1956 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Watercolors and Drawings

Apr 18–June 10, 1956

View the full exhibition catalogue at the Internet Archive.

Artists

Installation Photography

Black-and-white photograph of gallery of sculptures, with a central sculpture of a human figure in the foreground.

Black-and-white photograph of a gallery of sculptures.

Installation view of 1956 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Watercolors and Drawings (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 18–June 10, 1956). From left to right: David Smith, Iron Woman; Sidney Gordin, Construction, No. 10; at far right Jose De Rivera, Construction, No. 6. Photograph by Geoffrey Clements

Installation view of 1956 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Watercolors and Drawings (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 18–June 10, 1956). From left to right: Ruth Asawa, Black & Gold; Sue Fuller, String Composition, No. 63; Isamu Noguchi, Untitled; Louise Nevelson, Black Majesty; Joseph Albers, Red Wall. Photograph by Geoffrey Clements

In the News

“. . . the constructionists and workers in metal are decidedly in evidence. But veterans who are in varying degrees traditional in their outlook have not been neglected.” —The New York Times

“. . . the water-color section (particularly attractive this year) and the drawings range from realism to complicated abstraction, and in these departments, as in the sculpture section, the effort has been made to reveal the wide range of current activities and the vitality of today’s work.” —The New York Times

More from this series

Learn more about the Whitney Biennial, the longest-running survey of American art.