Synopses & Reviews
On February 17, 1913, the American Association of Painters and Sculptors opened the Armory Show in New York. The ad-hoc association had started out with the modest goal of showing some of the "new" art coming out of Europe--Duchamp, Matisse, Picasso and many more of today"s acknowledged masters. What they ultimately created was a sprawling showcase of some of the most ground-breaking (many said subversive) art America had ever seen.
"For and Against" is the frank and engaging account of this historic show's original reception, capturing the full range of impassioned opinion both for and against the new art. First published, remarkably, by the show's organizers and sold at its Chicago venue, "For and Against" has long been out of print, but this new, expanded edition brings the Armory story to life once again.
About the Author
lie Faure (1873'"1937) was a French art historian. Originally trained as a surgeon, Faure was a self-taught art historian and a popular author. His "Histoire de l'art" (first translated by Walter Pach) was a critical and popular hit, and one of the first histories of art to look at art's place in, and relation to, civilization more broadly. Faure"s other writings include, works on Andr Derain and Chaim Soutine.Paul Gauguin (1848'"1903) was a French painter, though starting with four years spent in Peru when he was a child, and a stint in the marines as a young man, Gauguin traveled throughout his life. In his painting and with the publication of his journal, "Noa-Noa", it was his travel to Tahiti that remains his best known influence. Though originally employed as a stockbroker, Gauguin's work now resides in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and other museums around the world.Walt Kuhn (1877'"1949) was an American painter and illustrator, born in Brooklyn, and one of the principle organizers of the 1913 Armory Show. Active in several artist clubs, he was also an instructor at the Art Students League of New York. Though perhaps best remembered for his critical role in the Armory Show, Kuhn's art can be found in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Gallery of Art, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.Walter Pach (1883-1958) was an artist, art critic, historian and author. A translator and influential adviser on European modern art, Pach helped organize exhibitions and artist groups, as well as purchase work for both private and public collections. His many publications include "The Masters of Modern Art", a translation of "The Journals of Eugene Delacroix", "Queer Thing, Painting: Forty Years in the World of Art", "An Hour of Art" and "Ananias, or The False Artist".Vincent van Gogh (1853'"1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, now represented in nearly every major collection of modern art throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Hermitage Museum, the Muse d'Orsay and the Rijksmuseum. Van Gogh also wrote prolifically, especially to his brother Theodore, and today, those letters remain an important body of work in the history of art.
Table of Contents
The complete contents of the two paperback volumes: "For and Against: Views on the Infamous 1913 Armory Show" and "The New Spirit: Pamphlets from the Infamous 1913 Armory Show". Including:
- The Statement , Arthur B. Davies
- The New York Exhibition , The Association of American Painters and Sculptors
- Letting in the Light , Frederick James Gregg
- Hindsight and Foresight , Walter Pach
- The New Art , Kenyon Cox
- The Great Confusion , The Chicago Evening Post
- Cubism by a Cubist , Francis Picabia
- As to Futurists
- The Cubist Room , Walter Pach
- Old and New Art , Frank Jewett Mather, Jr.
- A Layman's Views of an Art Exhibition , Theodore Roosevelt
- Noa-Noa , Paul Gauguin
- Odilon Redon , Walter Pach
- Czanne , lie Faure
- A Sculptor"s Architecture , Walter Pach
- Letters of a Post-Impressionist , Vincent van Gogh
- The Armory Show and Its Publications
- Further Reading