Acknowledgments

Gross, Jennifer R.

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Acknowledgments

Jennifer R. Gross (Editor)

The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America

Acknowledgments

Author

Jennifer R. Gross (Editor)

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00159.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15468

Acknowledgments

It is the ambition of this exhibition and its accompanying publication to clarify the place of the Société Anonyme in the development of modernism in America and to increase the visibility of the Société Anonyme Collection and its archives for future use by artists and scholars. The loyalty, passion, and effort of Katherine S. Dreier (1877–1952) and Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) provided the foundation for our work. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to dive into the wake of their ambitious enterprise.

The conception and organization of this exhibition and publication rest firmly on the pioneering scholarship of Eleanor S. Apter, Elise K. Kenney, and, most profoundly, Robert L. Herbert. Their work is beautifully contained in their ambitious and thorough catalogue raisonné of the Société Anonyme Collection, published in 1984. Their research left little room for correction and the need for only modest updates on the artists and artworks. It remains the definitive resource on the Société Anonyme Collection, along with the Katherine S. Dreier Papers/Société Anonyme Archive at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale. In addition to their groundbreaking work, Professor Herbert, Ms. Apter, and Ms. Kenney have continued in their role as zealous advocates for the Société Anonyme, providing generous counsel and insight throughout the development of this project. For this assistance we have been extremely grateful.

Patricia Willis and her colleagues at the Beinecke Library gave generously of their time and support to our own research, and we are most appreciative. Miriam B. Spectre’s meticulous organization of the Beinecke archives expedited and enriched our experience of these documents. In addition to our colleagues at Yale, the librarians and archivists of The Museum of Modern Art, the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College, Harvard University, The New School, and particularly the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in the person of archivist Susan K. Anderson, provided us with invaluable assistance. Russell Stockman’s vivid translation of letters by a number of Société Anonyme artists, including Wassily Kandinsky and Kurt Schwitters, was also most helpful to our better understanding of the period.

It was the late George Heard Hamilton, in his role as curator of modern art and professor of art history at Yale, who stewarded the arrival and first presentation of these works at the Yale University Art Gallery. He also assisted Dreier and Duchamp in the publication of the first catalogue of the collection, in 1950. The archives record his patience and valiant diplomacy in both of these endeavors, and we are grateful for the imprint of his wisdom and knowledge of modernism on the formation of the legacy of the Société Anonyme.

A number of institutions are presenting this exhibition in addition to its installation at the Yale University Art Gallery. Our colleagues at these institutions — Russell Ferguson, deputy director for exhibitions and programs and chief curator, Hammer Museum; Dorothy Kosinski, senior curator, painting and sculpture, and the Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator of European Art, Dallas Museum of Art; Elizabeth Turner, senior curator, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; and Susan H. Edwards, director, Frist Center for the Visual Arts — have bettered the presentation of this collection through their expertise and shared knowledge of modernism in America. A special thank-you is reserved for John Walsh for his early support of the tour, a further manifestation of his perpetual willingness to facilitate both art and art-historical scholarship in the United States.

Jock Reynolds, Henry J. Heinz II Director at the Yale University Art Gallery, can always be relied on for passionate support of artists and the exhibition of art, and I am most appreciative. His tireless efforts to give voice to creativity in America, and to elevate the exhibition, care, and educational presentation of the Société Anonyme Collection, have fulfilled the originating hope of the Société’s founding artists. Without his enthusiasm this exhibition tour, publication, and program could not have been realized.

The sage and generous guidance of Susan B. Matheson, chief curator and Molly and Walter Bareiss Curator of Ancient Art at the Yale University Art Gallery, smoothed the path of this project as it traveled first through its planning phases at its home base and then across America. Her professionalism provided a signpost for the many decisions that helped bring this exhibition to fruition. Louisa Cunningham, deputy director of finance and administration; Carol DeNatale, director of collections and technology; Anna Hammond, deputy director for education, programs, and public affairs; and their staffs always mediated the transition of our ideas into actualities to their betterment. Their constancy and hard work in attending to the myriad details vital to the project’s realization encouraged us along the way.

