About the Whitney (Whitney Museum of American Art Website)

American sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who was committed to helping emerging artists who were finding it difficult to get noticed and market their avant-garde work, founded the Whitney Museum. These artists, who frequently produced avant-garde work, became demotivated or discouraged when they could not locate galleries or buyers for their creations. Beginning in 1907, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney began purchasing and showcasing the artist’s work. Whitney was thus among the first trailblazers in the history of American art and went on to become the most significant American art patron, a position she maintained until her death in 1942. 

On the Museum

Imagine an entirely American creative expression museum, a gathering place for the most avant-garde and inventive pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries. This is not merely a dream—rather, it is The Whitney Museum of American Art, fondly referred to as “The Whitney.”

An Overview of Whitney History (Whitney Museum of American Art Website)

Mrs. Whitney founded the Whitney Studio in Greenwich Village in 1914 to give aspiring artists a place to exhibit their works after being rejected by conventional art schools. Due to the museum’s growth over time, it has been relocated three times in view of the increase in art works, exhibitions and other programmes promoting art. By 1929, because of her passion and encouragement, she possessed over five hundred pieces of art in her collection. Despite her offer, the Metropolitan Museum of Art declined to accept the collections as a gift. She was unfazed and determined to carry out her mission and established her own institution, the Whitney Museum of American Art, in 1930, which was subsequently relocated in 1931 near Fifth Avenue on West Eighth Street with the aim of encouraging American artists and their creativity.

Even after Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s passing in 1942, the museum’s collection and reputation continued to flourish. However, space limitations forced a move to a larger location on West 54th Street in 1954. In 1963, the museum found a new home in the iconic Marcel Breuer-designed building on Madison Avenue at 75th Street. It remained there until October 20, 2014, before finding its current location on May 1, 2015. Today, the Whitney Museum resides in the vibrant Meatpacking District, nestled between the Hudson River and the High Line, at 99 Gansevoort Street.

The Innovative Ideas (Whitney Museum of American Art Website)

Since its establishment, the Whitney Museum has been known for its innovative practices. It was the first museum in New York City to host a significant exhibition of video artist Nam June Paik in 1982, and it was the first museum devoted to the works of contemporary American artists. The Whitney was the pioneering museum to bestow extensive museum surveys on notable artists, including Paul Thek, Cindy Sherman, Glenn Ligon, Jay DeFeo, and Jasper Johns. The museum consistently bought the artists’ works within the year of their creation in an effort to establish their fame or recognition.  

In order to expand its exhibition schedule outside of its premises, Whitney also established branch museums in New York City and the surrounding areas. These shows catered to the needs of aspiring artists by offering ample space and exhibition opportunities, in addition to being accessible to the general public for viewing Whitney’s collection.

Displaying the Collections (Whitney Museum of American Art Website)

Whitney’s collection includes over 25,000 works created by more than 3,600 artists in the United States during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The foundation of the museum, which first opened its doors in 1931, consisted primarily of the founder’s 600 personal artwork collections, to which Mrs. Whitney continued to add artwork throughout her life. Mrs. Whitney was a fervent supporter of contemporary American artists, especially the younger and up-and-coming ones, such as Peggy Bacon, George Bellows, Stuart Davis, Mabel Dwight, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Reginald Marsh, and John Sloan, as evidenced by the founding collection. Respect for the creative processes and visions of artists, as well as the ultimate product of contemporary art, was evident in the museum’s collections.

The collection starts with paintings from the Ashcan School and moves through the major American movements of the twentieth century, with particular strengths in precisionism, abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism, postminimalism, art centred around identity and politics that gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, and contemporary work. The originals, fresh variations, and one-of-a-kind pieces created by lesser-known artists are the collections’ strongest points. All media are represented in the collection; more than 80% are works on paper.

The Whitney has vast collections of works by notable artists that cover their careers and media, including Alexander Calder, Nicole Eisenman, Jasper Johns, Glenn Ligon, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Georgia O’Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Laura Owens, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, and David Wojnarowicz.  

The exhibitions (Whitney Museum of American Art Website)

By assembling a permanent collection and organising numerous exhibitions, the Whitney has established itself as a leader in American art and artists since its founding in 1931. Exhibitions and group shows, featuring a variety of artworks from historical surveys to in-depth retrospectives, serve as a platform for introducing the public to new or up-and-coming artists. Since 1932, the Biennial has invited artists to present works created within the previous two years. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was the driving force behind the initiative.

The Building (Renzo Piano Building Workshop Website)

The museum experience is about more than just art; it is about feeling a part of this amazing physical environment and this downtown community. 

