The Drawing Center is a Manhattan, New York, museum and a nonprofit exhibition space that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary.
The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of drawings at the Museum of Modern Art Martha Beck in 1977, with the mandate of seeking to "express the quality and diversity of drawing -- unique works on paper -- as a major art form". It was originally housed in $900-a-month ground-floor space in a warehouse at 137 Greene Street in SoHo before it moved to its present location, on the ground floor of a 19th-century cast-iron-fronted building at 35 Wooster Street, in the late 1980s. In its first year, the Drawing Center attracted 125,000 visitors.
After a $10 million renovation in 2012, designed by Claire Weisz of WXY Architecture & Urban Design, the museum today occupies two and a half floors, 50 percent more exhibition space.
Each year, the Center presents "Selections" exhibitions featuring the work of emerging artists as well as exhibitions of historical and contemporary drawing-based work. In conjunction with its interior expansion in 2012, the Drawing Center announced the start of a long-term initiative to exhibit Latin American drawing. The Drawing Room, located across the street from the Main Gallery, features dynamic, drawing-based installations and exhibitions by emerging and under-recognized artists. The Center offers a range of public programs for both adults and children, including film screenings, literary readings, artist talks, symposia, performances, and The Big Draw, a day-long event or series of events featuring artist-led drawing activities for all ages.
Sari Dienes, Sari DienesXanti Schawinsky, Head Drawings and Faces of WarThread Lines group show:artists: Mónica Bengoa, Louise Bourgeois, Sheila Hicks, Ellen Lesperance, Kimsooja, Beryl Korot, Maria Lai, Sam Moyer, William J. O'Brien, Robert Otto Epstein, Jessica Rankin, Elaine Reichek, Drew Shiflett, Alan Shields, Lenore Tawney and Anne WilsonThe Intuitionists group show:artists: : Shaun Acton, Valerio Berruti, A.J. Bocchino, Dana Boussard, Hannah Burr, Maria Bussman, Enrique Chagoya, Joyce Chan, Catalina Chervin, Hannah Cole, Kenny Cole, Vincent Colvin, Hollis Cooper, Cui Fei, Gabriel Delgado, Wendy DesChene, Asya Dodina i Slava Polishchuk, Debra Drexler, Derek Dunlop, Elisabeth Eberle, Lisa Endriss, Rodney Ewing, Tory Fair, Douglas Florian, Nicholas Fraser, Carl Fudge, Brett Goodroad, Barry Gray, Stephen Grossman, Nathan Haenlein, Patrick Earl Hammie, Skowmon Hastanan, HENSE, Elizabeth Hoak-Doering, Cynthia Ona Innis, Tatiana Istomina, Hedwige Jacobs, Chiaki Kamikawa, Manfred Kirschner, Kimia Kline, Nicholas Knight, Kang Joo Lee, Kate Tessa Lee, Cynthia Lin, Hung Liu, Maess, Mario Marzan, Linn Meyers, Nyeema Morgan, Paul Morrison, Seamus Liam O'Brien, Alison Owen, Jenny Perlin, Mel Prest, Jo Ann Rothschild, Anna Schachte, Fausto Sevila, Jill Shoffiet, Thomas Slaughter, Chris Spinelli, Karen Tam, Caroline Tavelli-Abar, Scott Teplin, Jen Urso, Kris Van Dessel, Kara Walker and Margaret Withers.Small, group show: artists: Firelei Báez, Emmanouil Bitsakis, Paul Chiappe, Claire Harvey, Tom Molloy, Rita Ponce de León, Peggy Preheim, James Sheehan and Tinus VermeerschLebbeus Woods, ArchitectLen Lye, Motion SketchOpen Sessions,group show:artists: Eleanor Aldrich, Derek Dunlop, Heather Hart, Yara Pina, Andrew Ross, Lauren Seiden, Barbara Weissberger.Andrea Bowers i Suzanne LacyDrawing LessonsRashaad Newsome,FIVEDeborah Grant, Christ You Know it