Contemporary Realism
Carol Kann
The Whitney Museum, New York City, has shown a pronounced bias in its
overview of American Art. It has consistently neglected an important
force of contemporary American Realist painting as evidenced in their
biannual exhibitions. The Whitney Museum is not alone in its bias,
but is the first institution that will experience a protest
originating from a wellspring of young American artists and students.
We feel that all forms of American art should be exposed to the
public. At one time the Whitney Museum was a proponent of American
realism bringing Edward Hopper and Charles Sheeler to the public's
attention and in earlier years bringing the Ashcan artists
recognition.
The present interest in a new Post modern Realism is sought after in
droves by young people eager to use contemporary life, history and the
tradition of the Old Masters as their sources of inspiration. There
is an appetite now for painting and sculpture that draw from the power
and meaning of the Old Masters in a new contemporary dualism. Yes,
the Whitney has shown minimal examples of figurative painting,
including photo-realism but not examples of realism that give dignity
to the human form with tour point of view. To give a true overview of
present day American painting the Whitney has to overcome its
significant neglect of this movement as a major development in art.
There will be a protest held on Friday, September 29th at the Whitney
Museum in New York. Your support will be felt by writing to the
following:
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue
New York, N.Y. 100
Leonard A. Lauder, Chairman
Gilber C. Maurer, President
Nancy Brown Wellin, Vice Chairman
The Whitney Museum also has a guest book page with a comment section
on the World Wide Web.
http://mosaic.echonyc.com/~whitney/WMAA/GB.html