For some considerable time, the Studio Museum in Harlem was the singular important cultural establishment for art by African Americans. It is still one of the most significant museums in N. Y, and on the planet , for art that chronicles the African-American experience, poignantly although not exclusively in urban environments. The work displayed here includes African-American works and twentieth century Afro-Caribbean pieces, as well as conventional African art and artifacts. The social aspect of art is very much on show in the permanent collection of the Studio Museum, as well as a consistent theme of hunting for the African identity in an American context.

The Studio Museum has earned a tremendous amount of recognition from the community of museums in New York City, very much due to its Artists in Residence program, which encourages several emerging studio and gallery artists of African descent to live on location while they create. This allows the artists to create art, network in the community and begin successful careers. In addition, the museum serves as a hub for the Harlem arts community by hosting lectures, panels, dialogues, classes and performances on a good range of current affairs related to the African-American experience.



Located on 125th St, a little more than a dozen blocks north of Central Park in Harlem, the Studio Museum is very much an organic product of its environment. This Harlem museum is close to numerous other famous locales, including the legendary Apollo Theater. Down the street, the NY Public Libraryis a few blocks east, and there are also a bunch of parks, including the Morningstar Park and Central Park. The location itself is a historic landmark, full of plaques and notes of significance. Once a ghetto for liberated slaves and persons fleeing the oppressive Jim Crow laws in the latter 1800s and early 1900s, Harlem changed into a cultural treasure in the 1920s and continues to play a vital role in African-American culture.

The permanent collection of the Studio Museum in Harlem includes over 1,600 works by noted African-American artists, both in the Harlem community and around the country. These artists, including Melvin Edwards, Terry Adkins, Robert Colescott, Lois Mailou Jones, Hector Hyppolite, Norman Lewis, Betye Saar, Nari Ward and others have definitely had a result on the art world as well as in the larger African-American community. The overall theme of all the art work within this museum is the Black identity; the museum is an important and interesting location for everyone with an abiding interest in American history to go visit and take in. Particular themes include black liberation politics, dance, expressionism, roots and music, as well as the subjects of racism, sexism and the urban experience. These subjects might be controversial to some visitors, but they represent a punctual, significant discourse throughout the broader American culture about the roles, perceptions and expectations of African-Americans in it, and it's one of many important museums in NY to find out about a variety of ideas, new and old.