THE LEGACY OF THE MALCOLM BROWN GALLERY September 18, 1980 to March 13, 2011

African American artists and galleries played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of contemporary art, forging new paths, and asserting the importance of their expression within the landscape. Because their access and opportunity was limited individual artists took up the mantle to exhibit their work and laid the foundation for future generations to continue pushing boundaries, challenging norms, and advocating for representation, recognition and to promote inclusion among their white counterparts.

The vision for Malcolm Brown Gallery emerged, as a result, to introduce, educate and represent the brilliance of African-American and Diaspora artists—past and present.

Not surprisingly, by 1980 only a handful of Black art dealers across the country specialized in exhibiting African American artists—fortuitously Malcolm and Ernestine opened the Malcolm Brown Gallery on September 18, 1980. Over three decades the gallery did much to restore lost pages in the history of American art and introduced a whole community of thriving artist, collectors, museums, and organizations.

Artists exhibited/represented by the gallery: Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Cateltt, Hughie Lee-Smith, Charles Sales, Selma Burke, Fred Jones, Faith Ringgold, Francisco Mora, Ed Dwight, Malcolm M. Brown, Carolyn Mazloomi, Francisco Mora, Nike and many others.