WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: BRIEF CHRONOLOGY 1930 (January 3) Juliana Force, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's close associate, announces Mrs. Whitney's plan to found the Whitney Museum of American Art. Program to emphasize work of living American artists. Juliana Force named Director. Curatorial staff consists of three artists, Edmund Archer, Karl Free, and Hermon More. 1931 (November 18) Whitney Museum of American Art opens to the public at 10 West 8th Street in four brownstones remodeled by architectural firm Noel & Miller. Mrs. Whitney's collection of nearly 700 works of art serves as nucleus of Permanent Collection. Included are paintings by Thomas Hart Benton, George Bellows, Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, Maurice B. Prendergast, and John Sloan, among others. Selections from this collection placed on view. 1932 First Biennial exhibition of contemporary American painting. This series of invitational exhibitions of works by living American artists becomes a regular feature of Museum program. 1939 8th Street building remodeled, almost doubling exhibition space with four new galleries. 1942 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney dies. American Art Research Council established to systematically research and document works by American artists. 1948 Juliana Force dies; Hermon More appointed Director. Two important policy changes implemented: 1) Museum begins to accept gifts for the first time, leading to considerable enlargement of Permanent Collection; 2) early policy of not giving one-artist shows to living artists abandoned. Subsequently Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Max Weber, and Edward Hopper given one-artist shows. 1949 Land acquired on West 54th Street, donated by trustees of The Museum of Modern Art, for new Museum building. 1954 (October 26) Whitney Museum of American Art opens at 22 West 54th Street in new building designed by Auguste L. Noel. Attendance immediately quadruples. 1956 Friends of the Whitney established -- first membership body, comprised of collectors and art patrons devoted to furthering contemporary American art. 1958 Hermon More retires; Lloyd Goodrich appointed Director. 1961 Museum expands Board of Trustees by appointing first members outside Whitney family. 1963 Site at corner of 75th Street and Madison Avenue acquired for new Whitney Museum building necessitated by expanding programs. 1966 (September 27) Opening of present Whitney Museum building at 945 Madison Avenue, designed by Marcel Breuer and Hamilton Smith with Michael Irving as consulting architect. During the first year, record total of 741,408 people visit Museum. Education Department established to explore new approaches to concept of Museum education and programs in studio art and art history. 1967 Independent Study Program begun. This off-campus program gives advanced students opportunity to study with artists, critics, dealers, and Museum staff and to organize exhibitions. Art history students are designated Helena Rubinstein Fellows in recognition of the substantial support provided to the program by the Helena Rubinstein Foundation. Andrew Wyeth exhibition draws largest average daily attendance of any show at Museum -- 4,787 per day. 1968 Lloyd Goodrich retires; John I.H. Baur appointed Director. Museum initiates policy of remaining open Tuesday evenings. Program of musical evenings begun; later includes drama, poetry, and dance, as well as music. 1970 The New American Filmmakers Series launched as "showcase for films which would not otherwise be shown theatrically in New York City." (Renamed New American Film and Video Series in 1987.) Museum receives entire artistic estate of Edward Hopper, bequeathed by his widow. Consisting of more than 2,500 oils, watercolors, drawings, and prints, ranging from Hopper's student days to his later years, it is the largest gift in the history of the Museum. 1973 Downtown Branch Museum opens at 55 Water Street in New York's financial district with free exhibitions and special programs. (Branch reopened at new location in 1988.) 1974 John I.H. Baur retires; Tom Armstrong appointed Director. 1975 Policy made to have part of Permanent Collection always on public view at Museum. Free admission Tuesday evenings made possible initially by grant from Mobil. Funding is now provided by the William H. Kearns Foundation. 1976 Seminars with Artists begun. Now ongoing series of 10 per semester giving students of art and art history rare opportunity to meet informally with well- known artists and critics. Museum closes on Mondays to cut rising costs. Drawing committee, chaired by Trustees, formed to advise and support Museum on its acquisition and exhibition of drawings. Today drawing collection, containing more than 3,500 works, is one of the major public collections of 20th-century American drawings. Lawrence H. Bloedel Bequest received. Includes works by Milton Avery, Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, Larry Rivers, and Charles Sheeler, among others. 1977 Artreach begins to introduce New York City elementary school children to American art through visiting lecture program with funding from Mrs. Laurance S. Rockefeller. In 1987 a major grant was awarded by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation to establish an endowment for the Artreach program which now reaches more than 23,000 pupils in 128 schools. 