Public invited to view the free exhibit on Fridays, noon to 7 p.m., November 5 - January 2 at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building

The New York State Office of General Services (OGS) today announced a new exhibit, “Seeing Harlem,” will open Friday, November 5 at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building. The exhibit will feature photographs by 13 New York State Harlem Art Collection artists, including Dawoud Bey, James Van Der Zee, Louis Draper, and Anthony Barboza.

“The ‘Seeing Harlem’ exhibit continues OGS’s celebration and recognition of visual artists whose work during and after the Harlem Renaissance elevated the community’s reputation in the art world,” OGS Acting Executive Deputy Commissioner Roslyn Watrobski said. “The images in this free exhibit will provide the public with a wonderful opportunity to see how some of the most influential photographers of their time captured images that chronicle Harlem’s rich cultural and social history.”

From the 1920s through the mid-1970s, the social and historical documentation of Harlem became an art in its own right, depicting not only personal experiences and the evolution of the artistic community but also the community at large. In a time of widespread racism and inequality, Harlem artists were largely underrepresented and even unseen. This, in part, became a catalyst for some artists to seek empowerment and agency within artist collectives in Harlem.

“Seeing Harlem” includes works by Anthony Barboza, Dawoud Bey, Roger Caban, Adger Cowans, Roy DeCarava, Louis Draper, Jimmie Marras, Ted Portiflet, George L. Robinson, Ed Sherman, Coreen Simpson, James Van Der Zee, and Shawn Walker.

From November 5 through January 2, the “Seeing Harlem” exhibit will be on view in the Powell Building’s second-floor Art Gallery and Community Room from noon to 7 p.m. each Friday. Hours may vary on December 24 and 31. The building is located at 163 West 125th Street.

Additional information on the exhibit and other events at the Powell Building can be found here.

In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, visitors to the Powell Building are required to wear facemasks regardless of vaccination status.

The New York State Harlem Art Collection

The New York State Harlem Art Collection was conceived in 1976 to draw the public’s attention to art that celebrated the contributions of the Harlem art community. A Harlem State Office Building Committee on Arts and Culture was established in 1975 by then-Senator H. Carl McCall and included State and City leaders, as well as representatives of the Harlem business community.

Based on the committee’s recommendations, the State amassed a collection of more than 100 pieces of art, including paintings, sculptures, photography, prints, and mixed-media, by 65 artists. Several of these artists are now considered major contributors to the history of American art with works that can be found in MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the National Museum of African American History & Culture, the Tate Modern, and as part of major national and international exhibitions.

Collection History

In 1977, the Harlem State Office Building Committee on Arts and Culture held a ceremony to announce works chosen for the Harlem Art Collection. The following year, an exhibition, “Selections from the Harlem State Office Building,” opened and included many of the newly purchased artworks, including Masquerade by Jacob Lawrence.

Throughout the 1980s, art from the collection was exhibited regularly, interspersed with special exhibitions in the building, which was renamed the “Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building” in 1983.

In the mid-1990s, most of the collection was moved into storage in the basement of the building to make way for exhibits of works by local contemporary artists and student artists in the community.

Several pieces of the Harlem Art Collection experienced water damage in 2006 when broken pipes caused flooding in the basement. The collection was then moved to the building’s 13th floor storage area, where it remained in poor condition and hidden from public view for five years.

The collection was rediscovered when renovations were being planned for the 13th floor, and the art was temporarily relocated to Albany in 2012 to assess its condition. Individual pieces that required specialized attention were sent out for conservation, repairs, cleaning, and restoration.

As conservation of the collection continued in 2019, works were brought back to the Powell Building for the “Harlem Roots” exhibit, which marked the first time art from the collection was available for public viewing since the mid-1990s. The “Harlem Roots” exhibit featured works by artists in the collection, such as Jacob Lawrence, Roy DeCarava, Palmer Hayden, and Elizabeth Catlett.

A second exhibit, “Harlem Art Then and Now: Celebration of Community Contemporary Art,” opened in February 2020 and featured selections from the collection alongside works by contemporary Harlem artists from outside the collection. The exhibit was the result of a collaborative effort among OGS, The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, the Harlem Arts Alliance, and the International Agency for Minority Artist Affairs.

Plans to schedule additional exhibits in 2020 that would feature pieces from the collection on a revolving basis were placed on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.