Whitney Women and the Museum They Made: A Family Memoir

Until Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney opened her studio on Eight Street in Manhattan in 1914 - which almost two decades later evolved into the Whitney Museum - there were few art museums in the United States, let alone galleries for contemporary artists to exhibit their work. This memoir tells a success story of three generations of women.

Until Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney opened her studio on Eight Street in Manhattan in 1914 - which almost two decades later evolved into the Whitney Museum - there were few art museums in the United States, let alone galleries for contemporary artists to exhibit their work. When the mansions of the wealthy cried out for art they sought it from Europe, the then art capital of the world. It was in her tiny sculptor's studio in Greenwich village that she began holding exhibitions of contemporary American Artists. This remarkable feat by a scion of America's wealthiest family helped to change the way art was cultivated in America. The "Whitney Women and the Museum They Made" is a tale in which high ideals, extraordinary altruism, and great dedication increasingly come face to face with large egos, big business, intrigue, and the harsh realities of today's world. Flora Biddle's sensitive and insightful memoir is, despite all these obstacles and problems, a success story of three generations of forceful, indomitable women.

Flora Miller Biddle was president of the Whitney Museum of American Art from 1977 to 1995. She has four children. Her daughter, Fiona, following her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, has been elected to serve on the Whitney board of trustees. Flora and her husband, Syndey, live in New York, New York.