1978 Whitney Symposium on American Art initiated to introduce original research by graduate students and scholars beginning careers in American art. Grant from Helena Rubinstein Foundation provides free admission for college students. New, broadly based membership program instituted. Museum announces plans to open midtown branch in new Philip Morris Companies Inc. headquarters. (Branch opened in 1983) 1979 Reginald Marsh's widow bequeaths more than 850 paintings, oil studies, drawings, and sketches, making the Museum owner of the most significant collection of work by the artist. 1980 Year-long 50th Anniversary Celebration. Approximately 90 important works donated as 50th Anniversary Gifts to commemorate occasion; included are works by Calder, Gorky, Hartley, Hopper, Lachaise, Nevelson, O'Keeffe, Prendergast, Rauschenberg, Reinhardt, and Sloan, among others. "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist" opens, sponsored by Philip Morris Incorporated and National Endowment for the Arts; one of the most popular exhibitions ever presented at Whitney Museum. Retrospective travels internationally along with two complementary exhibitions of the artist's work drawn from extensive holdings of Museum. Acquisition of the much-celebrated Jasper Johns Three Flags. The National Committee, comprising patrons and collectors of American art from across the country, established. The Committee helps bring the achievements of 20th-century American artists to national attention by sponsoring traveling exhibitions and related programs. 1981 Opening of Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, in new headquarters building of Champion International Corporation in Stamford, Connecticut. The branch is funded by Champion International Corporation. (October 28) For first time in Museum's history there is a continuous installation of works in Permanent Collection. Michael Graves selected to design addition to Museum proposed for land owned by Museum on Madison Avenue south of present building. 1982 "Nam June Paik," most comprehensive exhibition ever devoted to one video artist, presented; from this retrospective Museum acquires its first piece of video sculpture for Permanent Collection. Circus by Alexander Calder, placed on deposit at Museum by artist in 1970, purchased for Permanent Collection from artist's estate for $1.25 million following intensive fundraising campaign completed successfully in two weeks through a generous gift of $625,000 from Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Charitable Trust. Docent program organized with group of trained volunteers to give tours of Permanent Collection installation and temporary exhibitions. Print Committee formed to assist with acquisitions complementing works already in Permanent Collection. Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art formed to support the Library. The Fellows annually produce a special limited-edition publication for their Artists and Writers Series, pairing distinguished American artists and authors. 1983 Free weekend gallery talks begun. Grant from Samuel and May Rudin Foundation, Inc., enables New York City public school groups to visit Museum with docents during non-public hours; program organized in cooperation with New York City Board of Education Cultural Arts Unit. Opening of Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris at Park Avenue and 42nd Street; third branch facility of Museum. This branch is funded by Philip Morris Companies Inc. Lobby Gallery Associates, a group of young professionals who organize charitable activities, established to fund exhibitions in the Lobby Gallery. 1984 Teachers Workshops organized in cooperation with New York City Board of Education Cultural Arts Unit to familiarize teachers with 20th-century American art and to encourage them to introduce American art into curriculum and to bring students to Museum. 1985 Building plans for expanded Whitney Museum announced; Michael Graves, architect. A modified design was announced in 1987. A third design was announced in 1988. 1986 Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center, on Seventh Avenue at 52nd Street, fourth branch opens. This branch is funded by The Equitable. 1988 Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown at Federal Reserve Plaza, reestablishes the Museum's presence in Lower Manhattan, where the first Whitney Museum branch opened in 1973. The new exhibition center at 33 Maiden Lane at Nassau Street is funded by a partnership of Park Tower Realty and IBM, the developers of Federal Reserve Plaza. 1990 Search committee formed to choose new director. Jennifer Russell appointed Acting Director. 1991 David A. Ross appointed Director. Museum attendance now totals approximately 500,000 per year, having grown from average of 260,000 in West 54th Street building and average of 70,000 on West 8th Street. Exhibitions at Museum now average 15 annually, as opposed to 10 a year on 54th Street and 6 on West 8th Street. Museum now also presents average of 10 film and video programs yearly, as well as an additional 21 exhibitions at branch museums, and circulates internationally another 10 exhibitions each year. Permanent Collection increased from approximately 700 works in 1931 to about 1,300 in 1954 when second Museum building opened. In 1966, with opening of present building, collection numbered approximately 2,000 and has increased to some 8,500 today. .