Whitney Museum of American Art: Recent pages: About

Faqs

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:55:45 -0500

About/Faqs

Are baby strollers allowed in the Museum?
Strollers are permitted in the collection galleries; however, certain exhibitions may have restrictions. Check the Visitor Policies page to see if there are any current restrictions. See the family section for more information on visiting with children.

Is there a restaurant at the Whitney?
We are excited to launch our permanent restaurant, which will open at the Museum this winter. In the interim, we will be serving sandwiches, pastries, coffee and other beverages on the lower level.

Do I need a ticket for lectures, courses, concerts, and other programs?
A ticket or advance registration is required for some programs. Please check the Calendar & Events page for ticketing information by program.

Are there docent tours for exhibitions and if so when are they?
Yes. Information can be found on the Free Daily Tours page.

Is the Museum wheelchair accessible?
Yes, all galleries, restrooms, and the restaurant are wheelchair accessible. Wheelchairs are available free of charge at the coat check in the Museum Lobby. More information is available on the Visitors with Disabilities pages.

Board Of Trustees

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:12:08 -0500

About/Trustees

Chairman Emeritus
Leonard A. Lauder

Honorary Chairman
Flora Miller Biddle

Co-Chairmen
Robert J. Hurst
Brooke Garber Neidich

President
Neil G. Bluhm

Vice Chairmen
Melva Bucksbaum
Susan K. Hess
Raymond J. McGuire
Robert W. Wilson

Vice Presidents
Richard M. DeMartini
James A. Gordon
Warren B. Kanders
Peter Norton
John C. Phelan
Scott Resnick
Fern Kaye Tessler
Thomas E. Tuft

Secretary
Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo

Treasurer
Henry Cornell

Alice Pratt Brown Director
Adam D. Weinberg

Trustees
Steven Ames
J. Darius Bikoff
Richard M. Chang
Nancy Carrington Crown
Pamella G. DeVos
Beth Rudin DeWoody
Fairfax N. Dorn
Victor F. Ganzi
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Philip H. Geier, Jr.
Sondra Gilman Gonzalez-Falla
Anne Dias Griffin
George S. Kaufman
Emily Fisher Landau
Raymond J. Learsy
Jonathan O. Lee
Thomas H. Lee
Donna Perret Rosen
Paul C. Schorr, IV
Richard D. Segal
Jonathan S. Sobel
Elizabeth M. Swig
Laurie M. Tisch
Fred Wilson
David W. Zalaznick

Honorary Trustees
Joel S. Ehrenkranz
Gilbert C. Maurer

Founder
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

as of January 24, 2012

Job Postings

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:38:57 -0500

About/JobPostings

If interested in any positions, please send resume, cover letter, and salary requirements to hr@whitney.org or HR Department, Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10021. No calls, please.

Please do not send catalogues or original materials. The Museum cannot assume responsibility for any original materials which are submitted.

New Building Project

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:48:31 -0500

About/NewBuilding/ProjectNews

May 24, 2011: In a dramatic ceremony on the building site, the Whitney officially breaks ground on its future building in the Meatpacking District.

May 21, 2011: More than 4000 people attend the Whitney’s Community Day in the Meatpacking District, featuring free activities and artist collaborations for families, teens, and adults at various venues throughout the neighborhood.

May 20, 2011: The Whitney closes on the land purchase for the building site from the City of New York.

May 11, 2011: The Whitney and the Metropolitan Museum of Art announce a collaborative agreement for the Whitney’s Breuer building on the Upper East Side.

March 10, 2011: The Whitney presents a project update to Manhattan Community Board 2’s Land Use and Business Development Committee.

January 26, 2011: The Whitney presents an update to Manhattan Community Board 2’s Construction Coordination Committee regarding upcoming work at the new building site.

December 20, 2010: The Whitney’s director, Adam D. Weinberg, presents a project update to Manhattan Community Board 2’s Art and Institutions Committee.

October 14, 2010: The Whitney sells eight buildings with proceeds to go towards construction of the new building and to bolster the Museum’s endowment. Funding for the project reaches $475 million.

May 25, 2010: The Whitney announces it will break ground on the new building in May 2011 and that it has raised $372 million in the leadership phase of the fundraising campaign for the project.

