Hughes. Exhibitions (1927-1967) African Americans had struggled to find public exhibition space throughout the early years of the 20th Century. "Prior to the end of World War I, State Fairs and other such expositions were practically the only spaces Black artists had to display their art." The Foundation's annual Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists, conceived by Mary Brady, was held in 1927 through 1931, 1933, and 1935. This series offered Black artists the first serious venue for exhibition available exclusively for their work on a something-approaching national basis. The exhibitions in 1927, 1928, and 1929 were held at International House, a residential and program center for international graduate students whose values and mission were held to be aligned with the Harmon's. Key elements of the Harmon art exhibitions were offers of "substantial prizes" together with gold, bronze medals, and, perhaps more importantly, the Harmon Foundation arranged for these exhibitions to travel, opening spaces for the artwork where it would have been challenging for individual artists to gain exposure. Laura Wheeler Waring was one of the artists featured the first year of the exhibitions, and the Foundation commissioned her to do portraits of prominent African Americans. 1933 Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists, Art Centre, New York Traveling Exhibitions Joint Exhibitions Conrad Kickert (1933), sponsored jointly by the National Alliance of Art and Industry See also Sites William E. Harmon Foundation award for distinguished achievement among Negroes David C. Driskell (worked closely Mary B. Brady to show works from the Harmon Collection in exhibitions) Productions, Archived Materials Negro Schools in American Education Series: Xavier University: America's Only Catholic College for Negro Youth (Documentary) The National Archives Catalogue: Harmon Foundation Collection (1922-1967) Disestablishment The Harmon Foundation closed in 1967. Its substantial collection of art was dispersed among numerous museums, including the Smithsonian and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Notes References Driskell, David C. (2001). The Other Side of Color: African American Art in the Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. Pomegranate. Gates, Henry Louis, & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (eds) (2009). Harlem Renaissance Lives: From the African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, USA. Foundations based in the United States African-American arts organizations Organizations established in 1922 Organizations disestablished in 1967 1922 establishments in the United States 1967 disestablishments in the United States