Changing Tides, Towards 200 Years
Chapter 5 of the National Academy of Design's 200th Anniversary Timeline. 2000-Present
2000: With an eye towards expanding its exhibition program, the National Academy hires its first Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Isabelle Dervaux.
2002
Under the leadership of President Gregory Amenoff, the Academy institutes its first Invitational Exhibition. Through a constitutional change the Annual became an exhibition in which members could show in odd years, and even years would be a juried invitational of non-NAs.
The Invitationals proved to be vital exhibitions, often informing the election of future Academicians. Among the artists and architects included in the 2002 Invitational who became NAs were Emma Amos, Louise Fishman, Charles Gwathmey, Robert Mangold, Thomas Nozkowski, Judy Pfaff, Faith Ringgold, Dorothea Rockburne, James Siena, Kiki Smith, Sarah Sze, Bartholomew Voorsanger, Kay WalkingStick, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, and many others.
2007
The National Academy opens High Times Hard Times: New York Painting 1967-1975, an exhibition that explored experimental abstract painting in New York beginning in the late 60s, which signaled the advent of a more dynamic and contemporary exhibition program.
The above are installation images from High Times, Hard Times at the National Academy, showing works (left to right) by Roy Colmer, Harriet Korman NA, Joan Snyder NA, Lynda Benglis NA, Alan Shields, Manny Farber, Howardena Pindell NA, Harmony Hammond NA, and Al Loving.
Scene on the Magdalene (1854) by Frederic Edwin ChurchNational Academy of Design
2008
With a growing deficit in a historic home that was challenging to maintain, the Academy sells two more paintings from the collection to try and save the institution; Frederic Church’s Scene on the Magdalene and Sanford Gifford’s Mount Mansfield, both now in private collections.
2008
This had a tremendous impact on the Academy.
Mount Mansfield, Vermont (1859) by Sanford Robinson GiffordNational Academy of Design
The swift response from the Association of Art Museum Directors resulted in crippling sanctions against the Academy that called for other museums not to borrow from, lend to, or collaborate with the Academy in any way.
These sanctions effectively tied the institution's hands and in turn essentially prevented the Academy from moving forward with any type of cultivation efforts. Drastic changes were in store for the National Academy over the next decade.
2009: After 184 years of being administered exclusively by Academicians, the governance of the organization changed to include a board comprising Academicians, as well as experts from finance, law, and other fields.
The Last Post (2010) by Shahzia SikanderNational Academy of Design
May 2011
The Academicians vote to amend the four traditional categories of membership (Painting, Sculpture, Engraving, Architecture) to Visual Arts and Architecture.
This crucial change reflected the realities of how artists work in the 21st century and welcomed a broader range of contemporary practices to be represented within the membership and collection.
In 2012, Shahzia Sikander's work, The Last Post, was the first time-based media work to enter the collection.
2011
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith becomes the first Indigenous person elected to the National Academy.
June 2016
The National Academy of Design's museum closes to prepare for the sale of its Upper East Side buildings. To ensure the longevity of the institution, the proceeds would be used to establish a permanent endowment.
August 2017: The National Academy suspends classes at its School to prepare for its move.
2017-18: The Academy moves its permanent collection to a new state-of-the-art storage facility where it is overseen by a dedicated Registrar, and benefits from the presence of on-site art handlers, contract registrars, conservators, and security teams. Here the collection is available for research, exhibition, and outside loan.
The new collection storage provides prime conditions for a multi-year Collections Strategic Plan to improve stewardship, and enhance visibility, of the Academy's singular collection.
Early 2019: The NAD finalizes the sale of its Upper East Side buildings and establishes its first-ever permanent, Board-restricted endowment.
National Arts ClubNational Academy of Design
Summer 2019-Summer 2023
The National Academy is in temporary residence at the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park.
February 2022: With the world's reopening after the global pandemic, the Academy hosts its first exhibition at the National Arts Club; Consequences: A Parlor Game. It's the first time contemporary work is hung in the National Arts Club historic parlors. The above images include works (left to right) by NAs Peter Halley, Rashid Johnson, and Gary Simmons.
While in residence at the National Arts Club, and without a gallery of its own, the Academy also ventured to other places in the city to host exhibitions.
In 2022 the Academy organizes the exhibition, Media Relay: An Exhibition in Two Parts, at PS122 Gallery in the East Village. The above images show works (left to right) by Camila Rodríguez, Kathleen J. Graves, peter campus NA, Tala Madani, and Christian Marclay NA.
Later in 2022, the National Academy opens the exhibition, Materia/Material on Governors Island. The above images include works (left to right) by Jane Benson, Jean Shin NA, Dianne Smith, and Jim Osman NA.
Laurelton Hall (demolished)National Academy of Design
2022
The Academy begins a long-term partnership with the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation (LCTF) to administer its biennial awards to emerging artists in painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, video, and craft media. This partnership reestablishes the Academy's tie to Tiffany.
He was an Academician (ANA 1871; NA 1880) and served on the Academy’s Council from 1890-1893. Tiffany dedicated Laurelton Hall, his home on Long Island, to hosting artists residencies run by his foundation, which he created in 1918.
Sept 14, 2023: The National Academy of Design opens its door at its new home (its 15th since its founding in 1825) on West 26th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.
The inaugural exhibition, Drawing as Practice, was curated in response to the Academy's significant collection of 8,000 works of American art and architecture. This group exhibition centered on drawing as both the medium and practice connecting the many divergent points of interest that contributed to the founding and history of the National Academy. Included in the images above are antique plaster casts, and works by NAs Judy Pfaff, Joanne Greenbaum, Charles Gaines, John Newman, and John Moore.
November 8, 2025: The Academy celebrates the 200th anniversary, to the date, of the first meeting of the group that formed the National Academy of Design with the induction of the class of 2025 National Academicians. On the right is NAD President and Academician, architect Wendy Evans Joseph.
Elected to the class of 2025 are the Visual Artists and Architects: Linda Bessemer, Stephen Cassell, Nanette Carter, Chris Cornelius, Tacita Dean, Carl Hazelwood, Sheila Hicks, Michiko Itatani, Matthew Kreilich, Athena LaTocha, Mia Lehrer, Michael Meredith, Marlon Mullen, Lothar Osterburg, Sky Pape, Shahpour Pouyan, Susan Rodriguez, Hilary Sample, Sara Siestreem (Hani Coos), Rose B. Simpson, Julie Snow, Victor Trahan, Marie Watt, Terry Winters, Kim Yao, Nina Yankowitz, and Adam Yarinsky.
Images from the National Academy of Design's 200th Anniversary Party.
The National Academy of Design Celebrates 200 Years. Video by PushPin films
As the National Academy of Design moves into its third century we continue to elect new members annually, host a robust roster of exhibitions and public programs, care for and share a growing collection, and support artists and architects through various grants including the Abbey Mural Prize, the National Academy Affiliated Fellowship, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation award, and others. To keep up to date with our activities and offerings, please sign up for our newsletter.
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