42746Kantor 4/1/02 11:00 AM Page 1 K a n t o r A l f r e d H . B a r r , J r . , a n d t h Sybil Gordon Kantor e I n t e l l e c t u Barr fervently believed in an aesthetic based on the bo “This truly significant book is at times as compulsively readable al Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Alfred H. Barr, Jr. o intrinsic traits of a work of art and the materials and k a as a novel. Yet the spell that the author casts does not come at O n techniques involved in its creation. Kantor shows how d the expense of rigorous argument backed up by exhaustive pri- r ja ig tthioisn afol rsmtrauclitsut raep opfr othaec hm wulatisd eepxparretmsseendta iln mthues eourmga intsiezlaf,- cket d mHealreyn dSoecaurminegn,t aAtliiocne aPnradt t pBerrotiwnenn Pt rsoefceossnodra oryf Arerfte, rences.” ins and the Intellectual Origins of and the Intellectual Origins of whose collections, exhibitions, and publications all esign b Smith College of the Museum of Modern Art the Museum of Modern Art expressed Barr’s vision. At the same time, she shows y Je th how Barr’s ability to reconcile classical objectivity and a “A worthy contribution to the literature. Kantor’s book is the e n mythic irrationality allowed him to perceive modernism W most detailed and revelatory account of Barr’s approach to M ilc as an open-ended phenomenon that expanded beyond ox modern art ever published.” u s Growing up with the twentieth century, Alfred Barr purist abstract modernism to include surrealist, national- Francis M. Naumann, author of Marcel Duchamp: e Sybil Gordon Kantor u (1902–1981), founding director of the Museum of ist, realist, and expressionist art. The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction m Modern Art, harnessed the cataclysm that was mod- Drawing on interviews with Barr’s contemporaries as The MIT Press o ernism. In this book—part intellectual biography, part well as on Barr’s extensive correspondence, Kantor also Massachusetts Institute of Technology “At last, Alfred Barr’s towering stature as scholarly art histori- f M institutional history—Sybil Gordon Kantor tells the paints vivid portraits of, among others, Jere Abbott, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 an, evangelical educator, and visionary museum director has o story of the rise of modern art in America and of the Katherine Dreier, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Philip John- http://mitpress.mit.edu been given its due. Meticulously documented, Kantor’s study d e man responsible for its triumph. Following the trajecto- son, Lincoln Kirstein, Agnes Mongan, J. B. Neumann, recreates not only the formation, step by step, of Barr’s unique r n ry of Barr’s career from the 1920s through the 1940s, and Paul Sachs. 0-262-11258-2 genius but also the audacious intellectual milieu of the 1920s A Kantor penetrates the myths, both positive and nega- Sybil Gordon Kantor is an independent scholar living ,!7IA2G2-bbcfib!:t;K;k;K;k that nurtured it.” rt tive, that surround Barr and his achievements. in Columbus, Ohio, and Lugano, Switzerland. Robert Rosenblum, Professor of Fine Arts, New York University Alfred H. Barr, Jr. and the Intellectual Origins of the Museum of Modern Art The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England Alfred H. Barr, Jr. and the Intellectual Origins of the Museum of Modern Art Sybil Gordon Kantor © 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (includi’ng photocopying, recording, or information storage and re- trieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Futura by Graphic Composition, Inc., Athens, Georgia, and was printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kantor, Sybil Gordon. Alfred H. Barr, Jr., and the intellectual origins of the Museum of Modern Art / Sybil Gordon Kantor. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN0-262-11258-2 (hc.: alk. paper) 1. Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)—History. 2. Barr, Alfred Hamilton, 1902– 3. Art museum directors—United States—Biography. I. Title. N620.M9 K36 2001 708’.147’1—dc21 2001044034M frontispiece: Jay Leyda, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., New York, 1931–1933. Gelatin silver print, 4 3/4 (cid:2)3 5/8 in. (12.1 (cid:2)9.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of the pho- tographer. For Marvin, whose fellowship, in every sense of the word, has sustained me CONTENTS List of Illustrations x Acknowledgments xiv Preface xviii Prologue KNOWING ALFRED BARR 2 Chapter 1 THE PRINCETON YEARS 18 Morey as Mentor Barr and Mather Barr Moves On to Vassar Barr’s Incipient Interest in Modernism Harvard versus Princeton Chapter 2 THE FOGG METHOD AND PAUL J. SACHS: BARR AND HIS HARVARD MENTOR 36 Norton, the Father of Art History Kirstein the Student, Ruskin the Critic Initiation of Formalism at Harvard The Contribution of Berenson Professors of the Fogg Method The Fogg Museum Sachs, the Associate Director The Old Boy Network The Museum Course Barr Lectures on Modern Art Barr’s Oral Exams Chapter 3 BARR AS TEACHER, 1925 TO 1927 86 First Teaching Job Barr Proposes the First Course on Modern Art Barr and J.B. Neumann An Embarrassing Public Lecture Vanity Fairas a Source of Modernism Barr Delivers the First Course in Modernism Patrons of Modernism Barr’s First Modern Exhibition Chapter 4 THE LITTLE MAGAZINE AND MODERNISM AT HARVARD 122 The Prodigious Lincoln Kirstein The Expatriates Hound & Horn The Dial Ezra Pound Malcolm Cowley Matthew Josephson Hound & Hornand the Visual Chapter 5 THE EUROPEAN TRIP 146 Barr Joins the Rebels in Europe Research in England Barr and Neumann Holland, Then Germany The Bauhaus School Two Months in Moscow, 1927–1928 Icons The LEF Eisenstein Rodchenko Kino VKhUTEMAS Lissitzky Tatlin Leningrad and Beyond Back at Wellesley Into the Future Chapter 6 MODERNISM TAKES ITS TURN IN AMERICA 190 Important Precedents The Harvard Society for Contemporary Art The Museum of Modern Art Is Launched The Multimedia Museum The First Modern Museum Appears in Hartford Kirstein Renounces Modernism American Artists Find Their Champion The Museum Reaches a Milestone Chapter 7 ARCHITECTURE, BARR, AND HENRY-RUSSELL HITCHCOCK 242 Hitchcock the Historian The Influence of Le Corbusier the Rationalist Functionalism versus Architecture as Art Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus Hitchcock’s Writings Barr’s Writings Hitchcock’s Appreciation of Oud The Russians Hitchcock’s First Magnum Opus Painting toward Architecture General Principles of the New Style Established Barr’s Review of Hitchcock’s Book Chapter 8 PHILIP JOHNSON AND BARR: ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN ENTER THE MUSEUM 276 Johnson and Barr Johnson and Hitchcock Johnson and Mies The International Style Style versus Functionalism The Exhibition and Its Catalogue Industrial Design The “Machine Art” Exhibition The 1938 Bauhaus Exhibition The Role of Architecture Chapter 9 THE DIRECTORSHIP AT FULL THROTTLE 314 “Cubism and Abstract Art” Kahnweiler’s Precedent Barr Paves the Way for Greenberg The Chart: Modernism in Time and Space Collision with Meyer Schapiro Cubism into Architecture Pluralism Surrealism Picasso, 1939 Matisse Barr’s Hidden Agenda EPILOGUE 354 Barr’s Battle with the Trustees Fired Barr’s Tenacity The New Director Building the Collection Notes 378 Illustration Credits 460 Index 462