Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City presents American art of all periods, with emphasis on the work of living artists. The permanent collection contains thousands of drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, and sculptures. Temporary exhibitions present historical surveys and comprehensive exhibits of major artists of the 1900’s, as well as group shows introducing young and relatively unknown artists to a larger audience.
The museum’s Film and Video Department has played a major role in the growing importance of video and film as contemporary art forms. The New American Film and Video Series presents programs of independent films and videotapes. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a patron of American art, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1931. From 1954 to 2014, the museum occupied a building designed by the Hungarian-born architect Marcel Breuer. In 2015, the Whitney moved to a new building, named the Leonard A. Lauder building, in New York City. The building was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano.
