Thelma Golden
Curriculum Vitae
Thelma Golden is the Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs at The Studio Museum in Harlem. Before her appointment, she was the Special Projects Curator for Peter and Eileen Norton, contemporary art collectors and philanthropists based in Los Angeles, California. Prior to working with the Nortons, Golden was a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. At the Whitney, she was Curator and Director of Branch Museums from 1996-1999; Associate Curator from 1993-1996, Director and Exhibition Coordinator, Whitney Museum at Phillip Morris 1991-1993. She began her career at the Whitney in 1988 as Curatorial Assistant. Thelma Golden received a B.A. in art history and African American Studies from Smith College, Northampton, MA.
At the Whitney Museum, Thelma Golden organized many exhibitions including
Hindsight: Recent Work from the Permanent Collection (1999),
Bob Thompson: A Retrospective (1998),
Heart, Mind, Body, Soul: New Work from the Collection (1998),
Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary Art (1994-1995),
1993 Biennial Exhibition (directed by Elisabeth Sussman.)
At the Whitney @ Philip Morris, she conceived and organized a site-specific commissioning program and organized 18 projects with artists including Alison Saar, Glenn Ligon, Gary Simmons, Romare Bearden, Matthew McCaslin, Suzanne McClelland, Y. David Chung, Lorna Simpson, Jacob Lawrence and Leone & MacDonald.
In addition to her curatorial work, Thelma Golden teaches, lectures, and writes about contemporary art, cultural issues, and the curatorial practice nationally and internationally. She is an adjunct professor at the School of the Arts at Columbia University, and has been a member of the faculty at Yale University and Cornell University. She is a member of the Graduate Committee at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.
She has been a guest lecturer, curator and essayist for projects at numerous institutions including the Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, The ICA / Philadelphia, Harvard University, The ICA / London, and the Miami Art Museum. She has also served on funding and selection panels for the Pew Charitable trust, The MacArthur Foundation, The Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions, The Alpert Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts among others. She has contributed essays to publications about Carrie Mae Weems, Bill T. Jones, Kara Walker, and Glenn Ligon. She is a story consultant for Egg: The Arts Show a production of WNET/Channel 13. She serves on the boards of Creative Time, Inc. and Exit Art: The First World in New York City and the Visiting Committee of the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, MA.