Robert Rauschenberg’s New York Pictures from the Real World @ Museum of the City of New York

Robert Rauschenberg’s New York 

Pictures from the Real World 

Museum of the City of New York

September 13, 2025 – April 19, 2026

In celebration of the centennial of Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008), and in partnership with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) presents Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World, a major exhibition. This dynamic show explores Rauschenberg’s innovative integration of photography and found objects into his art, reflecting his deep engagement with “the real world” and his complex relationship with New York City.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of postwar New York, Rauschenberg’s irreverent approach to art-making pushed the envelope for an entire generation, reshaping the art world in New York and around the world. At the heart of his practice was a desire to incorporate the tangible world around him into his art. Gathering materials and inspiration from his surroundings, he often brought found objects and images sourced or reproduced from magazines and newspapers into his paintings and sculptures. But Robert Rauschenberg was not merely a user of found imagery; he was also a photographer with a bold creative vision—an essential aspect of his artistic practice that is the focus of the exhibition.

The show is organized into three sections—Early Photographs, In + Out City Limits, and Photography in Painting—tracing the evolution of Rauschenberg’s photographic practice and its interplay with painting, sculpture, and assemblage. His earliest images are largely intimate portraits and experiments with formal elements such as framing, light and shadow, and flattening the picture plane.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is In + Out City Limits, a three-year (1979–81) photographic survey conducted across the United States—a project Rauschenberg had originally conceived decades earlier as a student at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. His New York photographs from this project reveal his fascination with the signs and symbols of human culture, even in the most humble or discarded remnants of the city. Together, these photographs emphasize his observational rigor and his constant effort to channel the fleeting, ineffable moments of life into his work—revealing a deep sensitivity to the social landscape.

In addition, the exhibition presents a selection of works created between 1963 and 1994 that combine Rauschenberg’s New York City photographs with images taken around the world, illustrating how he recontextualized his photographic imagery through his innovative creative process.

“By incorporating photographs and everyday objects into his artworks, Robert Rauschenberg placed the realities of life at the center of his art, blurring traditionally held boundaries between the two and compelling us to look more closely at the world around us,” said Sean Corcoran, Senior Curator of Prints and Photographs at MCNY. “Our exhibition will highlight Rauschenberg’s enduring relevance, as his work continues to resonate in an increasingly image-saturated world.”

“The Museum of the City of New York is thrilled to honor Robert Rauschenberg’s centennial,” added Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Ronay Menschel Director and President of MCNY. “This exhibition not only underscores Rauschenberg’s profound impact on the art world but also celebrates his deep connection to New York City, which shaped much of his creative journey. We are grateful to the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation for its partnership and support, which makes this exploration of his transformative work possible.”

Courtney J. Martin, Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, remarked, “We are honored to support the Museum of the City of New York’s thoughtful and timely exhibition. New York was not only a backdrop for Rauschenberg’s practice, it was also a catalyst for the ways that his objects would take shape for the entirety of his career. This exhibition reminds us how the city’s energy, texture, and unpredictability were central to his groundbreaking approach to artmaking.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated companion book, co-published by MCNY and Giles Ltd, featuring contributions from Sean Corcoran and Helen Hsu, Associate Curator for Research, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

About the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation builds on the legacy of artist Robert Rauschenberg, emphasizing his belief that artists can drive social change. Rauschenberg sought to act in the “gap” between art and life, valuing chance and collaboration across disciplines. As such, the Foundation celebrates new and even untested ways of thinking.

About Rauschenberg 100

Robert Rauschenberg’s (1925-2008) strong conviction that engagement with art can nurture people’s sensibilities as individuals, community members, and citizens was key to his ethos. The Centennial celebrations seek to allow audiences familiar with him and those encountering the artist for the first time to form fresh perspectives about his artwork. A year of global activities and exhibitions in honor of Rauschenberg’s Centennial reexamines the artist through a contemporary lens, highlighting his enduring influence on generations of artists and advocates for social progress. The Centennial’s activation of the artist’s legacy promotes cross-disciplinary explorations and creates opportunities for critical dialogue. 

For more information and continued updates on Centennial programming and news, visit rauschenberg100.org

MCNY - MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

www.mcny.org

Bienvenue: African American Artists in France @ Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York

Bienvenue: African American Artists in France 

Michael Rosenfeld, New York

Through July 25, 2025

“There is a breadth, a generosity, an obsolete cosmopolitanism about her [France's] recognition of the fine arts, which bars no nationality, no race, no school, or variation of artistic method. All she asks is that the art shall be true, in other words that it shall set forth life.”—Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1908 [1]

“Life in Paris offers me the anonymity and objectivity to release long-stored memories of sorrow, and the beauty of the difficult effort to release and orchestrate in form and color a personal design. Being in France gives time for reflection. One never leaves home if one was never there.”—Beauford Delaney, 1966 [2]

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery presents Bienvenue: African American Artists in France, a historical survey of seventeen Black American artists who lived and worked in France from the late nineteenth century through the present. Complementing the landmark exhibition Paris Noir: Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950–2000, on view at the Centre Pompidou through June 30th, Bienvenue offers an expanded look into the presence of Black American artists in France, many of whom were seeking respite from the systemic racism that limited their opportunities for education and the recognition of their work in the United States. Where Paris Noir encompasses artists of the larger African diaspora working in the second half of the twentieth century, Bienvenue: African American Artists in France focuses specifically on American artists, and spans nearly eight decades in its chronological scope, beginning with a 1912 painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) and ending with a 1989 sculpture by Barbara Chase-Riboud (b.1934).

Bienvenue: African American Artists in France features works by Richmond Barthé (1901–1989), Barbara Chase-Riboud (b.1934), Ed Clark (1926–2019), Robert Colescott (1925–2009), Harold Cousins (1916–1992), Beauford Delaney (1901–1979), Herbert Gentry (1919–2003), Sam Gilliam (1933–2022), Palmer Hayden (1890–1973), Richard Hunt (1935–2023) William H. Johnson (1901–1970), Augusta Savage (1892–1962), William Edouard Scott (1884–1964), Albert Alexander Smith (1896–1940), Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), Bob Thompson (1937–1966) and Hale Woodruff (1900–1980).