April 16, 2010: The Whitney announces a series of large-scale, commissioned works on the site of its future building for May–October, 2010.

October 12, 2009: The Whitney announces it has signed a contract with the City of New York to purchase the land on which the new building will be constructed.

June 8, 2009: The High Line opens to the public. Mayor Bloomberg says the Whitney’s new building will be a major cultural anchor for the new park.

September 24, 2008: The New York City Council unanimously approves the project’s ULURP application.

August 11, 2008: The City Planning Commission unanimously approves the project’s ULURP application.

July 2, 2008: The Whitney presents its ULURP application at the City Planning Commission’s July 2008 public hearing.

June 30, 2008: Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer recommends approval of the project’s ULURP application stating, “The application meets the required findings, satisfies important public policy goals, has the support of the affected community, and will facilitate the development of a highly anticipated new public park as well as enhance the ability of an important art institution to serve the public.”

May 22, 2008: At its May 2008 board meeting, Community Board 2 unanimously votes to approve the Whitney’s new building project proposal and its associated zoning actions.

May 15, 2008: The Zoning & Housing Committee of Community Board 2 unanimously votes in support of the Whitney’s new building project proposal and its associated zoning actions. The formal resolution thanks the Whitney “for starting this project by establishing a strong relationship with the surrounding community and Community Board.”

May 5, 2008: The Whitney’s new building project receives certification from the New York City Planning Commission, beginning the formal zoning process of public review known as ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) by the local Community Board, Borough President, Department of City Planning, and the City Council.

April 30, 2008: The Whitney releases the initial building designs at a public information session hosted by Community Board 2.

New Building Project

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:47:52 -0500

About/NewBuilding/About

The Whitney has broken ground on a 200,000-square-foot building in downtown Manhattan. Located in the Meatpacking District on Gansevoort Street between West Street and the High Line, the new building, designed by architect Renzo Piano, will provide the Whitney with essential new space for its collection, exhibitions, and education and performing arts programs in one of New York’s most vibrant neighborhoods.

According to architect Renzo Piano, “The design for the new museum emerges equally from a close study of the Whitney’s needs and from a response to this remarkable site. We wanted to draw on its vitality and at the same time enhance its rich character. The first big gesture, then, is the cantilevered entrance, which transforms the area outside the building into a large, sheltered public space. At this gathering place beneath the High Line, visitors will see through the building entrance and the large windows on the west side to the Hudson River beyond. Here, all at once, you have the water, the park, the powerful industrial structures and the exciting mix of people, brought together and focused by this new building and the experience of art.”

The new Whitney building will include more than 50,000 square feet of indoor galleries and 13,000 square feet of outdoor exhibition space on a series of rooftops facing the High Line, providing long-awaited opportunities to show more of the Whitney’s collection in tandem with temporary exhibitions.

The collection has grown from about 2,000 works at the time of the building’s opening, in 1966, to more than 19,000 works today. An expansive gallery for temporary exhibitions will be approximately 18,000 square feet in area, making it the largest column-free museum gallery in New York City. Gallery space for ground-floor exhibitions (accessible free of charge), two floors for the permanent collection, and contemporary artists’ projects on the top floor will total approximately 32,000 square feet.

The dramatically cantilevered entrance along Gansevoort Street will shelter an 8,500-square-foot outdoor plaza or “largo,” a public gathering space steps away from the southern entrance to the High Line. The new building will engage the Whitney directly with the bustling community of artists, gallerists, students, educators, entrepreneurs, and residents in the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village, where the Museum was founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1930.

The building also will include an Education Center offering dedicated space for state-of-the-art classrooms; a multi-use black box theater for film, video, and performance with an adjacent outdoor gallery; a 170-seat theater with double-height views of the Hudson River; and a Works on Paper Study Center, large art Conservation Lab, and Library Reading Room. The classrooms, theater, and study center are all firsts for the Whitney. As well, a retail shop on the ground-floor level will contribute to the vibrant street life of the area. A ground-floor restaurant and top-floor café will be conceived and operated by renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer and his Union Square Hospitality Group, which recently opened Untitled, the new restaurant in the Whitney at 945 Madison Avenue.

