A blog about the collections, exhibits, and goings-on of the Whitney Western Art Museum.
Sally James Farnham was a sculptor from a prominent family in upstate New York. Farnham didn’t start sculpting until she was 32. “She began modeling in clay while she was recuperating from an illness. Her husband thought it might just keep her busy and keep her hands active,” said Karen McWhorter, the curator of the […]
Charles Carey Rumsey was an American sculptor who is most well known for depicting polo players and equestrian subjects. He was a pretty well known polo player himself. But occasionally, Rumsey went down the Western theme, depicting bison and horses. One of those sculptures was a low relief titled, The Buffalo Hunt. Karen McWhorter, the curator of […]
Tommy Wayne Cannon, or more commonly known as T.C. Cannon, was a Native American artist of the 20th century. He was an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe. Karen McWhorter, the curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum, said he played an important role in the development of contemporary Native art. “Whereas traditional Native art […]
Museum curators often receive public inquiries, and sometimes an outside person can be very helpful to gaining better insight on a painting or object in the museum. For Karen McWhorter, the curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum, a call from a professor made her look at George Catlin’s “Mandan-View of the Missouri Above the […]
Rosa Bonheur was a famous French animal artist during the late 19th century. She’s one of the few female artists in the Whitney Western Art Museum collection. Karen McWhorter, the curator, said the collection has many more contemporary women represented. “It was hard to be an artist as a women at her time. [It’s], in […]
When a visitor enters the Whitney Western Art Museum one sculpture might confuse the visitor. Choosing of the Arrow by Henry Kirke Brown might remind people not of the West, but of a classic European sculpture. But Karen McWhorter, the curator of the museum, said it’s actually the first bronze cast made in America in […]