Adam D. Weinberg has been a prominent figure in the arts since the 1980s, when he started his career at the
Walker Art Center in Minneapolis as Director of Education and Assistant Curator. He joined the Whitney in 1989, initially as Director of its
Equitable Center Branch at 52nd and Seventh Avenue. After three years as the
artistic and program director of the American Center France in Paris, he returned to the Whitney in 1993 as Curator of the Permanent Collection and was elevated to Senior Curator in 1998. He served as the Mary Stripp and R. Crosby Kemper Director of the
Addison Gallery of American Art at
Phillips Academy, Andover from 1999 until 2003 until he was appointed as the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney in October 2003. He stepped down from the role after 20 years in October 2023 and was succeeded by
Scott Rothkopf. During Weinberg's career he has curated numerous exhibitions on artists such as
Edward Hopper,
Richard Pousette-Dart,
Arshile Gorky,
Sol LeWitt,
Isamu Noguchi,
Alex Katz,
Robert Mangold, and
Frank Stella. He has also curated thematic and collection-based exhibitions among them Vanishing Presence; On the Line: The New Color photojournalism and the series Views from Abroad: European Perspectives on American Art; In a Classical Vein: Works from the Whitney Permanent Collection and Ideas and Objects; Selected Drawings and Sculptures from the Whitney Collection. He has organized numerous public projects with artists such as
Christian Boltanski,
Mark Dion,
Nam June Paik,
Laurie Simmons,
Lorna Simpson,
Jessica Stockholder and
Nari Ward. Weinberg has authored numerous catalogues and essays on artists ranging from
Martin Puryear,
Richard Artschwager and
Jack Whitten to
Sol LeWitt,
Richard Tuttle, Robert Adams and
Ursula von Rydingsvard, lectured widely, and been a grant panelist for federal, state, city, and private foundations as well as international governmental and private organizations. Under his directorship, the Whitney presented over 300 exhibitions including nine editions of the
Whitney Biennial and large-scale installations of the permanent collection, including the inaugural exhibition in the Downtown Whitney, America is Hard to See. Major Whitney-organized exhibitions explored the works of dozens of artists—senior (such as
Frank Stella,
Carmen Herrera, and
Lawrence Weiner), mid-career (such as
Julie Mehretu,
Roni Horn, and
Lorna Simpson), and historic (such as
Gordon Matta-Clark,
Georgia O'Keeffe, and
Edward Hopper). In 2015, the Museum opened its new 220,000-square-foot building designed by
Renzo Piano in New York's Meatpacking District, doubling the size of its exhibition space as well as providing state-of-the-art theater, education and conservation facilities. Since that time, the Whitney has increased its annual attendance from 400,000 to 1.2 million (pre-pandemic), expanded its award-winning educational programs, and dramatically enlarged its performance program. Since 2015, the Museum under Weinberg's leadership increased its collection endowment more than ten-fold and brought in nearly 4,000 works in all media by a diversity of practitioners into the permanent collection including
Carmen Herrera,
Norman Lewis,
Archibald Motley, and a major collection of works by
Roy Lichtenstein. Under his direction, the Whitney's commitment to living artists has been paramount with an expansion of its emerging artist exhibitions and programs as well as the introduction of the inaugural, comprehensive artist payment program (including the first museum to introduce honoraria for artists displaying works in the collection). The Museum also reaffirmed the central importance of its fifty-plus year Independent Study Program through the establishment of a permanent home for the Program at the Roy Lichtenstein Studio—a gift of
Dorothy Lichtenstein—and its first artist-in-residence apartment and studio which has been added to the Lichtenstein Studio. Weinberg has also been recognized for his interviews with leading artists of our generation. Among them are
John Baldessari,
Dawoud Bey,
Christian Boltanski,
Alex Katz,
Jeff Koons,
Glenn Ligon,
Julie Mehretu,
Jason Moran,
Elizabeth Murray,
Claes Oldenburg,
Catherine Opie,
James Rosenquist,
Martha Rosler,
Susan Rothenberg,
Ed Ruscha,
Frank Stella,
Hiroshi Sugimoto,
Sarah Sze,
Bill Viola,
Kara Walker, and
Lawrence Weiner. As "the artist's museum," a site for art presented in "real time," the Whitney has historically been a platform for dialogue and controversy. Weinberg's tenure has been no exception. "It's not that we court controversy. But to believe in the work of the present is to believe there are alternative ways of seeing the world—and that's a radical act, because it's saying the status quo is not the only way things can be." Most controversies focus on the political/social aspects related to the artworks and artist representation. In 2019 the Whitney faced criticism and protest for including, what was thought to be by many, a racially-insensitive painting of
Emmett Till by artist
Dana Schutz in its 2017 Biennial. Other controversies included protests from staff and the public in 2018 over what were considered the unethical business interests of one of the Whitney's Trustees,
Warren Kanders. The protests led to Kanders’ resignation from the Board. In 2021, he led the realization of Day's End, the permanent, public sculpture by artist
David Hammons on the
Hudson River waterfront. As of mid-2022, Weinberg serves as a board member of
Storm King Art Center; the
American Academy in Rome, the
Terra Foundation for American Art, the
Star of Hope Foundation and has been a past board member of the
American Federation of Arts,
Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts,
Colby College Art Museum, the
Tang Museum at
Skidmore College and the
Williamstown Art Conservation Center. He is a member of the
Advisory Committee for the Archives of American Art, the
Scientific Committees of the Sebançi Museum in
Istanbul and
The Art Mill Museum in
Doha and a member of the director selection commission of the
MADRE Museum in
Naple. He served as the Chair of the Visiting Committee for the
Harvard University Art Museum, a member of the Art Committee of
Madison Square Park Conservancy and as a member of the Committee of Selection of
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Degrees and awards Weinberg holds a BA from
Brandeis University and an MFA from the
Visual Studies Workshop,
SUNY Buffalo. He has received honorary PhDs from
Skidmore College,
Colby College,
Hamilton College and the
Pratt Institute. He is a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received numerous awards including the Merit Award from the
American Institute of Architects, the
Rudin Award for Exemplary Service to New York City from
New York University, and the Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2015, he was awarded the Insignia of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. ==References==