"Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney," Robert Henri, 1916.

Henri (1865-1925) was an influential American painter and teacher, a founder of the Ashcan school of realism, which sought to use art as journalism. Of course, he was not above the occasional glamorous portrait...

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875-1942) was a wealthy heiress and art collector as well as being a talented sculptor in her own right. Her wealth made her a great patron of the arts, but she wasn't stuffy or conservative; she championed women artists, promoted new styles and the avant-garde, and backed composers of modern music. She founded the Whitney in New York to house her collection of American art (which the Met rejected) and deliberately sought to embrace modernism and declare that American art was as good as any other.

She's so lovely and self-assured here; she was a big wheel, and she knew it.

From the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. (Of course!)

#Art #Realism #AshcanSchool #TheWhitney #WomenInArt #WomenArtists

I went to the Edward Hopper exhibit at the Whitney today. I've always liked Hopper, especially how he captured a certain era of New York with his use of color and light. This painting is not of New York. It is the 1909 "Le Bistro or The Wine Shop" which is a Parisian scene. The picture lacks two things...numerous people as might have been seen on a Paris afternoon and no food on the table. Wine glasses, bottles and pitchers appear regularly in Hopper's works, as do eating establishments, but hardly ever does food appear.

I stepped closer to the picture to get a better look to confirm a hunch. The two people appear to be sharing a bottle of rosé. Neither appears to be sporting a glittery "Rosé All Day" top. My guess is it was not a winery owned by a luxury goods company either.

#wine #winelife #winelover #wineinart #wineinpaintings #artlover #edwardhopper #thewhitney #lebistro #iseewineeverywhere #sippedsense #thesippedsense