#whitney collection

Happy Birthday, Hopper! The Whitney Collection is home to over 3,100 works by Edward Hopper, born on this day in 1882! Explore more of his works on whitney.org.

[Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Early Sunday Morning, 1930. Oil on canvas, 35 3/16 × 60 ¼ in. (89.4 × 153 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 31.426. © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY]

“What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more livable.“—Louise Nevelson. See her drawings and prints in the exhibition, Louise Nevelson: The Face in the Moon, open today at the Whitney! 

[Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), Untitled, 1928. Fabricated red chalk on paper: sheet, 17 5/8 × 13 3/8 in. (44.8 × 34 cm); mount: 19 9/16 × 15 ½ in. (49.7 × 39.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the artist 69.220. © 2018 Estate of Louise Nevelson/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

Happy Fourth of July! Celebrate your Independence Day with American art—the Museum is open seven days a week in July and August (and open late until 10 pm Fridays and Saturdays)! 

[Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015), Red, White and Blue, 1961. Oil on linen, 88 ¼ × 66 9/16 in.]

For his second work using trophies, Carl Pope researched violent interactions between police and residents of New York City that took place between 1949 and 1994. Pope purchased trophies made specifically for law enforcement and inscribed each with the names of both the person killed or brutalized by police and the office officer who committed the the act, naming the the pieceSome of the Greatest Hits of the New York City Police Department: A Celebration of Meritorious Achievement in the Community.“I think what makes the trophy collection so compelling is that it brings those rewards to public notice, in the minds of people who normally would not make that connection between the rewards that officers receive and why they receive those rewards."—Carl Pope. See the work on view now in An Incomplete History of Protest, and hear more from the artist on whitney.org.

Louise Lawler’s vinyl tracing of her 1992 work, Salon Hodler, can be seen in our eighth-floor studio cafe. Lawler documents a well-appointed salon filled with rare antiques and nineteenth-century photographs. Her imagery reveals the often unseen impact that institutional, social, and economic contexts exert on the functions of art and the ways we understand it. 

“How do I position myself? As long as homophobia still exists, I will continue to make work in relationship to my life and visibility”—Catherine Opie

For over thirty years, Whitney CollectionartistCatherine Opie has captured iconic photographs of people and places that are often overlooked, redefining the image of homosexuality.  In honor of Pride this month, we’re highlighting works from three Whitney Collection artists who have either identified with, or fought for, the rights of the LGBTQ community through their art practice.

[Catherine Opie (b. 1961), Jenny (Bed), 2009. Chromogenic print. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Photography Committee and The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. © Catherine Opie]

As part of our ongoing celebration of Pride this month, we’re highlighting works from three Whitney Collection artists who have either identified with, or fought for, the LGBTQ community through their art. David Wojnarowicz refused a signature style, adopting a wide variety of techniques with an attitude of radical possibility. His work spans photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing, and activism. David Wojnarowicz: A History Keeps me Awake at Night opens at the Whitney July 13! 

[David Wojnarowicz with Tom Warren, Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983–84. Acrylic and collaged paper on gelatin silver print, 60 × 40 in. (152.4 × 101.6 cm). Collection of Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich]

In celebration of Pride during the month of June, we’re highlighting works from three Whitney Collection artists who have either identified with, or fought for, the LGBTQ community through their art. The pioneering video artist Charles Atlas has brought together dance, performance, and media for nearly four decades. Here, see a still from his work, What I Did Last Summer—a three-part chronicle of queer nightlife in New York in the early 90s—shown as a part of the exhibition Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection.

[Charles Atlas (1949–), still from What I Did Last Summer, 1991. Video, color, sound, 12 min. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from Lori and Alexandre Chemla 2013.82 Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.]

“Art is what you can get away with."—Andy Warhol.
Opening at the Whitney Museum this fall, Andy Warhol–From A to B and Back Again represents the first Warhol retrospective to be organized by a U.S. institution in over thirty years. Read more in The New York Times.

