Displaying items by tag: museumgoers

The Whitney Museum of American Art has been having trouble keeping up with the demand to see “Jeff Koons: A Retrospective,” an exhibition that fills most of the museum’s space and was described by Roberta Smith in The New York Times as “the most cogent account of Mr. Koons’s career in over two decades.” And it may be that museumgoers want a last chance to walk through the Whitney as it is currently constituted, before the museum leaves its Marcel Breuer building for its new home, designed by Renzo Piano, in the meatpacking district.

For the first time in its 187-year history, the New York-based National Academy will welcome photographers, video artists, and performance artists to its organization. A community of artists, students, museum-goers, and supporters of the arts, the National Academy had previously only allowed painters, sculptors, printmakers, and architects to be voted into membership. Known as National Academicians, each year since 1825 a select group of the country’s most celebrated artists are elected to become members of the Academy.

This year’s inductees include the video and performance artist Joan Jonas (b. 1936), photographer Cindy Sherman (b. 1954), and video artist Bill Viola (b. 1951). Twenty other newly elected visual artists and architects will join the Academy’s 300+ active members this year. After being inducted, each Academician presents the Academy Museum with a selection from their oeuvre. The National Academy Museum’s permanent collection currently includes over 7,000 works. Past and present National Academicians include Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), and Frank Gehry (b. 1929).

The National Academy also includes the Academy School, which offers studio-based classes. Over 30 faculty members lead courses and workshops in painting, drawing, sculpture, new media, video and photography, printmaking, mixed media, and art theory.