ROBERT WHITMAN

Robert Whitman (b. 1935, New York) received a BA in Literature at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick in 1957. In 1958 he began studies in art history at Columbia University in New York. The same year he returned to Rutgers for his first solo exhibition while he continued to work in New York, becoming an active figure in the New York art world where he created and staged many of the first ‘Happenings,’ along with artists Allan Kaprow, Lucas Samaras, Red Grooms, Jim Dine, and Claes Oldenburg. Whitman’s performances were rare however, in that they allowed for future recitals, while his contemporaries rarely re-staged performances, if at all. Whitman worked on six projects such as this from New York, to India, to Japan from 1968 through 1981. He has also made several films and incorporated them into his work. These include Window, 1963; Dressing Table, 1964; Shower, 1964; Sink, 1964; and Room, 1974.