Temple Contemporary, in collaboration with the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection and Paradigm Gallery + Studio, will present “PYRAMID CLUB: 1937-2035,” a pioneering exhibition that asks: What if Philadelphia’s historic Pyramid Club—where civil rights leaders, scientists and jazz legends gathered during segregation—had never closed?

Opening Sept. 5, the immersive exhibition features 34 paintings by artists associated with the Pyramid Club from the William A. Dodd Collection, 35 photographs by renowned photographer John W. Mosley (1907-1969) and new work by North Philadelphia artist Shawn Theodore, represented by Paradigm Gallery + Studio. The exhibition reimagines the Pyramid Club as a site of speculative liberation, exploring what curator Dr. Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta, director of exhibitions and public programs at Temple Contemporary, calls “Philadelphia’s extension of the Harlem Renaissance.”

America’s most integrated cultural space during segregation

From 1937 to 1963, the Pyramid Club at 1517 Girard Ave. in Philadelphia served as one of the nation’s most integrated cultural spaces during an era of strict segregation. The club introduced the work of many significant artists early in their careers, such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, and Dox Thrash in groundbreaking exhibitions organized by curator and painter Humbert L. Howard. As a mecca for Black artistic excellence, the club welcomed distinguished visitors, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., J. Robert Oppenheimer, Duke Ellington, Albert C. Barnes, Marian Anderson, Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes and Mary McLeod Bethune.

Speculative art meets historical recovery

The exhibition includes more than 30 works from the William Dodd Collection alongside archival photographs by John W. Mosley from the Blockson Collection. These objects are presented within a new installation by Theodore, blending historical evidence with speculative interventions. Theodore, whose practice he terms “Afromythology,” describes his installation as “temporal refusal,” rejecting the closure of the club in favor of an imagined continuance.

“This is not a nostalgia project,” Theodore said. “It’s an invitation. The Pyramid Club is still with us, pulsing underfoot in the sidewalk cracks of Girard Avenue, waiting to be seen, reactivated and loved forward.”

15 years of research and community collaboration

The project emerges from more than 15 years of curatorial research led by collector Dr. William A. Dodd, historian Dr. Diane Turner and archivist Leslie Willis-Lowry. Initially inspired by art historian David Brigham’s research, their work surfaced overlooked histories, including Mosley’s photographs of the club’s gatherings.

“It became clear to me that many of the Black artists of the 1930s to 1960s who painted in the city I love had fallen into obscurity,” Dodd said. Inspired by meeting the family of artist Samuel Brown in 2004, he began building an art collection to preserve and elevate this history.

“This exhibition is an opportunity to make the community aware of the work of John W. Mosley,” said Willis-Lowry, who proposed the idea of a retrospective show to Kenyatta from her decades-long collaboration with Dodd. “As a witness and chronicler of the many changes in politics, culture, sports and fashion from the late 1930s to the late 1960s, he photographed many prominent figures in the African American community.” 

Mosley’s subjects included Marian Anderson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Paul Robeson, Cab Calloway, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, players of the Negro Baseball League, and many others documented in the annual Pictorial Album of the Pyramid Club. These were eventually distributed in magazines like Philadelphia Tribune and Ebony/JET. “This was an opportunity to show Black joy, Black rest, Black play and Black beauty,” said Willis-Lowry.

Cultural heritage as living infrastructure

Kenyatta’s curatorial approach, which he calls “Afro-prismatic,” treats heritage not as a static relic but as living infrastructure for cultural and economic stewardship.  The exhibition title references the ten-year vision of the North Broad Renaissance, an organization dedicated to the neighborhood revitalization, to establish the corridor as an official arts and culture district by 2035. “By choosing 2035 as its speculative horizon, the exhibition highlights how cultural history can guide neighborhood development,” said Kenyatta.

ABOUT SHAWN THEODORE

Shawn Theodore (b. 1970) is a North Philadelphia-based photographer and interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores Black cultural identity and community, or what he terms “Afromythology.” His photographs are held in collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. He is represented by Paradigm Gallery + Studio in Philadelphia. More: shawntheodo.re

ABOUT THE CHARLES L. BLOCKSON AFRO-AMERICAN COLLECTION

The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University is one of the nation’s leading research facilities for the study of African American history and culture, housing more than 700,000 items documenting the global Black experience from 1581 to the present. Founded in 1984 when historian Charles L. Blockson donated his collection to Temple, it is recognized as one of the most prestigious collections of African American artifacts in the United States. More: guides.temple.edu/blocksoncollection

ABOUT TEMPLE CONTEMPORARY

Temple Contemporary serves as a beacon for art, architecture and community imagination along the North Broad cultural corridor. The 3,400-square-foot gallery, located within Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University since 2009, champions experimental practices that center joy, justice and genius while fostering dialogue between academic and community knowledge. Temple Contemporary has an artistic lineage stretching back to the mid-1980s,  when it was formerly located in the University’s Center City building, which then moved to Philadelphia’s Old City gallery district before relocating to Temple University’s Main Campus in North Philadelphia in 2009. More information is available on Instagram at @temple_contemp and online.