Temple Contemporary, the exhibition space at Tyler School of Art and Architecture on Temple University's campus, has opened "Pyramid Club: 1937-2035," its first show under new curator and director Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta. The exhibition explores the history of the Pyramid Club, a social club for Philadelphia's Black elite founded in 1937, highlighting its prestigious art shows organized by Humbert Howard from 1941 to 1957. It features works from the collection of Dr. William Dodd, photographs by John W. Mosley curated by Leslie Willis Lowry and artist Shawn Theodore, and contemporary multimedia installations by Theodore.
The exhibition matters because it revives the legacy of a historically significant but underrecognized institution that nurtured African American artists during segregation, including Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Dox Thrash. It also marks a new direction for Temple Contemporary under Kenyatta, whose background in urban planning and Afro-futurism brings a multidisciplinary, community-focused approach to the gallery's mission of serving as a beacon for art and imagination in Philadelphia.