{{Short description|Art gallery in Los Angeles, California, US (1967–1970)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox organization | name = Brockman Gallery | formation = 1967 | founder = Alonzo Davis<br />Dale Brockman Davis | dissolved = 1990 | headquarters = 4334 Degnan Avenue,<br /> Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California | location = United States | coordinates = {{Coord|34.004956|-118.331237|display=inline,title}} }}
'''Brockman Gallery''' (1967 – 1990) of Leimert Park in Los Angeles, California, was the first major commercial art gallery run by Black artists, for Black artists.<ref name="Miller-2020">{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=M. H. |date=2020-04-13 |title=How a Trio of Black-Owned Galleries Changed the Art World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/13/t-magazine/black-art-galleries.html |access-date=2025-12-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=January 13, 2022 |title=Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles |url=https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/act-it-artists-community-and-brockman-gallery-los-angeles |access-date=2025-12-04 |website=Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |title=Community Arts of Los Angeles |year=1973 |publisher=Los Angeles Community Art Alliance |page=4 |hdl=10139/2728 |oclc=912321031 |editor1-last=Blaine |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Baker |editor2-first=Decia |chapter=Single Arts Experience Orientation |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2011-09-18 |title=Pacific Standard Time: A timeline |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/18/entertainment/la-ca-pst-timeline-20110918/2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140531231927/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/18/entertainment/la-ca-pst-timeline-20110918/2 |archive-date=May 31, 2014 |access-date= |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> It was founded during the Black Arts Movement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Le Falle-Collins |first=Lizzetta |date=March 4, 2014 |title=The Brockman Gallery and the Village |url=https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/departures/the-brockman-gallery-and-the-village |access-date=2025-12-04 |website=PBS SoCal |language=en}}</ref>
== History == Brockman Gallery was founded in 1967 by brothers Alonzo Davis, and Dale Brockman Davis.<ref name="Miller-2020" /> They named the gallery after their grandmother, Della Brockman.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Dale Davis |title=L.A. Object & David Hammonds Body Prints |date=2011 |publisher=Tilton Gallery |isbn=978-1-4276-1374-5 |editor1-last=Tilton |editor1-first=Connie Rogers |location=New York |pages=76–85 |chapter=Brockman Gallery |editor2-last=Charlwood |editor2-first=Lindsay}}</ref>
The gallery provided exhibition space for artists in their early career including Dan Concholar, Maren Hassinger, David Hammons, Ulysses Jenkins, Senga Nengudi, John Outterbridge, Noah Purifoy, Betye Saar, and Charles W. White.<ref name="Miller-2020" /><ref name="Beverly Press Park Labrea News-2019">{{Cite web |date=March 28, 2019 |title=Library to make Brockman Gallery Archive available to the public |url=https://beverlypress.com/2019/03/library-to-make-brockman-gallery-archive-available-to-the-public/ |access-date= |website=Beverly Press Park Labrea News |language=en-US}}</ref>
By the early 1970s, the brothers had transformed the gallery into a broader community art space and hosted a festival in Leimert Park.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Widener |first1=Daniel |title=Black Arts West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Angeles |date=2010 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0822346791 |location=Durham |pages=158–159}}</ref> In 1973 the brothers founded a non-profit organization called Brockman Productions to support art in the Black community in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Gyorody |author-first=Andrea |title=Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980 |date=August 26, 2011 |publisher=Prestel |isbn=978-3791351360 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Kellie |page=258}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 29, 1972 |title=New Summer Program Set |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/southwest-news-new-summer-program-set/186175821/ |access-date=2025-12-04 |work=Southwest News |pages=39 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Legacy == For a brief period in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, there was a period of major art galleries run by and for Black artists. Other notable Black-owned art galleries during this era include BlackMan's Art Gallery (1967–1974) of San Francisco, Gallery 32 (1968–1970) of Los Angeles, and Just Above Midtown (known as JAM Gallery; 1973–1989) of New York City.<ref name="Miller-2020" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/events/gallery32/index.html |title=Modern Art in Los Angeles: Gallery 32 |access-date= |date=January 2009|website=The Getty Research Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Just Above Midtown (JAM) Archives in The Museum of Modern Art Archives|url=https://www.moma.org/research/archives/finding-aids/JAMb.html|access-date=|website=Museum of Modern Art}}</ref>
In 2019, the Davis brothers donated the Brockman Gallery Archive to the Los Angeles Public Library.<ref name="Beverly Press Park Labrea News-2019" />
The KCET television series Artbound featured a 2024 episode titled "Black Art: A Brockman Gallery Legacy" (season 15, episode 4).<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.thirteen.org/programs/artbound/black-art-a-brockman-gallery-legacy-chl1od/ |title=Black Art: A Brockman Gallery Legacy, Artbound |language=en-US |access-date=2025-12-04 |via=Thirteen.org}}</ref>
The Lancaster Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, California held the exhibition, ''Act On It: Artists, Community and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles'' (2025).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Act On It: Artists, Community and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles |url=https://www.robertsprojectsla.com/news/act-on-it-artists-community-and-the-brockman-gallery-in-los-angeles-featuring-betye-saar |access-date=2025-12-04 |website=Roberts Projects LA |language=en}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfz24tsrNew ''Black Art: A Brockman Gallery Legacy''], Artbound (season 15, episode 4, PBS SoCal) * [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8pn9d87/ Brockman Gallery Archive, 1940–2020 (bulk 1967–1990)], Los Angeles Public Library
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brockman Gallery}} Category:1967 establishments in California Category:1990 disestablishments in California Category:African-American history in Los Angeles Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1967 Category:Arts organizations based in Los Angeles Category:Contemporary art galleries in the United States Category:Culture of Los Angeles Category:Defunct African-American arts organizations