Mr. Piano’s design takes a strong and strikingly asymmetrical form—one that responds to the industrial character of the neighboring loft buildings and overhead railway while asserting a contemporary, sculptural presence. The upper stories of the building will stretch toward the Hudson River on the west side and step back gracefully from the elevated park of the High Line on the east side.

The building is projected to open to the public in 2015.

New Building Project

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:46:43 -0500

About/NewBuilding

For general inquiries regarding the downtown building project, email outreach@whitney.org.

For press inquiries, email pressoffice@whitney.org.

Internships

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:51:19 -0400

About/Internships

The Whitney Museum of American Art offers both academic year and summer internship programs for university students. Internships are geared toward college juniors, seniors, and graduate students (no freshmen) who gain first-hand experience about how a museum functions. Under the supervision of a department head or curator, interns will assist with regular departmental activities that range from research and special projects to routine administrative and clerical tasks.

Academic: Internships for university students are by semester or full year. Submit by mail or email, a resume and cover letter, stating the departments you are interested in working in, the skills you bring, and how you hope to contribute to the department. There is no deadline for submissions and no stipend. For further information about the academic year internship, please open the attachment below.

Spring Semester Internships: The internships are an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to learn about a specific area within a prestigious mid-sized cultural institution. Interns are required to commit themselves to a minimum of 2–3 days per week for the entire semester. There is no stipend, but interns are eligible for regular employee discounts at the Museum restaurant and store as well as invitations to exhibition openings and free admission to most New York City museums.

Curatorial
Under the supervision of a curatorial assistant, interns assist in regular departmental activities that range from research and special projects to routine administrative and clerical tasks. Applicants should have strong research and writing skills and knowledge of twentieth and twenty-first century American Art. There are seven curators and one chief curator.

Development
Internships are available in the following areas: Corporate Partnerships, Development Records, Foundations & Government Relations, Major Gifts, Membership, and Special Events.
These internships are an opportunity for students to learn about a specific area of Development within a mid-size cultural institution. Interns will assist with regular departmental activities that range from research, drafting letters, updating donor database records, project work, and administrative tasks. Applicants must have excellent writing and oral communication skills, superior telephone etiquette, excellent attention to detail, strong organization skills, the ability to work independently and stay focused in a busy office environment.

Director’s Office
Reporting to the administrative coordinator, the intern will help support for the Director’s Office administrative staff. This internship is geared toward students who are interested in arts administration. Applicants must have excellent writing and oral communication skills, superior telephone etiquette, excellent attention to detail, and strong organizational skills. Computer skills: MS Office, Outlook, and internet research are essential.

Education: Public Programs
Reporting to the manager of education initiatives, the intern’s responsibilities will include the following: assist with the logistics and execution of adult public programs as well as artist and program research. Applicants should be interested in event production, content research, and adult education. Other requirements include: excellent written and oral communication skills, good attention to detail, and strong organizational skills.

Education: Web Intern (Youth Insights Program)
Reporting to the coordinator of Youth Programs, the Web Intern will assist with the preparation and organization of online content generated by semester and year-long programs for teens at The Whitney Museum. Ideal candidates will have a background in web or graphic design and strong proficiency in digital and social media.

Graphic Design
Under the supervision of the design staff, the intern will assist with: general design and production assistance—design and production of small print and environmental projects (e.g. invitations, labels, temporary signs), production of comps and mockups, other design and production jobs (print, web, screen, and environmental) as needed; research—investigating practices at peer institutions, researching print materials and costs, image collecting; filing/archiving/documentation of finished projects. Strong design skills required.

Information Technology
Reporting to the manager of interactive technology, the intern will provide assistance with iTunes U content management; perform Google Analytics and data visualization work; research mobile app concepts and mobile vendors.

Marketing
Under the supervision of the marketing manager, the intern will research and report on arts nonprofit marketing trends; maintain clip binders; assist in ad trafficking; track social media statistics on a weekly basis; assist in preparation for visitor surveys; maintain and update social media calendar; maintain events, exhibition dates, and photo albums on Whitney Facebook page; assist with production on whitney.org; and conduct ongoing general marketing research projects.

Publications: Rights & Reproductions
Under the supervision of the manager of rights and reproductions, the intern will secure permissions from approximately 115 artists and estates for the permanent collection pages of the Whitney Museum’s website. Applicants need to be proficient in MS Word and MS Excel and have experience with PhotoShop.

