The 1913 Armory Show Tour

Entrance hall to the Armory (Gallery A) The International Exhibition of Modern Art traveled to Chicago and Boston in 1913, but it was conceived in and remains tied to New York and its 69th Regiment Armory. The exhibition in the Armory also reflects several aspects of the show that the AAPS envisioned: a large American section, an historical section, and perhaps most importantly, an exhibition outside an established venue for art. The galleries here represent a compilation of information from the original 1913 catalog and subsequent anniversary exhibitions: the 1953 Exhibition at Amherst, catalog by Frank Anderson Trapp, the 1963 50th Anniversary Exhibition catalog, and Milton Brown's catalog in the 1988 edition of The Story of the Armory Show. The works included reflect the mounting of the show in New York, with individual works placed as they were listed in the 1913 catalog. When the exhibition traveled to Chicago and Boston, the size was drastically reduced, with the American sections suffering the worst. Only a select few American works were chosen for the exhibition's run at the Art Institute of Chicago and none were shown at the Copley Society in Boston. Information on the works that did travel to the other venues comes from Milton Brown's Story of the Armory Show and is included here as well. The images appear alphabetically, which was not the case at the Armory Show but was at the 1917 Society of Independent Artists exhibition, sometimes referred to as the second Armory show. This method was chosen since it is virtually impossible to determine where most of the works were placed within the individual galleries. Another change from the original show is the ease of access to the artist and title of the works. At the New York, Chicago, and Boston exhibitions, the viewer would have had a tedious job finding this basic information for any given work. It was not listed on placards beside the work, standard practice today and found at other large exhibitions of the time. One example of a show that did provide this information is the 1912 Cologne Sonderbund Exhibition, which the organizers of the Armory Show looked to as a model. Whenever possible, information about the ownership of a work and its present location is given. It is remarkable how many of these paintings and sculptures are now found in major art institutions and collections, but there are numerous other works that were destroyed or can no longer be located. For artists whose work has been compiled in a catalogue raisonné, numbers are listed for reference purposes. Abbreviation keys for the raisonnés are available in the individual galleries. A large number of the images for the gallery were obtained from the 50th Anniversary exhibition catalog. Other image sources are listed below the work. Images were chosen and acquired primarily because of their availability, but some discretion was shown in order to include artists whose works were well represented or most often mentioned in critical accounts. Color reproductions are offered whenever possible, but black and white images are included as well, as they are often the only record of a work. The color scheme of the gallery, primarily light brown and green, was chosen to reflect the color scheme of the original show. Burlap covered the partitions in the make-shift galleries, and pine tree garlands decorated the tops and sides of the walls. The tour of the Armory Show, presented gallery by gallery, A-R, offers an overview of the works and critical reception of the show. The map, included in the tour, presents the layout of the Armory and allows entry into the individual galleries, where over 375 works are available. Each section of the gallery tour also links to the specific gallery being discussed.