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

    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

  2. In 1972, Alma Thomas became the first African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney. Her Late Night Reflections is on view now in Blues for Smoke. Alma Thomas (1891–1978), Late Night Reflections, 1972. Acrylic on canvas, 28 ¾ x 44 inches. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Purchase, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University Fund for Acquisitions and bequest of Marjorie Pfeffer by exchange. Photograph by Peter Paul Geoffrion

    In 1972, Alma Thomas became the first African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney. Her Late Night Reflections is on view now in Blues for Smoke.

    Alma Thomas (1891–1978), Late Night Reflections, 1972. Acrylic on canvas, 28 ¾ x 44 inches. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Purchase, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University Fund for Acquisitions and bequest of Marjorie Pfeffer by exchange. Photograph by Peter Paul Geoffrion

  3. Eighty-one years ago today, the Whitney Museum of American Art opened on West 8th Street. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s personal holdings, totaling some 600 works, served as the basis for the founding collection.
     
    The Whitney was in Greenwich Village for more than twenty years, before moving to West 54th Street in 1954, and then to its present building at 945 Madison Avenue in 1966.
     
    In 2015, the Whitney will move to Gansevoort and Washington Streets, once again engaging the Museum directly with the bustling communities of downtown Manhattan where it was founded.

  4. The saddest story of an object, where it becomes a symbol, and then is moved from place to place through overly elaborate processes, broken in half and brought back together … Right now they’ve built a gazebo around it to protect it from the rain. A rock protected from the rain. It’s my favorite sculpture story.

    —  Artist Trisha Baga on the story of Plymouth Rock, which loosely inspired her work Plymouth Rock 2, opening tomorrow.