DRAWING CENTER
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| DRAWING CENTER | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Drawing Center |
| Established | 1977 |
| Location | New York City, New York, United States |
| Type | Art museum |
DRAWING CENTER is a non-profit art institution in New York City dedicated to the exhibition, collection, and interpretation of works on paper, with an emphasis on contemporary drawing practice and historical drafts. It presents rotating exhibitions, commissions, publications, and educational programs that place drawings in dialogue with works by artists associated with institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and collections like the Art Institute of Chicago. The institution engages with artists, curators, and scholars linked to movements and events including Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Conceptual art, Fluxus, and biennials such as the Venice Biennale and Documenta.
History
Founded in 1977, the institution emerged amid a surge of alternative spaces in New York alongside venues like PS1 Contemporary Art Center and The Kitchen, responding to curatorial initiatives from figures connected to Guggenheim Museum, Tate Modern, and the National Gallery of Art. Early exhibitions featured artists with ties to Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Eva Hesse, Agnes Martin, and Sol LeWitt, aligning with collectors and patrons from circles around Andy Warhol, Leo Steinberg, and Kenneth Silver. Over decades, programming referenced historical parallels with archives such as the Library of Congress and collaborations with curators from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Texas Contemporary Art Fair.
Architecture and Facilities
Housed in a landmarked building in Manhattan, the venue's facilities were reimagined in renovations comparable to projects at Carnegie Hall and conversions like the High Line adaptive reuse. Galleries are arranged to accommodate installation strategies seen in Guggenheim Bilbao and the Dia:Beacon model, with climate-controlled paper storage resembling practices at the National Gallery (London) and the Hermitage Museum. The building contains spaces for curatorial offices, conservation labs mirroring standards at the Getty Conservation Institute, a small bookstore linked to publications by Tate Publishing and Rizzoli, and an auditorium for talks akin to programming at the New Museum and Lincoln Center.
Programs and Exhibitions
Exhibition series have ranged from solo surveys of artists such as Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Elizabeth Murray, Christopher Wool, Julie Mehretu, Alice Neel, Brice Marden, Rachel Whiteread, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Anish Kapoor, Ellsworth Kelly, Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Marina Abramović to thematic shows referencing movements like Surrealism, Dada, Constructivism, Neo-Expressionism, and dialogues with institutions including the Frick Collection, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Pratt Institute. Public programs include commissions, residencies with partners such as Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, panel discussions with scholars from Columbia University, Princeton University, Yale University, and collaborations with curatorial teams from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
Collections and Acquisitions
The collection emphasizes drawings, studies, and works on paper by artists linked to Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Georges Seurat, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Marc Chagall, as well as contemporary practitioners like Cindy Sherman, Robert Smithson, Jenny Holzer, Tracey Emin, Rirkrit Tiravanija, William Kentridge, Kerry James Marshall, Glenn Ligon, Mickalene Thomas, Yoko Ono, Takashi Murakami, and Ai Weiwei. Acquisitions follow conservation protocols akin to the Smithsonian Institution and accession practices used by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Education and Outreach
Educational initiatives include school partnerships, docent-led tours modeled after programs at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, studio workshops influenced by curricula from the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design, and scholarly symposia with contributors from Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, Bard College, and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard. Outreach extends to community collaborations with organizations like Teachers & Writers Collaborative, arts councils such as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and summer intensives echoing residencies at Yaddo and MacDowell Colony.
Governance and Funding
Governance is overseen by a board of trustees with practices similar to governance at the Metropolitan Opera and fundraising strategies paralleling campaigns at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and philanthropic partnerships with foundations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and corporate sponsors akin to patrons of the Tribeca Film Festival and the Armory Show. Funding models include annual giving, endowments, government cultural grants comparable to awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, and revenue from ticketing and publications.
Reception and Influence
Critical response has been chronicled in publications like The New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, ArtReview, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and the Washington Post, and the institution's influence is cited in scholarship from universities including Columbia University, New York University, and Harvard University. Its role in highlighting works on paper has informed curatorial practice at the Museum of Modern Art and inspired exhibitions at regional institutions such as the Walker Art Center, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Dallas Museum of Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Zimmerli Art Museum.