Alain Locke Gallery of African & African American Art at the Hutchins Center

The Alain Locke Gallery of African & African American Art is an exhibition space at Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research in Cambridge. It presents contemporary and historical exhibitions of African and African American art, along with archival materials and historic objects. It is the only art institution at Harvard dedicated to the art of the African Diaspora, giving visitors to the Harvard Square area a place to see that work.

The gallery takes its name from Alain Locke, the Harvard-educated philosopher and first Black Rhodes Scholar, whose 1925 anthology The New Negro helped define the Harlem Renaissance. The gallery first opened in the fall of 2014 and was rededicated in the fall of 2025. Its exhibitions combine artworks with documents and objects, bringing visual art and archival history together in one setting.

What to Know

• The exhibition space covers about 2,300 square feet on a single ground level.
• The gallery is fully accessible to visitors using wheelchairs and other mobility devices.
• It is a member of the Harvard Square Business Association.