(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- On a late fall afternoon, a young woman in her early 20s walked up to the reception desk of the Studio Museum in Harlem and asked, politely, how she could exhibit her own work in the institution’s galleries. Given that the Studio Museum is one of the kingmakers of the international art scene—thanks to the leadership of director Thelma Golden—the request was a bit fantastical.
But Golden has made a point of nurturing talent from the surrounding neighborhood, so the receptionist promptly shared material about the museum’s residency program. “What makes this institution unique is the way in which we see our role,” says Golden of the museum she’s led for 12 years. “We are devoted to the presentation, interpretation, stewardship, and collection of artwork. But we also see ourselves as advocates for the artists themselves.”
Golden grew up in Queens and studied art history at Smith College. She began her career at the Studio Museum in 1985, first as an intern while she was still in college, then as a fellow in the curatorial department after graduation. In 1988 she moved to the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she made her name by organizing exhibitions such as “Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art.”
“She could probably have gotten any job when she left the Whitney,” says Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. But Golden chose to return to the Studio Museum as its deputy director in 2000. Leaving a superbly funded, comparatively large institution and going to the Studio Museum “was rather a brave choice,” Eccles says. In 2005 the museum named Golden its director and chief curator.
Golden was appointed to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House in 2010 and joined the board of the Obama Foundation in 2015. Most recently, she was one of three people who advised the former first family on which artists to choose for their official portraits.
Golden has proved an able fundraiser for the Studio Museum, raising 70 percent of a $175 million capital drive. Part of that will fund the construction of a new home in a larger building designed by the British architect David Adjaye, in collaboration with the firm Cooper Robertson. The building, Golden says, “will allow us to serve our artists, our collection, our audience, and our neighborhood in the way that it deserves.”
To contact the author of this story: James Tarmy in New York at jtarmy@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jillian Goodman at jgoodman74@bloomberg.net, Chris Rovzar
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