WHITNEY MUSEUM OFAMERICAN ART
As the preeminent institutiondevoted to the art of the UnitedStates, the Whitney Museumof American Art presents thefull range of twentieth-centuryand contemporary Americanart, with a special focus on worksby living artists. The Whitney isdedicated to collecting, preserving,interpreting, and exhibitingAmerican art, and its collection—arguably the finest holdings oftwentieth-century American artin the world—is the Museum’s keyresource. The Museum’s flagshipexhibition, the Biennial, is thecountry’s leading survey of themost recent developments inAmerican art.Innovation has been a hallmark ofthe Whitney since its beginnings. Itwas the first museum dedicated tothe work of living American artistsand the first New York museumto present a major exhibition ofa video artist (Nam June Paik, in1982). Such important figures asJasper Johns, Jay DeFeo, GlennLigon, Cindy Sherman, andPaul Thek were given their firstcomprehensive museum surveysat the Whitney. The Museumhas consistently purchased workswithin the year they were created,often well before the artists whocreated them became broadlyrecognized.ROBERT HENRI (1865-1929),GERTRUDE VANDERBILT WHITNEY,WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEWYORK; GIFT OF FLORA WHITNEY MILLER 86.70.3FOUNDINGAt the beginning of the twentiethcentury, sculptor GertrudeVanderbilt Whitney saw thatAmerican artists with new ideashad trouble exhibiting or sellingtheir work. She began purchasingand showing their artwork,eventually becoming the leadingpatron of American art from 1907until her death in 1942.In 1914, Mrs. Whitney establishedthe Whitney Studio in GreenwichVillage, where she presentedexhibitions by living Americanartists whose work had beendisregarded by the traditionalacademies. She had assembleda collection of more than fivehundred pieces by 1929. Afterher offer of this gift to theMetropolitan Museum of Artwas declined, she set up her owninstitution, one with a distinctivemandate: to focus exclusively onthe art and artists of this country.The Whitney Museum of AmericanArt was founded in 1930, andopened in 1931 on West EighthStreet near Fifth Avenue.Following a move in 1954 to anexpanded site on West 54thStreet, the Whitney opened theMarcel Breuer-designed buildingon Madison Avenue at 75th Streetin 1963. The iconic building housedthe Museum from 1966 throughOctober 20, 2014. The Whitney’scurrent building at 99 GansevoortStreet opened on May 1, 2015.The Whitney was an innovatorin taking its exhibitions andprogramming beyond its own walls,opening branch museums in otherparts of New York City and thesurrounding area. These freeof-charge,corporate-sponsoredbranches operated as standalonespaces with their own staffs,serving as training grounds forcurators including Thelma Golden,Shamim Momin, Lisa Phillips, andDebra Singer. The exhibitions andprogramming at these locationsnot only allowed the public moreaccess to the Whitney’s collection,but also met the needs ofexperimental artists by providinglarge spaces and performanceopportunities. The last of thebranches closed in 2008.PERMANENT COLLECTIONThe Whitney’s collection includesover 24,000 works created bymore than 3,500 artists in theUnited States during the twentiethand twenty-first centuries.At its core are Museum founderGertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’spersonal holdings, totaling some sixhundred works when the Museumopened in 1931. These worksserved as the basis for the foundingcollection, which Mrs. Whitneycontinued to add to throughouther lifetime.The founding collection reflectsMrs. Whitney’s ardent supportof living American artists of thetime, particularly younger oremerging ones, including PeggyBacon, George Bellows, StuartDavis, Charles Demuth, MabelDwight, Edward Hopper, YasuoKuniyoshi, Reginald Marsh, andJohn Sloan. This focus on thecontemporary, along with adeep respect for artists’ creativeprocesses and visions, has guidedthe Museum’s collecting ever since.EDWARD HOPPER (1882-1967),(SELF-PORTRAIT), 1925-30OIL ON CANVAS,WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEWYORK; JOSEPHINE N. HOPPER BEQUEST70.1165. © 2019 HEIRS OF JOSEPHINE N.HOPPER/LICENSED BY ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY(ARS), NEW YORK59