Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney鈥檚 Collection
Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney鈥檚 Collection offers new perspectives on one of art鈥檚 oldest genres. Drawn entirely from the Museum鈥檚 holdings, the more than two hundred works in the exhibition show changing approaches to portraiture from the early 1900s until today. Bringing iconic works together with lesser-known examples and recent acquisitions in a range of mediums, the exhibition unfolds in eleven thematic sections on the sixth and seventh floors. Some of these groupings concentrate on focused periods of time, while others span the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to forge links between the past and the present. This sense of connection is one of portraiture鈥檚 most important aims, whether memorializing famous individuals long gone or calling to mind loved ones near at hand.
Portraits are one of the richest veins of the Whitney鈥檚 collection, a result of the Museum鈥檚 longstanding commitment to the figurative tradition, which was championed by its founder, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Yet the works included in this exhibition propose diverse and often unconventional ways of representing an individual. Many artists reconsider the pursuit of external likeness鈥攑ortraiture鈥檚 usual objective鈥攚ithin formal or conceptual explorations or reject it altogether. Some revel in the genre鈥檚 glamorous allure, while others critique its elitist associations and instead call attention to the banal or even the grotesque.
Once a rarefied luxury good, portraits are now ubiquitous. Readily reproducible and ever-more accessible, photography has played a particularly vital role in the democratization of portraiture. Most recently, the proliferation of smartphones and the rise of social media have unleashed an unprecedented stream of portraits in the form of snapshots and selfies. Many contemporary artists confront this situation, stressing the fluidity of identity in a world where technology and the mass media are omnipresent. Through their varied takes on the portrait, the artists represented in Human Interest raise provocative questions about who we are and how we perceive and commemorate others.
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Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney鈥檚 Collection offers new perspectives on one of art鈥檚 oldest genres. Drawn entirely from the Museum鈥檚 holdings, the more than two hundred works in the exhibition show changing approaches to portraiture from the early 1900s until today. Bringing iconic works together with lesser-known examples and recent acquisitions in a range of mediums, the exhibition unfolds in eleven thematic sections on the sixth and seventh floors. Some of these groupings concentrate on focused periods of time, while others span the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to forge links between the past and the present. This sense of connection is one of portraiture鈥檚 most important aims, whether memorializing famous individuals long gone or calling to mind loved ones near at hand.
Portraits are one of the richest veins of the Whitney鈥檚 collection, a result of the Museum鈥檚 longstanding commitment to the figurative tradition, which was championed by its founder, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Yet the works included in this exhibition propose diverse and often unconventional ways of representing an individual. Many artists reconsider the pursuit of external likeness鈥攑ortraiture鈥檚 usual objective鈥攚ithin formal or conceptual explorations or reject it altogether. Some revel in the genre鈥檚 glamorous allure, while others critique its elitist associations and instead call attention to the banal or even the grotesque.
Once a rarefied luxury good, portraits are now ubiquitous. Readily reproducible and ever-more accessible, photography has played a particularly vital role in the democratization of portraiture. Most recently, the proliferation of smartphones and the rise of social media have unleashed an unprecedented stream of portraits in the form of snapshots and selfies. Many contemporary artists confront this situation, stressing the fluidity of identity in a world where technology and the mass media are omnipresent. Through their varied takes on the portrait, the artists represented in Human Interest raise provocative questions about who we are and how we perceive and commemorate others.
Artists on show
- Alexander Calder
- Alfred Leslie
- Alice Neel
- Alvin Baltrop
- Andrea Zittel
- Andy Warhol
- Annette Lemieux
- Arnold Newman
- Arshile Gorky
- Arthur Lee
- Ashley Bickerton
- Avery Singer
- Barkley Hendricks
- Beauford Delaney
- Billy Al Bengston
- Bruce Nauman
- Byron Kim
- Carl van Vechten
- Catherine Opie
- Charles Demuth
- Chuck Close
- Cindy Sherman
- David Hartt
- Dawoud Bey
- Deana Lawson
- Dorothy Norman
- Douglas Huebler
- Ed Ruscha
- Edward Hopper
- Elaine Sturtevant
- Eleanor Antin
- Elizabeth Peyton
- Fairfield Porter
- Florine Stettheimer
- Forrest Bess
- Gary Simmons
- George Bellows
- Georges Schreiber
- Georgia O'Keeffe
- Gerald Murphy
- Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
- Glenn Ligon
- Hannah Wilke
- Henry Taylor
- Howard Kanovitz
- Ilse Bing
- Jacolby T. Satterwhite
- James Welling
- Jasper Johns
- Jay DeFeo
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Joan Semmel
- John Coplans
- John Wilde
- K8 Hardy
- Kalup Linzy
- Karen Kilimnik
- Larry Rivers
- Laurie Simmons
- Leslie Hewitt
- Lewis Hine
- Louise Dahl-Wolfe
- Louise Lawler
- Louise Nevelson
- Lyle Ashton Harris
- Marsden Hartley
- Mary Kelly
- Mike Kelley
- Nancy Grossman
- Paul Cadmus
- Paul McCarthy
- Peter Hujar
- Philip-Lorca diCorcia
- Rachel Harrison
- Raphael Soyer
- Richard Avedon
- Robert Beck
- Robert Frank
- Robert Longo
- Robert Mapplethorpe
- Rosalyn Drexler
- Rudolf Stingel
- Ryan McGinley
- Sally Mann
- Scott Grieger
- Stewart Uoo
- Susan Hall
- Susan Meiselas
- Toyo Miyatake
- Walker Evans
- Walt Kuhn
- Wangechi Mutu
- Weegee
- Willem de Kooning
- Yvonne Rainer
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