The Whitney's Collection
30 Jan 2008 - 01 Jun 2009
Jasper Johns, Three Flags,1958
Encaustic on canvas,30 7/8 x 45 1/2 x 5 in. (78.4 x 115.6 x 12.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York: 50th Anniversary Gift of the Gilman Foundation, Inc., The Lauder Foundation, A. Alfred Taubman, Laura-Lee Whittier Woods, and purchase 80.32. Art © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photograph by Geoffrey Clements
Encaustic on canvas,30 7/8 x 45 1/2 x 5 in. (78.4 x 115.6 x 12.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York: 50th Anniversary Gift of the Gilman Foundation, Inc., The Lauder Foundation, A. Alfred Taubman, Laura-Lee Whittier Woods, and purchase 80.32. Art © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photograph by Geoffrey Clements
The Whitney's Collection
January 30, 2008-June 1, 2009
In 1931, before the Whitney Museum of American Art opened to the public, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney made a gift that became the basis of the institution’s holdings of modern art. Her devotion to the work of living artists has defined how the Whitney has developed ever since. This presentation of the permanent collection highlights four broad themes that elucidate key developments of twentieth century art in this country. They include the fragmentation and abstraction of early modernism; the realism that focused on people and society; the aesthetics of industry, city and machine; and, finally, the convergence between mental state and bodily gesture that led to new types of form and abstraction. While these developments are grounded in historical periods, their qualities and ideas also overlap and connect, extending into the work of living artists who found new ways to apply them to creative expression.
January 30, 2008-June 1, 2009
In 1931, before the Whitney Museum of American Art opened to the public, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney made a gift that became the basis of the institution’s holdings of modern art. Her devotion to the work of living artists has defined how the Whitney has developed ever since. This presentation of the permanent collection highlights four broad themes that elucidate key developments of twentieth century art in this country. They include the fragmentation and abstraction of early modernism; the realism that focused on people and society; the aesthetics of industry, city and machine; and, finally, the convergence between mental state and bodily gesture that led to new types of form and abstraction. While these developments are grounded in historical periods, their qualities and ideas also overlap and connect, extending into the work of living artists who found new ways to apply them to creative expression.