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Whitney Museum of American Art

By Tours of 1930s NYC
Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art 1940s Tax Department Photograph of 8-12th West 8th St, Block 551 Lot 28. The building directly behind the man with the sign is the location of the Whitney Museum of American Art Source: New York City Municipal Archives Date: 1939-1941

"At Nos. 8-12 is the Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1931 'to help create rather than conserve a tradition.' It exhibits the works of Whistler, Ryder, Homer, Eakins, and La Farge, as well as the works of living American artists of greater and lesser fame, including the painters Sloan, Gropper, Davis, and Kuniyoshi, and sculptors Davidson, Lachaise, Noguchi, Robus, and Zorach. Murals by Thomas Benton decorate the library. The museum was founded and endowed by the sculptor, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (NYC Guide, pp. 137-138)."

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney saw American artists struggling to exhibit and sell their work because of new ideas. This began Whitney's journey of buying and showing artwork of unrepresented individuals. Later she founded her own Museum in 1930, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art declined her gift of hundreds of pieces in her collection (Whitney, accessed July 25, 2024).

During the time of founding this museum, Noel L. Miller was converting three-row houses into one building to construct the first museum of Whitney's (Wikipedia 2024). When opened in 1931, Juliana Force became the first director of the museum. The museum's focus was to display new and exciting works of American artists.

The collection of this Museum has now outgrew itself twice and has moved locations, however, the museum will never forget Whitney who founded the museum and the work since her passing in 1942.

Images

Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art 1940s Tax Department Photograph of 8-12th West 8th St, Block 551 Lot 28. The building directly behind the man with the sign is the location of the Whitney Museum of American Art Source: New York City Municipal Archives Date: 1939-1941
Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art This is a 1980s tax department photograph of 8-12 West 8th Street, representing the building that resided the original Whitney Museum of Living Art. Source: New York City Municipal Archives Date: 1983-1988
Atlas of Whitney Museum of American Art & Surroundings.
Atlas of Whitney Museum of American Art & Surroundings. Here is a 1925 atlas map of the blocks surrounding the Museum. Whitney is located at the topmost block along 8th West St. You can see Washington Sq. Park and New York University are some of the surroundings of the museum. Source: From The New York Public Library Date: 1925
Whitney Museum of American Arts
Whitney Museum of American Arts This image gives a clear view of the Art Museum in the 1930s and 40s. You can see the sign clearly stating the museum's name and the building's size. Source: New York City Municipal Archives Date: 1935-1941
Present-Day Image of Original Museum Location
Present-Day Image of Original Museum Location Although the Whitney Museum of American Arts has moved twice from its original location, the building the first museum opened is still standing. It is now occupied and used as an art school. You can see the similarity in signs from what it is now to when it was the art museum. Source: Google LLC Date: July 2022

Location

8-12th West 8th Street

Metadata

Related Resources

  1. The WPA Guide to New York City : The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s New York. Pantheon Books, 1982.
  2. “History of the Whitney.” Accessed July 26, 2024. https://whitney.org/about/history.
  3. “Whitney Museum.” In Wikipedia, June 9, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whitney_Museum&oldid=1228196774.

Citation Info

“Whitney Museum of American Art,” Tours of 1930s NYC, accessed October 23, 2024, https://faithcassandra.net/items/show/3.

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