Thelma Golden

Born: 1965

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: Black

Smith College BA Art History & African-American Studies 1987

"“As a curator, I immersed myself in my work with art and artists. Becoming director meant I had to be responsible for the institution. It was like going from high school to college, and, in order to do it in a way that I felt had authority and integrity, I had to stop curating. Being a director really is about leadership, which includes being a diplomat.” (newyorker.com); “When I was fifteen, I decided I wanted to be a curator. There’s probably something terrible about that, because I’ve never done anything else. I was always on that path, and it was frictionless all the way. I understood that my time was never my own, it had to make sense for others. It had to open up space for others. But I feel that I am where I want to be, doing exactly what I am meant to be doing.” (newyorker.com); “The art world is still the last bastion of exclusivity,” (encyclopedia.com); “Often, it makes me laugh when people who have never been to the museum would come visit, . . .The two things people would often say is that they thought I’d be taller and that the museum would be much bigger.” (latimes.com); "

— Thelma Golden

Field of Study: Art Curator

Institution/Corporation: The Studio Museum in Harlem; Smith College; Whitney Museum of Modern Art

Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degrees: New School (2022); Columbia University (2018); Barnard College (2010); CCNY (2009); San Franscisco Art Institute (2008); Smith College (2004); Moore College of Art & Design (2003); Bard College; Member: Association of Art Museum Directors; Board of Creative Time (New York); Board of the Institute of Visual Arts (London); Board of Trustees LA County Museum of Art (2016); Committee for the Preservation of the White House (2010-2016); Board of the Barack Obama Foundation; American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2018)

Awards: 2008 Henry Crown Fellow, Aspen Institute; 2014 named #33 on The 100 Most Powerful Women in Art, Artnet; 2016 Audrey Irmas Award for curatorial Excellence; 2018 J. Paul Getty Medal; 2024 name 1 of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, Time magazine; 2023 W.E.B. DuBoios Medal, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University; 2023 Dorothy & Lillian Gish Prize; 2015 Ford Foundation Fellow; 2010 Barnard Medal of Distinction, Barnard College

Achievements: one of the originators of the term post-blackness; organized numerous innovative exhibitions of art by African-Americans & mentored the careers of numerous African-American artists; spearheaded the construction of the first-ever purpose-built facility in the Studio Museum’s history; helped produce the revolutionary 1993 Biennial and curated the groundbreaking exhibit Black Male, which examined destructive and persistent stereotypes about African-American masculinity;