Franklin Sirmans (born in New York City (

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

)) is an American

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

, editor, writer, curator and has been the director of the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

(PAMM) since October 2015. His initiatives there include ensuring that PAMM's art program reflects the community in Miami and securing donations. In his first six months at PAMM, he managed to secure the largest donation of works in the museum's short history, over a hundred pieces of art were donated by Design District developer

Craig Robins Craig Lewis Robins (born February 15, 1963) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of Dacra Development, the co-founder and co-owner of Design Miami and developer of the Miami Design District. Earl ...

Early years

Sirmans was born in New York City, Queens and raised in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, Albany and

New Rochelle New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...

, New York. He attended the

Manhattan Country School Manhattan Country School is an independent coeducational PreK–8 school with its main location in Manhattan and a farm in Roxbury, New York. Founded in 1966, it is distinctive because of its multicultural and progressive educational philosophy, ...

(Graduating Class of 1983),

Albany Academy Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school in Albany, New York. It enrolls students from Prekindergaten (age 4) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer and the cit ...

and

New Rochelle High School New Rochelle High School (NRHS), a public secondary school in New Rochelle, New York, is part of the City School District of New Rochelle and is the city's sole public high school. Its buildings were designed by the noted architectural firm ...

and later received a BA degree (1991) in the

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics ...

and English from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

Career

Early on in his career, Sirmans worked at the

Dia Art Foundation Dia Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization that initiates, supports, presents, and preserves art projects. It was established in 1974 by Philippa de Menil, the daughter of Houston arts patron Dominique de Menil and an heiress to the Schlumbe ...

in publications (1993–1996). He curated annual exhibitions for Los Angeles (1999),

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

(2003) and

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

(2005) as well as the shows ''Americas Remixed'' in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy; ''Mass Appeal'' in Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Sackville, Canada and a ''Moment's Notice'' at the Inman Gallery, Houston, Texas in 2002. From 2001 until 2003 he curated ''One Planet Under A Groove: Contemporary Art and Hip Hop'' at the Bronx Museum of Art; the

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

Art Gallery, Atlanta; the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

, Minneapolis and the

Villa Stuck The Villa Stuck, built in 1898 and established as a museum in 1992 and located in the Munich quarter of Bogenhausen, is a museum and historic house devoted to the life and work of the painter Franz Stuck. In contrast to the Classical archite ...

in Munich, Germany. In 2004, he curated the show ''

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche ( ; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Priz ...

: Diplomat for Peace and Justice'' at the

Queens Museum of Art The Queens Museum (formerly the Queens Museum of Art) is an art museum and educational center at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Established in 1972, the museum includes the '' Panorama of the City of Ne ...

. From 2005 until 2006 he was co-curator of ''Basquiat'', which traveled from the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

to the

Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

and then to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Sirmans became curator of modern and contemporary art at

The Menil Collection The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs and ...

in Houston in 2006 until 2009. In 2009 he was awarded the Gold Rush Award by the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. There he curated ''NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith'', ''Steve Wolfe: Works on Paper'' and ''Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964–1966''. In 2010, he moved to the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

(LACMA) as department head and curator of contemporary art where he remained until the fall of 2015. During his time with the LACMA, he curated ''Maurizio Cattelan: Is There Life Before Death?'' (2010), ''Fútbol: The Beautiful Game'' (2014), ''Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada'', ''Variations: Conversations in and Around Abstract Painting'', ''Ends and Exits: Contemporary Art from the Collections of LACMA and the Broad Art Foundation'', and was co-organizer of the exhibition ''Human Nature: Contemporary Art from the Collection''. In addition he was co-curator of ''Make It Now: New Sculpture'' in New York at Sculpture Center. Since October 2015, he has been the director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). In 2019 he was selected as curate to a special section of Frieze New York, which shows artists from ''Just Above Midtown'' (JAM), the 1970s-80s ''Black Power Gallery''.

Other roles

Sirmans was an instructor at the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He was the 2005 Maryland Art Place Critic-in-Residence and served as

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of Prospect.3 New Orleans (2012–2014). He is a David C. Driskell Prize Winner (2007). He has served as editor of the magazine

Flash Art ''Flash Art'' is a contemporary art magazine, and an Italian and international publishing house. Originally published bilingually, both in Italian and in English, since 1978 is published in two separate editions, Flash Art Italia (Italian) and ...

and was Editor-in-Chief of the

ArtAsiaPacific ''ArtAsiaPacific'' is the longest running English-language periodical solely dedicated to covering contemporary art and culture from sixty-seven countries, territories, and Chinese Special Administrative Regions that it considers to be within As ...

magazine. Sirmans wrote for several journals and newspapers on art and culture, including

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Newsweek International ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

, Art in America,

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

, Grand Street and

Essence Magazine ''Essence'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly lifestyle magazine covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, and culture. First published in 1970, the magazine is written for African-American women. History Edward Lewis, Clarence O ...

Personal life

He has a daughter, who was born in L.A. He is married to Jessica Plair Sirmans

Publications

* One Planet Under a Groove (2001) * A Mythical Metropolis Materializes in Queens (May 20, 2001) * The No-Tech Way Toward Art-Making (September 2, 2001) * Mapping a New, and Urgent, History of the World (December 9, 2001) * Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964–1966 (January 31, 2011) * Edward Kienholz , All – American Yawp (March 2012) * L.A.’s Best, 2013—Franklin Sirmans (December 18, 2013) * Basquiat and the Bayou (October 25, 2014) * Prospect.3: Notes for Now (November 11, 2014) * Sterling Ruby (Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series) (October 10, 2016); contributor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirmans, Franklin Year of birth missing (living people) Living people The Albany Academy alumni American art critics American art curators American editors Directors of museums in the United States Wesleyan University alumni