British Art Fair: how to check out a lot of art galleries in one place

Art Fairs essentially benefit serious art collectors. They offer a very easy way to look at a lot of art - across all price ranges - offered by different art galleries and dealers in one place - with nice food and drink.

After the pandemic decimated art fairs, there's a lot of effort going into making sure those being held in 2022 are a great experience for buyers. Indeed, the British Art Fair is under new ownership for this year's Fair. 

Art Fairs with reputable art galleries also offer a benefit for artists. If you're keen to become a gallery artist and want to check out a number of galleries, then this could also be the place for you! 

You can check out:

• the art by other artists represented by that gallery - and how it is presented
• the people representing the gallery
• what sort of art these art galleries think is worth paying a major fee to show to people with lots of money
• the general "vibe" you get from the stand. Does it make you feel that this could be an art gallery you'd like to approach at some point in the future.

HOWEVER - and this is VERY IMPORTANT - an artist visiting an art fair is market research activity ONLY!

• The art galleries are there to sell art to wealthy individuals. Period.
• They are really NOT interested in talking to artists. 
• The very last thing you should do is announce you're an artist looking for a gallery to represent them
• If you pull out an iPad and start pitching your art, you'll get blacklisted and your name will be mud.

copyright making a mark publications

British Art Fair (BAF) 2022

View of the British Art Fair Homepage Cover Image:
Displays by Alon Zakaim Fine Art, The Nine British Art and Alan Wheatley Art at BAF 2019.
Image credit: Piers Allardyce

The 31st British Art Fair is being staged on all three floors of the Saatchi Gallery between 29th September and 2nd October 2022.

Bernie Sanders and his mittens in Historical, Modern and Contemporary Art

The Bernie Sanders meme continues - and some of the best are those produced by art galleries and museums who have portrayed him within various paintings and artworks.

Now that Bernie himself has embraced the meme, put a picture of himself kitted out for cold weather on a sweatshirt which then sold out fast and donated the proceeds to feed low income senior citizens in Vermont - see Sanders hopes nation smitten by his mittens will back food charity push - I'm happy to write about it.

Chairman Sanders crewneck on his campaign store
100% of proceeds go toward Meals on Wheels Vermont

 
The art galleries and museums could also

• work with Bernie sanders to do likewise and
• sell sweatshirts of the Bernie meme to benefit those who need to use food banks at this very difficult time. 

Hence this post - suggesting just that......

In the meantime, here are a lot of rather inventive creations of

• art curators and social media employees of various art galleries and museums
• or highlighted by those art galleries and museums!
• their visitors
• various artists 

How about it museums and art galleries - and artists? 

How about giving some support for those who can't afford to eat right now?

Museum of Modern Art 

Bernie is present https://t.co/r4z2cpyVc1

— MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (@MuseumModernArt) January 20, 2021

But he's getting around the museum and popping up all over the place and creating new art

one and three bernies https://t.co/C7HyLqTXTh pic.twitter.com/g9v9VXoYge

— laura (@laurahillegas) January 21, 2021

The Phillips Collection

Visit the London Art Fair - Online!

This weekend you can visit the London Art Fair Online.

It usually takes place at the Business Design Centre in Islington - but this year due to the pandemic and lockdown it had a virtual opening ONLINE on Wednesday 20th January (but I guess quite a few of were viewing another event on that day!) It continues until Sunday 31st January 2021.

However the London Art Fair offers 

• 63 leading Modern and Contemporary galleries in an alternative digital format.
• Each of the Galleries can feature up to 20 works per gallery

Works are presented with audio and written commentaries narrated by the galleries themselves, allowing you to interact with the works on show in an alternative format.

• This is ALSO an opportunity for artists to view the type of art which get shown at a leading art fair in the UK - without having to travel/pay to see it.

How to do you view the art galleries and the art?

London Art Fair - six of the galleries

Essentially, click the item in the menu which leads to the content you want to explore

• Viewing Rooms - takes you to the art gallery microsites
• the LAD Edit Programme - takes you to the range of events and offers also associated with this art fair e.g. 
• LAF Selects invites experts, collectors and prominent friends of the Fair to present their own personal highlights from the Viewing Rooms.
• LAF Workshops - provides a listing of online workshops on offer.
• LAF Talks - very focused on the art collector perspective. 

I think they'd have done better if they'd 

• developed some talks and workshops for artists 
• about how to deal with the current situation and share success stories about how to market art during the pandemic.

