Opinion
Virginia Overton: Forward to the Past
THE DAILY PIC: Overton installs old-time windmills in a newfangled Whitney Museum.
THE DAILY PIC: Overton installs old-time windmills in a newfangled Whitney Museum.
Blake Gopnik ShareShare This Article
THE DAILY PIC (#1616): It was a delight to climb out onto the terrace at the Whitney Museum in New York and discover that the sculptor Virginia Overton had installed two tall windmills pumping water through a couple of aquatic gardens. (See below.)
After all, the Whitney is New York’s museum of American art, and those windmills have such strong evocations of our classic farm scenes. Seeing them revived as a symbol at least of eco-consciousness gives me hope for the country’s future. Will classic images of 21st-century cities go on to have windmills in them? (©Virginia Overton; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; photo by Ronald Amstutz)
The Daily Pic also appears at Artnet News. For a full survey of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive.