1913 Armory Show: the Story in Primary Sources

Who’s Who at the 1913 Armory Show

Many people helped make the International Exhibition of Modern Art into the influential 1913 Armory Show. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children visited the show in New York, Chicago, and Boston. Many more read about the show in sensational coverage in newspapers and magazines. Hundreds of artists either displayed their work or hoped to. Many collectors, dealers, and critics considered and assessed the work for its value to the emerging market for American Art. And, a much small cadre of devoted organizers worked diligently for months to assemble and execute the show. Each had a story to tell.

This digital exhibition is based on archival materials from the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art, which maintains the papers of key organizers including the Walt Kuhn papers, and the Walter Pach papers. Walt Kuhn’s papers contain two significant series: the records of the Armory Show and the records of Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS). Among our many other collections, one can find references to the 1913 Armory Show.

This list of Who’s Who for the 1913 Armory Show identifies figures who are related to the show and who appear on our timeline; it is not a comprehensive list.

Walt Kuhn

Portrait of Walt Kuhn, 1904 or 1905. Photograph by Pangborn. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn Family papers, and Armory Show records, 1859-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Walt Kuhn (1877–1949) was an artist, a promoter of modern art, and a stalwart dissident of academic art, especially the Ashcan School in New York City. As secretary of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS), he was charged with recording and maintaining many of the official primary source records pertaining to the Armory Show. As a faithful correspondent with his wife, his personal letters serve as a fascinating unofficial record of his efforts.

Kuhn exhibited five pieces in the Armory Show including oil paintings and drawings.

• View the Walt Kuhn, Kuhn Family papers, and Armory Show records, 1859-1978 in the Archives of American Art

Vera Spier Kuhn

Vera Kuhn, Summer 1914. Photograph by Walt Kuhn. Walter Pach papers, 1857–1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Vera Spier Kuhn (1885–1961) studied jewelry-making in Washington D.C. and Woodstock, NY, and opened a studio on East 23^rd Street in 1908. There, she met Walt; they married the next year. During his involvement with the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS), Vera Kuhn stayed with her mother and Brenda, their young daughter, at her mother’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Walt and Vera’s extensive correspondence during this period contains rich details about the 1913 Armory Show. He credited Vera with being the most important factor in his success.

Walter Pach

Walter Pach, ca. 1909. Photograph by Pach Brothers. Walter Pach papers, 1857–1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Walter Pach (1883–1958) was an artist and critic. Pach wrote extensively about art, bringing an emerging modernist viewpoint to the American public.

Walter Pach had cultivated friendships with noteworthy artists in Paris, including Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, and Constantin Brancusi. When he learned about the exhibition, Pach wrote to Arthur B. Davies and volunteered assistance. Pach soon became a critical force in making connections with European artists especially in Paris, shaping the vibrant nature of the exhibition. Along with Davies and Kuhn, he was able to bring together leading contemporary European and American artists. In late 1912 and early 1913, Pach acted as the agent of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS) in Europe.

Pach exhibited ten pieces in the Armory Show including oil paintings and etchings.

• View the Walter Pach papers, 1857–1980 in the Archives of American Art

Arthur B. Davies

Arthur B. Davies, ca. 1908. Photograph by Gertrude Käsebier. Ferargil Galleries records, circa 1900-1963. Archives of American, Smithsonian Institution.

Arthur B. Davies (1862–1928) was an artist and organizer. Davies possessed formidable organizational skills which served him well as the second elected president of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS).

Davies was also a knowledgeable authority on emerging trends in European and American art in the early 1910s. Indeed, it was Davies who urged Walt Kuhn to travel to Europe to visit major exhibitions in Cologne and London. Davies helped to mount the 1913 Armory Show and, along with Walter Pach, was largely responsible for the art in the International Exhibition. His dynamic career as an artist and patron often involved promoting post-impressionism in the United States.

Davies exhibited six pieces in the Armory Show including oil paintings and pastels.

Elmer MacRae

Elmer L. Mac Rae, ca. 1893 / unidentified photographer. 1913 Armory Show, 50th anniversary exhibition records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Elmer MacRae (1875–1953) was an artist and treasurer of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS). Prior to the Armory Show, he was an active member of The Pastellists, a group of artists who banded together in 1910 to exhibit pastels. Participants in Pastellist exhibitions included AAPS members Jerome Meyers, Arthur Davies and Walt Kuhn.

MacRae exhibited 10 pastels in the Armory Show.

Walt Kuhn's Itinerary through Europe, 1912

Annotated Map of Walt Kuhn’s Travels in Europe Fall 1912, based on The Rand-McNally New Library Atlas Map of Europe 1912, Library of Congress and the Walt Kuhn Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Walt Kuhn traveled through Europe between September and November 1912 in pursuit of works for the International Exhibition of Modern Art. The red dots indicate the places Kuhn visited.

