Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Apr 2, 2016–Apr 2, 2017

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The American art world grew rapidly in the first half of the twentieth century, instilling artists with both confidence and uncertainty. Excited by new opportunities yet pressed to distinguish themselves from their renowned European counterparts, American artists became preoccupied with depicting themselves and their intimate circles of friends, lovers, and collaborators in other fields. One such community was the Whitney Museum itself, along with its precursor, the Whitney Studio Club. Many of the portraits on view here reflect its early history as a magnet for figures such as Edward Hopper at a time when few artists had found institutional support or even gathering places for likeminded colleagues. Other works capture the vital presence of émigrés, such as Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Stella, or point to the rising prominence of women artists, such as Isabel Bishop and Georgia O’Keeffe. Alternately styled as virtuoso, hero, technician, bohemian, or everyman, both the creators and subjects of these portraits staked a claim to their authority as artists, addressing themselves directly to an audience increasingly attuned to their endeavors.

Below is a selection of works from Portrait of the Artist.

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Paul Cadmus made this drawing of José Martinez, also known as Pete, as a study for a painting; both men were part of an intimate circle of artists, friends, and lovers. Born in Mexico, Martinez was a professional ballet dancer who was a member of the School of American Ballet and Ballet Caravan, a company organized by Lincoln Kirstein. Martinez and Kirstein were lovers; when Cadmus’s sister, Fidelma, married Kirstein in 1941, she moved in with her new husband and Martinez. The group also included photographer George Platt Lynes and fellow artists Jared and Margaret French, who along with Cadmus formed the photographic collective PaJaMa.

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Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Portrait of the Artist

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JOSÉ MARTINEZ, 1937

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Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Portrait of the Artist

3

JOSÉ MARTINEZ, 1937

Artists

Explore works from this exhibition in the Whitney's collection

Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection