Visiting New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art has gotten even better this year with the opening of Frenchette Bakery at The Whitney. As the museum’s two new food and beverage venues, designed by New York City-based architectural firm Modellus Novus, begin operations this year visitors will see as much gorgeous color in the breakfast and lunch options as in the galleries.

Frenchette Bakery, which opened its first outlet in New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood in 2020, has now opened a branch on the Whitney’s redesigned ground-floor restaurant space, offering take-out breakfast and lunch items including boulangerie, Viennoiserie, sandwiches, pizz’ette and boissons. It offers a sit-down dining option for breakfast and lunch.

© Photo by Adrian Gaut / Courtesy of Modellus Novus

The Whitney is also revitalizing the eighth-floor café space, with the Frenchette team upgrading the former Studio Bar. Connecting the two culinary spaces with the museum’s mission to support contemporary art and artists, both food and beverage spaces will be illustrated by significant, newly commissioned artwork. In late 2023, artwork by Rashid Johnson was installed on the ground floor, and the newly designed, eighth-floor dining space will show work by artist Dyani White Hawk, also recently installed.

“The bakery and cafe will be a welcoming, approachable neighborhood destination and gathering space open to Museum visitors and non-visitors alike,” said Amy Roth, co-chief operating officer, Whitney Museum. “Anyone can stop by for baked goods, coffee, or a snack to enjoy on the Whitney’s steps, the nearby High Line, or Hudson River Park, or linger and recharge over a meal. We are proud to bring this exciting new addition to the community and to the Museum. We have the ideal partner in the Frenchette team, whose philosophies and mission are aligned with ours, to help forge new connections between the Whitney and the neighborhood.”

© Photo by Adrian Gaut / Courtesy of Modellus Novus

At Frenchette, the large indoor-outdoor art installation New Poetry by artist Rashid Johnson, is being viewed by many visitors as they order coffee or sandwiches to go. Johnson’s massive black steel sculpture, with shelves holding books, ceramics, monitors playing films, lights and plants, stretches through the bakery’s ground-floor space and past the walls of the restaurant to the exterior space in front of the museum.

Dyani White Hawk’s new installation, Nourish, was installed on the eighth floor and combines influences from her Wopila | Lineage series, first created for the 2022 Whitney Biennial, and her ongoing Quiet Strength series. Nourish introduces new exploration in ceramic tile for the artist.

For the design of both dining spaces, Modellus Novus applied its design expertise in projects to welcome the public to enjoy dynamic cultural and dining experiences, like the recently designed Lincoln Center’s restaurant Tatiana. The firm’s idea was to blur interior and exterior to help create connections between diners and their surrounding community, as well as maintain the original open concept of the Whitney’s design by architect Renzo Piano. Piano worked closely with the artists to ensure the open, friendly and welcoming spaces are fitting for the artwork being created and supportive of dialogue around those works.

© Photo by Adrian Gaut / Courtesy of Modellus Novus

“For both the museum’s ground-floor and eighth-floor dining spaces, our aim is to create holistic, unified environments that center the artists and their work while offering guests serene spaces to enjoy the museum’s enriched culinary offerings,” said Jonathan Garnett, partner and creative director, Modellus Novus.