WHITNEY WHERE WE ARE ACTIVITY GUIDE WELCOME TO THE WHITNEY This exhibition features works from the first part of the twentieth century. It was a time when American life was changing rapidly because of war and peace, economic collapse and recovery, and social discord and progress. Artists explored how these events affected them and their communities. Some artists drew attention to home life and family, the nation, and work, while others focused on spiritual realms. This guide is designed to introduce you to some of the diverse ways that artists think and work, and we hope it will inspire the artist in you too! Join Us Check out our lineup of tours, art-making workshops, drop-in programs, and artist-led programs at whitney.org/Families. Choose one work and write what the people in it might TELL THE be thinking or feeling. STORY Jacob Lawrence War Series: The Letter, 1946 Much of Jacob Lawrence’s work focuses on the story of African Americans’ struggle for freedom and justice. These paintings are based on his own experiences in the United States Coast Guard during World War II. Lawrence believed that one cannot “tell a story in a single painting.” Look closely at each of these works. What stories do you think the paintings tell? Think of a piece of music and hum it to yourself—it could VISIBLE be a fast beat, a soothing melody, or a sad song. Use line, SOUNDS shape, and shading to create your own musical sketch. Georgia O’Keeffe, Music, Pink and Blue No. 2, 1918 Georgia O’Keeffe wanted her paintings to express feelings that she didn’t have words for. In Music, Pink and Blue No. 2, she used simple shapes and colors to suggest the rhythms and harmonies of nature and the sounds of a musical composition. Pick an area of the painting that your eye is drawn to and imagine what sounds it might make. Can you see the rhythms? Find a window nearby or go outside. Take a look at MULTIPLE the awesome views. What stands out? Draw the shapes you see and then add other details that you notice in VIEWS the distance or in the sky. Joseph Stella The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme, 1939 Joseph Stella was fascinated with modern technology and architecture. He was especially drawn to the spectacular views, bold shapes, and glittering lights of the Brooklyn Bridge. Look at the sweeping steel cables and dramatic arches of this bridge. Which parts of the painting look close? What looks far away? Draw what might have happened before and after I SPY this scene. Before After Edward Hopper New York Interior, c. 1921 Edward Hopper’s inspiration for this painting was the quick views of people’s lives that he glimpsed through apartment windows as he rode by on New York’s Third Avenue elevated train. With your family, make up a story about the person in the room. What do you think she is doing? What might have happened before this scene? What might happen afterward? Choose your four favorite drawing of Castle’s, and SOOT sketch four details in the drawings that catch your eye. AND SPIT James Castle Farm Scene with Road, c. 1910–77 Please note that this drawing will not be on view for the entire run of the exhibition. James Castle was born deaf. Throughout his life, he did not speak, sign, read, or write, but he made drawings every day for nearly seventy years. He drew things from his surroundings, such as rooms, barns, sheds, and houses. Castle often made his own art materials, mixing spit(!) with soot from a wood-burning stove. He used sharpened sticks to apply the mixture to his paper. FAMILY Draw a few versions of the object you chose. PORTRAIT My family object Louise Bourgeois Quarantania, 1941 Louise Bourgeois carved and painted this wood sculpture in 1941, soon after she emigrated from Paris to New York. Her works from this period offered her a way to reimagine the people she had left behind in France. These huddled figures might look like huge sewing needles or weaving tools—the kind her family used in their business of repairing tapestries (sewn or woven designs on fabric). What object would you pick to represent your family, and why? Driggs focused on the bold shapes of the mill. Think SHAPE of a place that inspires you and use some of these A SCENE shapes below to sketch it. Elsie Driggs Pittsburgh, 1927 Elsie Driggs was inspired to make this painting by a childhood memory of Pittsburgh’s steel mills. Returning to that city twenty years later, she wanted to visit the Jones and Laughlin mill, but was told that it was no place for a woman. Later she wrote that she stared at the mills and told herself, “‘This shouldn’t be beautiful. But it is.’ And it was all I had, so I drew it.” What kind of environment is Driggs showing you? Do you think it is beautiful? Why or why not? Ask an adult you’re with to make a sketch of an event WILD RIDE you shared. Keep it simple! Now it’s your turn. Go wild! Use lines, scribbles, swirls, and smudges to add to the sketch. Larry Rivers Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1960 This work was inspired by an earlier history painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War. Instead of painting the figures and the boat in a realistic style, Larry Rivers used expressive brushstrokes and drawing to depict the scene. But he didn’t make this painting completely abstract. Can you spot Washington? A few hats? A horse? Some stars? What other clues of the journey can you find? Create a shape with your body (not near the HUMPTY sculpture!). Link your shape with a partner in your family. How do you need to balance your bodies so DUMPTY that you don’t fall over? SCULPTURE Isamu Noguchi Humpty Dumpty, 1946 To make this sculpture, Isamu Noguchi used nine pieces of stone called ribbon slate that fit together like a puzzle without glue or screws. He called it Humpty Dumpty after the nursery rhyme. Imagine what would happen if it fell! Noguchi created this work in 1946, shortly after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, where he was born. Perhaps the sculpture’s title and composition suggest how fragile life can be. KEEP DRAWING! CREDITS All works are in the collection of the Isamu Noguchi, Humpty Dumpty, 1946. Whitney Museum of American Art, Ribbon slate, 59 x 20 ¾ x 17 ½ in. (149.9 New York. x 52.7 x 44.5 cm). Purchase 47.7a–e. © 2017 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation Louise Bourgeois, Quarantania, 1941. and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Painted wood, 84 ¾ x 29 ¼ x 31 ¼ in. Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY (215.3 x 74.3 x 79.4 cm). Gift of an anonymous donor 77.80. Art © The Georgia O’Keeffe, Music, Pink and Blue Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, No. 2, 1918. Oil on canvas, 35 x 30 in. New York, NY (88.9 x 76.2 cm). Gift of Emily Fisher Landau in honor of Tom Armstrong James Castle, Farm Scene with Road, 91.90. © 2017 Georgia O’Keeffe c. 1910–77. Stick-applied soot and spit Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), on found paper, 9 ⅝ x 14 ⅛ in. (24.4 x New York 35.9 cm). Gift of an anonymous donor 2001.33 © James Castle Collection and Larry Rivers, Washington Crossing the Archive LP. All rights reserved Delaware, (1960), Oil and oil stick on linen, 84 ⅜ x 108 ⅜ in. (214.3 x 275.3 Elsie Driggs, Pittsburgh, 1927. Oil on cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, canvas, 34 ¼ x 40 ¼ in. (87 x 102.2 cm). New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Laurance Gift of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney S. Rockefeller 80.27. Art © Estate of 31.177 Larry Rivers, licensed by VAGA, New York, N.Y. Digital Image © Whitney Edward Hopper, New York Interior, c. Museum, N.Y. 1921. Oil on canvas, 24 ⅜ x 29 ⅜ in. (61.8 x 74.6 cm). Josephine N. Hopper Joseph Stella, The Brooklyn Bridge: Bequest 70.1200. © Heirs of Josephine Variation on an Old Theme, 1939. Oil on N. Hopper, licensed by Whitney Museum canvas, 70 ¼ x 42 3/16 in. (178.4 x 107.2 of American Art cm). Purchase 42.15 Jacob Lawrence, War Series: The Letter, 1946. Tempera on composition board, 20 ¼ x 16 ⅛ in. (51.4 x 41 cm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger 51.11. © 2017 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY Education programs in the Laurie M. Tisch Education Center are supported by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, the Dalio Foundation, The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation, Jack and Susan Rudin in honor of Beth Rudin DeWoody, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Barker Welfare Foundation, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, by members of the Whitney’s Education Committee, and contributions from family and friends made in memory of Jill Buttenwieser Schloss. Endowment support is provided by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, Krystyna O. Doerfler, Lise and Michael Evans, Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick, Laurie M. Tisch, and Steven Tisch. Free Guided Student Visits for New York City Public and Charter Schools are endowed by The Allen and Kelli Questrom Foundation. Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1900–1960 is sponsored by Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street New York, NY 10014 whitney.org.