London Art Fair - what's on offer

A note about Art Fairs

I think it's safe to say that there are going to be few if any "usual" art fairs for most of this year. 

One of the key reasons is that it appears to be 

• very difficult to get public liability insurance for communicable diseases and 
• the insurance market is not offering Covid-19 cover for cancellation and business interruption. 

See this article in The Guardian Government stalls on insurance scheme for UK music festivals (which I picked up on following the cancellation of Glastonbury)

A new Lowry at Christie's Modern British Art Sale

It's a joy when you get to read the catalogue for an art sale which is both informative and interesting. This post is about some of the interesting artworks and interesting back stories to be gleaned from the online catalogues for the upcoming auction of Modern British and Irish Art Sale in January 2020

Christies has a Modern British Art Sale in January 2020 and you can view the e-catalogues online

• Modern British Art Evening Sale on 21 January e-Catalogue
• Modern British Art Day Sale on 22 January e-Catalogue

I particularly enjoyed the catalogue reflections on the effects achieved in the paintings which were like others in modern art - and art from history.

An example being when a 'new' (i.e. previously unseen, unexhibited and uncatalogued) painting by Lowry is compared to a painting of children's games produced by Pieter Brueghel - a connection I'd not made before but which now makes complete sense as to one of the reasons why Lowry paintings are so popular with the general British public who respond to content not being told why they should "appeciate a painting".

A few highlights from the sale - and why I shall go to the view - are that it includes the following. (Note the links I'm providing have images which are nowhere near as good as those included in the catalogue. You need to click the links above and then agree to the conditions before you can access the e-catalogues)

What I've listed reflects my taste or an interest in the back storey.  The catalogues also provide an insight into who collects and they they collect!

 

Evening Sale

• The Mill, Pendlebury by LS Lowry - previously owned by Dr Leonard D Hamilton the chap who worked out the techniques for extracting DNA which was then tested by Crick and Watson to reveal the double helix structure for which they won the Nobel prize! How about that for a back story! The painting was acquired from the artist shortly after it was painted and includes the Acme Spinning Company Mill which was the first mill in the country to be lit entirely by electrocitiy. I wonder whether that scientific angle to the painting created a special fascination for the scientist. He was certainly a man who went on to build an impressive art collection.  He used to hang his Lowry painting in his rooms at Balliol College Oxford where he was an undergraduate. 
• Hero II by William Turnbull - this is the bronze with a green patina and stone sculpture in the David Hockney painting American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman) owned by the American Art Institute of Chicago. For context see this link to the 1960s paintings gallery on Hockney's website - it's the first painting in the gallery. The sculpture comes from the Fred Weisman Collection. It's fascinating to hear the history of the sculpture and its antecedents in the British Museum. It's also interesting to see the texture in the sculpture and to read how it was created given its absence in the painting.
• The Wiring Party by William Roberts RA - who has drawn a group of soldiers building or repairing the defences in "no man's land' in the First World War in a cubist style. He had been a gunner and he became a war artist in 1918. The catalogue contains an excellent narrative about working as a war artist. The work was first exhibited at the 60th Exhibition of Modern Drawings in Watercolour and Black and White by the New English Art Club in 1919. It reminds me of the sort of drawing I look for in exhibitions today - of people doing contemporary and routine but unusual things - but very rarely see.

New English Art Club, '60th Exhibition of Modern Drawings in Watercolour and Black and White by the New English Art Club', Maddox Street Galleries, summer 1919 (Burying the Dead after Battle 1919, The Wiring Party 1918)

• Marynka pregnant by RB Kitaj - has an interesting story behind it which involves a visit to the Henri Roche shop in Paris to buy some pastels
• Square Form by Henry Moore in the auction - reminds me of why photos of your work in your studio can help provide provenance and also data a piece!
• Red and White Tulips by Samuel John Peploe - I always like to see a Peploe - and always interesting to see how an artist paints white flowers.... If you're using a 27" screen like me and click the catalogue you get an up close view of the brush strokes used - which to me always indicate the difference between somebody who paints and an artist who knows how to paint flowers

Other artists include Dame Elizabeth Frink, Howard Hodskin, Leon Kossoff, David Bomberg, Lynn Chadwick, Mark Gertler,  Allen Jones, Peter Lanyon, Ben Nicholson as well as other sculptors

