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Career
Steinbaum showed the work of women artists, feminist artists, civil-rights artists and artists of color at a time when they were under-represented and undervalued in the art world. Her Madison Avenue, and later SoHo, Manhattan galleries exhibited 50% women and 40% artists of color. In 2000, she moved the gallery to Miami, Florida and focused on artists working with environmental art themes for fourteen years.

She founded the Wynwood Arts District in Miami, Florida when she turned a run down crack house into her two-story gallery.

A documentary film was made on Steinbaum by filmmaker, Kristina Sorge describing the artists she represented who were faced with the racial and gender inequities of the art world of the time. Steinbaum was awarded the national Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

Over 30 years ago, Bernice broke the mold in Manhattan, opening a gallery in Soho that focused on 50% female artists and 40% artists of color – blazing a trail that eventually earned her a Woman of the Year Award from the National Organization for Women. “I didn’t think that I would impact the world. I wanted to impact myself knowing that I had done the right thing and that perhaps in some way I was making a difference,” says Bernice.

In 2000, after closing the doors of her Soho gallery, she was instrumental in founding the Wynwood Arts District in Miami when she turned a rundown crack house into her eponymous, world-class two-story art gallery.

To this day, Bernice continues to champion emerging artist whose work speaks eloquently about the issues of gender, race, culture and identity. Many of her artists have received awards and accolades from the art world and have gone on the be acquired by museums including the Guggenheim, Smithsonian Institute, Whitney, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Tate Modern, Museum of Fine Arts, among many others.

Bernice is a woman of great prestige and an impressive background, but what makes her truly unique is the way she sees the world. While an inspiration and an icon in her own right, Bernice shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, she’s ready to add new chapters to her life’s work by promoting and nurturing new, innovative artists in the United States and around the world.

Bernice Steinbaum Gallery
The Bernice Steinbaum Gallery was founded in New York City, New York in 1977. The Civil Rights Movement and Feminism had evoked change, but women and people of color still were undervalued and underrepresented in the art world. Steinbaum's mission was to exhibit artists, maintaining a roster of 50% women, and 40% artists of color. The gallery opened on Madison Avenue, New York in 1977 and later moved to 132 Green St. in SoHo. Steinbaum moved the gallery to Miami, Florida in 2000. Steinbaum's was the first commercial gallery in the undeveloped area of Wynwood. From the new location in Wynwood, Steinbaum's mission for the gallery changed. Steinbaum turned her attention to the future of the natural world and the threats to it that human endeavors pose. She searched for artists that were engaging in environmental themes and working with found materials.

Founded in New York in 1977. Feminism and the Civil Rights Movement had effected change, but there was still a long way to go. Women and people of color were still underrepresented and undervalued in every area of the art world. Refusing a “separate but equal” model of representation, Steinbaum’s mission was to exhibit artists working with narrative, while maintaining a roster of 50% women and 40% artists of color. The gallery opened on Madison Avenue, and later moved to 132 Green St. in SoHo.

In 2000, Steinbaum moved the gallery to Miami, Florida. Hers was the first commercial gallery in the yet-undeveloped area of Wynwood. With its new location, the gallery’s mission shifted. In New York, the indoor spaces of galleries had been welcome oasis from the weather and bustle outside. In Miami, Steinbaum was impressed by the fact that the city competed with nature for the public’s attention. Her attention turned to the future of the natural world, and the many threats to it that human endeavors pose. She sought out artists engaging with environmental themes and working with found or repurposed materials. Given the role of technology and globalization in both causing and countering environmental issues, she also developed an interest in artists pursuing similar themes in their work.

In 2014 the gallery in Wynwood was closed. Steinbaum continued to work from her home, while planning a new gallery space on her property in Coconut Grove. The new gallery opened January 7, 2017 with the exhibition “Threads of Connection.”

Bernice Steinbaum was born in 1941 in Flushing, New York.

Steinbaum taught art history and art education at Hofstra University.