Widely regarded as the patriarch of Black American artists, Henry Ossawa Tanner remains a foremost painter of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the first Black American artist to achieve international fame. His relocation from Philadelphia to Paris in 1891 set a precedent that would inspire future generations of Black American artists to train, reside, or sojourn in France, including Harlem Renaissance master William Edouard Scott, who studied under Tanner from 1910–13. Likewise, Palmer Hayden, Augusta Savage, and Hale Woodruff each sought an audience with the elder master during their time in France in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to invaluable advice on navigating the mores of French society, Tanner also provided guidance on painting techniques and openly shared his understanding of art. In a 1970 issue of The Crisis, Hale Woodruff recalled his formative encounter with Tanner in 1928. Traveling to the small town in Picardy where Tanner lived in semi-retirement, Woodruff introduced himself to “a remarkable man of profound intelligence and scholarship,” who welcomed the young artist into his home. Upon asking who had most inspired him in the Parisian museums, Woodruff recalled Tanner’s nomination of Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne as the most important painters of the modern age, elaborating:

“Remember that light can be many things: light for illuminating an object or for creating a mood; for purposes of dramatization as in a theatrical production. For myself, I see light chiefly as a means of achieving a luminosity, a luminosity not consisting of various light-colors but luminosity within a limited color range, say, a blue or blue-green. There should be a glow which indeed consumes the theme or subject. Still, a light-glow which rises and falls in intensity as it moves through the painting. It isn’t simple to put into words.”[3]

Though the country was not free of racism, France generally afforded Black artists and intellectuals greater respect and more opportunities than the United States during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Such was the environment that prompted James Baldwin to make Paris his home in 1948, and he spent the ensuing years encouraging his good friend Beauford Delaney to join him. Delaney eventually agreed, moving from his Greene Street loft in Greenwich Village to Montparnasse in 1953. Delaney would remain in the vicinity of Paris for the remainder of his life, composing a singular body of gestural, chromatically nuanced abstractions and a celebrated series of portraits that reflect the creative and spiritual inspiration he felt in the European capital. “I left New York for Paris in 1953, and I have painted with greater freedom ever since,” Delaney wrote some ten years after leaving the United States. “I tried to paint light, different kinds of light, and my painting has been associated with ‘abstraction.’ But there are no precise limits for me between ‘abstract’ and ‘figurative’ paintings and I have always continued to paint portraits of friends.”[4] Beauford Delaney is a particularly strong presence in Paris Noir, which features twelve paintings by the artist, eight of which are on loan from Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.

While Paris has always been a cultural hub for creatives and intellectuals, many artists featured in Bienvenue traveled to the countryside or coast to paint, following the tradition of the Impressionist and modernist masters that inspired them. The exhibition offers key examples of this tradition, including maritime paintings by Palmer Hayden and a coastal scene by Tanner executed along the coast of Brittany; a seminal painting by William H. Johnson depicting the idyllic coastal town of Cagnes-Sur-Mer; a landscape portraying the island of Port-Cros off the French Riviera by Delaney; and a scene of the Eure river by Woodruff executed in Chartres.

The cosmopolitan hub of Paris was a natural attraction for Black American artists, who found the city’s architecture, social spaces, and creative circles to be rich sources of inspiration. Several works in the exhibition feature distinctly Parisian subjects, including Richmond Barthé’s iconic sculpture of Senegalese cabaret dancer Feral Benga; William Edouard Scott’s transcendent portrayal of Notre Dame; and a classic rendition of the Pont Neuf by Hale Woodruff. Parisian nightlife is likewise a recurring theme of the exhibition; in addition to Barthé’s bronze portrait of Benga, drawings by Robert Colescott and Albert Alexander Smith depicting cabaret performances are also on view.

Opportunities for education and art training were another primary draw for many artists, particularly in the postwar era. The exhibition features two abstract paintings by Ed Clark, who enrolled at L'académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1952; major sculptures by Harold Cousins, who studied at Ossip Zadkine’s studio in 1949; and a quintessential abstract painting by Herbert Gentry, who likewise studied under Zadkine and at L'académie de la Grande Chaumière in the late 1940s. Four paintings by Bob Thompson are also on view; executed during his first trip to Europe in 1961–62, these works testify to the hours Thompson spent at the Louvre and Paris’ many other museums, soaking up the compositional devices of the Old Masters and translating them into thoroughly contemporary paintings using his own unique expressionist voice.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is recognized for modern and contemporary art. Since its founding in 1989, the gallery has been committed to expanding the canon of American art by championing artists who have made vital contributions to surrealism, social realism, abstract expressionism, figurative expressionism, and geometric abstraction. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s dedication to presenting the work of nineteenth and twentieth century Black American masters is as longstanding as the gallery itself; in addition to dozens of solo exhibitions focused on Black American artists, the gallery organized the renowned annual exhibition series African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks from 1993–2003.

Notes:

[1] Henry Ossawa Tanner quoted in Dewey F. Mosby, Across continents and cultures: The Art and Life of Henry Ossawa Tanner (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1995), 7–8

[2] Beauford Delaney quoted in John Ashbery, “American Sanctuary in Paris,” ARTnews Annual vol. 31 (1966): 146

[3] Tanner quoted in Hale Woodruff, “My Meeting with Henry O. Tanner,” The Crisis (June 1970), reprinted in Explorations in the City of Light: African-American Artists in Paris, 1945-1965, exh. cat. (New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1996), 11

[4] Beauford Delaney, artist statement, “Beauford Delaney - Career as a Creative Artist,” c.1963, Beauford Delaney collection, Sc MG 59, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library, New York, NY

MICHAEL ROSENFELD GALLERY

100 Eleventh Avenue @ 19th, New York, NY, 10011

www.michaelrosenfeldart.com

Bienvenue: African American Artists in France 

Michael Rosenfeld, New York, May 10 – July 25, 2025

Related Posts:

Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962 

Grey Art Museum, New York University, March 2 - July 20, 2024

Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction 1964 - 1980

Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, April 5 - July 2, 2006

Exhibition Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100 @ Museum of the City of New York

Changing the Face of Democracy: 

Shirley Chisholm at 100

Museum of the City of New York

Through July 20, 2025

Thomas J. O’Halloran 

“Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm announcing her candidacy 

for the presidential nomination Cong. Chisholm, 

Cong. Charles B. Rangel, Cong. Parren Mitchell, 

Cong. Bella Abzug,” January 25, 1972, 

Library of Congress, LC-U9-25384- 7B

Celebrating more than a century as New York’s storyteller, the Museum of the City of New York presents, Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100, which is on view through July 20, 2025. As the first major museum presentation dedicated to the legendary Shirley Chisholm, it delves into the life and legacy of this trailblazing legislator, whose contributions to our nation’s public policy endure today.

Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100 marks the centennial of the late Chisholm’s birth. It seeks to ignite the same charismatic spark and passion for democratic processes that fueled Chisholm's policy work and grassroots campaigning. The exhibition unfolds in the Museum's second-floor North Gallery, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in the multi-dimensional story of this barrier-breaking figure.

