Barr was particularly impressed by his visit to the
department of the
National Gallery set up by Ludwig Justi (1876-1957) in the former
Kronprinzenpalais, situated on the grand boulevard Unter den Linden. The
innovative form of presentation, which combined classical museum
principles with the concept of the rotating exhibition, inspired Barr just
as much as the works of European Modernism that constituted Justi's
"museum of the living." Referring to his visit, he later wrote: "Here
Picasso, Derain and Matisse rub shoulders with Klee, Nolde, Dix,
Feininger, and the best of the modern Germans." In his letters to Justi,
he continued to underscore the German museum's model character long after
founding the MoMA: "Our institution seeks to fulfil the function of a
Kronprinzen-Palais."
Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin, Germany
Together, the
artworks, sources of inspiration, writings, models, and ideas that Barr
collected in Europe were to provide the material for the course on modern
art he gave at Wellesley, which he resumed in the fall of 1928 with
overwhelming success. Yet his teaching activities at the college were soon
to come to an abrupt end: in June 1929, taken entirely by surprise, he was
informed by his mentor Sachs that he had been selected to become the
founding director of the Museum of Modern Art.
Three
"Old Girls" with Progressive Views
"Women
played a central role in the establishment of American museums," Sybil
Gordon Kantor wrote in her Barr biography, and "Barr's relationship to
women in connection to the MoMA was to underscore this significance." If
the male members of Paul Sachs' art network can be called "old boys," then
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874-1948) and her friends Lillie P. Bliss
(1864-1931) and Mary Sullivan were the "old girls" with extremely
progressive views - members of New York's moneyed aristocracy, ambitious,
socially committed women who recognized that a gap had crept into in the
American museum landscape due to the absence of European Modernism in the
institutions. The enthusiasm of the three friends for contemporary art
harked back to a time when Alfred H. Barr was only eleven years old: in
1913, the New York Armory Show, the first presentation of modern works of
art in the USA, unleashed a sensation. Led by the show's organizer, the
artist
Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928), Lillie P. Bliss began expanding her
collection to include Post-Impressionist works.
Armory Show, New York, 1913
Her commitment was
not always appreciated. A show of modern French painting that she
initiated at the Metropolitan Museum in 1921 provoked such controversial
reactions that the museum's directors were subsequently resolved not to
show any more exhibitions of the kind in the foreseeable future. It was
only after the death of her mother that Bliss was able to openly present
her collection - the old lady had deeply disapproved of her taste. In the
early twenties, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller began collecting works by artists
such as Edward Hopper. Like Bliss, she set
herself up on the top floor of her townhouse to keep her works away from
the attention of her husband,
John D. Rockefeller, who financially supported her acquisitions, but "did
not share her enthusiasm."
|
Both she and Mary Quinn Sullivan, the wife of a successful
New York lawyer who herself painted and gave art lessons, knew of their
friend Davies' passionate commitment towards creating a New York museum
for Modernism, a project that had been discussed at length among their
circle of friends. Part of the legend surrounding the foundation of MoMA
has it that the women, following Davies' death in 1928, were firmly set on
fulfilling his wish posthumously.
  
Mary Quinn Sullivan, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Lillie B. Bliss, alle:
Digital Image Courtesy, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
At the same time, however, other motives might have played a more important
role. Particularly for Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who was to become the
closest ally of the future director Barr, patronage of art was coupled
with social commitment. While the donations and estates the three friends
provided laid the foundation for the institution, their personal
commitment contributed to making MoMA into the most prominent museum of
the 20th century. "Not only is modern art artistically radical, but it is
often assumed to be radical morally and politically, and sometimes indeed
it is. But these factors which might have given pause to a more
circumspect and conventional spirit did not deter [Mrs. Rockefeller],
although on a few occasions they caused her anxiety, as they did us all."
Alfred H. Barr's memories of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller don't match the
conservative reputation of the Rockefellers in the least - on the
contrary, she was especially enthusiastic about Barr's progressive ideas,
his plans for the interdisciplinary departments of the MoMA, and his wish
to bring contemporary art closer to people in an understandable way. She
liked Barr, as she wrote Sachs following their first encounter, and felt
that his youth, his enthusiasm, and his knowledge would certainly
compensate for his outward appearance, which was not, unfortunately,
particularly impressive.
|
Vincent van Gogh: Sternennacht, 1889,
© The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Erworben durch: Lillie
P. Bliss Bequest
|
Georges-Pierre Seurat: The Channel at
Gravelines, Evening, 1890
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William M. Burden
|
The young museum's inaugural exhibition already proved to
be an immense success: 47,000 visitors came to see the paintings of
Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, and van Gogh. On the show's last day alone,
5,300 people tried to enter the six rooms of the rented apartment in the
Heckscher Building.(exhibition view
here) An American institution to the core, MoMA's roots trace back to the
avant-garde art movements of Europe. As divergent as the influences on its
history may seem, they embodied the intellectual and social upheavals of
Modernism that left their mark on the young museum's budding program.
Dedicated both to the educational ideals of the American upper class and
the social utopias of the Bauhaus, the founding of the Museum of Modern
Art marks an unparalleled cultural awakening that not only changed the way
in which modern art was perceived, but also that of the entire 20th
century.
Recommended reading
: Sybil Gordon Kantor,
Alfred H. Barr Jr. and the Intellectual Origins of the Museum of Modern Art
, MIT Press, Boston und London, 2002
Translation: Andrea Scrima
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
|
