive account of the six-year history of Acts of Art, a gallery dedicated to showcasing  the work of Black artists in downtown Manhattan.

Artists: Benny Andrews, James Denmark, Reginald Gammon, Harlan Jackson, Nigel Jackson, Ben Jones, Loïs Mailou Jones, Dindga McCannon, Enid Richardson Moore, Ademola Olugebefola, Ann Tanksley, Lloyd Toone, Frank Wimberley, Hale Woodruff.

Founded by artists Nigel Jackson and Patricia Grey in 1969, Acts of Art was first located at 31 Bedford Street and later moved to 15 Charles Street in the West Village. In 1971, the gallery mounted Rebuttal to the Whitney Museum Exhibition, the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition’s strategic response to the Whitney’s concurrent Contemporary Black Artists in America. That same year, the gallery hosted the inaugural exhibition of the Black women artists collective Where We At. Before Acts of Art closed in 1975, it presented one- and two-person exhibitions by twenty-six different artists, and numerous group exhibitions. Acts of Art in Greenwich Village centers Acts of Art and its director’s curatorial vision, tracing the gallery’s exhibition history as it intersects with other histories of Black art and artists in New York—and with formations like the BECC, Where We At, and the Weusi Artists. Installed in Hunter College’s Leubsdorf Gallery, the exhibition features artworks from the late 1960s and 1970s by fourteen artists with close ties to the gallery, a number of which were first shown at Acts of Art. 

Curated by Howard Singerman, Phyllis and Joseph Caroff Professor of Art History, with Katie Hood Morgan, Chief Curator and Deputy Director, and with MA and MFA students enrolled in the Advanced Curatorial Certificate Seminar. Curatorial fellows: Eve Arballo, Kelis George, and Nicolas Poblete.

This exhibition is made possible by the Leonard A. Lauder Exhibition Fund Endowment. 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.

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 that situate the gallery within the broader Black Arts Movement. The publication is designed by Natalie Wedeking and edited by Howard Singerman with Re’al Christian and Katie Hood Morgan.

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.