ArtCrawl Harlem

The Studio Museum in Harlem is a major cultural institution in the New York neighborhood, devoted to contemporary art by African American artists, the African diaspora, and Africa. Founded in 1968 in response to the limited access Black artists had to established institutions, it has grown from a small studio above a liquor store into a fixture of the cultural landscape. After a move to a former bank building, the museum closed in 2018 for a complete rebuild, which opened in November 2025. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the seven-story building on West 125th Street echoes Harlem's urban fabric and stands out with its large windows and open atrium. Here you can see rotating exhibitions and an extensive permanent collection of nearly 9,000 works by more than 800 artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kerry James Marshall. Architectural highlights include a freestanding granite staircase that creates sight lines between floors, as well as striking artworks such as David Hammons's Pan-African flag at the entrance and Glenn Ligon's neon installation in the foyer.