Visit to the Whitney Museum, NYC

Though it has been in its new location for more than two years, this was my first visit to the Whitney Museum's new building. It is located in the West Village/Meatpacking District, and forms the southernmost point of the elevated linear park, the High Line.

view from a terrace

The Whitney's collection centres on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Its current show on the work of Alexander Calder runs until October 23, and focuses on the movement and sound that Calder achieved with his mobiles. Calder trained as an engineer, and he is considered to be the inventor of the mobile.

I participated in a guided tour of Calder: Hypermobility, and attended an "activation", when four of the mobiles were set into motion. Some of Calder's works are motorized, others depend on a nudge, or an air current, to begin their movement. Some are hung from the ceiling, others stand on the floor. Some move at a barely perceptible speed, others more rapidly. The docent explained that Calder considered even his large, stationary sculptures to be a sort of mobile, as the viewers form the moving parts that circle around the piece.

The Arches, Alexander Calder, 1959
106 x 107.5 x 87 inches

Another current exhibition, running indefinitely, is Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney's Collection, 1900 - 1960.  Here is a sampling of what I saw there:

Cape Cod Sunset, Edward Hopper, 1934

Washington Crossing the Delaware, Larry Rivers, 1960

Buildings, Lancaster, Charles Demuth, 1930

Three Flags, Jasper Johns, 1958

Red, White and Blue, Ellsworth Kelly, 1961

Portrait of Ted Carey and Andy Warhol, Fairfield Porter, 1960

The Whitney will be added to my itinerary on any future trip to New York. It's fun to arrive via the High Line walking route, and to stop at the Chelsea Market nearby.