The exhibition promises a multifaceted exploration of Chisholm's journey via three captivating sections: Brooklyn Life, Political Career, and Legacy. It weaves a tapestry of Chisholm’s life and times using historical artifacts, photographs, archival footage, and art.

Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100 examines the impact of a woman whose advocacy shaped politics and policies. It highlights Chisholm's Caribbean heritage and her position as a diasporic figure, delving into her pioneering significance as the first Black woman Brooklyn sent to the state legislature, the first Black woman elected to Congress, and her groundbreaking presidential campaign in 1972. Moreover, it underscores how her legacy reshaped American democracy for future generations of politicians and ordinary citizens alike.

Dr. Sarah Seidman, Puffin Foundation Curator of Social Activism and co-curator of the exhibition, notes, "In Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100, we aim to explore Shirley Chisholm’s endeavors and her enduring influence. From championing causes like reproductive justice, tackling food insecurity, to advocating for voting rights, the exhibition examines how this singular figure emerged from diverse New York networks to serve as a catalyst for change. These networks illuminate Chisholm's impact on the past, present, and future of New York City."

Dr. Zinga A. Fraser, co-curator of the exhibition and Assistant Professor in the Africana Studies Department and Women's and Gender Studies Program, as well as the Director of the Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women's Activism at Brooklyn College, shares, “The inclusion of the Chisholm Project's oral histories in the exhibition serves as poignant reminders of Chisholm's contemporary relevance, underscoring not only her groundbreaking achievements but also the ongoing resonance of her legacy globally. Showcasing Chisholm as a figure whose influence transcends generations, Changing the Face of Democracy hopes to inspire a new wave of political engagement, reaffirming the enduring relevance of her contributions."

Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100 - Key highlights include:

• Rarely exhibited paintings from the 1970s by Faith Ringgold

• A costume worn by Regina King in the 2024 Netflix film "Shirley"

• A vibrant Carnival headdress designed by Kenneth Antoine, paying homage to the annual West Indian Day Parade, which Chisholm helped establish in Brooklyn in 1969.

• Memorabilia from Chisholm's inaugural presidential campaign

• Portrait of Shirley Chisholm by Sherman Beck

• A collection of photographs and mementos from Chisholm's early life, including her wedding portrait and college diploma

• Materials from Chisholm’s first political campaign intended to topple machine politics in Brooklyn

• An iconic image of Chisholm captured by the renowned photographer Richard Avedon

• Oral histories that offer personal insights into Chisholm's enduring legacy, featuring contemporary perspectives from figures such as Gloria Steinem, Sonia Sanchez, David Dinkins, and Basil Paterson

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street

www.mcny.org 

Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection @ Museum of the City of New York

Above Ground 

Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection

Museum of the City of New York 

November 22, 2024 – August 10, 2025

“There are people who see the graffiti experience as a vocation of adolescence, rites of passage without a sense of direction... But I saw it early on as a catalyst to develop as a painter and explore the other horizons outside of a 40-foot subway car.” – Lee Quiñones

The Museum of the City of New York presents Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection, an extraordinary exhibition tracing the evolution of graffiti art from its roots on the streets of New York City in the early 1970s to recognition and celebration in galleries and museums worldwide. 

Above Ground showcases work drawn from the Museum's substantial graffiti art collection, complemented by loans from private collections. It highlights the transition many graffiti artists made from tagging subway cars to creating paintings on canvas, marking a pivotal moment in the movement's evolution as it entered broader public awareness and significantly influenced global culture. 

The exhibition highlights many never seen donated 30 years ago by the visionary artist and collector Martin Wong – including works in aerosol, ink, and other mediums by key figures such as Keith Haring, Futura 2000, Fab 5 Freddy, Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Haze, Crash, Lady Pink, and Tracy 168.

“Above Ground celebrates the 30th anniversary of Martin Wong’s donation to the museum and the 10th anniversary of MCNY’s initial City as Canvas exhibition,” says Sean Corcoran, Senior Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum of the City of New York. “This show offers a renewed and expanded look at graffiti’s journey from NYC streets to the most prestigious galleries around the world.”

The exhibition is organized into several sections, highlighting the origins of graffiti and its broader cultural impact, particularly the Post-Graffiti movement. The exhibition touches on the East Village scene, and the impact of early indie galleries such as Fun Gallery, Fashion Moda, and others that showcased graffiti on canvas. It considers the art form’s initial international success and underscores the legacy of Martin Wong and his commitment to preserving the art form.

Select exhibition highlights include:

• Martha Cooper’s photographs of work by Keith Haring and more;

• Lee Quiñones’ monumental painting, A Life Takes a Life (1983);

• TRACY 168 from ESSY Studio sketch pad (1980);

• Rammellzee’s Atomic Note (1986) and Atomic Futurism (1987);

• A-One’s spray paint on canvas work, Beauty of a Beast (In Memory of Bear 167) (1987);

• Photographs from Henry Chalfant’s Subway Art series, including Skeme and Daze and Kel Crash;

• DAZE spray paint on canvas pieces, Phobia (1983) and French Dream. Life Below Aerosol (1984);

• Several pieces from KAWS’ collection, including DONDI’s Bishop of Battle (1985); and Martin Wong’s Sharp and Dottie (1984);

• A documentary by Charlie Ahearn on Martin Wong’s collection, offers a deeper understanding of the art and its historical context.

Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York, adds, “Born in New York City, graffiti is now a global phenomenon This exhibition not only celebrates the artistic contributions of graffiti artists, reflects the dynamic and everevolving culture of our city, and explores how New York’s art and popular culture influences the world.”

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

www.mcny.org

This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture @ MCNY - Museum of the City of New York

This Is New York 

100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture

Museum of the City of New York

Opens to the public Friday, May 26, 2023

Richard Estes 

M Train on Route to Manhattan Approaches the Williamsburg Bridge. 1995 

Copyright Richard Estes, Courtesy of Louis K. Meisel Gallery

Berenice Abbott 

Tempo of the City I. 1938

Museum of the City of New York 

Museum Purchase with funds from the 

Mrs. Elon Hooker Acquisition Fund, 1940. 40.140.249

Beautiful or menacing…opulent or awful…lively or lonely…fun or frightening…inspiring or irritating…New York City has been a muse for myriad artists over the last 100 years. In celebration of its Centennial, the Museum of the City of New York presents This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture, an interactive and sweeping exhibition examining what NYC has meant to people, including artists, writers, and other creators who have been inspired by the city. The exhibition features more than 400 objects across visual art, television and film, music, theater, literature, and fashion; a digital bookshelf interactive voiced by celebrities such as Matthew Broderick, Rosario Dawson, Lea DeLaria, Tessa Thompson, and more; as well as a must-see immersive film experience highlighting the sights, sounds, and significance of the city in cinema. 

