Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Sackler Center for Feminist Art
Name	Sackler Center for Feminist Art
Established	2007
Location	Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Director	See Brooklyn Museum leadership
Type	Museum center
Website	Brooklyn Museum

Sackler Center for Feminist Art

The Sackler Center for Feminist Art is a curatorial and programmatic hub at the Brooklyn Museum dedicated to the study, display, and promotion of feminist art and artists. Founded amid collaborations between the Brooklyn Museum, philanthropists, and feminist scholars, the Center organizes exhibitions, maintains archives, hosts public programs, and cultivates partnerships with museums, universities, and activist organizations. Its work intersects with histories of feminist movements, contemporary art practices, and institutional collecting networks.

History

The Center opened within the Brooklyn Museum in 2007 following initiatives that involved curators from the Brooklyn Museum, donors connected to the Sackler family, and advisors from institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Tate Modern. Its creation drew on precedents from feminist institutions including the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts, the activist networks of Artists Space, and archival models practiced at the Schlesinger Library and the Smithsonian Institution. Early leadership engaged curators with ties to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The Center’s foundation occurred amid public debates that involved trustees and donors associated with the Brooklyn Museum and philanthropic conversations in the cultural sector involving collectors like Iris and B. Gerald Cantor and foundations such as the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Mission and programming

The Center’s mission articulates commitments to feminist histories exemplified by activists such as Gloria Steinem, scholars such as bell hooks, and artists such as Judy Chicago, Cindy Sherman, and Faith Ringgold. Programming includes exhibitions, symposia, and educational series that partner with academic departments at New York University, Columbia University, and Rutgers University as well as cultural initiatives with the New Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Public events have featured speakers from institutions like the Brooklyn Public Library, collaborators from Artforum and Hyperallergic, and outreach with community groups such as the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. The Center organizes panels with historians from the New-York Historical Society and curators from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Collections and exhibitions

The Center houses the long-term display of major works including installations and tapestries by artists such as Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, Kiki Smith, Nancy Spero, and Miriam Schapiro. Exhibitions have juxtaposed holdings from the Brooklyn Museum with loans from the National Gallery of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and private collections associated with patrons like Eleanor Heyman Propp and collectors linked to the Dia Art Foundation. The Center’s curatorial projects have showcased retrospectives and thematic shows referencing movements connected to Second-wave feminism, artists from the Pattern and Decoration movement, and practices associated with Performance art pioneers such as Carolee Schneemann and Yoko Ono. Collaborative exhibitions have included objects from institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and have been reviewed in outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, and Art in America.

The Feminist Art Base

The Center developed a digital and onsite resource modeled as a research hub comparable to projects at the Getty Research Institute and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. The Feminist Art Base archives interviews with figures such as Rosalyn Drexler, Martha Rosler, Ana Mendieta, and Howardena Pindell and compiles bibliographies referencing scholarship from authors affiliated with Rutgers University Press, Oxford University Press, and Duke University Press. The Base connects to educational curricula used at the School of Visual Arts, the Cooper Union, and the Yale School of Art, and serves as a resource for graduate researchers at programs like CUNY Graduate Center.

Architecture and facilities

Located within the Brooklyn Museum campus in Brooklyn, the Center occupies galleries and program spaces designed to accommodate installations, performance, and archival access, adjacent to the museum’s Egyptian and period rooms. The facility planning involved museum architects who have collaborated with firms that worked on projects for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Tate Britain. Onsite amenities support conservation in partnership with the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts and research access aligned with standards of the International Council of Museums.

Controversy and naming dispute

The Center’s naming association with donors from the Sackler family generated public controversy paralleling disputes involving the Guggenheim Museum, the Tate, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art over philanthropic naming rights. Activist groups such as P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), advocates associated with Mothers Against Prescription Drug Abuse, and journalists from outlets including ProPublica and The New Yorker raised questions that prompted governance reviews by the Brooklyn Museum board and comparisons to policy changes enacted at organizations like the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts. Debates referenced legal actions involving pharmaceutical companies and regulatory scrutiny by bodies such as the U.S. Department of Justice.

Impact and legacy

The Center influenced museum practice by foregrounding feminist curation in programs at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Denver Art Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Its exhibitions and archives have informed scholarship published by researchers affiliated with Columbia University, Princeton University, and Harvard University and have shaped pedagogy in courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Rhode Island School of Design. The Center’s legacy continues through collaborations with international partners such as the Centre Pompidou, the Stedelijk Museum, and the Museo Reina Sofía, and through its contributions to public conversations about representation in collections, acquisition policies at museums like the Brooklyn Museum, and the archival preservation of feminist artistic production.

Category:Feminist art institutions