Summer/Fall 2013 Summer/Fall The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine in Harlem The Studio Museum The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine Summer/Fall 2013 Studio Magazine Board Of Trustees This issue of Studio is underwritten, Editor-in-Chief Raymond J. McGuire, Chairman in part, with support from Elizabeth Gwinn Carol Sutton Lewis, Vice-Chair Rodney M. Miller, Treasurer Creative Director Teri Trotter, Secretary The Studio Museum in Harlem is sup- Thelma Golden ported, in part, with public funds provided Jacqueline L. Bradley Managing Editor by the following government agencies and Valentino D. Carlotti Jamillah James elected representatives: Kathryn C. Chenault Joan S. Davidson Copy Editor The New York City Department of Cultural Gordon J. Davis, Esq. Samir Patel Affairs; New York State Council on the Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Arts, a state agency; National Endow- Design Sandra Grymes ment for the Arts; Council Member Inez Pentagram Arthur J. Humphrey, Jr. E. Dickens, 9th Council District, Speaker George L. Knox Printing Christine Quinn and the New York City Nancy L. Lane Allied Printing Services Council; Manhattan Borough President Dr. Michael L. Lomax Scott M. Stringer; and New York Council Original Design Concept Bernard Lumpkin on the Humanities. 2X4, Inc. Tracy Maitland Dr. Amelia Ogunlesi Studio is published two times a year The Studio Museum in Harlem is deeply Corine Pettey by The Studio Museum in Harlem, grateful to the following institutional Ann G. Tenenbaum 144 W. 125th St., New York, NY 10027. donors for their leadership support: John T. Thompson Reginald Van Lee Copyright ©2013 Studio Magazine. Bloomberg Philanthropies Booth Ferris Foundation All rights, including translation into other Hon. Kate D. Levin, ex-officio Ed Bradley Family Foundation languages, are reserved by the publisher. Karen A. Phillips, ex-officio Ford Foundation Nothing in this publication may be Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust reproduced without the permission of the The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation publisher. Lambent Foundation Cover Image and Inside Back Cover: Margaret A. Cargill Foundation Senga Nengudi Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation Performance Piece, 1978 The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Image courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben MetLife Foundation Gallery, New York Photo: Harmon Outlaw Rockefeller Brothers Fund Surdna Foundation Target The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Joyce and George Wein Foundation Wells Fargo The Winston Foundation Letter from the Director Packer and Cullen Washington Jr. in September and will feature to this illustrious group! exhibition resources and a robust Expanding the Walls: Making calendar of events and Connections between Photography, performances. History and Community offers Naima J. Keith has spent the another sort of residency experi- last year collaborating with ence. The program gives high London-based independent school–age students a comprehen- curator Zoe Whitley to organize sive course in digital photography The Shadows Took Shape, an and unparalleled access to the exhibition and book that will debut James VanDerZee archive. Make this fall. Shadows is an interdisci- sure to check out their work along- plinary look at contemporary art side VanDerZee’s in Expanding the through the lens of Afrofuturist Walls 2013: No Filter. aesthetics, and will feature many Summer also brings the first solo Studio Museum alumni alongside museum exhibition in New York several international artists exhib- Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for a Houston-based artist you will iting here for the first time. remember from appearances in Every season, year after year, The Bearden Project (2011–12), our most important collaborators The preparation for the summer Frequency (2005–06) and the pages are YOU: our visitors, supporters season—deep in process as I write of this magazine! Robert Pruitt: and friends. Tell us what you think this—is among my favorite times at Women, organized by Assistant and share your stories and pic- the Studio Museum. Not only are Curator Naima J. Keith, features a tures with us. Find us on Twitter the parks and streets of Harlem selection of the artist’s evocative, and Facebook, and check out coming alive with the beginnings of large-format portraits of women. our ever-expanding presence summer, but our staff is busy pre- While the summer season offers on Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, paring for two of our beloved signa- the best of the Museum’s fantastic YouTube and more! ture projects. homegrown projects, this fall is all See you around, online, and— I’m eagerly anticipating our latest about collaboration. We’re thrilled of course—uptown! Artist-in-Residence exhibition, to once again work with Valerie Things in Themselves, organized by Cassel Oliver, Senior Curator at the Assistant Curator Lauren Haynes. Contemporary Arts Museum Each summer we present the work Houston, and a groundbreaking of the three talented artists who