Day Sale

This includes

• Postcards written to Felicity Hellaby by Lucian Freud - I just sat and stared! Quite unlike anything I've seen from Freud before.
• Gregory by David Hockney - one of his line drawings in ink which I adore. Gregory was Hockjney's Assistant and Companion through most of the 1970s. You can see more of Hockney's drawings in the 1970s on his website.
• Celia, Hollywood, May 1984 by David Hockney - another line drawing in pen and ink. These are other drawings by Hockney in the 1980s (I just love his drawings!)
• Church at Cassis by SJ Peploe - evocative of Cezanne - but not quite the same
• Barnet Fair by Walter Richard Sickert - almost a 'history painting' - recording what happened at the time - in 1928-30
• Maquette for Draped Reclining Woman and Maquette for Reclining Figure by Henry Moore - His website provides a record of the series of full size sculpture series developed from this maquette (and others, I guess). Moore is one of a few modern sculptors who "gets drapery" right. I've visited Hoglands and seen the studio where he made his maquettes and how he used them to upscale to his larger works - see my Flickr set Henry Moore Sculptures, Hoglands, Perry Green. 
• Eleven ideas for Sculptures and Figures in Settings by Henry Moore provides great insight into his working process and the importance of his drawings to his 3D works

Other artists include Frank Bowling, Dame Elizabeth Frink, Maggi Hambling, Leon Kossoff, Frabnk Auerbach, Sie Edward Paolozzi, Patrick Caulfield, RB Kitaj, Ben Nicholson, John Piper, Eric Ravilious and lots of minor (and not so minor) artists

Viewing is at Christies in King Street, St. James from Monday 13th January to Tuesday 21 January

• 13 Jan, 6pm - 8:30pm
• 14 Jan, 9am - 4:30pm
• 15 Jan, 9am - 4:30pm
• 16 Jan, 9am - 4:30pm
• 17 Jan, 9am - 4:30pm
• 18 Jan, 12pm - 5pm
• 19 Jan, 12pm - 5pm
• 20 Jan, 9am - 4:30pm
• 21 Jan, 9am - 3pm
• 22 Jan, 1pm (Lots 101 - 210)

More auctions

There's also what look like they might be interesting auctions in the early New Year

• Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on the 5th and 6th February
• Post-War and Contemporary Art on the 12th and 13th February

I'm now going to take a look at those e-catalogues!

About Modern Paints

Or I should say 'About Modern Paints' as at 2006 when there was

• the "Modern Paints Uncovered" Symposium 
• Organized by the Getty Conservation Institute, Tate, and the National Gallery of Art 
• held at the Tate Modern, London May 16-19, 2006

In other words,  this pdf file of the proceedings (318 pages) from the website of the Getty Institute contains contents which is at least 15 years old.

However that does not make it less interesting - just not 100% up to date!

Modern Paints Uncovered

The contents are:

PART ONE Keynote Presentations

• 3 Modern Paints: Uncovering the Choices
• 17 Overview of Developments in the Paint Industry since 1930 
• 30 Modern Paints, Conservation of

PART TWO Paint Formulations and History

• 43 "Eternity Is in Love with the Productions of Time": Joaquim Rodrigo's Classical Palette in a Vinyl Synthetic Médium
• 53 The Performance and Properties of Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour Compared with Other Oil-Based Paints by Winsor & Newton
• 58 From Formulation to Finished Product: Causes and Potential Cures for Conservation Concerns in Acrylic Emulsión Paints
• 66 Adapting Military Camouflage Paint for Matte Outdoor Sculpture
• 75 "Cover the Earth": A History of the Manufacture of Household Gloss Paints in Britain and the United States from the 19205 to the 19505 

PART THREE Analysis and Characterization

• 85 Mass Spectrometry of Modern Paints
• 96 The Macro- and Microassessment of Physical and Aging Properties in Modern Paints
• 105 The Identification of Synthetic Organic Pigments by FTIR and DTMS
• 118 Modern White Pigments: Their Identification by Means of Noninvasive Ultraviolet, Visible, and Infrared Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy
• 129 Studies of Modern Oil-Based Artists' Paint Media by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

PART FOUR Treatments

• 143 Unforgiving Surfaces: Treatment of Cracks in Contemporary Paintings
• 149 Restoring the Immaterial: Study and Treatment of Yves Klein's Blue Monochrome (IKB 42)
• 157 The Re-restoration of Donald Judd's Untitled, 1965 165 A History of the Treatment of Acrylic Painting