“Around the world, billions of people have an idea of what New York City is because they have learned about the city through movies, television, music, literature, photography, and more. The city is an object of perpetual fascination that is interpreted and reinterpreted and continues to inspire creators across different genres,” says Sarah M. Henry, the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator and Interim Director of the Museum of the City of New York. “In honor of the Museum of the City of New York’s centennial – and to underscore our role as NYC’s storyteller—we’re thrilled to present This Is New York, an exciting new exhibition celebrating the city's vibrant art and pop culture scene over the past century and showcasing works from artists, musicians, and other creators who have helped define the city's cultural identity.”

The exhibition, which takes over MCNY’s entire third floor, features several key sections:

• TEMPO OF THE CITY, which looks at how artists have captured various aspects of joy and struggles evident on the streets of NYC. Some key objects and elements in this section include:

o Berenice Abbott’s Tempo of the City, a black and white photograph from 1938 capturing New Yorkers as they rush around, utterly absorbed in their own daily lives;

o Jimi Hendrix’s handwritten notebook, which includes lyrics for the legendary guitarist’s song, Electric Ladyland (courtesy of the Museum of Pop Culture);

o Homage to the People of the Bronx: Double Dutch at Kelly Street—La Freeda, Jevette, Towana, Staice, a relief sculpture by John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres that expresses the joy and expertise of Double Dutch jump rope (on loan from The Broad Art Foundation);

o Taxi Driver storyboards, hand-drawn by the classic film’s director, Martin Scorsese, on loan from the Academy Award-winner’s private collection; 

o Martin Wong’s Desire – a series of paintings in gilded frames, depicting brick walls – the artist’s interpretations of his “blighted” East Village neighborhood of the 1980s (from the collection of KAWS); and

o Carrie Bradshaw’s tutu ensemble from the pilot of Sex and the City, designed by Patricia Field, underscoring the idea of the city as a playground and runway (on loan from North Center Productions).

o Also in this section, Songs of NY, a specially created interactive map featuring music inspired by the city’s streets and subways, with songs representing all five boroughs. Visitors will step into the installation to learn the history of and hear snippets from more than 100 songs, from the 1920s to the 2020s, including Jennifer Lopez’s Jenny from the Block (Bronx) and The Mills Brothers’ Coney Island Washboard (Brooklyn) to The Ramones’ Rockaway Beach (Queens), Wu-Tang Clan’s C.R.E.A.M. (Staten Island) and Ella Fitzgerald’s Drop Me Off in Harlem (Manhattan).

Salman Toor 

Bar Boy, 2019 

© Salman Toor; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York 

Photo: Farzad Owrang. Courtesy of The Whitney Museum of Art

• DESTINATION NYC highlights how artists have represented the places where New Yorkers spend their free time: from iconic, commercial entertainment districts like Times Square and the city’s countless drinking, dining, and dancing spots, to the thousands of public parks, beaches, and private corners where New Yorkers find refuge. Key objects and images featured include:

o Edward Hopper’s New York Movie revealing the grand interior of a midtown movie house -- and a female usher in a pensive moment (on loan from The Museum of Modern Art);

o Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach story quilt, which imagines a Harlem rooftop as a sociable gathering place and spot for flights of the imagination (on loan from Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation);

o Romare Bearden‘s joyous mixed media collage, Jammin' at the Savoy, offering a dialogue between painting and music, and a tribute to the iconic Savoy Ballroom (on loan from The Studio Museum);

o Salman Toor’s painting, Bar Boy, depicting a young man at a queer bar in New York, engrossed by his cell phone as a crowd of late-night revelers flows around him (on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art);

o An exquisite hand-beaded NY skyline cape by Zang Toi, created as a tribute to the designer’s “beloved adopted home, New York City.”

Elinor Carucci 

Emma in Her Room, Shelter-in-Place Time, Corona Days. 2020

© Elinor Carucci. Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery 

• AT HOME IN NEW YORK offers a cozy enclave to explore depictions of home in NYC – with both its comforts and challenges. Original artwork, photographs, manuscripts, and other unique objects are presented alongside an interactive digital bookshelf with iconic TV shows such as The Honeymooners, The Jeffersons, and Living Single as well as 20-plus books, brought to life by boldface names including Matthew Broderick, Ronnie Chieng, Rosario Dawson, Lea DeLaria, Peter Hermann, Diane Lane, Sonia Manzano, Joe Pantoliano, Alison Stewart, Tessa Thompson, and Qian Julie Wang.

• YOU ARE HERE is a one-of-a-kind immersive film experience, created in partnership with the awardwinning production company, RadicalMedia. Featuring footage from 400-plus film scenes made in and about New York City, it was curated with the assistance of a committee of film scholars, programmers and experts. (List below.) The experience incorporates movies from every decade and borough - including An Affair to Remember (1957), Black Swan (2010), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Coming to America (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Fame (1980), The French Connection (1971), Ghostbusters (1984), Killer’s Kiss (1955), King Kong (1933), Love Story (1970), Manhandled (1924), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Naked City (1948), Paris Is Burning (1990), Rear Window (1954), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Shaft (1971), Speedy (1928), Summer of Soul (2021), Taxi Driver (1976), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), The Naked City (1948), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Warriors (1979), Uncut Gems (2019), Wild Style (1982), Working Girl (1988), and many more. And, just outside the screening room is Scenes from the City, a selection of behind-the-scenes shots curated by noted architect, author, and filmmaker James Sanders, featuring productions that have been filmed on location in NYC.

This Is New York is the tentpole exhibition of a year-long centennial celebration marking the Museum’s anniversary and its role in connecting the past, present, and future of the city.

Dr. Henry adds, "We are excited to celebrate our Centennial by offering a diverse range of exhibitions and events that showcase the rich cultural heritage of New York City. Through these offerings, we hope to inspire our visitors to engage with the city's past, present, and future and to deepen their understanding of what makes New York the most dynamic and influential city in the world."

The other exhibitions and events tied to MCNY’s 100th year include:

EXHIBITIONS:

• New York Now: Home – a new photography triennial, which launched in March, showcases the works of 33 emerging and established photographers exploring the concept of "home" in the context of New York City. The exhibition is on view through August 2023.

