1. Hopper Drawing opens today! The first major museum exhibition to focus on the drawings and creative process of Edward Hopper, this survey pairs many of the artist’s greatest oil paintings, including Early Sunday Morning (1930), New York Movie (1939), Office at Night (1940) and Nighthawks (1942), with their preparatory drawings and related works. Top: Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Study for Nighthawks, 1941 or 1942. Fabricated chalk and charcoal on paper; 11 1/8 × 15 in. (28.3 × 38.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase and gift of Josephine N. Hopper by exchange 2011.65; Bottom: Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Nighthawks, 1942. Oil on canvas, 33 1/8 x 60 in. (84.1 x 152.4 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago; Friends of American Art Collection. © The Art Institute of Chicago. 

    Hopper Drawing opens today! The first major museum exhibition to focus on the drawings and creative process of Edward Hopper, this survey pairs many of the artist’s greatest oil paintings, including Early Sunday Morning (1930), New York Movie (1939), Office at Night (1940) and Nighthawks (1942), with their preparatory drawings and related works.

    Top: Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Study for Nighthawks, 1941 or 1942. Fabricated chalk and charcoal on paper; 11 1/8 × 15 in. (28.3 × 38.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase and gift of Josephine N. Hopper by exchange 2011.65; Bottom: Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Nighthawks, 1942. Oil on canvas, 33 1/8 x 60 in. (84.1 x 152.4 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago; Friends of American Art Collection. © The Art Institute of Chicago. 

  2. We’re excited to introduce a new look for the Whitney!

    Design studio Experimental Jetset developed the new approach, which embraces the spirit of the Museum while serving as a visual ambassador for our new building. The result is a distinctive and inventive graphic system that literally responds to art—a fundamental attribute of the Whitney since its founding in 1930. This dynamic identity, which the designers refer to as the “responsive ‘W’,” also illustrates the Museum’s ever-changing nature.

    You can view the new identity on the redesigned whitney.org and via this introductory video. You’ll be seeing much more it at the Museum, in our mailings and advertising, and elsewhere over the next few weeks. We welcome your comments via Facebook and Twitter.

  3. As with a line, every story needs a beginning.

    — Experimental Jetset

    Check back tomorrow to hear the full story.

  4. It would be much easier to present the history of art as a simplistic line—but that’s not the Whitney.

    — Donna De Salvo, Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs

    Work is in progress at the Museum! More soon.

  5. A museum should never be finished, but boundless and ever in motion.

    — Goethe

    Some big changes are afoot at the Whitney. Stay tuned!

  6. “At first I spent weeks just staring out of the window. I pretty much thought it was the end of my art making.” —Artist T.J. Wilcox on his Union Square penthouse studio, which provides the inspiration for his upcoming project, In the Air, opening September 19. T.J. Wilcox’s Studio, New York, 2012. Photograph © Marco Anelli; courtesy Danziger Gallery

    “At first I spent weeks just staring out of the window. I pretty much thought it was the end of my art making.” —Artist T.J. Wilcox on his Union Square penthouse studio, which provides the inspiration for his upcoming project, In the Air, opening September 19.

    T.J. Wilcox’s Studio, New York, 2012. Photograph © Marco Anelli; courtesy Danziger Gallery

  7. Join us this Friday evening as artist Nate Lowman presents a live action painting performance as an homage to Jay DeFeo. Taking inspiration from the time-honored tradition of copying paintings in museums, Lowman will replicate a work currently on view in Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective, while opening up his own studio practice to the public. Admission is free during pay-what-you-wish. Above, watch Lowman speak with curator Chrissie Iles about his reinterpretation of another artist’s work: Yoko Ono’s Painting to Be Stepped On (1960). 

    Join us this Friday evening as artist Nate Lowman presents a live action painting performance as an homage to Jay DeFeo. Taking inspiration from the time-honored tradition of copying paintings in museums, Lowman will replicate a work currently on view in Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective, while opening up his own studio practice to the public. Admission is free during pay-what-you-wish.

    Above, watch Lowman speak with curator Chrissie Iles about his reinterpretation of another artist’s work: Yoko Ono’s Painting to Be Stepped On (1960). 

  8. On this day in 1918… Mrs. Whitney formally established the Whitney Studio Club where, over the next decade, more than eighty-six exhibitions were held. Among these were the first solo exhibitions of Edward Hopper (1920) and Reginald Marsh (1924). The membership requirements? Simple: Any artist that who was introduced by a member could join. Charles Sheeler, Office Interior, Whitney Studio Club, 10 West 8 Street, c. 1928. Gelatin silver print, 7 1/2 × 9 3/8 in. (19.1 × 23.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 93.24.1

    On this day in 1918… Mrs. Whitney formally established the Whitney Studio Club where, over the next decade, more than eighty-six exhibitions were held. Among these were the first solo exhibitions of Edward Hopper (1920) and Reginald Marsh (1924). The membership requirements? Simple: Any artist that who was introduced by a member could join.


