{"data":{"id":"2103","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":2103,"topgoose_id":556,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":2103,"title":"Whistling in the Dark","display_artist_text":"Robert Arneson","display_date":"1976","accession_number":"77.37a-b","dimensions":"Overall: 34 1/4 × 21 1/4 × 21 15/16 in. (87 × 54 × 55.7 cm)","medium":"Glazed terra-cotta","department":"collection","classification":"Sculpture","credit_line":"Purchase, with funds from Frances and Sydney Lewis","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Arneson, \u003cem\u003eWhistling in the Dark\u003c/em\u003e, 1976. Glazed terra-cotta, overall: 34 1/4 × 21 1/4 × 21 15/16 in. (87 × 54 × 55.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from Frances and Sydney Lewis 77.37a-b. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eA pioneering California ceramicist, Robert Arneson completed numerous monumental portrait heads during the 1970s. Like much of the artist’s work from this period, \u003ci\u003eWhistling in the Dark\u003c/i\u003e depicts Arneson himself. This terracotta head, \u0026nbsp;which the artist darkened by closing the gas kiln more than would have been customary, wears a relatively subdued expression compared to other works from the same period depicting Arneson’s grotesquely manipulated visage. \u003ci\u003eWhistling\u003c/i\u003e includes no gesture, antisocial or otherwise; the head is upright and intact, and the face is not contorted. Nonetheless—perhaps owing to the pose’s origin as a magazine photograph—the bust appears uncomfortably fixed, and the short, round yellow pedestal itself assumes an almost vise-like appearance. Yet Arneson’s title, which wraps around the support, suggests a more positive valence: to be “whistling in the dark” is to have confidence in a situation, despite the odds.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"Sculpted male bust with curly hair and beard mounted on a yellow base.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T15:28:49.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T11:59:17.297-05:00","images":[{"id":93733,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/2103/77_37a-b_vw1_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"30","type":"artist"}]}}}}