• MCNY Collections exhibition celebrating the Museum’s founding and highlighting the city's history will feature objects from the Museum's costume, decorative arts, painting, toy, and theater collections -- many of which have not been displayed in decades. On view starting October 2023.

• Manny Vega, a retrospective exhibition honoring the work of the New York City-based artist Manny Vega --known for his colorful murals and mosaics that capture the spirit of the city's Latino culture-- will open in December 2023.

PROGRAMMING:

• Film Forum presents a four-week festival from May 12 - June 8th called The City: Real and Imagined. Inspired by MCNY’s centennial exhibition, the festival will present 60+ NYC-related films including The Sweet Smell of Success, The Naked City, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Klute, The Landlord, and more. The full line-up can be found on the Film Forum website.

• On Wednesday, May 24th, the Museum’s centennial gala will honor former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with the Gotham Icon Award in recognition of his steadfast dedication to NYC and his commitment to paving the way for countless generations of New Yorkers.

• In June 2023, MCNY will launch New York on Film: Decade by Decade, a monthly film and speaker series featuring studio, independent, and documentary films reflecting what was going on in NYC at the time they were made. Curated by film programmer Jessica Green, the series offers a journey through New York City, decade by decade, over the last century.

• On June 5th, Brooklyn-born actor and director John Turturro will sit down with journalist and WNYC radio host Alison Stewart for an intimate conversation about what it means to be an artist in New York City. Part of the annual Robert A. and Elizabeth R. Jeffe Distinguished Lecture in Urban History series.

This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture was curated by Sarah M. Henry, Monxo López, Frances A. Rosenfeld, and Lilly Tuttle, with the support of Centennial Research Fellow Naomi Fischer.

Studio Joseph designed the exhibition with graphic design by Marissa Martonyi and Olivia de Salve Villedieu; DOME Collective created the interactive installations including the title motion graphic, Songs of New York, and the digital bookshelf; RadicalMedia produced the You Are Here immersive film; and James Sanders, FAIA curated the Scenes from the City installation, inspired by his book of the same name.

The Centennial Honorary Committee includes Charlie Ahearn; Alec Baldwin; Matthew Broderick; Tituss Burgess; Ric Burns; Sewell Chan; Ronny Chieng; Justin Davidson; Rosario Dawson; Lea DeLaria; Jane Dickson; Dan Doctoroff; Kimberly Drew; Douglas Durst; Michael Eaves; Jennifer Egan; Grandmaster Flash; Mariska Hargitay; Peter Herman; Chamique Holdsclaw; Rich Kleiman; Diane Lane; Min Jin Lee; Joe Lhota; Nancy Lieberman; Sonia Manzano; Darryl McDaniels; Audra McDonald; Jay McInerney; Luis A. Miranda, Jr.; Regina Myer; Joe Namath; Lynn Nottage; Mimi Plange; Zachary Quinto; Eni Popoola; Anthony Ramos; Willis Reed; Emmy Rossum; Russ & Daughters; Amy Sedaris; John Schaefer; Amy Scherber; Annabelle Selldorf; Lucas Sin; Ben Sinclair; Alison Stewart; Ellen Hart Sturm; Hank Willis Thomas; Suzanne Vega; Qian Julie Wang; and Pam Weekes.

The New York Century Exhibition Advisors include Agnes Berecz (Adjunct Associate Professor of History of Art and Design at Pratt); Garnette Cadogan (Tunney Lee Distinguished Lecturer in Urbanism of the School of Planning and Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Roz Chast (cartoonist, author, and contributor to The New Yorker); Ken Chen (Assistant Professor and the Associate Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College); Vinson Cunningham (writer, The New Yorker); Thomas Dyja (author and novelist); Jiayang Fan (journalist and staff writer at The New Yorker); Julia Foulkes (Professor of History at The New School for Public Engagement); Richard Koszarski (Professor Emeritus of English and Film at Rutgers); Jeff “Chairman” Mao (author, music journalist, DJ, and curator); Leonard Marcus (children’s book scholar, historian, author and critic); Elena Martínez (Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center and a Folklorist at City Lore); Ed Morales (lecturer at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and CUNY Graduate School of Journalism); James Sanders (architect, author, and filmmaker); and Lucy Sante (Visiting Professor of Writing and Photography at Bard College).

The You Are Here curatorial committee includes Bruce Goldstein (film programmer, Film Forum); Jessica Green (film programmer and curator); Carlos V. Gutierrez (film and television director); Richard Koszarski (Professor Emeritus of English and Film at Rutgers); Melissa Lyde (founder of Alfreda's Cinema); Lucy Jane Mukerjee (Senior Programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival); Frances Negrón-Muntaner (filmmaker, writer, curator, scholar, and professor at Columbia University); Jake Perlin (Creative Director of Cinema Conservancy and was the founding Artistic Director and Director of Programming for Metrograph); and JT Takagi (independent filmmaker and sound recordist).

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

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New York Now: Home @ MCNY - Museum of the City of New York

New York Now: Home

Museum of the City of New York

March 10 - August, 2023

Gail Albert Halaban

“Valentines, East 10th Street, Greenwich Village, New York,” 

from the series “Out My Window” 2022 

Courtesy of Gail Albert Halaban

There’s no place like home…home is where the heart is…home, sweet home…feeling at home. There are many evocative and iconic expressions about the concept, but what does home in New York City look like today? New York Now: Home – the inaugural edition of the Museum of the City of New York’s new contemporary photography triennial – considers the literal places we dwell and the homes we choose to make, exploring the many facets of contemporary homemaking in and around New York’s five boroughs. Inspired by the Museum’s landmark presentation of the same name in 2000, New York Now will occur every three years with different themes. Co-curated by Thea Quiray Tagle, Ph.D., associate curator of the Brown Arts Institute and the Bell Gallery at Brown University, and Sean Corcoran, MCNY's senior curator of prints and photographs, New York Now kicks off the Museum’s centennial year programming.

"New York City is the world center of photography and has been a source of inspiration for generations of image-makers going back to the advent of the medium itself,” says Sarah M. Henry, Ph.D., Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator and Interim Director, Museum of the City of New York. “As New York’s storyteller for a century, Museum of the City of New York has collected and exhibited the best of this work since its founding in 1923. We are excited to launch our centennial celebrations with New York Now, our new series of photography exhibitions that will engage themes and issues of the contemporary city.”

“Lens-based work has an immediacy, an intimacy, and the power to build a connection between the artist, the subject, and the viewer that is unlike other media,” says Sean Corcoran. “With this, and future installations of New York Now, we have the opportunity to reflect and promote a range of perspectives and to highlight both established and emerging talents focusing on themes of relevance to New York, New Yorkers, and the experience of urban life.”

