American Legends: From Calder to O’Keeffe

Dec 22, 2012–June 29, 2014

A pop still life of a bowl of fruit by Roy Lichtenstein

American Legends: From Calder to O’Keeffe showcases the Whitney’s holdings of artwork from the first half of the twentieth century alongside that of postwar figures. The exhibition includes work by thirteen leading artists: Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Burgoyne Diller, William Eggleston, Morris Graves, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Jacob Lawrence, Roy Lichtenstein, Elie Nadelman, Alice Neel, and Georgia O’Keeffe. One- and two-artist presentations provide a survey of each artist’s work across a range of media.

American Legends is organized by Barbara Haskell, Curator.

Ongoing support for the permanent collection and major support for American Legends: From Calder to O'Keeffe is provided by Bank of America.

Bank of America

Additional support for American Legends is provided by Susan R.Malloy, The Gage Fund, and Lynn G. Straus.

Artworks

Oscar Bluemner, Last Evening of the Year, c. 1929. Oil on board mounted on wood, 13 3/4 × 9 3/4 in. (34.9 × 24.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art; gift of Juliana Force 31.115

Oscar Bluemner, A Situation in Yellow, 1933. Oil on canvas, 36 × 50 1/2 in. (91.4 × 128.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Nancy and Harry L. Koenigsberg 67.66

Painting of men surrounding a man in pain.

Paul Cadmus, To the Lynching!, 1935. Graphite and watercolor on paper, 23 1/2 × 18 in. (59.7 × 45.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 36.32

Sailors and lovers in an abandoned park.

Paul Cadmus, Sailors and Floosies, 1938. Oil and tempera on linen mounted on composition board, with wood frame, 33 11/16 × 48 1/2 in. (85.6 × 123.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Malcolm S. Forbes 64.42a–b Art © Jon F. Anderson, Estate of Paul Cadmus / Licensed by VAGA, New York, N.Y.

Alexander Calder, Calder’s Circus, 1926–31. Wire, wood, metal, cloth, yarn, paper, cardboard, leather, string, rubber tubing, corks, buttons, rhinestones, pipe cleaners, and bottle caps, 54 × 94 1/4 × 94 1/4 in. (137.2 × 239.4 × 239.4 cm) overall, dimensions variable. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from a public fundraising campaign in May 1982. One half the funds were contributed by the Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Charitable Trust. Additional major donations were given by The Lauder Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation Inc., the Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation Inc., an anonymous donor, The T. M. Evans Foundation Inc., MacAndrews & Forbes Group Incorporated, the DeWitt Wallace Fund Inc., Martin and Agneta Gruss, Anne Phillips, Mr. and Mrs. Laurance S. Rockefeller, the Simon Foundation Inc., Marylou Whitney, Bankers Trust Company, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth N. Dayton, Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz, Irvin and Kenneth Feld, Flora Whitney Miller. More than 500 individuals from 26 states and abroad also contributed to the campaign 83.36.1-95

Alexander Calder (1898-1976), Varèse, c. 1930. Wire, 15 × 11 3/4 × 12 1/2 in. (38.1 × 29.8 × 31.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 50th Anniversary Gift of Mrs. Louise Varèse in honor of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 80.25 © Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Steel sculpture with red circles attached to it by Alexander Calder.

Alexander Calder, Object with Red Discs, 1931. Painted steel rod, wire, wood, and sheet aluminum, 88 1/2 × 33 × 47 1/2 in. (224.8 × 83.8 × 120.7 cm) overall. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Mrs. Percy Uris Purchase Fund 86.49a-c

Drawing of a circus performer by Alexander Calder.

Alexander Calder, Juggler with Dog, 1931. Pen and ink on paper, 22 3/4 × 30 13/16 in. (57.8 × 78.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Howard and Jean Lipman 81.23.2

A wooden bottle sculpture by Alexander Calder.

Alexander Calder, Wooden Bottle with Hairs, 1943. Wood and wire, 22 3/8 × 13 × 12 in. (56.8 × 33 × 30.5 cm) overall. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 50th Anniversary Gift of the Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation, Inc. 80.28.2a-l

Artwork of four wine glasses by Joseph Cornell.

Joseph Cornell, Celestial Navigation, c. 1958. Box construction with wood, glasses, marbles, plaster head, painted cork ball, metal rods, nails, paper collage, tempera, and painted glass, 9 5/8 × 16 1/4 × 4 in. (24.5 × 41.3 × 10.2 cm) overall. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 60th Anniversary Gift of Estée Lauder Inc. 92.24a-k

Art © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Bold geometric oil painting of a steel foundry behind two fences and telephone poles.