A striking cantilevered area known as the “Largo,” a communal public space that extends to the street from the museum and provides views of the Hudson and the High Line, greets guests. Proceeding from this point, one enters the main lobby, which doubles as a free-of-charge public gallery for exhibition space. Technical areas and offices are located on level three, which also houses a theatre with 170-retractable seats and double-height views of the Hudson River.

In addition to 13,000 square feet of outdoor exhibition space and roughly 50,000 square feet of indoor galleries, The Whitney’s Museum features terraces with views of the High Line. With an approximate total area of 18,000 square feet, the Special Exhibitions Gallery is the biggest exhibition space in New York City without columns. In addition, there are two floors devoted to the permanent collection, a free lobby gallery, and a special exhibition gallery on the top floor.

A multipurpose theatre for film, video, and performance is situated on the north side of the building’s core, along with museum offices, an education centre, conservation laboratories, and a library reading room.

Not to mention, a sawtooth-shaped skylight on the top floor provides natural lighting for the “studio” gallery and cafe. 

Linking Up with the Cityscape (Plick, 2015)

Renzo Piano is the great champion of public space. Whether the people using the space are aware of it or not, he improves their quality of life by designing public spaces created specifically for exchanging ideas and socialising. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, he conveyed this by including a large area in the front called a “piazza” for people to meet, congregate, chat, and even loiter. 

For 2-3 years, Renzo Piano was working on Madison Avenue and 75th Street to extend the site and space, but it turned out well as it was too much trouble, too much work, and too much money for too little result. After seeing this, the client began the effort of searching for a new site, possibly downtown, because this is where Gertrude Whitney came from. 

One of the best places Renzo Piano has visited thus far, Gansevoort and Washington Street, are the hubs of the High Line, providing connections to the entire city. Met Breuer overlooked the area in front of the structure, where people could link to the street. However, in the case of Piano’s design, they improved pedestrian accessibility to the ground and created an open, urban atmosphere that improved city living. 

Design and Response to the Urban Character (Plick, 2015)

With the buildings harmoniously complementing one another and not being overly tall, Renzo Piano was inspired by the site itself and engaged in a constant dialogue with the surrounding landscape. In order to keep the High Line as well-lit as possible while maintaining a harmonious dialogue with its surroundings, the idea to break down the scale came about as a result. 

The way each side of the site interacted with the city differed, so the design had to be approached differently on each side as well. The Hudson River lay to the west, and since the building had to reflect the characteristics of the river, it had to be broad, open, and expansive. Large buildings and the sun were to the south; the building had to respond to these factors. As a result, the built form on the southern facade had to be massive in order to blend in harmoniously with the 1970s buildings and was closed because the gallery did not want much light. On the north, the building interacts with an extension; this part of the land is open to transformation, and the architect has made use of the extra space.

In the north, it is expanding. It is worth it down south. The vastness of the sunset is seen to the west. The city’s fragmentation can be seen in the east. 

Features of the design form (Whitney Museum of Art Website)

The design adopts a strikingly asymmetrical shape that creates a modern, sculpture-like presence while responding to the industrial nature of the overhead railway and nearby loft buildings. The upper levels of the structure have a graceful retraction to the elevated High Line Park to the east and a view of the Hudson River to the west.

The Artist’s Retreat 

American Totem: Norman Lewis (Excerpts from the Interview with Norman Lewis)

Using abstract art, Norman Lewis addressed racial discrimination in the 1960s with this piece. He created art out of the smallest details he could find on the ground, rather than using traditional methods to depict this issue. He used to portray black people as the object of hatred and disdain, but it did not catch on. He believed that going out and observing, then using the information to draw attention to the events, was the only way to raise awareness of this problem and encourage people to take action. Members of the Ku Klux Klan, a hate group dedicated to white supremacist ideology, are depicted in this painting wearing white, triangular hoods.

Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest sculpted animals or easily recognised objects as totem poles, which hold spiritual significance. These sculptures serve as a symbol of their identity. Lewis’s use of form is noteworthy and admirable; there is much meaning to be found in the shapes. It gives a sense of mystery that some of the white forms fade into black. A large number of asymmetrical shapes packed into a rigid outline represent tension.

Flower Abstraction: Georgia O’Keeffe (Whitney Museum of American Art Website)

In this painting, Georgia used the close cropping technique to abstractly incorporate her observations from modernist photography, particularly of Paul Strand, while utilising her own creative vocabulary, flowing forms, and gentle tone gradations. She has depicted an enlarged flower that is outside its bounds in her abstract floral paintings. Her artistic intellect has allowed her to depict an ordinary flower in a way that is true to life, utilising details like the pistil, which is the nectar of pollen grains, and stamen, which is the holder of pollen grains in flowers, as well as colour variations that occur as one looks at the flower through a microscope.

