Whitney Biennial 1979

Feb 6–Apr 1, 1979

The Whitney Biennial 1979 was curated by John G. Hanhardt, Barbara Haskell, Richard Marshall, Mark Segal, and Patterson Sims.

View the full exhibition catalogue at the Internet Archive.

Installation photography

Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Susan Rothenberg, Redhead (1978); Susan Rothenberg, Blue Frontal (1978); Jo Zucker, The Ghostly Spectre of the Slaver Trinidad rises among the wrecks and reefs off Madagascar on a moonlit night during July of 1834. Notice Saint Elmo’s fire on the spars and mastheads… (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Barbara Schwartz, Totapantia (1978); Barbara Schwartz, Affinbandi XXVIII (1978); Ralph Humphrey, #9 (1978); Ralph Humphrey, #3 (1977). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Robert Graham, Lise I (1977); Robert Graham, Painted Fragments (1978); Chuck Close, Mark/Pastel (1977); Chuck Close, Nate/Pastel (1977–78); Chuck Close, Self-Portrait (1977); Roy Lichtenstein, Figures with Sunset (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Billy Al Bengston, Chocladkranasar Draculas (1977); Billy Al Bengston, Notklickar Draculas (1978); Roger Brown, The Assassination of Aldo Moro and The Terror of the Red Brigade (1978); Roger Brown, Busy City Porno Strip (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Jennifer Bartlett, Summer at Dawn, Noon and Dusk (1978); Patrick Hogan, Untitled (1978); Patrick Hogan, Untitled (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Mary Frank, Woman (1978); Mary Frank, Standing Woman (1978); Gregory Gillespie, Self Portrait (1978); Gregory Gillespie, Self-Portrait in Studio (1976–77). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Jackie Ferrera, A190 Trid (1978), sugar pine; Jackie Ferrera, A190 Trid (1978), drawing; Jackie Ferrera, A196 Tower Beck (1979), drawing; Jackie Ferrera, A196 Tower Beck, sugar pine; Ellsworth Kelly, White Triangle with Black (1936); Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Ellsworth Kelly, White Triangle with Black (1976–77); Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Alex Katz, Place (1977); Alex Katz, Morning Coffee (1977). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Alex Katz, Morning Coffee (1977); Robert Arneson, Splat (1978); Robert Arneson, Captain Ace (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Robert Arneson, Splat (1978); Robert Arneson, Captain Ace (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Jennifer Bartlett, Swimmer at Dawn, Noon and Dusk (1978); Elizabeth Murray, Children’s Meeting (1978); Frank Stella, New Caledonian Lorikeet (1977); Frank Stella, Bula-Chasm (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Frank Stella, New Caledonian Lorikeet (1977); Frank Stella, Bula-Chasm (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Joyce Kozloff, Mad Russian Blanket (1977); Joyce Kozloff, Longing (1977); Kim MacConnel, Baton Rouge (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Kim MacConnel, Baton Rouge (1978); Kim MacConnel, Factory Brocade (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: William Beckley, Deidre’s Lip (1978); Donald Sultan, April 1978 (1978); Philip Guston, Friend to M.F. (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Edda Renouf, Visible Sounds #1 (1978); Edda Renouf, New York Sound Drawing; Jackie Winsor, Glass Piece; Mel Bochner, Aliquant Reciprocol (1979). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Alice Aycock, The Happy Birthday Coronation Piece (1978); Donna Dennis, Two Stories with a Porch (For Robert Cobuzio) (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). Jonathan Borofsky, I dreamed a young man in a wheel chair, was making beautiful in drawings on glass at 2,520,523 (1978–79). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). Rodney Ripps, Rosette (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Deborah Butterfield, Installation Horse #8 (1978); Deborah Butterfield, Resting Horse (1977). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: William Beckley, The living Room (1977); William Beckley, Deidre’s Lip (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Mel Bochner, Aliquant Reciprocal (1979); Dorothea Rockburne, Arena IV (1978); Dorothea Rockburne, Arena V (1978); Dorothea Rockburne, Arena VII (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). Michael Singer, First Gate Ritual Series, 10/78 (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Christopher Wilmarth, Street Leaf #3 (1977); Christopher Wilmarth, Gnomon’s Parade (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Richard Serra, Toll (1978–79); Jackie Winsor, Glass Piece (1978–79). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Alexis Smith, Beauty and the Beast (1977); Alexis Smith, The Silver Screen. Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Dennis Evans, Non-Casual procedures for a Universal System of Transformation (1978); Dennis Evans, Untitled (1978); Dennis Evans, Theoretical Diagram for a Structural Approach to a Semaphoric Field Neutralization (1978); Dennis Evans, Box for Instruments (1978). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Jennifer Bartlett, Sunrise, Sunset II/Water at Sunset; Jennifer Bartlett, Swimmers at Sunrise (1979). Photograph by Roy Elkind
Installation view of the 1979 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6–April 8, 1979). From left to right: Jody Pinto, Tarred and Feather Structure (1979); Martin Puryear, M. Bastion Bouleversé (1978–79). Photograph by Roy Elkind

In the News

“The Whitney Biennials have a perfect history of critical disapprobation. This 1979 version forestalls complaints as regards omissions at the outset since no unifying premises are declared.” —The Burlington Magazine

“. . . a potpourri of current work in a dizzying variety of styles and media.” —The New York Times

More from this series

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