John ffrench, manager of digital imaging, and his staff logged countless hours beautifully recording the Société Anonyme Collection for publication and future reference. Burrus Harlow, installation manager, and his excellent team painstakingly prepared the works for shipment and exhibition, and their care is greatly appreciated. In particular, senior associate registrar L. Lynne Addison and associate director of communications Amy Jean Porter provided humor and focus in organizing the details of the exhibition tour and of the publication of the catalogue.

Patricia S. Garland, senior conservator, was extremely generous and creative in her thoughtful consideration of Société Anonyme Collection works in terms of their conservation. Susan Schussler, conservator, also provided expert object care. Suzanne Boorsch, curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, and her staff were also gracious in sharing much of their collections for this exhibition. Helen Cooper, Holcombe T. Green Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, also kindly made available works traditionally seen in the Gallery’s permanent-collection display of American art that were vital to telling the Société Anonyme story.

The spirit of this publication owes its energy to the vision of its publisher, Patricia Fidler of Yale University Press, assisted by associate editor Michelle Komie and Mary Mayer, John Long, Dan Heaton, and special assistant Starsha Pyr. Their commitment to publishing art-historical scholarship as an artistic form encouraged the work of its authors. In the book’s design, Daphne Geismar’s embrace of the modernist spirit with contemporary clarity has transformed scholarship into a beautiful object.

Tiffany Sprague, the Gallery’s associate editor, guided our words with care and expediency toward publication. Editor David Frankel refined the impressive scholarly efforts of a wonderful team of art historians and archivists. It was a distinct pleasure to work with and learn from Ruth L. Bohan, Elise K. Kenney, Susan Greenberg, David Joselit, Dickran Tashjian, and Kristina Wilson. All of these colleagues were generous with their expertise and contributed vital commentary in the formative stages of the publication as well as in the final review of the assembled research.

Francis Naumann’s comments and factual knowledge refined all our efforts and enlivened our understanding of the period, as did the insights of Leah Dickerman, Naomi Sawelson-Gorse, and Ingrid Schaffner. I am especially grateful to Sylvia and Robert Mangold for their willingness to share their insights and response to the history of this collection and the lives of the artists whose advocacy for modernism in America, as well as for each other, built the lived history of the Société Anonyme.

The meticulous and thoughtful work of the students in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at Yale University, who shared our enthusiasm for the Société Anonyme and its artists, has been immediately vital to the orderly realization of the project. My principal thanks are due to curatorial assistant Kristin P. Henry, who beautifully and effectively selected and narrated the ephemera sections of the exhibition. Her knowledge of the artists represented in the exhibition, and of the histories of its objects — a trove she was able to immediately recall and poetically pen — helped refine its every aspect. Liena Vayzman’s scholarship on Katherine Dreier’s Country Museum whetted our curiosity about the contents of the Dreier archives and set the standard for our research. Gabrielle Gopinath, Alyssa Phoebus, Bryony W. Roberts, Lydia Shook, and Katherine Wyman were all most helpful in the exhibition’s organization. Yvonne Morant, senior administrative assistant in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the outset of this project, provided a solid foundation for all of our labors, while in the same capacity Valerie Richardson brought these efforts to closure with care and enthusiasm.

My deepest gratitude is reserved for the most deserving of colleagues, Susan Greenberg, Horace W. Goldsmith Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, at the Yale University Art Gallery. Without her this exhibition would not have come to fruition. Her engaging mind and diligent attention to every detail of scholarship and presentation relating to the book and exhibition have made our work a pleasurable expedition and profoundly shaped the contours of our effort to recognize the work of artists whom we deeply admire.

We devote this volume and exhibition to the Knights of the Société Anonyme: long may their vision inspire the making of art in America.

Jennifer R. Gross
Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art

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