    Charles Sheeler    , Office Interior, Whitney Studio Club, 10 West 8 Street, c. 1928. Gelatin silver print, 7 1/2 × 9 3/8 in. (19.1 × 23.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 93.24.1

  9. Featuring works by seminal artists of the 1980s and early ’90s including Nan Goldin, Keith Haring, Richard Prince, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, I, YOU, WE demonstrates how the personal, social, and collective concerns of that time are still relevant today.

  10. Happy Mother’s Day! Betye Saar (b.1926), Mother and Children in Blue, 1998. Watercolor and mixed media collage on paper, 8 5/8 × 6 1/2 in. (21.9 × 16.5 cm) irregular. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Drawing Committee  2000.46. Permission courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, N.Y.

    Happy Mother’s Day!

    Betye Saar (b.1926), Mother and Children in Blue, 1998. Watercolor and mixed media collage on paper, 8 5/8 × 6 1/2 in. (21.9 × 16.5 cm) irregular. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Drawing Committee  2000.46. Permission courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, N.Y.

  11. The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s PerspectiveBy Graham Miles, Whitney art handler Documented by Paula Court, photographer XII.“Bolts secured, the piece is finally in position. You can just make out the three steel feet under the bottom edge of the painting that support the work.” Have a question for Graham about the installation or his job as an art handler in general? Follow us on Twitter @whitneymuseum and ask us your question via #AskTheWhit by Monday, May 13. Responses will be posted on May 15. Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2.

    The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s Perspective
    By Graham Miles, Whitney art handler
    Documented by Paula Court, photographer

    XII.“Bolts secured, the piece is finally in position. You can just make out the three steel feet under the bottom edge of the painting that support the work.”

    Have a question for Graham about the installation or his job as an art handler in general? Follow us on Twitter @whitneymuseum and ask us your question via #AskTheWhit by Monday, May 13. Responses will be posted on May 15.

    Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2.

  12. The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s PerspectiveBy Graham Miles, Whitney art handler Documented by Paula Court, photographer XI. “This is the view from inside the wall behind The Rose. Looking out through the hole you can make out back of The Rose and one of the three feet that support the weight of the painting.”Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2. 

    The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s Perspective
    By Graham Miles, Whitney art handler 
    Documented by Paula Court, photographer 

    XI. “This is the view from inside the wall behind The Rose. Looking out through the hole you can make out back of The Rose and one of the three feet that support the weight of the painting.”

    Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2. 

  13. The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s PerspectiveBy Graham Miles, Whitney art handler Documented by Paula Court, photographer X. “Minor adjustments are made so that the bolts can be slid into position. It’s pretty dark back there, so a flashlight is helpful.”Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2. 

    The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s Perspective
    By Graham Miles, Whitney art handler 
    Documented by Paula Court, photographer 

    X. “Minor adjustments are made so that the bolts can be slid into position. It’s pretty dark back there, so a flashlight is helpful.”

    Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2. 

  14. The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s PerspectiveBy Graham Miles, Whitney art handler Documented by Paula Court, photographer IX. “The pallet jack is removed and The Rose now sits directly on the floor. Two bolts on either side of the back of painting pin the painting to the steel cleat on the wall.”Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2. 

    The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s Perspective
    By Graham Miles, Whitney art handler 
    Documented by Paula Court, photographer 

    IX. “The pallet jack is removed and The Rose now sits directly on the floor. Two bolts on either side of the back of painting pin the painting to the steel cleat on the wall.”

    Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2. 

  15. The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s PerspectiveBy Graham Miles, Whitney art handler Documented by Paula Court, photographer VIII. “Now that The Rose is close to vertical, you can see the legs of the gantry are pushed back beyond the exterior sheetrock and into the recesses of the wall on either side of the painting. Without these holes the gantry would end up two feet away from the wall, complicating the transition from the gantry to the steel cleat.”Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2. 

    The Installation of The Rose from an Art Handler’s Perspective
    By Graham Miles, Whitney art handler 
    Documented by Paula Court, photographer 

    VIII. “Now that The Rose is close to vertical, you can see the legs of the gantry are pushed back beyond the exterior sheetrock and into the recesses of the wall on either side of the painting. Without these holes the gantry would end up two feet away from the wall, complicating the transition from the gantry to the steel cleat.”

    Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective is on view now through June 2.