Email hr@whitney.org with further questions.

Volunteering

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:41:02 -0400

About/Volunteer

The Museum has opportunities for volunteers through May 2012. The volunteers will be distributing audio guides to Museum visitors, and we require a commitment of one day per week. The shifts are two to three hours during Museum hours, including weekends. If interested, please send resume and cover letter to hr@whitney.org. Please list the days you are available for volunteering.

News For Neighbors

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:41:38 -0400

About/NewBuilding/NewsForNeighbors

Awaiting content from Rich Flood

New Building Project

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:26:25 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Support

The campaign for the “Whitney of the Future” goes far beyond the creation of a new museum facility that will showcase and safeguard the Museum’s irreplaceable collection. It is an investment in future generations of artists and the growing audiences who will engage with their work.

The campaign commenced quietly in January 2007 with extraordinary support from the Board of Trustees. The American Art Foundation, under President Leonard A. Lauder, launched the campaign with a transformational leadership gift of $125 million for endowment, helping to secure our future operations in the Museum downtown. The City of New York, whose partnership and commitment made it possible to purchase the land for the Museum, has also appropriated funds for the construction of the new building. The State of New York provided significant and early support of the architectural design. The campaign’s success to date is also the result of the many individuals who have been so generous with their early support. With this extraordinary leadership start, the Museum broke ground on May 24, 2011 and began the transformation of the Whitney, and of the downtown cultural scene.

A project of this scale succeeds only when each of us does their part. Each gift brings us closer to realizing the Whitney of the Future—a museum committed to art, artists, and audiences in dynamic interaction. This is an opportunity that comes but once in a generation. Please join in transforming one of our nation’s great museums and be a part of shaping the future of contemporary art in New York.

History Of The Whitney

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:36:35 -0400

About/History

The Whitney Museum of American Art was borne out of sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s advocacy on behalf of living American artists. At the beginning of the twentieth century, artists with new ideas found it nearly impossible to exhibit or sell their work in the United States. Recognizing the obstacles these artists faced, Mrs. Whitney began purchasing and showing their work, thereby becoming the leading patron of American art from 1907 until her death in 1942.

In 1914, Mrs. Whitney established the Whitney Studio in Greenwich Village, where she presented exhibitions by living American artists whose work had been disregarded by the traditional academies. By 1929 she had assembled a collection of more than 500 works, which she offered with an endowment to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. When the offer was refused, she set up her own museum, one with a new and radically different mandate: to focus exclusively on the art and artists of this country. The Whitney Museum of American Art was founded in 1930, and opened in 1931 on West Eighth Street in Greenwich Village.

The Museum moved to an expanded site on West 54th Street in 1954. Having outgrown that building by 1963, the Museum acquired its present site on Madison Avenue at 75th Street. This building, designed by Marcel Breuer and Hamilton Smith, with Michael Irving as consulting architect, opened in 1966.

The Whitney was the first museum to take its exhibitions and programming beyond its own walls by establishing corporate-funded branch museums in other parts of New York City and the surrounding area. The Whitney branches were located in downtown Manhattan; at the Equitable Center at Seventh Avenue and 52nd Street; at Champion International Corporation in Stamford, Connecticut; and at the corporate headquarters of Altria (originally the Philip Morris Companies) on Park Avenue and 42nd Street.

New Building Project

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 27 May 2011 10:28:45 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Video

About The Whitney

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:56:49 -0400

As the preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists. The Whitney is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting American art, and its collection—arguably the finest holding of twentieth-century American art in the world—is the Museum’s key resource. The Museum’s signature exhibition, the Biennial, is the country’s leading survey of the most recent developments in American art.

Innovation has been a hallmark of the Whitney since its beginnings. It was the first museum dedicated to the work of living American artists and the first New York museum to present a major exhibition of a video artist (Nam June Paik in 1982). Such figures as Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, and Cindy Sherman were given their first museum retrospectives by the Whitney. The Museum has consistently purchased works within the year they were created, often well before the artists became broadly recognized. The Whitney was the first museum to take its exhibitions and programming beyond its walls by establishing corporate-funded branch facilities, and the first museum to undertake a program of collection-sharing (with the San Jose Museum of Art) in order to increase access to its renowned collection.