Xyza Cruz Bacani

“Liberty” from the series "We Are Like Air: NYC" 2022

Courtesy of Xyza Cruz Bacani

Laila Annmarie Stevens

“Jada and Aaliyah, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY,” 

from the series “A House Is Not Home” 2022 

Courtesy of Laila Annmarie Stevens

New York Now: Home is organized in four sections:

● Home Crosses Borders explores the experiences of working, finding community, and making home for immigrant and refugee communities in New York City – with works by image-makers including Cynthia Santos-Briones, Alan Chin, and Diana Guerra.

● Home Is Chosen highlights queer kinship and the power of creating family formations bound together by choice rather than blood. Featuring images by artists including Richard Renaldi, Laila Annmarie Stevens, and Joana Toro.

● Home Is a Haven presents diverse class and race expressions of home, family, and community, with images that challenge the ideal of home as a site of safety and protection from the outside world. Featuring works by image-makers such as Ariana Faye Allensworth and the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP); Sara Bennett; and Chantal Heijnen & Lou van Melik.

● Home Is The Body shares images by artists including Nona Faustine, Cheryl Mukherji, and Dean Majd, who use their bodies –and portraiture– to grapple with intergenerational trauma and social histories of place.

Paul Moakley

“Family and Friends Arrive at My Sister’s House For a Pre-prom Party, 

Tottenville, Staten Island.” June 2, 2019 

Courtesy of Paul Moakley

Cheryl Mukherji

Playing Eve, from the series 

“Wanted Beautiful Home Loving Girl” 2021 

Courtesy of Cheryl Mukherji

“One of the things that makes New York Now: Home’s images distinctive is, in large part, the photographers’ gaze,” says Thea Quiray Tagle, Ph.D., co-curator of the exhibition. “The image-makers featured in the exhibition are engaged with their subjects, often working collaboratively with them to share their powerful stories. The results are unique and often underexposed perspectives of making home in New York that we may not see via mainstream media or in contemporary art representations.”

Featuring 33 image-makers whose work ranges from social documentary to conceptual, the exhibition celebrates the diversity of what home, family, kinship, and community are – and can be – in New York, now.

The artists featured in New York Now: Home are:

● Ariana Faye Allensworth

● Xyza Cruz Bacani

● Roy Baizan

● Laylah Amatullah Barrayn

● Sara Bennett

● Amarise Carreras

● Cinthya Santos-Briones

● Alan Chin

● Sally Davies

● Maureen Drennan

● Nona Faustine

● Naima Green

● Diana Guerra

● Gail Albert Halaban

● Chantal Heijnen & Lou van Melik

● Ramona Jingru Wang

● Anders Jones

● Jamel Shabazz

● Neil Kramer

● Dean Majd

● Alan Michelson

● Paul Moakley

● Cheryl Mukherji

● Ian Reid

● Richard Renaldi

● Irina Rozovsky

● Geralyn Shukwit

● Laila Annmarie Stevens

● The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

● Joana Toro

● Linda Troeller

● Nolan Trowe

● Elias Williams

New York Now: Home is the result of the intense curatorial labor of sifting through submissions from more than 1,000 artists who answered a public call for images, as well as nominations for consideration made by the curators, the advisory committee—Michael Famighetti (Editor of Aperture magazine); Nicole Fleetwood (curator, writer, 2021 MacArthur Fellow, and Weldon Johnson Professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University); Kris Graves (artist and founder of Monolith Editions); Kristen Lubben (curator, writer, and Executive Director of Magnum Foundation); and Brian Wallis (director of the Center for Photography at Woodstock and former chief curator of the International Center for Photography)— as well as institutional partners such as Aperture, The Bronx Documentary Center, CityLore, Penumbra, Photoville, and Queens Museum of Art.

An eponymous catalogue was published by KPG | Monolith Editions.

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

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New York, New Music: 1980-1986 @ Museum of the City of New York

New York, New Music: 1980-1986

Museum of the City of New York

Opens June 11, 2021

JANETTE BECKMAN

LL Cool J NYC. 1985

Courtesy of the photographer

Museum of the City of New York, the city’s storyteller for almost 100 years, today shared details for New York, New Music: 1980-1986, a new exhibition that revisits the music scene of early 1980s New York City. The exhibition examines this transformative era through the lens of emerging pivotal music genres and the influence they played on New York’s broader cultural landscape. Opening in advance of MTV’s 40th anniversary in August, the exhibition highlights diverse musical artists—from Run DMC to the Talking Heads, from Madonna to John Zorn— to explore the broader music and cultural scene, including the innovative media outlets, venues, fashion, and visual arts centered in the city during that time.

“The early 1980s were a time of significant transition in New York, with the city facing crime, urban decay, and homelessness. And yet, despite those challenges, it was also a particularly fertile time for music and other creativity in New York City,” says Whitney Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director and President, Museum of the City of New York. “The musical innovations of this time period are a great example of the resilience of the city and the importance of art and creativity as forces of transformation.”

New York, New Music: 1980-1986 is organized around a series of key “moments” and features more than 350 objects, including video footage, photography, artifacts, and ephemera. such as:

• Photographs by Janette Beckman, Martha Cooper, Joe Conzo, William Coupon, Bob Gruen, Laura Levine, Ebet Roberts, Chris Stein and others

• Flyers for Beastie Boys; Bad Brains; Sonic Youth; Teenage Jesus; The Feelies; and Gray and DNA at CBGB

• An MTV Music Awards Moon Person Award Statue

• Vinyl Records from Madonna, Funky 4+1, Liquid Liquid, and Konk

• A Zoot Suit and hat worn by Kid Creole

• A t-shirt and other ephemera from Keith Haring and DJ Larry Levan’s “Party of Life” event at Paradise Garage

• Guitars from Tim Wright, Arto Lindsay, and Richard McGuire

• “Merman” costume worn by Joey Arias in “Mermaids on Parade” at Danceteria

• Music videos and rare concert footage including Grand Master Flash; Fort Apache Band; Lounge Lizards; Cyndi Lauper; and more.

“During the 80s, there was a community-driven musical renaissance in New York City. It was an era of creativity and genre-defying performance that, in my mind, stands as one of the most influential in musical and cultural history,” says Sean Corcoran, curator of prints and photography, Museum of the City of New York. “That wide range of music –from no wave to pop to hip-hop to salsa to jazz, mixed in a dynamic arts scene that stretched across clubs and bars, theaters, parks, and art spaces– provided fertile ground for a musical revolution — one that continues to influence pop culture to this day.”