Ralston Crawford, Steel Foundry, Coatesville, Pa., 1936–37. Oil on canvas, 32 × 40 in. (81.3 × 101.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 37.10

A steel beam that held up the Third Avenue elevated subway line.

Ralston Crawford, Third Avenue Elevated, 1949. Gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (24.1 × 16.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Robert F. Crawford 88.52

A painting of a house and a street with buildings.

Stuart Davis, House and Street, 1931. Oil on canvas, 26 1/8 x 42 1/8 in. (66.4 x 107 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 41.3. © Estate of Stuart Davis/Licensed by VAGA, New York

Abstract artwork with a yellow background.

Stuart Davis, Owh! in San Paõ, 1951. Oil on canvas, 52 1/4 × 41 3/4 in. (132.7 × 106 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 52.2

Art © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Large industrial building with rays of light crossing it.

Charles Demuth, My Egypt, 1927. Oil and graphite pencil on fiberboard, 35 3/4 × 30 in. (90.81 x 76.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 31.172

Artwork by Chares Demuth featuring people in a room.

Charles Demuth, Distinguished Air, 1930. Watercolor and graphite on paper, 16 1/4 × 12 3/16 in. (41.3 × 31 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art and Charles Simon 68.16

Painting by Edward Hopper. Painting of a woman in dress facing away from the viewer.

Edward Hopper, New York Interior, c. 1921. Oil on canvas, Overall: 24 1/4 × 29 1/4 in. (61.6 × 74.3cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Josephine N. Hopper Bequest 70.1200. © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

A man climbs up the steps beneath gravestones.

Jacob Lawrence, Tombstones, 1942. Gouache on paper, 30 7/8 × 22 13/16 in. (78.4 × 57.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 43.14

Jacob Lawrence, The Letter, 1946-47. Tempera on composition board, 20 1/4 × 16 1/8in. (51.4 × 41 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger 51.11 © 2017 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

A painting of three figures carrying large round objects up an incline.

Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Another Patrol, 1946. Tempera on composition board. 16 1/8 × 20 1/4 in. (41 × 51.4 cm) Image: 15 7/8 × 20 × 1/8 in. (40.3 × 50.8 × 0.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger 51.8 © artist or artist’s estate

Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Alert, 1947. Egg tempera on composition board, 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger 51.9

Abstract artwork of soldiers by Jacob Lawrence.

Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Beachhead, 1947. Egg tempera on composition board, 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger 51.13

Soldiers and guns in an abstract painting by Jacob Lawrence.

Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Shipping Out, 1947. Egg tempera on composition board, 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger 51.7. © 2009 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A soldier with a helmet and a gun bending over.

Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Victory, 1947. Tempera on composition board, 20 1/4 × 16 3/16 in. (51.4 × 41.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger 51.19 © 2017 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY

Reginald Marsh, Negroes on Rockaway Beach, 1934. Egg tempera on composition board, 30 × 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hackett 61.2

Elie Nadelman, Tango, 1920–24. Painted cherry wood and gesso, three units, 35 7/8 × 26 × 13 7/8 in. (91.1 × 66 × 35.2 cm) overall. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Altschul Purchase Fund, the Joan and Lester Avnet Purchase Fund, the Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch Purchase Fund, the Mrs. Robert C. Graham Purchase Fund in honor of John I.H. Baur, the Mrs. Percy Uris Purchase Fund, and the Henry Schnakenberg Purchase Fund in honor of Juliana Force 88.1a-c

A painting of an animal skull in the sky above flowers and desert landscape.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Summer Days, 1936. Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 × 30 1/8 in. (91.8 × 76.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Calvin Klein 94.171. © The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Up close of a flower painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Flower Abstraction, 1924. Oil on canvas, 48 × 30 in. (121.9 × 76.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 50th Anniversary Gift of Sandra Payson 85.47

Joseph Stella, Luna Park, c. 1913. Oil on composition board, 17 1/2 × 23 3/8 in. (44.5 x 59.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mrs. Charles A. Goldberg 72.147

An angular painting of the Brooklyn Bridge, looking up towards the tower. The perspective is unrealistic, and almost abstract, and filled with blues and greens and grays.

Joseph Stella, The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme, 1939. Oil on canvas, overall: 70 1/4 × 42 3/16 in. (178.4 × 107.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase 42.15

An animal sits at the center of an abstract artwork.

Marsden Hartley, Forms Abstracted, 1913. Oil on canvas, 39 1/2 × 31 3/4 in. (100.3 x 80.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hudson D. Walker and exchange 52.37

A river scene with a reflection of trees.

