Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A visual feast of modern European and American art from one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary collections

This beautifully illustrated book highlights the unique history of The Société Anonyme, Inc., an organization founded in 1920 by the artists Katherine S. Dreier (1877-1952), Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), and Man Ray (1890-1976). As America's first "experimental museum" for modern art, the Société Anonyme provided a means for artists, rather than historians, to chronicle the rise of modernism. Led by Dreier and Duchamp, the group eventually assembled a collection of more than one thousand artworks, which it presented to the public in a variety of innovative programs, publications, and exhibitions.

The incredible collection of the Société Anonyme now belongs to the Yale University Art Gallery, a gift from the Société and Dreier. It features the work of more than one hundred artists, many of whom are among the century's most renowned--including Jean Arp, Duchamp, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, El Lissitzky, Piet Mondrian, Man Ray, Kurt Schwitters, and Joseph Stella--as well as works by lesser-known artists whose contributions to modernism are substantial.

With new archival information, including personal correspondence between Dreier and the artists whose work she assembled, a host of previously unpublished images, essays by leading scholars, and an interview with artists Robert and Sylvia Mangold about the contemporary significance of this collection, this fascinating book is essential to our understanding of the reception and interpretation of modernism in America.

Published in association with the Yale University Art Gallery

Exhibition Schedule:

Dallas Museum of Art (June 10, 2007 - September 16, 2007)

Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville (October 26, 2007 - February 3, 2008)

Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (April 23 - August 13, 2006)

The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (October 14, 2006-January 21, 2007)

Yale University Art Gallery (2011)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Before there was a Museum of Modern Art, there was the Soci?t? Anonyme (SA). Through exhibits and outreach, from museums to trade schools, the SA intended to expose all Americans to the latest modernist avant-garde experiences of Germany, France, Russia, and Italy as well as to the post-World War I artworks of young American and immigrant artists. This first history of the SA edited by Gross (Joan Bankemper) doubles as a catalog for an exhibition traveling through 2010. It consists of seven essays by noted art historians discussing the organization's development and the contributions of its theosophical visionary, Katherine S. Dreier. The SA eventually accumulated more than 1000 objects (by 180 artists), which Dreier donated to Yale University in the hopes that the institution would establish an educational program disseminating SA members' ideas. Fifty years later, this is the first use and exploration of SA archival materials. Its pages contain artist biographies, an interview with contemporary artists Sylvia and Robert Mangold, and approximately 300 full-color reproductions and black-and-white images that include historic photographs. The prose is clear, accessible, and engaging as Dreier would have liked it and will appeal to specialists as well as the public for which Dreier intended her donation. Recommended. Ellen Bates, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

This catalog accompanies a traveling exhibition of the works of the Societe Anonyme, the first since that collection was donated to the Yale University Art Gallery in 1941 by patron Katherine Dreier and Dada artist Marcel Duchamp. Founded in 1920, the Societe Anonyme was an artist-run organization that put on more than 80 exhibitions of contemporary art, playing a critical if underestimated role in introducing modernism to America. A collection of 1,000 works was assembled as well. A series of essays explores various facets of the movement, starting with two that treat the complex roles played by Duchamp and painter Joseph Stella. Another shows the importance that Dreier placed on Soviet avant-garde art, which she regarded as full of "creative and living spirits." She organized the International Exhibition of Modern Art at the Brooklyn Museum in 1926; one essay calls it highly important but largely overlooked. Further chapters discuss the educational mission of the Societe Anonyme, the correspondence between Dreier and fellow artists and dealers, and how the Societe Anonyme collections came to Yale. Thumbnail biographies of the artists. A lavishly produced, valuable contribution to scholarship. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers; graduate students; faculty and researchers. W. B. Maynard Johns Hopkins University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Jennifer R. Gross is Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Susan Greenberg is Horace W. Goldsmith Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Elise K. Kenney is historian and archivist, all at the Yale University Art Gallery. Ruth L. Bohan is associate professor of art history at the University of Missouri#150;St. Louis. David Joselit is professor of art history at Yale University. Dickran Tashjian is professor emeritus of art history at the University of California, Irvine. Kristina Wilson is assistant professor of art history at Clark University.