On View: ‘Jack Whitten: The Messenger’ at Museum of Modern Art in New York is First Full Retrospective of Pioneering Artist

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). | Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions

KNOWN FOR HIS INVENTIVE METHODS, Jack Whitten (1939-2018) constantly evolved his materials and techniques. Exploring the possibilities of paint, he made casts of acrylic and used the resulting forms and tiles to compose his paintings. Whitten worked with brushes, but more commonly pushed paint with a squeegee, rake, saw blade, or Afro comb. He was also known to use a metal grate to create a precise grid pattern on his canvas.

Born in Bessemer, Ala., Whitten split his time between New York and Crete, Greece. “Jack Whitten: The Messenger” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is the first full-scale retrospective of the pioneering abstract artist. The exhibition explores Whitten’s singular, six-decade practice. More than 175 works made between the 1960s to 2010s are presented, including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Archival materials spanning documentary photography, studio logs, ephemera, and artistic tools are also featured.

The works on view engage with a range of issues—from race and identity to history and technology—and memorialize key artists, musicians, and cultural figures, such as Romare Bearden, Willem De Kooning, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Betty Carter, Ornette Coleman, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali, and W.E.B. Du Bois. An early career work titled “Birmingham 1964” (1964) was inspired by the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., that killed four Black girls, aged 11 to 14. Four decades later, “9.11.01” (2006) was produced in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that leveled the Twin Towers, which Whitten witnessed from his then studio. CT

“Jack Whitten: The Messenger” will only be on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, N.Y. The exhibition runs from March 23-Aug. 2, 2025

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JACK WHITTEN, Detail of “Atopolis: For Édouard Glissant,” 2014 (acrylic on canvas, 8 panels, overall 124 1/2 × 248 1/2 inches / 316.2 × 631.2 cm). | The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Sid R. Bass, Lonti Ebers, Agnes Gund, Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis, Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley, and Daniel and Brett Sundheim. © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Photo by Jonathan Muzikar

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). | Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

JACK WHITTEN, “Birmingham 1964,” 1964 (aluminum foil, newsprint, stocking and oil on board, 16 5/8 x 16 inches / 42.2 x 40.6 cm). | Collection of Joel Wachs. © Photo by John Berens, Courtesy the Jack Whitten Estate and Hauser & Wirth

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). | Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

JACK WHITTEN, “Four Wheel Drive,” 1970 (acrylic on canvas, 98 1/4 × 98 1/4 inches / 249.6 × 249.6 cm). | Private collection. © Jack Whitten Estate. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). Shown, at right, “9.11.01,” 2006 (acrylic, ash, animal blood, hair, and mixed media on canvas, 120 × 240 inches / 304.8 × 609.6 cm). | Baltimore Museum of Art. Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; BMA 2018.81. Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

JACK WHITTEN, “The Afro American Thunderbolt,” 1983/1984 (black mulberry wood with copper plate and nails, 25 × 9 × 10 inches / 63.5 × 22.9 × 25.4 cm). | Jack Whitten Estate. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth. © Jack Whitten Estate. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth, Photo by Genevieve Hanson

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). | Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

JACK WHITTEN, “Siberian Salt Grinder,” 1974 (acrylic on canvas, 6 feet 8 inches x 50 inches / 203.2 x 127 cm). | The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Nina and Gordon Bunshaft Fund and The Friends of Education of The Museum of Modern Art. © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Photo by John Wronn

JACK WHITTEN, Mirsinaki Blue. 1974 (acrylic on canvas, 62 1/8 × 72 1/8 inches / 157.8 × 183.2 cm). | Collection of Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. Gift of Leonard and Ruth Bocour. © 2024 Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). | Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

JACK WHITTEN, “NY Battle Ground,” 1967 (oil on canvas, 60 × 83 7/8 inches / 152.4 × 213 cm). | The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase and gift of Sandra and Tony Tamer, Agnes Gund, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, and Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida. © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Photo by Jonathan Muzikar

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). Shown, foreground, “Black Monolith II (Homage To Ralph Ellison The Invisible Man),” 1994 (acrylic, molasses, copper, salt, coal, ash, chocolate, onion, herbs, rust, eggshell, with razor blade on canvas, 58 1/2 × 52 1/2 inches / 148.6 × 133.4 cm). | Brooklyn Museum. William K. Jacobs, Jr. Fund| Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

JACK WHITTEN, “Black Monolith VII, Du Bois Legacy: For W.E. Burghardt,” 2014 (acrylic on canvas, 84 × 63 × 4 inches / 213.4 × 160 × 10.2 cm). | Collection of Charlotte and Herbert S. Wagner III. © Jack Whitten Estate. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth. Photographer: Genevieve Hanson

Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). | Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA

BOOKSHELF
“Jack Whitten: The Messenger” documents the Museum of Modern Art exhibition. Contributors to the exhibition catalog include exhibition curator Michelle Kuo, George Lewis, Anna Deavere Smith, artists Glenn Ligon and Julie Mehretu, and Jack Whitten himself, whose writings and essays are featured. Two volumes about Jack Whitten’s work were published in 2018. “Jack Whitten: Odyssey: Sculpture 1963–2017” coincided with the first presentation of Whitten’s sculptural works and “Jack Whitten: Notes from the Woodshed” explores the artist’s studio practice through his notes, interviews and other documentation. “Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting” documents the artist’s first-ever career-spanning survey. Finally, “Jack Whitten,” a monograph from Prestel, “conceived with Whitten’s collaboration,” explores the artist’s work, focusing on “the themes of history, politics, science, and music,” in particular.