Herman Trunk, Jr., (1894‑1963). Mount Vernon,
1932. Oil on canvas, 34 1/4 × 46 1/16in. (87 × 117 cm). Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York; purchase
33.26. With Permission of The
Herman Trunk, Jr. Foundation
Focusing on works made from
1900 to 1960, Where We Are traces how artists have approached the
relationships, institutions, and activities that shape our lives. Drawn
entirely from the Whitney’s holdings, the exhibition is organized around five
themes: family and community, work, home, the spiritual, and the nation. During
the six decades covered here, the United States experienced war and peace,
economic collapse and recovery, and social discord and progress. American
artists responded in complex and diverse ways, and a central aim of the exhibition
is to honor each artist’s efforts to create her or his own vision of American
life. The artists and their works suggest that our sense of self is composed of
our responsibilities, places, and beliefs.
Where We Are, as well as
each of its sections, is titled after a phrase in W. H. Auden’s poem “September
1, 1939.” Auden, who was raised in England, wrote the poem in New York shortly
after his immigration to the United States and at the very outset of World War
II. The title of the poem marks the date Germany invaded Poland. While its
subject is the beginning of the war, Auden’s true theme is how the shadow of a
global emergency reaches into the far corners of everyday life. Although
mournful, the poem concludes by pointing to the individual’s capacity to “show
an affirming flame.” Where We Are shares Auden’s guarded optimism, gathering a
constellation of artists whose light might lead us forward.
Where We Are is organized
by David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection, with
Jennie Goldstein, assistant curator, and Margaret Kross, curatorial assistant.
http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/WhereWeAre
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