Fallout of the 1913 Armory

¶ … Fallout of the 1913 Armory Show -- the development of a unique new sensibility in American modern art

Our modern media culture moves so quickly it is easy to forget that at the turn of the 20th century America was relatively isolated from the seismic cultural developments that had shaken all of Europe. The first Picasso came to this country smuggled in the bag of an American artist, Max Weber in 1909 ("Picasso's Influence on American Artists," CBS News, 18 Jan 2007 26 Oct 2007). However, the level of American exposure to Modern European art increased exponentially after the 1913 Armory Show.

The impact of the show upon contemporary culture is evident in the way that it was portrayed in the media of the day. The New York Times called show a "bomb" into the world of the American art establishment and the Sun said that the "Cubist, Futurists, and Post Impressionists" had 'won' the first engagement, as if aesthetic taste between old and young, America and Europe was a battle (Staples, "As Avant-Garde as the Rest of Them," an Introduction to the 1913 Armory Show, 2007). Art Institute of Chicago students actually burned Matisse Paintings in effigy, because Matisse's colorful, enthusiastic and distorted visions of the human form were deemed immoral, even by art students (Staples, "As Avant-Garde as the Rest of Them," an Introduction to the 1913 Armory Show, 2007).

To downplay the significance of the 1913 show, some modern art critics have noted that many of the most notable artists that were exhibited were European Old Masters, like Van Gough, who had already passed into the 'cannon' of what was considered great works of art, and few American artists sold their works at high prices. But the financial accessibility of American art was part of the exhibit's power. Because ordinary people could afford works priced at $400, America's reputation as a place where people were willing to collect and display art, in public and private collections began to grow and bolster its artistic culture (Staples, "Marketing Modern Art in America, an Introduction to the 1913 Armory Show, 2007). Perhaps the most immediately obvious effect was the rise of the Art Deco movement in America. Although the show's influence took awhile to permeate the visual life of American painters, almost immediately department stores such as Gimbals began to adopt the fauve colors and sharp lines of the most popular works in the galleries of the Armory in their windows, displays, and in their choice of fashion collections (Staples, "Marketing Modern Art in America," an Introduction to the 1913 Armory Show, 2007).

The New York skyline changed almost simultaneously with the opening of the show, and these two visual shifts coalesced into a change in the ways that Americans viewed art. Shortly after it opened, the Woolworth's building opened for business and stood as a symbol of sleek, stylized American commerce. Until the construction of the Empire State Building it was the tallest building in New York City (Roeder 1987, p.61). Another criticism of the show is that it merely inspired reverence for Europe, and connoisseurship of European tastes, but the artists, such as Max Weber, who were influenced by the show, fused a new sensibility with curiosity about the changing New York visual landscape. Although Weber had studied European art and Picasso before the show, only after the Armory did Weber fuse his style with his perceptions of the New York skyline.