[Portrait of Andy Warhol at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1971. Photo © Jack Mitchell]

The Whitney’s latest exhibition, Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018, brings together thirty-nine Whitney Collection artists whose works derive from rules and instructions. Explore Jim Campbell’sTilted Plane—the immersive, flickering installation of lightbulbs gives the magical illusion of birds taking flight.

We remember September 11 with two Whitney Collection works by Ellsworth Kelly: Green Panel (Ground Zero) (2011) and Ground Zero (2003). Kelly imagined a large, gently sloping mound of earth covered in brilliant green grass when he conceived of a memorial Ground Zero in 2001. When the artist saw this aerial photograph of Ground Zero published in The New York Times in 2003, he was inspired to make this collage of a prospective memorial. Preserving Ground Zero as an undeveloped rectangle of green grass perfectly embodies Kelly’s interest in monochrome geometry and the landscape. When looking down from neighboring buildings on the site, viewers would see an uninterrupted expanse of color, as if looking at the ocean or sky.

[Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015), Ground Zero, 2003. Collage on paper (newsprint). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of an anonymous donor. © Ellsworth Kelly]

[Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015), Green Panel (Ground Zero), 2011. Painted Aluminum. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art. © Ellsworth Kelly]

[David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992), Untitled (Falling man and map of the U.S.A.), 1982. Screenprint: sheet, 23 15/16 x 17 7/8 in. (60.8 x 45.4 cm); image, 12 ½ x 12 ½ in. (31.8 x 31.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Print Committee 2001.269. © The Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York]

Celebrate Labor Day with American art at the Whitney! Experience iconic works from the Whitney collection, including this painting of Lancaster’s industrial architure by Charles Demuth on view in Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1900–1960.

[Charles Demuth (1883‑1935), Buildings, Lancaster, 1930. Oil and graphite pencil on composition board, 24 1/8 × 20 1/8in. (61.3 × 51.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of an anonymous donor 58.63]

COMING SOON! Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018 spans over sixty years of conceptual, video, and computational art.

[Nam Jun Paik (1932–2006), Fin de Siecle II, 1989. Video installation, 207 television sets with seven video channels, 168 x 480 x 60 in. (426.7 x 1219.2 x 152.4 cm). The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Gift of Laila and Thurston Twigg-Smith 93.129]

Hear from Tom Kalin of the AIDS activist collective Gran Fury on the American Policy series by Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds. Their works are on view in the exhibition An Incomplete History of Protest through Monday, August 27. Watch the full video on whitney.org.

“What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more livable."— Louise Nevelson. See her drawings and prints in the exhibition Louise Nevelson: The Face in the Moon, now on view at the Whitney.

[Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), Portrait, 1953-55. Aquatint and etching: sheet, 24 1/8 × 19 ¼ in. (61.3 × 48.9 cm); plate, 19 5/8 × 15 7/8 in. (49.9 × 40.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the artist 69.242. © 2018 Estate of Louise Nevelson/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

Happy birthday, Andy Warhol! The countdown begins for the artist’s monumental retrospective, Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again, opening November 12 at the Whitney. Visit whitney.org to purchase advanced tickets today!

Hot outside, cool inside. See works by Edward Ruscha and more from the Whitney Collection.

[Edward Ruscha (1937—), Swank, 2001, Spray-applied acrylic and dry pigment on board, 36 ¼ × 56 1/8 in. (92.1 × 142.6 cm); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President © Edward Ruscha]

Happy birthday to Whitney Collection artist Jenny Holzer! UNEX Sign #1 (Selections from the Survival Series) from 1983 is one of the artist’s earliest works to present her Truisms—one-line aphorisms written by Holzer—with LED technology, a state-of the art means of public communication for government and institutional agencies. At the time of its making, the piece’s 54 statements may have been mistaken for ads, instructions, or public announcements. In a media-saturated world in which news and ads flash by for passive viewers, Holzer uses this instrument of communication to call us to attention.

[UNEX Sign #1 (Selections from the Survival Series) (1983) installed in the Whitney’s lobby, 2015. by Ron Amstuz]