1913 Armory Show: the Story in Primary Sources

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.

Men + Meat + Beer = Beefsteak Dinner

Armory Show artists and members of the press at the beefsteak dinner given by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, 1913 Mar. 8 / Percy Rainford, photographer. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

On Saturday evening March 8^th, 1913, the Association for American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS) hosted a beefsteak dinner at Healy’s to celebrate the Armory Show. The all–male, all–you–can–eat–and–drink banquet included AAPS leaders and members, journalists and critics, and artists. Diners donned aprons, supped on trays of meat, and imbibed pitchers of beer. In a forthcoming Archives of American Art Journal, Darcy Tell examines this ritual in an aptly, succinctly titled essay, “Meat and Beer.”

In addition to toasts and speeches, organizers read aloud imaginary telegrams, seven of which were preserved in Walt Kuhn’s scrapbooks. The terse notices playfully mocked prominent people in art and political circles including the poet Gertrude Stein, the mayor of New York, artists Constanin Brancusi and George Luks, and British critic Roger Fry.

GERTRUDE STEIN

Imaginary telegram from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show, vol. 2, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show record, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Paris, March 8^th/13

To: Assn. Am. Painters & Sculptors

New York City, N.Y.

There is that exhibition. there can be no place found flowers and camenbert. when the paint is within. Alfie Maurer cut on the bias there is that room where is breathing when there is no grass answer backwards. that is what joy.

–Gertrude Stein

GEORGE LUKS

Imaginary telegram from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show, vol. 2, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show record, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

New York March 8/13

To Toast Master

Press Dinner, Healys’

Regret cannot be with you tonight. have not been able to get around since I got through hanging my own pictures at the exhibition.

–George Luks

HALF A DAY PAGE & COMPANY

Imaginary telegram from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show, vol. 2, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show record, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

New York, March 8, 1913

Arthur B. Davies

Assoc. American Painters & Sculptors, Inc.

We are in receipt of your order for a copy of Hirge Harrisons’ book on “how to use oil colors” the same will be forwarded to you by express in a few days.

–Half a day page & company.

ANNA HELD

Imaginary telegram from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show, vol. 2, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show record, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

New York, March 8^th, 1913

Fredk. James Gregg American Painters & Sculptors, Inc.

State conditions under which your services may be secured as press agent for the ensuing theatrical season. answer at my expense.

–Anna Held

P.S. Am confident that you can produce something better than the milk bath stuff.

–A.H.

ROGER FRY

Imaginary telegram from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show, vol. 2, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show record, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

London, Eng. March 8^th/13

To Assn. Am. Painters & Sculptors New York, N.Y.

Have not seen your exhibition but am sure it does not amount to much.

–Roger Fry.

CALIFORNIA CONSOLIDATED OSTRICH FARMS CO.

Imaginary telegram from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show, vol. 2, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show record, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

California, Mar. 8^th/13

To: Assn. Am. Painters & Sculptors New York

Reserve for us replica of Brancusi’s Madame Pogany as nest egg for our hatchery, answer at once.

–California Consolidated Ostrich Farms Co.

MAYOR’S OFFICE, CITY HALL

Imaginary telegram from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show, vol. 2, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show record, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Mayors Office, City Hall

New York, Mar. 8^th/13

To: Assn. Am. Painters Sculptors New York.

Regret cannot be with you tonight, anyhow cannot see what connection this has with the police.

–Wm. J. Gaynor, Mayor.

Amour at the Armory Show

On March 20 1913, Clara Sydney Potter Davidge and Henry Fitch Taylor married at the Church of the Ascension in New York City. Rev. Dr. Percy Stickney Grant performed the ceremony.

This article (pictured. left) made its way into Walt Kuhn's scrapbooks of press clippings because the bride and groom were intimately connected with the 1913 Armory Show.

Both were active boosters and participants. She raised $3,500 from donors to defray expenses, including $1,000 for decorations from Gertrude Whitney Vanderbilt. And, she purchased a few drawings and lithographs on March 6. He was a founding member of Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS). And, he exhibited three oil paintings in the show.

They also lived and worked in close proximity to each other. For many years, her home was on Washington Square South where she entertained artists and others. His studio was across the square in Washington Mews. And, both orbited Madison Gallery, a site for American artists. She founded and owned it; he managed it.