Whitney Groundbreaking: Whitney Of The Future: A Preview

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 26 May 2011 11:44:12 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Video/WhitneyOfTheFuture

Whitney Groundbreaking: Making Plans

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 26 May 2011 11:40:54 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Video/MakingPlans

Whitney Groundbreaking: Reflections

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:42:44 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Video/Reflections

Whitney Groundbreaking: The Next Chapter

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:41:34 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Video/NextChapter

Whitney Groundbreaking: New Neighbors

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:40:02 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Video/NewNeighbors

Whitney Groundbreaking: Site Specific

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:38:14 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Video/SiteSpecific

New Building Project

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 18 May 2011 11:18:08 -0400

About/NewBuilding/CommunityDay

On May 21st, in celebration of the groundbreaking for the Whitney’s new Meatpacking District location, the Museum will also be hosting a Community Day. Community Day brings the Whitney’s unique programming to the neighborhood for the day, with activities and artist collaborations for families, teens, and adults. These programs will take place at various venues throughout the neighborhood, are free, and open to the public. Stop by the tent at Washington St. and Gansevoort St. for more information!

New Building Project

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:12:11 -0400

About/NewBuilding/Location

About Whitney.Org

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:55:56 -0500

About/Website

This website was created in collaboration with Linked by Air. Programming: Linked by Air and GrayBits. Accessibility consulting: The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media, WGBH Educational Foundation. The website is an ongoing project of many departments of the Whitney, each of which is responsible for representing its activities and knowledge directly on this evolving surface. It is based on the Economy content management system, built in Ruby on Rails.

Staff Profiles

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:54:26 -0500

About/Bios

Adam D. Weinberg has been the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art since 2003. Previously, Weinberg was the Director of the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, Andover, from 1999 to 2003.

Throughout the 1980s, Weinberg worked at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, where he served as Director of Education and Assistant Curator. In 1989 he joined the Whitney for the first time as Director of the Whitney branch at the Equitable Center. Weinberg then assumed the post of artistic and program director of the American Center in Paris in 1991. He returned to the Whitney as Curator of the Permanent Collection in 1993 and was made Senior Curator in 1998.

Weinberg has curated dozens of exhibitions on artists ranging from Edward Hopper, Isamu Noguchi, and Richard Pousette-Dart to Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Alex Katz, and Terry Winters. He has also organized numerous thematic exhibitions including The Architectural Unconscious: James Casebere and Glen Seator; A Year in the Collection, Circa 1952; Vanishing Presence; and On the Line: The New Color Photojournalism, and for the Whitney he organized the groundbreaking series Views from Abroad: European Perspectives on American Art with the Stedelijk Museum, the Museum für Moderne Kunst, and Tate Gallery. He has also curated major public projects with artists ranging from Mark Dion, Jessica Stockholder, and Andrea Zittel to Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager, Yoko Ono, and Nam June Paik. He is the author of numerous catalogs and essays on contemporary and modern art. Weinberg has served as board member for a diverse group of organizations including the American Federation of the Arts, Storm King Art Center, Williamstown Art Conservation Center, and the Minnesota Composers Forum. He has been a grant panelist for numerous federal, state, city, and private foundations. He holds a BA from Brandeis University and a Masters degree from the Visual Studies Workshop, the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Broken

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:21:33 -0400

About/Broken

The Breuer Building

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:10:36 -0400

About/BreuerBuilding

The Whitney Museum of American Art owes its striking granite presence at the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 75th Street to the Hungarian-born, Bauhaus-trained architect Marcel Breuer (1902–1981). To design a third home for the Museum—which had gradually migrated northward from its original location on West Eighth Street to West 54th Street—Breuer worked with Hamilton Smith, creating a strong modernist statement in a neighborhood of traditional limestone, brownstone, and brick row houses and postwar apartment buildings. Considered somber, heavy, and even brutal at the time of its completion in 1966 (“an inverted Babylonian ziggurat,” according to one critic), Breuer’s building is now recognized as daring, strong, and innovative. It has come to be regarded as one of New York City’s most notable buildings and identified with the Whitney’s approach to art.