ARMS, ARMORIES AND ART

Ninety-eight years ago today, 17th February 1913, The Armory Show opened in New York at the 69th Regiment Armory (One of the U.S. National Guard Armories) on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets. It was organised by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and ran to the 15th March 1913

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It was the first show mounted by the Association and exhibited some 1250 painting, sculptures and decorative works by over 300 European and American artists.

The Impressionists, Fauvists and Cubists were all represented; although not greatly appreciated by some of the public. President Theodore Roosevelt declared, "That's not art". Reviews were full of accusations of quackery, insanity, anarchy and immorality. There were parodies, caricatures and mock exhibitions:

A Slight Attack of Third Dimentia Brought on by Excessive Study of the Much Talked of Cubist Pictures in the International Exhibition at New York," drawn by John French Sloan in April 1913.

Among the artist whose work feature large in the show were the Duchamp brothers:

The brothers, left to right: Marcel Duchamp, Jaques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon. This Photo was actually taken in Jacques Villon's studio in Pateaux, France in 1914.

Marcel Duchamp' Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 painted in 1912 attracted a great deal of attention, as did Picasso's Le Guitariste (1910) and Braque's Violin and Candlestick (1910)

Among others at the exhibition:

Henri Matisse l'Atelier Rouge(1911)

Maurice Prendergast Landscape with Figures (1913)

Arthur B Davies Reclining Woman (Pastel Drawing)(1911)

Prendergast and Davies were both American artists and members of a group of painters called The Eight, which included Robert Henri, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Ernest Lawson, George Luks and William Glackens. Out of the group came the Ashcan School of artists.

Ashcan School artists and friends at John Sloan's Philadelphia Studio, 1898

The exhibition was undoubtedly a success and very comprehensive at the time. It went on to show at the Art Institute of Chicago and then in Copley Hall in Boston. There, due to a lack of space, all the work by American Artists was removed. How sad is that. How insecure of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. It is worth having a look at this entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcan_School

Your can judge for yourselves whether a judiciously proportionate culling of works - to make way for display in Boston - would have been more appropriate.

Edward Hopper 1908, George Bellows 1909 and Maurice Prendergast 1901