Armory Show was a famous art exhibition in 1913 that introduced many new trends in art to the American public as well as to American artists and critics. The show was held in the armory of the 69th Regiment in New York City from February 17 to March 15. About 1,300 paintings and sculptures were shown by about 300 artists, 100 of them from Europe. The Armory Show has been called the single most significant event in the history of American art.
The Armory Show gave many Americans their first view of such revolutionary art movements as Cubism and the Fauves. Artists featured in the show included the European painters Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Braque, and Wassily Kandinsky. A number of American artists also were represented, including Edward Hopper, Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Joseph Stella, and John Marin. The most controversial individual works were probably Constantin Brancusi’s abstract sculpture Madame Pogany and especially Marcel Duchamp’s mysterious painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No 2.
The Armory Show was organized by a group of American artists. The official name of the show was the International Exhibition of Modern Art. It was organized by a group of American artists called the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, with the support of the realistic American painters known as the Eight. The president of the association was artist Arthur B. Davies, a member of the Eight. Davies and artist Walt Kuhn traveled through Europe the summer of 1912, selecting works for the exhibition with the help of American artist Alfred H. Maurer and critic Walter Pach.
Although some of the works were controversial, the exhibition was a great success. More than 70,000 people attended. A smaller version of the show traveled to Chicago later in 1913.