Those performances and moments, some with long-lasting influence, others that brought together a confluence of performers and underscored the fluidity of the participants in the cultural scene, are  highlighted in the main gallery of New York, New Music. Viewed together, these examples provide a sense of the innovation, energy, and cross-pollination of musical ideas that was happening across the city at the moment of openness and creativity.

The 14 featured moments (listed chronologically) include:

• KID CREOLE and the COCONUTS @ DANCETERIA (1980)

In 1980, Kid Creole and the Coconuts led a revue of nearly a dozen musicians to perform their danceable genre-bending music at Danceteria, appealing to the still-dancing disco denizens, die-hard New Wavers, and everyone in between.

• DNA and GRAY @ CBGB (MARCH 22, 1980)

The pairing of these two influential groups was emblematic of that pivotal moment in the downtown No Wave scene.

• TALKING HEADS @ CENTRAL PARK (AUGUST 27, 1980)

Five years after first taking the stage at CBGB (opening for the pioneering punk rock group the Ramones), the Talking Heads played a sold-out concert at Wollman Rink in Central Park. For the first time, the band expanded beyond the classic quartet of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth, bringing in an array of musicians.

• FUNKY 4 + 1 @ SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (FEBRUARY 14, 1981)

Marking the very first time a hip-hop group performed live on national TV, Funky 4 + 1-- including hip hop’s first female MC, Sha Rock--was invited to perform on SNL by that evening’s host and musical guest, Debbie Harry of Blondie.

• BEYOND WORDS @ MUDD CLUB (APRIL 9, 1981)

This graffiti art exhibition and performance by DJ Afrika Bambaataa, the Cold Crush Brothers, and the Fantastic Five helped propel a new era in New York’s new music. Fred Brathwaite (aka Fab 5 Freddy) curated the show along with the artist Futura 2000. 

• NOISE FEST @ WHITE COLUMNS (JUNE 16–24, 1981)

In the early 1980s, an expansive cohort of musicians was still exploring the possibilities of “noise.” Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore curated a lineup around the theme, and what was envisioned as a one-day program quickly snowballed into a nine-day watershed event.

• KONK vs LIQUID LIQUID @ TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK (AUGUST 9, 1981)

Liquid Liquid and Konk both formed in New York City in 1980, and they quickly developed reputations for their slightly off-kilter music, driven by groove-based, danceable funk rhythms. The friendly rivalry between the groups and the marketing genius around it turned this concert into a sensation.

• MADONNA @ DANCETERIA (DECEMBER 16, 1982)

An ambitious 24-year-old using just her first name took to the second-floor stage at Danceteria on December 16th, 1982 to publicly perform her own music for the first time. Madonna’s debut appearance, and the single for Sire Records, served as a springboard to fame; the release of her self-titled album quickly followed in 1983.

• NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL @ BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC (1982–83)

An important springboard for new music in the 1980s came from the venerable Brooklyn Academy of Music’s (BAM) second edition of its Next Wave series. The season-long festival featured an unprecedented number of artists, including Steve Reich, Glenn Branca; Laurie Anderson; Max Roach and the dance team of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, a milestone of innovation and interdisciplinary performance.

• KEITH HARING’S PARTY OF LIFE @ PARADISE GARAGE (MAY 16, 1984)

Artist Keith Haring’s (with DJ Larry Levan) first Party of Life, a birthday celebration that was a rapturous convergence of art, music, and performance, featured a star-studded guest list with performances by Madonna and John Sex.

• RUN-DMC and THE TREACHEROUS THREE @ GRAFFITI ROCK (JUNE 29, 1984)

History was made in June of 1984 when the first syndicated hip-hop TV show was recorded on a soundstage in Midtown Manhattan. The show featured groundbreaking acts, including Run-DMC’s performance of their hit single, “Sucker MCs,” as well as Kool Moe Dee and Special K, two MCs from the veteran trio The Treacherous Three. The MCs provided the show’s introduction, breaking down the elements of hip hop, including breakin’, DJing, and the verbal stylings of MCs, all on a graffiti-laden set.

• JOHN ZORN @ ROULETTE (OCTOBER 13, 1984)

One of avant-garde composer John Zorn’s most influential “game pieces” --genre-defying musical compositions designed for controlled improvisation-- Cobra was presented at Roulette, the TriBeCa alternative art space.

• FORT APACHE BAND @ MICKELL’S (DECEMBER 31, 1985)

On New Year’s Eve 1985, the Bronx-based Fort Apache Band played multiple sets at Mikell's, a jazz club on the corner of 97th Street and Columbus Avenue. The music that evening embodied the group’s animating project: to explore the creative intersection of Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican musical traditions with jazz.

• ARTHUR RUSSELL @ EXPERIMENTAL INTERMEDIA FOUNDATION (SEPTEMBER 22, 1985)

A groundbreaking moment in the New York experimental music scene came in the fall of 1985, when Arthur Russell staged several performances at the Experimental Intermedia Foundation in SoHo.  

As well, the show’s main gallery incorporates three large screens in the gallery that includes live performances from Charlie Ahearn's Wild Style - with Grand Master Flash, Cold Crush Brothers and The Fantastic Five; Michael Holman's footage of DJ Jazzy Jay at Club Negril in 1981; rare live film of the Bush Tetras, Lounge Lizards, The Raybeats, and Bad Brains from the GoNightclubbing Archive; video of James White and the Blacks and Defunkt by Charles Libin and Paul Cameron; video of Del Byzantines, Material, Sun Ra and ESG live at Hurrah's by Merrill Aldigheiri and a performance of "Mermaids on Heroin" with Joey Arias, shot by Courtney Harmel.

Visitors also have the opportunity to enjoy some of the quintessential moments in a retro-feeling suburban rec room inspired space, developed in collaboration with video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong (the GoNightclubbing Archive) — the team behind the original Video Lounge for Danceteria in the early 1980s. This incarnation of the installation features a mix of found footage, video art, and their own archival film of downtown musicians like the Dead Boys, Heartbreakers, and Bush Tetras; along with rare early MTV interviews with New York-based artists such as David Johansen, Madonna, and RUN DMC; footage of Vernon Reid and Willoughby Sharp from the Willoughby Sharp Downtown Cable Show; and The Scott and Gary Show, a Brooklyn-based public access program, including early performances by Beastie Boys and R Stevie Moore.

