The Armory Show

The Armory Show
Name	The Armory Show
Genre	Exhibition
Venue	69th Regiment Armory
Location	New York City
Date	1913
Organiser	Association of American Painters and Sculptors

The Armory Show was a pivotal 1913 exhibition that introduced American audiences to European avant-garde painting and sculpture, reshaping modern art in the United States. Organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and held at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City, it juxtaposed works by Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse with contemporary American artists such as John Sloan, Arthur B. Davies, and Georgia O'Keeffe. The exhibition catalyzed debates involving institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and publishers including The New York Times and influenced collectors such as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Alfred Stieglitz.

Background and Origins

Organizers from the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and figures like Arthur B. Davies, Walter Arensberg, and E. C. Taylor sought to create an American forum paralleling European venues such as the Salon des Indépendants, Salon d'Automne, and the Royal Academy of Arts. Influences included galleries and dealers like Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Paul Durand-Ruel, and Ambroise Vollard, and artist movements such as Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, and Futurism. The choice of the 69th Regiment Armory reflected links to New York institutions including the Cooper Union and the Art Students League of New York, and echoed preceding exhibitions at the Society of Independent Artists and the National Academy of Design.

1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art

Held from February to March 1913, the International Exhibition of Modern Art presented works by European and American artists in a layout that mirrored exhibitions at the Armory of the 69th Regiment. The catalog included entries from Marcel Duchamp, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Cézanne, Gustav Klimt, Umberto Boccioni, Henri Rousseau, and Paul Klee, alongside Americans such as Edward Hopper, Max Weber, John Marin, Marsden Hartley, and Alfred Maurer. Critics compared pieces to works in collections at the Tate Gallery, Musée du Louvre, Neue Galerie, and Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, prompting responses from curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.

Artists and Key Works Exhibited

The exhibition displayed landmark works including Marcel Duchamp’s controversial readymade, works by Pablo Picasso reflecting Analytic Cubism, Henri Matisse’s Fauvist paintings, and pieces by Georges Braque and Constantin Brâncuși. American contributions featured paintings and watercolors by John Sloan, Arthur B. Davies, and John Marin; sculptures by Hermon A. MacNeil and Gutzon Borglum; and works by Marsden Hartley and Max Weber. European avant-garde pieces by Umberto Boccioni connected to Futurism, while Gino Severini and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti linked the show to manifestos circulating in La Gazzetta dell'Arte and other periodicals. Collectors and patrons such as John Quinn, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney were instrumental in acquiring works.

Public and Critical Reception

Press coverage ranged from praise in publications like The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times to scathing critiques in outlets such as The New York Tribune and satirical cartoons in Puck (magazine). Critics including Arthur B. Davies's advocates clashed with detractors who invoked conservative tastes represented by institutions like the National Academy of Design and commentators from The Saturday Evening Post. The exhibition produced scandal around Duchamp’s work and provoked debates among intellectuals associated with Alfred Stieglitz, Marius de Zayas, and Paul Rosenberg. Public reaction included curiosity from visitors connected to theaters such as New Amsterdam Theatre, socialites from families like the Vanderbilts, and European émigrés linked to salons in Montparnasse.

Impact and Legacy

The show accelerated acceptance of modernist movements in American collections and museum practices, influencing acquisitions at the Museum of Modern Art and exhibition programs at the Whitney Museum of American Art. It affected artists and critics tied to The Dial, Poetry (magazine), and avant-garde circles around Alfred Stieglitz and Peggy Guggenheim. The Armory Show’s legacy extended to dealers like Knoedler & Company and Paul Rosenberg, and to scholars at institutions including Columbia University, Princeton University, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Its reverberations shaped later modern art movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, and Minimalism through networks of artists including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Marcel Duchamp’s followers.

Subsequent Exhibitions and Commemorations

Commemorations and retrospectives at venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art have revisited the 1913 exhibition. Scholarly conferences at Columbia University and publications from Yale University Press, Oxford University Press, and Princeton University Press have reassessed the show’s role relative to later exhibitions like the Armory Show centennial programs and traveling retrospectives organized by curators associated with the Frick Collection and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Collections at the National Gallery of Art and archives at the Smithsonian Institution preserve correspondence and catalogs, while auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's continue to trade works with provenance tracing to the 1913 exhibition.

Category:1913 exhibitions Category:American art exhibitions