Music, Pink and Blue No. 2:  Georgia O’Keeffe (Interview with the Whitney Museum of American Art)

Pale and light colours were used for this painting, with a focus on pinks and blues. A blue tongue-shaped object emerges from the bottom, close to the right corner, and slants vertically to the left. Turning left of this is a slightly curved body of water with an aquamarine colour that resembles a hole, void, or vacuum encircled by an outer ribbon of white space with a mint green and pale pink coloration. The way the blue region folds over the outer shape symbolises how an interior space unfolds. A thin border of pink and red, which stand for blood and flesh, frames the white ribbon. Subsequently, there are the violet- and red-outlined petal forms that stack on top of one another, transitioning into gentle hills to the left. The painting’s upper layers, which are composed of peach and pink folds, have a fissure behind these lavender petals. This painting’s dynamic quality is one of its characteristics; nothing about it is static. 

Every form seems to be breathing and expanding to make room for the next.

I Place All My Hopes On You #1 (Sé Sou Ou Mwen Mété Espwa M #1): Widline Cadet (Excerpts from the Interview to The Museum)

This composition’s abstract quality serves as a helpful reminder of the importance of family values. The composition is made up of two separate images, twenty years apart: the larger image is of the artist creating a landscape in her sister’s home in Florida, and the smaller image is of her mother holding her sibling on the day of her baptism. Because she was born, raised, and planned to settle in the US with her family, the artist decided to take advantage of the topography and accessibility of the land. She thus made the struggle easier by using topography and access points to create an artwork that could evoke memories of her early years and the memorable moments she shared with her family. She expressed the idea that having hope can be beautiful while at the same time being a struggle, so overall, hope is a beautiful struggle.

A Concluding Note as Gratitude to the Museum

The Whitney Museum is more of an experience than merely a place to view artwork. You can discover the range of American artistic expression, establish a connection with the narratives and feelings conveyed in each work, and draw inspiration from the ingenuity of your fellow populace. Thus, the Whitney Museum is ready to inspire and astound you, regardless of your level of experience with art or just your curiosity about American art. 

References:

1. Whitney Museum of American Art (2024). About: History of the Whitney. [Online]. Available at: https://whitney.org/about/history. [Accessed, February 28, 2024]
2. Renzo Piano Building Workshop (2024). RPBW All Projects: The Whitney Museum of American Art at Gansevoort. [online]. Available at: https://www.rpbw.com/project/the-whitney-museum-at-gansevoort. [Accessed 29 February 2024].
3. Plick, D. (2015, June 09). Renzo Piano on the Whitney Museum and the Value of Public Space. Archdaily. [online] Retrieved From: https://www.archdaily.com/640484/renzo-piano-on-the-whitney-museum-and-the-value-of-public-space?ad_campaign=normal-tag
4. Whitney Museum of American Art (2024). About: The building. [Online]. Available at: https://whitney.org/about/our-building  [Accessed, February 29, 2024]
5. American Art, Smithsonian Institution, and Lewis, N. (1960). From Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965. Retrieved From: https://whitney.org/collection/works/59967
6. Haskell, B., and Corn, W. (2018). From At the Dawn of a New Age: Early Twentieth-Century American Modernism, The Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965. Retrieved from: https://whitney.org/collection/works/7759. 
7.  Whitney Museum of American Art and Cadet, W. (2021).  Inheritance. Retrieved from: https://whitney.org/collection/works/67440.

Image References  

1. 1_Whitney Museum of American Art [Photograph]_Lehoux, N (2015)
2. 2_Whitney Museum of American Art by Met Breuer [Photograph]_Stoller, E (1967)
3. 3_Whitney Museum of American Art: THe Building: Tooth shaped Skylight  [Photograph]_Lehoux, N (2015)
4. 4_Whitney Museum of American Art: Linking to the Urbanscape [Photograph]_Lehoux, N (2015).
5. 5_Whitney Museum of American Art: Section showing connectivity to the urbanscape. [Drawing]_Renzo Piano Building Workshop + Cooper Robertson (2015)
6. 6_Whitney Museum of American Art: Section showing connectivity to the urbanscape. [Drawing]_Renzo Piano Building Workshop + Cooper Robertson (2015)
7. 7_American Totem: Norman Lewis. [Photograph]_Whitney Museum of American Art (2018).
8. 8_Flower Abstraction: Georgia O’Keeffe [Painting Photograph]_Whitney Museum of American Art (1985).
9. 9_Music, Pink and Blue No. 2: Georgia O’Keeffe. [Painting Photograph] _Whitney Museum of American Art or Artists Rights Society (ARS) (1991). 
10. 10 _ I Place All My Hopes On You #1: Widline Cadet. [Photograph]_ Whitney Museum of American Art (2022)