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7 March
New York, 1913
Proposed on 7 March in Paris (Pierre Bergé auction house),
this catalogue of the International Exhibition of Modern Art
(actually four volumes: €1,000/1,500) is rare evidence of the
exhibition that turned the New York art scene upside down
- and through the exhibitions in Chicago and Boston, that
of American contemporary art as well. The original idea
came from Robert Henri, keen to show that art needed to
forge ahead, and not follow "moderns" like the Impressionists
and their American disciples. Three of his pupils, Walt
Kuhn, Walter Pach and Arthur Bowen Davies, founded the
Association of American Painters and Sculptors, and
planned an exhibition in New York. As we know, the city
was hardly an artistic desert, and galleries like those of
Alfred Stieglitz were showing highly modern pieces.
As soon as the dates and venue (the 69th Regiment
Armory building) were fixed, Kuhn left for Europe, visiting
exhibitions, collections and studios to obtain the loan of
various works. In Paris, he met Walter Pach, a friend of
Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp. And the rest is
history. When the exhibition opened on 17 February
1913, audiences discovered Matisse's "La Femme en bleu"
and "Le Madras rouge" and Duchamp's "Nu descendant
l'escalier no. 2" - the focal point of criticism and viewers'
interest. Despite the offensive comments, the exhibition
was a success. And art has never been the same since. To
celebrate its centenary, two exhibitions look back over
this venture: one opened at the Montclair Art Museum
on 17 February, the anniversary date; the other is
scheduled at the New York Historical Society Museum
and Library in October. Anne Foster
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UPCOMING AUCTIONS THE MAGAZINE
France