Inheritance

June 28, 2023–Feb 4, 2024

Superimposed black and white film photos of a child.
Superimposed black and white film photos of a child.

Sophie Rivera, I am U, 1995. Gelatin silver print, 38 5/8 × 38 9/16 in. (98.1 × 97.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the artist 2019.390. © Estate of Dr. Martin Hurwitz 




Inheritance traces the profound impacts of legacy and the past across familial, historical, and aesthetic lines. Featuring new acquisitions and rarely-seen works from the Whitney collection by forty-three leading artists, the exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs, and time-based media installations from the 1970s to today. This diverse array of works consider what has been passed on and how it may shift, change, or live again.

Drawing inspiration from Ephraim Asili’s 2020 film of the same title, Inheritance reflects on multiple meanings of the word, whether celebratory or painful, from one era, person, or idea to the next. The exhibition takes a layered approach to storytelling by interweaving narrative with documentary and personal experiences with historical and generational events. A group of works examining the cycle from birth to death opens the exhibition, while other galleries take up different kinds of lineages, such as how artists borrow from and remake art history or unspool legacies of racialized violence and their recurrences.

The poet Rio Cortez speaks of being “framed by our future knowing”—even as we sit in this moment, we slide backward and forward in time, between our foremothers and the descendants we will never know. Rather than passively accepting our current state, the artists whose work is on view here ask: How did we get here, as individuals and as a society, and where are we going?

This exhibition is organized by Rujeko Hockley, Arnhold Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art with David Lisbon, curatorial assistant.


En Español

Esta exposición traza la idea de herencia (lo que nos queda o lo que hemos recibido del pasado) a través de líneas familiares, históricas y estéticas. Presentando en su mayoría nuevas adquisiciones y obras rara vez vistas de la colección permanente, la muestra explora las nociones de repetición y referencia, nacimiento y renacimiento, generación y regeneración, mediante una variada selección de obras desde 1970 hasta hoy.

Inspirándose en la película The Inheritance de Ephraim Asili de 2020, Herencia se acerca al relato desde diversos niveles, entrelazando narrativa con documentales y experiencias personales con eventos históricos y generacionales. La exhibición considera múltiples significados de herencia, ya sean celebratorios o dolorosos, de una era, persona o de una idea a otra. Un grupo de obras que abre la muestra, examinan el ciclo del nacimiento hasta la muerte, mientras que otras galerías exploran diferentes tipos de linajes, como las maneras en que los artistas toman prestada de la historia del arte y la reescriben, o revelan legados de violencia racial y sus recurrencias.

La poeta Rio Cortez habla de estar “enmarcados por nuestro conocimiento futuro”, incluso mientras nos ubicamos en este momento temporal, nos desplazamos hacia atrás y hacia adelante, pensando no sólo en nuestras antepasadas, sino también en los descendientes que nunca vamos a conocer. Las pinturas, esculturas, videos, fotografías e instalaciones aquí reunidas plantean preguntas sobre lo que nos fue transmitido y cómo podría desplazarse, cambiar o vivir de nuevo. Más que una aceptación pasiva del estado actual de las cosas, los artistas en la exposición nos piden ponderar qué ideas y experiencias pueden estar detrás de lo que vemos o creemos saber. Fundamentalmente, ¿cómo llegamos aquí, como individuos y sociedad, y hacia dónde nos dirigimos?


Rivers, First Draft

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These photographs document Lorraine O’Grady’s site-specific performance Rivers, First Draft, which took place in Central Park on August 18, 1982, as part of “Art Across the Park”—an exhibition series originally conceived by the artist David Hammons. Described as a “collage-in-space,” with multiple actions unfolding simultaneously across different locations, this highly personal work examines the artist’s family history, her experience growing up in New England as the child of Caribbean immigrants, and her development as an artist. O’Grady explores different aspects of her identity through three distinct characters, each assigned an age and a color: the Little Girl in a Pink Sash, the Teenager in Magenta, and the Woman in Red.