Marsden Hartley, Robin Hood Cove, Georgetown, Maine, 1938. Oil on board, 21 3/4 × 25 7/8 in. (55.3 × 65.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 50th Anniversary Gift of Ione Walker in memory of her husband, Hudson D. Walker 87.63

A shirtless man poses in painting with a red background.

Marsden Hartley, Madawaska, Acadian Light-Heavy, Third Arrangement, 1940. Oil on masonite, 27 7/8 × 21 1/2 in. (70.8 × 54.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Nina and Herman Schneider, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Dr. Meyer A. Pearlman and Purchase by exchange, and the Director’s Discretionary Acquisition Fund 2005.89

Plants and flowers next to a fence and house.

Charles Burchfield, Noontide in Late May, 1917. Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper, 22 × 18 in. (55.9 × 45.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 31.408

All works by Charles Burchfield are reproduced with permission of the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation

Edward Hopper (1882-1967), Self-Portrait, 1925-30. Oil on canvas, 25 3/8 × 20 3/8 in. (64.5 × 51.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Josephine N. Hopper Bequest 70.1165 © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

A woman in a had and dress standing outside in a doorway.

Edward Hopper (1882–1967), South Carolina Morning, 1955. Oil on canvas, 30 9/16 × 40 1/4 in. (77.6 × 102.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; given in memory of Otto L. Spaeth by his Family 67.13 © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Georgia O'Keeffe, Music, Pink and Blue No. 2, 1918. Oil on canvas, 35 x 29 15/16 in. (88.9 x 76 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Emily Fisher Landau in honor of Tom Armstrong 91.90. © The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John Marin, Region of Brooklyn Bridge Fantasy, 1932. Watercolor on paper, 22 × 28 3/16 in. (55.9 × 71.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 49.8

Stuart Davis, Egg Beater No. 1, 1927. Oil on canvas, 29 1/8 × 36 in. (74 × 91.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 31.169 On view Art © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Newspaper collage of a man in a top hat.

Arthur Dove, The Critic, 1925. Collaged paper, newspaper, fabric, cord, glass, pencil, and watercolor on board, 19 1/2 × 13 × 2 1/4 in. (49.5 × 33 × 5.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Historic Art Association of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Mr. and Mrs. Morton L. Janklow, the Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation Inc., and Hannelore Schulhof 76.9 © The Estate of Arthur G. Dove

Alexander Calder, Tumbler on Swing, 1931. Pen and ink on paper, 30 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (77.5 × 57.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Howard and Jean Lipman 81.23.4

A painting of black, yellow, red, and white lines and rectangles.

Burgoyne Diller, Third Theme, 1946–48. Oil on canvas, 42 × 42 in. (106.7 × 106.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of May Walter 58.58

William Eggleston, Huntsville, Alabama, 1971, from William Eggleston’s Guide, 1976. Chromogenic print, 18 1/4 × 12 3/4 in. (46.4 × 32.4 cm). Edition no. 3/20. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Virginia M. Zabriskie 91.100.3

William Eggleston, Untitled (Grocery Store), c.1965-1974. Dye transfer print. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from Marcia Dunn and Jonathan Sobel 2009.101

Charcoal drawing on paper of a large spiral.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986), No. 8 - Special (Drawing No. 8), 1916. Charcoal on paper, 24 1/2 x 18 7/8 in. (62.2 x 47.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Altschul Purchase Fund 85.52. © 2018 The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Hopper's iconic painting of empty street scene.

Edward Hopper, Early Sunday Morning, 1930. Oil on canvas, 35 3/16 × 60 1/4 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

Three American flags on top of each other.

Jasper Johns, Three Flags, 1958. Encaustic on canvas (three panels), 30 7/8 × 45 3/4 in. (78.4 × 116.2 cm) overall. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Gilman Foundation, Inc., The Lauder Foundation, A. Alfred Taubman, Laura-Lee Whittier Woods, Howard Lipman, and Ed Downe in honor of the Museum’s 50th Anniversary 80.32. © 2021 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A Pop art painting of a woman smiling through a window.

Roy Lichtenstein, Girl in Window (Study for World’s Fair Mural), 1963. Oil on canvas, 68 3/16 × 56 1/8 in. (173.2 × 142.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President 2002.254. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Alice Neel, Andy Warhol, 1970. Oil and acrylic on linen, 60 × 40 in. (152.4 × 101.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Timothy Collins 80.52 © The Estate of Alice Neel

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American Legends: Common Threads across Generations

This audio guide highlights selected works by artists in American Legends: From Calder to O’Keeffe. Curators, scholars, and artists provide additional commentary.

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