scholar of black conceptual art. Thelma Golden have spent a year working in the Together with New York University’s Director and Chief Curator Studio Museum’s third-floor studios. Grey Art Gallery, the Studio Museum A touchstone of the Museum’s pro- will present Radical Presence: Black gramming since our founding in Performance in Contemporary Art, 1968, the Artist-in-Residence pro- originally organized by Oliver in gram boasts more than a hundred Houston in 2012, and brought to alumni, including some of the most New York through the dedication prominent contemporary artists of Assistant Curator Thomas J. Lax working today. I am honored to and Grey Director Lynn Gumpert. welcome Steffani Jemison, Jennifer Radicalpresenceny.com launches Museum Features What’s Up: Exhibition Schedule 5 Artist × Artist: Odili Donald Odita 52 Summer/Fall 2013 on Ayé A. Aton What’s New: Recent Acquisition 6 Artists and the Curatorial Impulse 56 Stanley Whitney Octavia Butler “Positive Obsession” 60 What’s New: Recent Acquisition 8 Fellow to Fellow: Jamillah James and 64 Beauford Delaney Monique Long Harlem Postcards Spring 2013 10 Catching Up with the Artists in 12 Residence Body Language 20 Studio Jr. Expanding the Walls: Percitopia 22 Exploring Art Together 68 Fall 2013: The Shadows Took Shape 24 DIY: Body Language Watercolor 70 Fall 2013: Radical Presence: Black 28 Resist Project Performance in Contemporary Art Five for the Family! 72 Coloring Page 74 Beyond Talking with Teachers 76 In Memoriam: Merton D. Simpson 35 Friends Elsewhere 36 If You Like . 42 Happy Birthday, Sam Gilliam! 79 Book Picks 46 Gala 2012 80 Studio Visit: Torkwase Dyson 48 Spring Luncheon 2013 83 Jayne Cortez “Ballroom Audobon” 50 (In Memoriam) Members 87 Supporters 91 Membership Info and Form 94 Visitor Info 96 Summer/Fall 2013 4 Museum Museum 5 What’s Up Exhibition Schedule Summer/Fall 2013 Check studiomuseum.org for the latest on our exhibitions and programs. July 18–October 27, 2013 Robert Pruitt: Women Things in Themselves: Artists in Residence 2012–13: Steffani Jemison, Jennifer Packer, Cullen Washington Jr. VideoStudio: Long Takes Expanding the Walls 2013: No Filter Body Language November 13, 2013–March 9, 2014 The Shadows Took Shape Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art Always on View Harlem Postcards Glenn Ligon: Give Us a Poem Adam Pendleton: Collected (Flamingo George) Summer/Fall 2013 6 What’s New Recent Acquisition Stanley Whitney by Lauren Haynes, Assistant Curator When the The Studio Museum in Harlem was founded in 1968, it was origi- Corey M. Baylor & nally conceived of as a non-collecting museum. As the Museum and its group Racquel Chevremont Baylor of supporters grew, this policy shifted and the Museum began to accept gifts Judia Black from generous artists and donors. Currently, the Museum’s collection, which Patricia Blanchet numbers close to 2,000 objects, continues to thrive with the addition of Bernard Lumpkin donations of artworks by artists and collectors. In addition to these gifts, Valentino D. Carlotti since 2001, the Studio Museum’s collection has grown through purchases Pippa Cohen thanks to the assistance and guidance of the Museum’s Acquisition Anthony Edson Committee. Helmed by Studio Museum Board Member Nancy L. Lane, the Martin Eisenberg Acquisition Committee meets three times a year to review and select works Godfrey R. Gill presented by the Studio Museum’s Curatorial Department, including this Alvin D. Hall recent acquisition, Untitled (05–2010) (2010) by abstract painter Stanley Nancy L. Lane Whitney. This is the first work of Whitney’s in the Museum’s collection, and it Miyoung Lee continues the Museum’s commitment to supporting artists of African descent Chris E. & Nyssa Lee at all stages of their careers. Without the knowledge and foresight of the Rodney M. Miller Acquisition Committee, the Studio Museum’s collection would not blossom Ruthard C. Murphy II as it does. As the Museum’s collection grows, so does the membership of the Amelia Ogunlesi Acquisition Committee. We would like to thank the current members of the Holly L. Phillips & Jose Tavarez Committee for their support of and dedication to the Museum, our mission Jerome L. & Ellen Stern and artists of African descent. Carol Sutton Lewis Nancy Washington Dawanna Williams Museum 7 Stanley Whitney Untitled (05–2010), 2010 Museum purchase with funds provided by the Acquisition Committee 12.16.1 Summer/Fall 2013 8 What’s New Recent Acquisition Beauford Delaney by Jamillah James, Communications Coordinator and 2012 Curatorial Fellow One of The Studio Museum in Harlem’s spring 2013 exhibitions, Brothers The Studio Museum in Harlem would like to thank Joan Willentz for her generous and Sisters, showcased a selection of later works by painter Beauford donation of Lithographie Afrique. The Studio Delaney (1901–1979), including a recent Museum acquisition, Lithographie Museum’s permanent collection is broadened Afrique (1963). The cross-generational exhibition examined the relationships and enriched through the extraordinary generosity of many collectors, artists and between Delaney’s works made between 1958 and 1969, and works in the Museum supporters.