A Video Celebration of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

The cornerstone of our Whitney Western Art Museum’s collection is a monumental sculpture of William F. Cody by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney: Buffalo Bill—The Scout.

View the video below to learn more about sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the art world of the 1920s when she created this sculpture, and how the history of the Whitney Western Art Museum and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West as a whole is intricately tied to Whitney and this work of art.

“We are put into the world each one of us, with a heart, and a soul and a body, and we are told to make what we can out of them. Sometimes the body has the biggest share. Sometimes the heart. Seldom the soul.” —Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942)

This video was created by Education Intern Blanche Froelich for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Special thanks to Interpretive Education Director Gretchen Henrich, who voiced the artist in the video.

Additional credits:

Images and Research:

• Archives of American Art
• Buffalo Bill Center of the West
• The Whitney Museum of American Art
• Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney: A Biography by B.H. Friedman

Music:

• Clearwaters by Kevin Macleod