It was there at 305 Madison, after a solo show of Walt Kuhn's paintings in December 1911, that AAPS convened their first meetings and planned what became the International Exhibition of Modern Art.

The couple reportedly spent their honeymoon preparing the exhibition for its Boston venue at the Copley Society.

Architecture, Interior Design, and “The Cubist Room” at the International Exhibition of Modern Art

FIGURE 1: Installation shot of the Cubist room, 1913 Armory Show, published in the New York Tribune, February 17, 1913 (p. 7) from the Walt Kuhn scrapbook documenting the Armory Show, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

The newly rediscovered Hagelstein Brothers photograph of “The Cubist Room” at the Armory Show (figure 1) provides clues as to what inspired the final floor plan of galleries at the 69^th Regiment Armory, as well as evidence of Walter Pach’s hand in designing the installation.

In the fall of 1912, Arthur B. Davies sent Walt Kuhn a letter that contained a drawing of a preliminary floor plan for the New York venue of the show (figure 2) that was composed of traditional rectangular or square rooms.

How then did the installation become the honeycomb–shaped design of polygonal galleries, shown in a blueprint (figure 3) and in the catalogue of the New York venue (figure 4)?

FIGURE 2: Armory Show floor plan, 1912 Oct. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

FIGURE 3: Blueprint of Armory Show floorplan, between 1912 and 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

FIGURE 4: Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Modern Art in New York, 1913. Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

In the fall of 1912, the Cubist group of artists that included Raymond Duchamp–Villon, Jacques Villon, Marcel Duchamp, Albert Gleizes, Alexander Archipenko, and others held an exhibition called La Salon de “La Section d’Or” at the Galerie de la Boëtie in Paris (figure 5). Several works from this exhibition were chosen by Pach for the Armory Show including Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 (figure 1).

Simultaneous to La Section d’Or was the 1912 Salon d’Automne in which La Maison Cubiste was displayed. The architectural façade was designed in a Cubist style by Duchamp–Villon. Visitors walked through the façade into rooms designed by André Mare. These rooms included Cubist paintings. Also Gleizes’s Man on a Balcony and Archipenko’s Family Life, which can be seen in “The Cubist Room” at the Armory Show (see figure 1).

FIGURE 5: Exhibit catalog for Salon de "La Section d'Or", 1912. Walter Pach papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

FIGURE 6: Photo of a sculpture by Raymond Duchamp-Villon, ca. 1913 / unidentified photographer. Walter Pach papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Enter Walter Pach—he saw both Parisian exhibitions, knew all the artists involved, and selected all of the works seen in figure 1, including a plaster maquette of the façade of La Maison Cubiste by Duchamp–Villon (figure 6), as well as the paintings and sculptures that were shown at La Section d’Or and the 1912 Salon d’Automne. 

I believe that “The Cubist Room” at the Armory Show was a deliberate conflation of these Parisian exhibitions put together by Pach; no one else could have designed this installation.

Pach also wrote a pamphlet for the Armory Show, “A Sculptor’s Architecture” in which he discussed Raymond Duchamp–Villon’s La Maison Cubiste as exemplary of a new architectural style for the modern era.

I would suggest that change in the floor plan from traditional rectilinear rooms as proposed by Davies to the polygonal galleries was Pach’s idea and reflects his understanding of Duchamp–Villon’s vision of Cubist architecture.

Furthermore, I believe that the refracted shapes of the polygonal spaces could be read as a modernist floor plan and installation design that, together with the architectural façade, paintings, and sculptures in “The Cubist Room” in particular (figure 1), formed an ensemble showing how Cubist architecture, interior design, and art could be replicated in anyone’s home.

Guest blogger Laurette E. McCarthy is an independent scholar and curator. She is an authority on Walter Pach and a leading Armory Show scholar.

Explore more:

• The Story of the Armory Show, online exhibition on the Archives of American Art's website
• Walter Pach papers, 1957–1980
• Walt Kuhn, Kuhn family papers, and Armory Show records, 1859-1978, bulk 1900-1949
• A Century After Their Initial Publication, Rediscovered Installation Shots of the 1913 Armory Show Come to Light by Laurette E. McCarthy
• The New Spirit: American Art in the Armory Show, 1913, February 17, 2013 – June 16, 2013 at the Montclair Art Museum
• The Armory Show at 100, October 11, 2013 – February 23, 2014 at the New York Historical Society

This post originally appeared on the Archives of American Art Blog.