1. Plymouth
2. Hamburg
3. Cologne and Düsseldorf
4. The Hague and Amsterdam
5. Berlin
6. Munich
7. Paris
8. London

Arthur B. Davies, his colleague from Association of American Painters and Sculptors, helped to plan the itinerary. In Paris, Kuhn met with Walter Pach who acted as the AAPS agent in Europe. Davies joined them in Paris, and traveled to London with Kuhn. Kuhn and Davies then returned to the United States on November 30, 1912.

Kuhn described his travels–via ships, trains, and automobiles–in extensive, vivid correspondence with Vera, his wife. In letters and postcards, he shared details about fellow passengers, accommodations, cafés, meals, and transportation. He also chronicled interactions with artists, gallerists, critics, and dealers. He wrote nearly daily notes in which he confided both exhilaration and exhaustion.

Walt Kuhn letter to Vera Kuhn, October 8, 1912

Final page of Walt Kuhn letter to Vera Kuhn, 1912 Oct. 8 from the Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Walt Kuhn's correspondence with his wife Vera Spier Kuhn offers insight into the challenges of making a major tour for the exhibition. Kuhn wrote a lengthy letter to Vera from Berlin. In it, he wrote of his travels and accommodations in Cologne, The Hague, and Berlin. In comic, poetic and occasionally problematic terms, he discussed the people and places he visited. He also explained his efforts to secure works to exhibit, in particular his search for works by Van Gogh and Cézanne.

He explained that he was too tired from his efforts for the exhibition to make any sketches. He clarified:

Being on a trip of this sort is so different from any I've ever tackled. I can't forget it isn't my money, and that I will have to produce its' value. However, as soon as I get through with the stars, Van G[ogh] + Cezanne, I'll feel as though there is something coming to me and when I get to Munich I'll take a day or two off. Being spruced up all the time spoils things too. Lately I've shaved every day. I almost feel like a traveling salesman.

Securing a Space: The 69th Regiment Armory

On April 19, 1912 Walt Kuhn, on behalf of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS), entered into negotiations with Col. Louis D. Conley to lease space within the 69th Regiment Armory for $5,000, plus a $500 fee for additional personnel. On May 6, Col. Conley issued the formal agreement to lease the facility for one month, from February 15 to March 15, 1913. The lease ensured that AAPS pay a fee to provide for extra janitors to clean and assistants to guard the Armory's facilities. Col. Conley declined a request to provide extra time in the Armory to install and remove the show without further compensation. He also denied a request for extra storage space in the basement because of the need to store 16 army wagons during the exhibition.

On March 3, 1913, Col. Conley wrote to obtain 200 passes to the exhibition for use by officers and non-commissioned officers.

Letter from Colonel Louis Conley to Walt Kuhn, April 19, 1912, from Series 1.1.4: Publicity, 1912-1913 (Box 1, Folder 45) of the Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Letter from Colonel Louis Conley to Walt Kuhn, March 3, 1913, from Series 1.1.4: Publicity, 1912-1913 (Box 1, Folder 45) of the Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Walter Pach's Sales Records at the 1913 Armory Show

Walter Pach notebook recording sales at the New York Armory Show, 1913 Feb. 18-Mar. 15, from the Walter Pach papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Walter Pach’s ledger for March 4-6, 1913 contains an entry for the sale of the show's perhaps most celebrated piece: Marcel Duchamp’s “Nu descendant un escalier / Nude figure descending a staircase.” Frederick C. Torrey, a dealer from the San Franscisco-based interior design firm Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, bought the painting for $324.00.

These sames pages also allow us to glimpse the formation of venerable American art collections and institutions. Over this three day period, Pach registered sales to several prominent art patrons and collectors. For example, on March 4 and March 5, he noted, Sold to Miss Bliss. Lillie P. Bliss bought 20 pieces of art during the Armory Show, including works by Cézanne, Denis, Gaugin, Redon, Renoir, and Vuillard. Through her acquisitions, she developed a major art collection, one that formed the core of Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA). On March 5, Pach entered H.C. Frick's purchase of his painting, Flowers. Henry Clay Frick, an industrialist and art patron, later donated his mansion and art to establish the Frick Collection. And, on March 6, Pach logged Dr. A.C. Barnes's acquistion of Maurice de Vlaminck's oil painting, Les Figures. Alfred Barnes established the Barnes Foundation, an educational art institution, a decade later.

Another notable entry on this register is the sale of six Wilhelm Lehmbruck drawings and one Edouard Vuilllard lithograph to Mrs. C. S. Davidge on March 5. These brief lines belie her intimate involvement with exhibition. As proprietor of the Madison Gallery at 305 Madison Avenue, the address marked in the ledger, Clara S. Davidge exhibited the work of several of the founding members of Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS); Jerome Myers, Elmer MacRae, and Walt Kuhn's showed their work in December 1911. There, they met with Henry Fitch Taylor, the gallery manager, and convened AAPS's first official meetings. In preparation for the International Exhibition of Modern Art, Davidge solicited $3,500 from donors. And, she married Taylor on March 20, 1913; the couple "honeymooned" in Boston while they installed the show at Copley Hall.