Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Apr 2, 2016–Apr 2, 2017

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New York Portrait

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Throughout its history New York has inspired writers, musicians, and visual artists. As the portraits in this room demonstrate, the city may serve as a stage for intrepid self-invention or as a backdrop that shapes the dreams and fears of its inhabitants and visitors alike. Artists including Susan Hall and Howard Kanovitz use views of the city to impart their subjects with a nearly mythic sense of style and sophistication. Others, such as Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley, depict tense and gritty realities. Many of these works capture quintessential New York types, from disillusioned commuters to the downtown artists who flocked to the city in search of freedom, community, or the promise of fame. Leidy Churchman's painting of the dazzling view from New York's tallest residential tower presents a portrait not of an individual but of the city itself.

Below is a selection of works from New York Portrait.

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SECRETARY, 1978

Cindy Sherman (b. 1954), Secretary, 1978 (printed 1993). Gelatin silver print, sheet: 13 7/8 × 11 in. (35.2 × 27.9 cm); image: 11 7/8 × 8 15/16 in. (30.2 × 22.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo 96.42 © Cindy Sherman; courtesy Metro Pictures, NY

Cindy Sherman arrived in Manhattan at the age of twenty three and worked briefly as a secretary at the downtown arts nonprofit Artists Space. At this time, she was also beginning production on her well-known Film Stills series—photographs featuring her posing as various archetypal female roles based on vintage Hollywood and European cinema publicity stills. For Secretary, an offshoot of the Film Stills, Sherman represents her own situation—a secretary aspiring to make it in the big city—as itself a type. The city also becomes a character in this drama, its imposing architecture conspicuously visible through the window behind the protagonist.

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On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

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Learn more at whitney.org/artport

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