PART FOUR Cleaning Issues

• 177 An Investigation of Water-Sensitive Oil Paints in Twentieth-Century Paintings
• 189 Wet Cleaning Acrylic Emulsión Paint Films: An Evaluation of Physical, Chemical, and Optical Changes
• 201 Morphological Changes and Rates of Leaching of Water- Soluble Material from Artists' Acrylic Paint Films during Aqueous Immersions 
• 208 Láser Cleaning of a Study Painting by Ad Reinhardt and the Analysis/Assessment of the Surface after Treatment
• 217 Penetration of Liquid Water through Waterborne Acrylic Coatings

PART SIX Behavior and Properties

• 227 Factors Affecting the Mechanical Properties of Modern Paints
• 236 Aging Characteristics of a Contemporary Acrylic Emulsión Used in Artists' Paints
• 247 Interfacial Interactions of Modern Paint Layers
• 257 Solvent Action on Dispersión Paint Systems and the Influence on the Morphology—Changes and Destruction of the Látex Microstructure

PART SEVEN Posters

• 271 The Effects of Ultraviolet Light Aging on the Mechanical and Physical Properties of Artists' Acrylic Paints
• 271 Art in Bad Times
• 273 Cleaning The Café Balzac Mural
• 274 The Identification of Some of the Painting Materials at Museo d'Arte Contemporánea all'Aperto di Maglione
• 276 The Complexities of Woman in a Courtyard (1933) by Julián Trevelyan
• 277 Study of the Influence of Synthetic Organic Pigments on the Thermal and Photodegradation of Linseed Oil byFTIR/A TR Spectroscopy
• 277 What Makes the Color Field? A Technical Examination of Magna Paint
• 278 Modern Standards for Modern Paints: The Activities of ASTM Doi.57
• 280 Analyzing Visual Change in a Painting by Josef Albers A Painter's Paradise
• 280 A Painter's Paradise
• 282 Liquefying Oil Paint in Some Late-Twentieth-Century Paintings
• 284 Dictated by Media: Conservation and Technical Analysis of a 1938 Burlap Painting by Joan Miró
• 284 Paints and Coatings Used in Outdoor Murals
• 285 Squeeze Up Close
• 287 A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem: The Consolidation of Joan Miró's Portrait of a Young Girl
• 288 Conservation Treatment of Ultramarine Oil Paint on Michael Craig-Martin's Pulí Life
• 290 Eugéne Leroy's Painting: A Moving Matter
• 291 Tate AXA Art Modern Paints Project: Evaluating the Effects of Cleaning Acrylic Paintings
• 292 Alterations in Unvarnished Contemporary Paint in Spain: A Visual Approach
• 294 Juliáo Sarmentó, a Portuguese Artist at Work: Study of Just a Skin Affair (1988)
• 296 Fluor-S-Art, Northern Lites, DayGlo: Daylight Fluorescent Pigments, Their Development, Use, and Performance
• 297 Rescue Public Murals!
• 299 The Art Materials Collection and Study Center
• 300 Materials, Techniques, and Artist's Intention in the Geometric Works of José María Yturralde
• 300 Problems with the Cleaning of Textured Modern Painting

• 302 Symposium Participants 
• 309 Author Biographies 

PS I only got back from the USA late yesterday morning - and then slept for 18 of the next 24 hours (in 3 sessions interspersed by muesli, soup and chocolate!) - hence my review of the first episode of Landscape Artist of the Year will follow Episode 2 - which will be tomorrow!

Modern & Post-War British Art - Exhibition at Sotheby's

I spent more time today looking at the catalogue for the Modern & Post-War British Art evening auction taking place at Sotheby's in London on 18th - 19th June 2019

It's got a lot of interesting artworks by various artists and I very much recommend you 

• view the 5 day exhibition (see dates, times and venue address at the end) in advance of the auction
• take a look at the catalogue if interested in this period of British Art 
• click the link to Modern & Post-War British Art 
• either scroll down the page 
• or click a pic and go straight to the detailed page for that artwork - and click the pic again and get a larger image

The feet of "Beautiful Girl Lying Down" by Euan Uglow (1932-2000)
oil on canvas | 61 by 93.5cm.; 24 by 37in. | Executed in 1958-59
Estimate £300,000 - £500,000

Artists include:

