Black SoHo
Every founding, loft acquisition, exhibition, and space-defining moment referenced across two essays on Black SoHo — from Romare Bearden’s 1956 loft to Camille Billops’s death in 2019.
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Romare Bearden acquires a loft
One of the first Black artists to hold his own downtown space.
East Village
Ed Clark co-founds Brata Gallery
Artist-run cooperative; Clark returns to New York from Paris.
Spiral collective is founded
By Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, and Emma Amos, among others.
64 Grand Street
Norman Lewis moves into his SoHo studio
Maintained until his death in 1979.
131 Prince Street
Coleman purchases two floors in the building
Bought from the Fluxus co-op, at the suggestion of Yoko Ono.
451 West Broadway
Vivian Browne acquires her loft
Guided to SoHo by friend and neighbor Norman Lewis.
32 King Street
Emma Amos establishes herself in SoHo
Youngest and only female member of the Spiral collective.
Astor Place
Cinque Gallery founded at Astor Place
Cofounded by Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, and Ernest Crichlow.
Citywide
Browne co-founds the BECC
Black Emergency Cultural Coalition protests museum exclusion of Black artists.
131 Prince Street
Ornette Coleman founds “Artist House”
A multidisciplinary incubator for music performance and art exhibition.
131 Prince Street
Frederick J. Brown visits Coleman’s loft
Arrives from Chicago that summer; calls it “Shangri-La” for the downtown avant-garde.
SoHo
SoHo Artists Association organizes
Lobbies for rezoning to let artists legally live in industrial lofts; members included Vivian Browne and Ornette Coleman.
New York
Billops completes her sculpture Mother
Distills her biomorphic, dreamlike visual language.
101 Spring Street
Ed Clark’s solo show at Donald Judd’s loft
This was one of the era’s rare crossings between Black SoHo and the mainstream SoHo art scene.
SoHo
New York City legalizes residential use of SoHo lofts
A turning point that let artists legally live and work in the neighborhood’s industrial lofts.
131 Prince Street
Artist House hosts visual-art exhibitions
Includes shows by Camille Billops (1973) and Vivian Browne (1974).
120 Wooster Street
Frederick J. Brown founds his loft studio
Founded that winter; a 5,000+ sq. ft. hub for multidisciplinary exchange.
SoHo loft
Billops & Hatch found their archive
The Hatch-Billops Collection, later formalized via Artists and Influence.
491 Broadway
Billops & Hatch acquire their loft from George Maciunas
Becomes a gathering place for artists, writers, and activists.
131 Prince Street
Billops’s Ceramic Sculptures exhibition
Her first New York show.
New York
Emma Amos paints Eva the Babysitter
Later exhibited at Tate Modern’s Soul of a Nation (2017).
120 Wooster Street
Brown’s film Portrait of an Artist
Made with Anthony Ramos; renders the loft as a creative stage.
131 Prince Street
Browne’s solo show at Artist House
Featured Seven Deadly Sins, Guard of the Palace and her Little Men series.
The Bowery
Kenkeleba House founded on The Bowery
Cofounded by Joe Overstreet, Corrine Jennings and Samuel C. Floyd.
Harlem
David Hammons arrives from Los Angeles
Works from Harlem but stays in constant, transient contact with the downtown scene.
New York
Norman Lewis paints Sheaves
Inspired by time at Jack Whitten’s Crete residence with Ed Clark.
SOHO20 Gallery
Billops speaks on “Third World Women” panel
On Oct. 13, alongside Vivian Browne, Howardena Pindell, and Faith Ringgold.
New York
Norman Lewis dies
Had maintained his SoHo studio since 1967.
SoHo
Billops joins SOHO20 as a full member
Vivian Browne becomes a member around the same time.
Heresies collective
Browne joins Third World Women project
Continues her active role in race and feminism discourse.
SoHo loft
Billops & Hatch launch Artists and Influence
Self-financed oral-history journal, running for thirty years.
New York
Emma Amos creates Swing
Incorporates weaving into painting and prints.
100 Prince Street
Basquiat works in Annina Nosei’s basement
Blocks from Frederick J. Brown’s 120 Wooster Street studio.
Downtown Manhattan
Basquiat stars in Downtown 81
Follows Basquiat through the downtown art scene.
New York
Browne edits Racism is the Issue
A Heresies issue furthering Black feminist consciousness.
Cooper Square
Hammons stages Bliz-aard Ball Sale
Sells snowballs as street vendor, critiquing commodity and value.
SoHo
Just Above Midtown relocates to SoHo
Founded by Linda Goode Bryant in 1974, the gallery brings crucial exhibition space and visibility downtown.
Midtown Manhattan
Linda Goode Bryant founds Just Above Midtown
Moves to SoHo, becoming a key exhibition space.
Port Authority, NY
Amos curates a show with Browne’s work
Staged outside SoHo’s own “alternative spaces.”
SoHo
Guerrilla Girls founded, held meetings in SoHo
Amos was an original member.
Studios, galleries & exhibitions
A cropped, zoomable cutout of SoHo carrying the same three categories from the timeline above, pinned at their real addresses. Scroll or pinch inside the frame to zoom in.