New York, New Music: 1980-1986 wraps up by highlighting the shifting trajectory of NYC’s music scene in the mid-80s, which was impacted by the surging economy, struggles of club owners to remain open in the face of tightening restrictions and rising rents, and the HIV/AIDS crisis and crack cocaine epidemic which both ripped through the communities where artists lived and worked. 

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

www.mcny.org

City of Workers, City of Struggle @ Museum of the City of New York - How Labor Movements Changed New York

City of Workers, City of Struggle: How Labor Movements Changed New York 
Museum of the City of New York
Through January 5, 2020

ILGWU President David Dubinsky and Liberal Party leader Alex Rose rally voters for LBJ, RFK, and Hubert Humphrey, Seventh Avenue. Burton Berinsky, 1964.  Courtesy Kheel Center for Labor‐Management Documentation & Archives, Cornell University

City of Workers, City of Struggle: How Labor Movements Changed New York at the Museum of the City of New York traces how New York became the most unionized large city in the United States. For more than two centuries, New York City has been an incubator and battleground of movements by and for working people and today, 24 percent of New York City workers are unionized, compared to the national average of 11 percent. This exhibition examines the social, political, and economic story of the diverse workers and movements in New York through rare documents, artifacts, photographs, archival film footage, and interactive features.

“You cannot understand the history of New York City without understanding the history of labor movements here,” said Whitney Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York. “Through this exhibition, visitors will learn how labor movements evolved over two centuries in New York, the current state of affairs for workers, and what the future may hold.”

New York City—Grand Demonstration of Workingmen, Sept 5th—The Procession Passing the Reviewing Stand at Union‐Square. Published in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 16, 1882. Wood engraving. Courtesy Private Collection

"Labor movements have been central to the rise of the city that we know today. It's exciting that City of Workers, City of Struggle explores New York’s rich labor history, and also gives voice to contemporary labor activists and working people as they face the opportunities and challenges of a rapidly changing urban economy," said Steven H. Jaffe, curator of the exhibition.

City of Workers, City of Struggle follows the progression of the labor movement by breaking the history into four segments and then looking toward the future. The exhibition begins with the section “In Union There is Strength,” which documents the 19th century when there was a shift from the artisan to wage worker through the development of new patterns of work and employment, as well as new technology. This will be exemplified in the exhibition by an enormous wrench used to build the Brooklyn Bridge. It will also include an illustration of the day in 1882 when New York’s Central Labor Union launched the nation’s first Labor Day to underscore Labor’s efforts to secure better pay, hours, and working conditions.

The exhibition moves on to the period of 1900–1965 with the section “Labor Will Rule,” looking at an era when New York’s unions gained monumental power. By 1950, New York City had about one million union members representing at least a quarter of the entire workforce. However, this power was not equally shared as female, African American, Latino, and Asian American New Yorkers still fought obstacles to their presence in union ranks and leadership.

Picketing ILGWU members outside Macy's department store urge shoppers not to buy Judy Bond blouses. Circa 1965. Courtesy Kheel Center for Labor‐Management Documentation & Archives, Cornell University

“Sea Change,” the third section, focuses on the years between 1965 and 2001. Over the preceding decades, hundreds of thousands of new immigrants had joined African Americans from the South and Puerto Ricans in coming to New York to seek opportunity. The city’s fiscal crisis in 1975, and a growing anti‐union mood in local and national politics, led to challenges for the movement to organize labor. These developments coincided with court and federal agency decisions that scaled back legal protections earlier won by organized labor. Together, they began a long weakening of unions’ economic and political power, as many New Yorkers worried about the costs of union contracts to the city and as the number of unionized workers declined nationwide. Between 1960 and 2000, New York City lost more than 650,000 manufacturing and port jobs as businesses automated or moved away in pursuit of lower wages and taxes, and fewer regulations.

By the 1970s, a new militancy fueled the activism of previously marginalized workers: women, African Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Asian Americans were challenging union establishments. As union membership declined in private industry, organizations of government employees and service workers (hospital, maintenance, security, clerical, and others) increasingly became engines of upward mobility for thousands of New Yorkers.

The last section, “New Challenges,” looks at how New York activists after 2001 continued to reshape the future of labor by broadening the agenda to confront issues ranging from racial profiling to sexual violence, LGBTQ equality, environmental safety, and citizenship status. Worker Centers and other new community organizations used foundation grants, legal action, and public pressure to help non‐unionized and undocumented workers. In a changing economy, this “Alt Labor” or “New Labor” movement also mobilized people who worked as freelancers or in a succession of jobs.

Although New York remains the most unionized city in the United States today, current realities are challenging. Conflicting visions for the city’s future have sometimes pitted different groups of organized workers against each other. Yet local labor activists have also achieved important recent victories, including paid family leave, guaranteed sick leave, and a $15 minimum wage.

The exhibition is organized by curator Steven H. Jaffe with the help of a distinguished panel of scholars.

Scholarly Advisory Committee: Joshua B. Freeman, chair, Rachel Bernstein, Michelle Chen, Margaret Chin, Richard Greenwald, Louis Hyman, Alice Kessler‐Harris, Richard Lieberman, Stephen McFarland, Premilla Nadasen, Kimberly Phillips‐Fein, Christopher Rhomberg, Aldo Lauria Santiago, Robert W. Snyder, Michael Spear and Clarence Taylor.

City of Workers, City of Struggle

How Labor Movement changed New York

Edited by Joshua B. Freeman

Columbia University Press

A companion publication takes a deeper dive into some of the topics touched in the exhibition. City of Workers, City of Struggle features essays by leading historians of New York along with vivid depictions of work, daily life, and political struggle. Edited by Joshua B. Freeman, Distinguished Professor of History at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, it is published by Columbia University Press and is available for $40 in the Museum shop.

City of Workers, City of Struggle is presented in collaboration with the Kheel Center at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University and the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at NYU.

Exhibition Committee:

Governor David A. Paterson, Co‐Chair

Patricia Smith, Co‐Chair, Senior Counsel, National Employment Law Project Law Project; former New York State Commissioner of Labor

Vincent Alvarez, President, New York City Central Labor Council, AFL‐CIO

Esta R. Bigler, Director, Labor and Employment Law Program, Cornell University ILR School

Marco Carrión, Commissioner, Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs

Janella T. Hinds, UFT Vice President, Academic High schools, United Federation of Teachers

Ed Ott, Active in the Labor Movement for more than 50 years

Roberta Reardon, Commissioner, New York State Department of Labor

Lorelei Salas, Commissioner, New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection

Maritza Silva‐Farrell, Executive Director, ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York

Lara Skinner, Executive Director, The Worker Institute, Cornell University ILR School

Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO, Partnership for New York City

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
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