Arts and Letters

Galleries open 12–6pm

A skylit gallery with eight grey wedges placed across the floor.

An open doorway leading to a gallery with drawings.

A high-ceiling room with four vitrines in the center and a series of minimal art works hanging on the wall.

An artwork consisting of a recording device sitting on the floor of a gallery with two windows behind it.

A painting of Edith Wharton hanging on a wall beside plants and two windows.

Raven Chacon's Aviary transforms our skylit North Gallery into a sonic environment

Wadada Leo Smith's Kosmic Music includes over fifty years of the composer-performer's

Christine Kozlov shows the breadth of Conceptual artist Christine Kozlov’s practice

The bronze doors of our South Building, designed by member Herbert Adams

The Arts and Letters auditorium opened in 1930 and was designed by member Cass Gilbert

Pictured here is the bronze entrance to our North Gallery.

Since its founding in 1898, Arts and Letters has been a place where artists support artists

Raven Chacon's Aviary transforms our skylit North Gallery into a sonic environment of bird calls. Arts and Letters is free and open to the public Thursday through Sunday from 12-6pm.

Wadada Leo Smith's Kosmic Music includes over fifty years of the composer-performer's Ankhrasmation language scores. Now on view in our Hassam Gallery.

Christine Kozlov shows the breadth of Conceptual artist Christine Kozlov’s practice with a focus on works from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s. Now on view in our South and East Buildings.

The bronze doors of our South Building, designed by member Herbert Adams, lead onto Audubon Terrace, one of the first cultural complexes in the United States. Read more about our site history.

The Arts and Letters auditorium opened in 1930 and was designed by member Cass Gilbert, well-known for the Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan and the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC. Since 1942, Arts and Letters has held its annual Ceremonial event in the auditorium.

Pictured here is the bronze entrance to our North Gallery. Inscribed above the doors is the phrase, “By the gates of art we enter the temple of happiness.” Join our mailing list to receive announcements about our exhibitions and public events.

Since its founding in 1898, Arts and Letters has been a place where artists support artists—across generations and disciplines. This painting by Edward H. May is a portrait of Literature member Edith Wharton from 1881, when Wharton was eighteen.

A gallery with a video projected on a screen; the projected black-and-white image is a close up of a woman

In 2022, artist Garrett Bradley received an Arts and Letters Award, one of our highest honors. Her 2017 single-channel video, Alone, pictured here, was exhibited in our galleries in conjunction with this award. Read more about this year's award winners in Architecture, Art, Literature, and Music.

An architectural detail featuring a gold pegasus in a wooden arch.

We are excited to announce the 2024 New Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Our institutional archives include member correspondence, photographs, press clippings, board minutes, and administrative records from 1898 to the present.

A picture of the neoclassical façade of Arts and Letters.

Arts and Letters is an honor society of artists, architects, composers, and writers who foster and sustain interest in the arts. Learn more about our history.

American Academy of Arts and Letters

Audubon Terrace New York, NY 10032

Translating...