  • A gallery wall featuring a series of framed photographs with various scenes, some including people in outdoor settings, displayed in a symmetrical arrangement against a white wall above a light wooden floor.
    A gallery wall featuring a series of framed photographs with various scenes, some including people in outdoor settings, displayed in a symmetrical arrangement against a white wall above a light wooden floor.

    Lorraine O'Grady, Rivers, First Draft, 1982, printed 2015. 11 chromogenic prints, sheet: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm) Image: 15 3/4 × 19 3/4 in. (40 × 50.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Photography Committee 2019.298.4a-k. © Lorraine O'Grady / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • A teenager in magenta sits on a rock in the forest with headphones.
    A teenager in magenta sits on a rock in the forest with headphones.

    Lorraine O’Grady, Rivers, First Draft: The Teenager in Magenta sits alone with her headphones, 1982, printed 2015. Chromogenic print: sheet, 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm); image, 15 3/4 × 19 3/4 in. (40 × 50.2 cm). Edition 3/8. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Photography Committee 2019.298.3i. © 2023 Lorraine O’Grady / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York

  • A woman in red bends down to spray paint a white object in the forest.
    A woman in red bends down to spray paint a white object in the forest.

    Lorraine O’Grady, Rivers, First Draft: The Woman in Red starts painting the stove her own color, 1982, printed 2015. Chromogenic print: sheet, 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm); image, 15 3/4 × 19 3/4 in. (40 × 50.2 cm). Edition 3/8. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Photography Committee 2019.298.4j. © 2023 Lorraine O’Grady / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York

  • A girl in white holds a microphone sitting on a rock in the forest.
    A girl in white holds a microphone sitting on a rock in the forest.

    Lorraine O’Grady, Rivers, First Draft: A Little Girl with Pink Sash memorizes her Latin lesson, 1982, printed 2015. Chromogenic print: sheet, 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm); image, 15 3/4 × 19 3/4 in. (40 × 50.2 cm). Edition 3/8. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Photography Committee 2019.298.1f. © 2023 Lorraine O’Grady / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York

  • People in bright tunics move together in a forest.
    People in bright tunics move together in a forest.

    Lorraine O’Grady, Rivers, First Draft: The Debauchees dance down the hill, the Woman in Red falls further behind, 1982, printed 2015. Chromogenic print: sheet, 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm); image, 15 3/4 × 19 3/4 in. (40 × 50.2 cm). Edition 3/8. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Photography Committee 2019.298.3b. © 2023 Lorraine O’Grady / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York

  • People in bright colors move together in a forest.
    People in bright colors move together in a forest.

    Lorraine O’Grady, Rivers, First Draft: The Artists in Yellow work on their projects as the Woman in Red struggles with the Debauchees, 1982, printed 2015. Chromogenic print: sheet, 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm); image, 15 3/4 × 19 3/4 in. (40 × 50.2 cm). Edition 3/8. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Photography Committee 2019.298.4g. © 2023 Lorraine O’Grady / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York




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A monument of a man riding a horse behind a translucent banner hung between two columns on a grassy street island
A monument of a man riding a horse behind a translucent banner hung between two columns on a grassy street island

An-My Lê, Monument, General P.G.T. Beauregard, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, from the series The Silent General, 2015-2017. Inkjet print, 39 1/4 × 55 13/16 in. (99.7 × 141.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Photography Committee 2018.86. © An-My Lê, courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery

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In the News

“The thematic content of the show is ambitious, ranging from slavery and the Great Migration to Covid, African religious traditions, the human lifespan, colonization and the sources of artistic creativity.” —The Guardian

“The show considers some of the painful and difficult legacies that have shaped our society…”  —Aesthetica Magazine 

“...a captivating group show at the Whitney” —Whitewall

“This is an exhibition that raises a number of questions about how we as individuals respond to our world…” —Highbrow Magazine