• Edward Burra
• Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
• Euan Uglow - I was transfixed by the very beautiful painting "Beautiful Girl Lying Down" - do read the catalogue note about his work
• Alison Watt
• Leon Kossoff
• LS Lowry
• Walter Richard Sickert
• Henry Moore - both sculpture and shelter drawing
• Ben Nicholson
• Dame Barbara Hepworth
• Patrick Heron
• David Nash
• Graham Sutherland
• John Piper
• Roger Hilton
• David Bomberg
• Winifrid Nicholson
• Augustus John
• Duncan Grant
• Vanessa Bell
• Paul Nash
• Craigie Aitchison
• Dame Lucie Rie
• Dame Elisabeth Frink
• Sir Peter Blake
• David Hockney
• Sean Scully
• Christopher Le Brun
• Sir Terry Frost
• Gillian Ayers

The exhibition dates and times - at Sotheby's at 34-35 New Bond Street London W1A 2AA - are as follows

• Friday 14 June 9am - 5pm
• Saturday 15 June 12pm - 5pm
• Sunday 16 June 1pm - 5pm
• Monday17 June 9am - 5pm
• Tuesday18 June 9am - 4pm

Picasso the businessman - branding and the value of art

An article What Picasso Knew: Branding Tips For Artists From An Art Basel Insider by Allen Adamson, a Contributor to Forbes Magazine provides some useful tips for artists who need to learn about the relationship between branding and the value of art.

Pablo Picasso (1962)
(Argentina)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

It highlights Pablo Picasso as an artist who was not only a smart artist but an astute businessman.  His fame and his wealth came from both.  Being an excellent artist alone would not have allowed him to achieve the success he did.

I've added a section on Picasso and the art business into my website About Pablo Picasso - Famous Artist.  This includes links to other information on the internet about Picasso and his dealings with the art business.

Picasso and his mastery of branding and the art business

Here's a summary in my own words of Picasso's mastery of branding and the art business.

Art has value / Art is a business

• Art is a business - always
• An artist needs to know the value of their work
• sell when you need to not because you have art to sell - control the artwork in circulation and you have more influence over the value and the price

Branding and art

Thinking about art as a brand is helpful to understanding why some art sells - and other art does not

• brands which succeed are superior in some way
• art needs to intrigue and communicate in a way which adds value
• brands which succeed connect with collectors
• brands with single names are easy to remember
• brands with clear identities are easy to recognise
• manage the perception of your brand by the market

What an artist needs to know in order to be successful:

Being a good painter is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a successful artist

• art needs to be different and distinctive
• art needs to be high quality and capable of standing the test of time
• the artist needs to have a clear sense of self and what he or she stands for
• an artist who is prolific in his production of art does not have to sell everything he makes when he makes it
• always keep the collectors wanting more

What Collectors want to know about

Collectors want to know about "who" produced the art i.e. they want to know about the brand's "persona"

• What is the back story?  Is it an interesting and authentic narrative?  
• Is this artist different?
• They need to know your latest news - it's another chapter in the story

Collectors are also impressed by artists who are famous enough to be known by one name only.

Other Factors critical to an artist's success

These include:

• brand placement (ie where you show your art and for how long) is critical to success.  
• who art is sold to (ie do they have status - will people copy them?) Finding the right collectors is critical and having 
• where art hangs (irrespective of whether people can see it)
• knowing the right people - an art dealer who can help with both placement and clients can be critical to an artist's success.
• how the artist's story is told - and by who
• keeping control over how art is released to the market and the value/price is managed

Isn't it interesting that Picasso was one of the earliest artists to be filmed painting?

and finally......

Here's my latest find in terms of Picasso videos.  I suggest you mute the Cat Stevens soundtrack!

The Best Cities for Top Art Galleries and Museums (2012)

Which are the best cities to go to if you want to indulge in a spot of art gallery and museum visiting?

I've reviewed the top 100 art galleries and museums - judged by the number of visitors - in the The Art Newspaper's  Visitor Figures Survey (2012) - Exhibition & museum attendance.

On the basis of the self-reported but unaudited numbers of visitors I've identified the Top 5 Cities for the most popular Art Galleries and Museums in the World.  (Actually it's the top 5 plus 2 as there's been a howling omission from the Survey plus another city is beginning to recover its former status!)

The names are all:

• prefixed with their position in the ranking of the top 100 art galleries and museums
• plus an indication of the places gained or dropped since 2010 as a suffix

While the top four art cities remain the same, in 2011 Seoul has now replaced Tokyo in the top five following the devastating Tsunami and the aftershocks of the March earthquake off the coast of Japan. However it should be noted that rankings of museums in Tokyo had already dropped significantly in 2010.

