The Whitney Museum had a long history beginning in 1932 of having a large group exhibition of invited American artists every year called the 'Whitney Annual'. In the late sixties, it was decided to alternate between painting and sculpture, although by the 1970s the decision was to combine both together in a biennial.Carol Vogel (November 29, 2012), Whitney Museum Announces Biennial Plans New York Times. The first biennial was curated by a curatorial committee under direction of director John I. H. Baur. The 1975 Whitney Biennial, the first to credit curators with the show curation, acknowledged the five person curatorial team of John Hanhardt, Barbara Haskell, James Monte, Elke Solomon, and Marcia Tucker. The catalog additionally acknowledges how the curators' work was co-supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