Ain't Easy!!Dickinson/Walser Pencil SketchesDrawing Time, Reading Time- group show: artists: Carl Andre, Pavel Büchler, Guy de Cointet, Mirtha Dermisache, Sean Landers, Allen Ruppersberg, Nina Papaconstantinou, Deb Sokolow, Molly Springfield.William Engelen,FaltenSusan Hefuna and Luca Veggetti, NOTATIONOTATIONSTerry Smith, DocumentGiosetta Fioroni L’ArgentoAlexandre Singh, The PledgeIgnacio Uriarte, Line of WorkIshmael Randall, Weeks, Cuts, Burns, PuncturesGuillermo Kuitca, DiariosJosé Antonio Suárez Londoño The YearbooksSean Scully, Change and HorizontalsPathways Drawing In, On, and Through the Landscapegroup show:artists: Ann Carlson i Mary Ellen Strom, Mark Harris, Jessica Mein, Terry Nauheim, Candida Richardson, Gosia WlodarczakDrawing and its Double, Selections from the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, group show:artists: Giorgio Ghisi , Lafrery Du Perac, Salvator Rosa, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Antonio Canova, Giorgio Morandi, Piero Dorazio, Achille PerilliPaolo Canevari, DecalogoDrawn from Photography group show:artists: L Alvarez, Andrea Bowers, Fernando Bryce, Sam Durant, Ewan Gibbs, Karl Haendel, Richard Forster, Serkan Ozkaya, Emily Prince, Frank Selby, Paul Sietsema, Mary Temple, Christian Tomaszewski"Day Job" group show: artists: Chris Akin, Pasquale Cortese, Elizabeth Duffy, Caroline Falby, Alex Gingrow, Tom Hooper, Alexa Horochowski, Michael Krueger, Shawn Kuruneru, Travis LeRoy Southworth, Mary Lydecker, Raul J. Mendez (PNCA ’97), Julia Oldham, Alex O’Neal, Roberto Osti, Zach Rockhill, Luis Romero, Alfred Steiner, Justin Storms, Harvey Tulcensky, Jonathan Wahl.Gerhard Richter, Lines which do not existClaudia Wieserm, Poems of the Right AngleDorothea Tanning: Early Designs for the StageEva Hesse DrawingLeon Golub: Live & Die Like a Lion?Drawing Out: Student Artwork from the Drawing Connections ProgramIannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, VisionaryRee Morton: At the Still Point of the Turning WorldUnica Zürn: Dark SpringBefore 2010
Leon Golub: Live & Die Like a Lion?Selections Spring 2010: Sea MarksSun Xun: Shock of TimeApparently Invisible: Selections Spring 2009Matt Mullican: A Drawing Translates the Way of ThinkingM/M (Paris): Just Like an Ant Walking on the Edge of the VisibleGreta Magnusson Grossman: Furniture and LightingRirkrit Tiravanija: Demonstration DrawingsKathleen Henderson: What If I Could Draw a Bird That Could Change the World?Drawing on FilmFrederick Kiesler: Co-RealitiesYüksel Arslan: Visual InterpretationsDrawing Out: Student Artwork from Drawing ConnectionsSelections Spring 2008Sterling Ruby: CHRONAlan Saret Gang Drawings, 2007Management and funding
The Drawing Center named Brett Littman, former Deputy Director of P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, as its Executive Director in early 2007.
In August 2005, the Drawing Center was considered as one of the groups to occupy the World Trade Center. The plan was scrapped, and then the center’s leadership spent a couple of years exploring a move to the South Street Seaport, where it planned to build a $60 million museum. By 2010 the museum decided to stay put and expand its Wooster Street home.
Also in 2005, it was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. For the 2012 renovation, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation gave a $3 million grant, one of its largest contributions toward a single construction project.
As of 2011, attendance was at 35,000 visitors a year.