LONDON

London - continues to have a total of eight art museums and galleries in the top 100 art galleries and museums in the world. This is significantly in excess of any other capital city. (I live in London and can get to all of these in under 45 minutes!). What's also significant for overseas tourists is how many other art museums in the UK are in the top 100 (see the end).

In 2012, all did well to maintain their positions given the adverse impact of the Olympic Games on visitors to the centre of London.

This year the National Gallery and Tate Modern swopped positions in the top 5.  The Royal Academy of Arts did particularly well on the strength of the very popular Hockney Exhibition.  By way of contrast, the Serpentine Gallery dropped out of the top 100 Art Galleries and Musuems.

The list in 2012 is:

#3.   British Museum, London (no change)

#4.   Tate Modern, London (+1)

#5.   National Gallery, London (-1)  

#11. Victoria and Albert Museum (+3)
#18. National Portrait Gallery (no change)
#26. Tate Britain (+3)
#33. Saatchi Gallery (+10)
#44. Royal Academy of Arts (+19)

Interior Atrium of the British Museum - with stone lion

PARIS

While Paris has a lot of art galleries in the top 100, it's got a much greater spread across the 100 than London.

Top 30 Art Galleries and Museums in the World in 2012

The Visitor Figures Survey (2012) - Exhibition & museum attendance conducted by The Art Newspaper provides a guide to which museums are doing well and which are experiencing a change in their fortune.

I am an extremely keen reader of the annual survey which collects the the (unaudited) visitor numbers reported by the museums to the paper. I focus on working out what has not been included in the associated survey report.

The numbers are only a guide to which are the top museums.  There are all sorts of problems (of the "apples and pears" variety) in terms of

• how the numbers are collected and which are estimated and which are accurate (For example - this year the Louvre has managed to produce a return which isn't same rounded figure that it has had had for the last three years!)
• which are for museums which charge and which are for museums which are free to enter.  

Nevertheless it's probably the best survey available of the relative popularity of the different art galleries and museums.

The survey focuses in the main on attendances at the art exhibitions and there's pages of analysis of those for people who like that sort of thing.  I'll be commenting later on what it says about exhibitions in the UK.

The Top 30 Art Galleries and Museums in the World in 2012

I've enhanced this year's listing to reflect the broad geographical area and whether performance is better or worse than last year. Following the top 30 list I have a commentary on what the list tells us this year.  The listing includes

• the number of visitors, the name of the museum, and the city that the museum is located in - as per the Art Newspaper survey
• the ranked position number and a colour code to indicate the location of the gallery or museum. This  colour coding enables you to see more easily where the the great museums are located.
• An up or down arrow to the left of the visitor numbers which enables a quick check on whether a museum is doing better or worse than last year 
• I've also indicated the new entries in the top 30 in 2012.

blue = UK
red = Europe

purple = Russia / ex USSR

orange = USA & Canada 

green = Asia

magenta = South America

light blue = Australasia

The arrows at the end relate to whether the number of visitors are up or down when compared to 2011.

▲ - UP

▼ - DOWN

The top 30 art museums and galleries in the world in 2012, based on their self-reported annual visitor numbers, are as detailed in the list below. 

Click the link in the name to find out more about the museum - in English!

The 100th anniversary of the 1913 Armory Show

1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art
(The Armory Show) Poster

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show) by the Association of American Artists and Sculptors in New York.

Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of arguably the most famous art exhibition of the 20th century

This was the first large exhibition of Modern Art in North America - and much of it was by European artists who'd not previously been seen by art collectors in the USA.

Four thousand guests visited the rooms on the opening night.

It's important to realise that up until this show, Americans who had not travelled were typically only familiar with Realism - artwork which attempted to represent what was real in an objective reality.  In addition the powerful National Academy of Design was attempting to ignore it.

So what we have in New York in 1913, in effect, is a replay of the situation nearly 40 years earlier in Paris in 1874.  The French Salon, like the National Academy, was the arbiter of national taste and was having no truck with the young upstarts who were painting in a new way.  Thus  the impact of the exhibition in New York is very much like to the impact of the First Impressionist Exhibition held in Paris between 15 April- 15 May 1874.

Which is why it's worth remembering!

After The Armory Show of 1913, artists working in the USA were influenced by the modern artwork by major European artists which was exhibited in this show - for the rest of the 20th century.

[Note" This started off as the feature for "Who's made a mark this week?" - but I got too interested in it and it began to take over the post - so WMAMTW will now publish tomorrow]

Why's it called The Armory Show?