Since its founding in 1871, the Salmagundi Club has been a vital gathering place for artists in New York City. This exhibition celebrates more than a century and a half of artistic community, creativity, and camaraderie through archival materials, historical photographs, and artworks that document the Club’s rich history.

From its earliest days in Greenwich Village and Chelsea to its permanent home since 1917 at 47 Fifth Avenue, the Salmagundi Club has mounted exhibitions to promote its members’ work. Press clippings from the 1880s reveal the Club’s early exhibitions, including mentions in the New York Herald and Harper’s Weekly, which devoted an entire page to the 4th Annual Black and White Exhibition in 1881—a tradition that continues today with the 149th edition opening on January 6th, 2026.

The exhibition features Berenice Abbott’s iconic 1937 WPA photograph of the Club’s historic mansion at 47 Fifth Avenue, built in 1851 and the oldest surviving mansion on the avenue, alongside Malcolm McKenzie’s 2011 painting showing the building’s subtle evolution over time. Whimsical invitations by illustrator W. Harrison Cady and a lifetime membership plaque by Edward Henry Potthast reveal the creative spirit that infuses even the Club’s social gatherings.

Highlights include Charles Shepard Chapman’s seven large-scale drawings documenting club life at the former 14 West 12th Street location. Also included are banquet photographs of members where the walls of the Skylight Gallery were decorated with member painted cartoons. Other artworks celebrate the Club’s legendary billiard room, including Henry Prellwitz’s Seven Cue Balls, Seven Baldies. Through these treasures from the archives, visitors discover how the Salmagundi Club has nurtured artistic fellowship and creative expression for 154 years and counting.