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Tribute to Gertrude V. Whitney 
Letter Signed by 172 Artists Tells Gratitude to Museum Founder 
To the New York Herald Tribune:
We feel that the inclosed letter, recently sent to Mrs. G. Macculloch Miller, president of the board of trustees of the Whitney Museum of American Art, will be of interest to you. 
This letter represents the gratitude and appreciation of all the 172 artists whose names are attached thereto. Their signatures are not perfunctory gestures, but are rather the expression of something they have wanted to say for a long while. The commit only regrets that, because of the lack of time, it was not possible to include more names. 
HENRY SCHNAKENBERG, Secretary. 
New York, April 11, 1944. 
[Inclosure]
Mrs. G. Macculloch Miller, president of the board of trustees, Whitney Museum of American Art. 
Dear Mrs. Miller:
When the announcement came last year of the closing of the Whitney Museum of American Art each of us experienced a deep sense of disappointment and loss. The unexpected reopening of the museum last fall brought back to us a renewed realization of the Whitney's significance, and it was marked by an extraordinary feeling of sentiment and affection, as though we found ourselves back in a home which we thought we had lost. 
The tie between most museums and the artist is usually a tenuous and impersonal one. The traditional role of the museum has so long been that of a repository for the art of the past that the existence of the living artist has been recognized only with seeming reluctance or not at all. Museums now exhibit his work, sometimes award him a prize, more rarely make a purchase. But the pervasive feeling which the average museum has tended to communicate to the artist has been one of aloofness and relative lack of interest. 
With the Whitney this has never been the case, and to the Whitney belongs the major share of credit for the more liberal treatment which contemporary American art has received from most other American museums. Since its opening the Whitney has set the pattern in this country for what a museum can do for the art of its own period. From its Whitney Studio Club days, through the various developments up to the present, it has been the greatest single force in support of living art in the United States. 
The Whitney has always treated the artist with sincerity and respect, It did not award prizes. Instead, it has set aside a fund each year, within the limits of its resources, to buy as many works of art from its exhibitions and outside its exhibitions as possible. No living American artist was excluded from participation in its activities because of his esthetic direction, and all schools shared its advantages without discrimination. This democratic policy, wherein merit alone was the consideration, has had an inspiring effect on the young artists and an invigorating effect on American art as a whole. In this way, Mrs. Whitney and Mrs. Force did more than found a museum. They helped to build faith in living American art. Mrs. Whitney's love of art and the wisdom shown in the form taken by her patronage have had incalculable results for the present and future of our esthetic culture. The country has made great strides forward since the days which marked the beginning of the work of Mrs. Whitney and Mrs. Force. We artists understand the large debt which the country owes to the Whitney for this advance. 
As a group of artists we take this occasion to express our deep appreciation of the Whitney Museum. We have been privileged to feel that it is so much a part of our lives that its future is of vital importance to all of us. Should the trustees and director consider that our co-operation might be of service in furthering the interests of the museum, we should welcome such an opportunity. We sincerely hope that whatever changes are deemed necessary to guarantee the continuance of the museum, they may never interfere with its unique functions and the ideals established and carried on by Mrs. Whitney and Mrs. Force. 
[The signatures of 172 artists are appended.]