Search Whitney artists
whitney_search_artistsSearch the Whitney Museum's 7,000+ listed artists by name, collection status, biennial participation, or on-view availability. Returns slim artist records for further research.
Instructions
Search the 7,000+ artists listed by the Whitney — those with work in the collection and those who have appeared in Museum exhibitions.
Returns slim records (id, name, dates, in_collection, in_biennial, on_view). Call whitney_get_artist for the biography and authority IDs.
Args:
name (string, optional): substring match on the display name
in_collection, in_biennial, on_view (boolean, optional)
sort ('default' | 'name_asc' | 'name_desc' | 'most_viewed' | 'random')
page (number, default 1), limit (number, 1-30, default 10)
response_format ('markdown' | 'json', default 'markdown')
Returns: { total, count, page, has_more, next_page?, results[], note? }
Example: "which O'Keeffes are in the collection?" -> search name="O'Keeffe", then whitney_artist_artworks with the returned id.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | No | Words appearing in the artist's display name | |
| page | No | 1-based page number; the API returns 30 records per page | |
| sort | No | Result ordering | default |
| limit | No | Maximum records to return from the fetched page (1-30). Keep this low unless you need the detail — Whitney records are verbose. | |
| on_view | No | Restrict to artists with work currently on view | |
| in_biennial | No | Restrict to artists who have shown in a Whitney Biennial | |
| in_collection | No | Restrict to artists with work in the collection | |
| response_format | No | Output format: 'markdown' for reading, 'json' for machine processing | markdown |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| note | No | Advisory note about trimming or pagination | |
| page | Yes | Page that was fetched | |
| count | Yes | Records returned in this response | |
| total | Yes | Total matching records across all pages | |
| source | Yes | Attribution for the data, as the Whitney's terms ask for | |
| results | Yes | The records | |
| has_more | Yes | Whether further pages exist | |
| next_page | No | Page number to request next |