Geoffrey Holder refused to choose a lane. Born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1930, he was a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, the first Black man to win Tony Awards for both directing and costume design (for the Broadway hit The Wiz), and the voice and face of 7Up throughout the 1970s and ’80s, all while building a celebrated film career with roles in Doctor Dolittle, Annie, and the Bond film Live and Let Die.
And yet, before everything else, Holder was a painter. “Painting always came first,” says his son, Leo Holder, who oversees the artist’s estate. “Practically everything else he did has always been an extension of this. He was always working on something. At any given time, wherever he was living, there were several canvases in progress.” Still, across his decades-long career, it was the facet of his work that received the least attention.
“Geoffrey Holder: Black Magic,” on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami from November 18, 2026, to April 4, 2027, aims to correct this. Guest curated by Dr. Erica Moiah James, principal investigator and publication editor for the Geoffrey Holder Project, it’s the first museum survey to center Holder’s work as a visual artist. Bringing together more than 60 works across eight decades, the show offers an unprecedented look at the practice that anchored his entire multidisciplinary career.
Geoffrey Holder, Untitled, n.d. Oil, oil marker, and China marker on wood. 84 x 36 inches.
©2026 Estate of Geoffrey Holder / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
