Just Above Midtown, or JAM, was an art gallery and self-described laboratory led by Linda Goode Bryant that foregrounded African American artists and artists of color. Open from 1974 until 1986, it was a place where black art flourished and debate was cultivated. The gallery offered early opportunities for artists now recognized as pivotal figures in late-20th-century art, including David Hammons, Butch Morris, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O’Grady, and Howardena Pindell.
Published in conjunction with the first museum exhibition to focus on this extraordinary gallery, on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in Fall 2022, Just Above Midtown: 1974 to the Present showcases rarely seen material from the JAM archive of artworks, ephemera, and unique documentation of administrative and programmatic activities. The richly illustrated catalogue includes a conversation between Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Linda Goode Bryant, a complete exhibition chronology with nearly 50 annotated entries, and excerpts from an oral history of JAM.