In 1911, a few young American artists got together to try to figure out a way of presenting modern art to American audiences.
They called themselves The Association of American Painters and Sculptors. It took them two years to come up with a plan: They raised money and rented the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue. Without any public funding, they publicized and organized the The International Exhibition of Modern Art, which became known as The Armory Show.
Most of the paintings at that first show were done by American artists. It was the European artists whose works caused the most outrage. Art collectors and critics, who were used to seeing classical paintings, were shocked by Matisse’s whimsical Blue Nude. One critic said that Marcel Duchamp’s cubist Nude Descending a Staircase looked like “an explosion in a shingle factory.”
One hundred and nine years later, The Armory Show is still one of the most alluring art shows in the world. The main event is held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, from September 9 through September 11th, with off-site exhibits around the city.
Large sculptures will be on display at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, to coincide with The Armory Show and the U.S. Open. Art on Paper, always one of the most interesting exhibits, will once again be held at Pier 36, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
This year, we opted to exhibit at Art Market Hampton’s, at Nova’s Art Project and Sculpture Garden, at Hampton’s East End, bringing with us new works by Alex Katz, Kenny Scharf, Julian Opie and other artists who are masters at creating fine art prints.
Coming up next month is Alex Katz: Gathering, a retrospective at The Guggenheim of Katz’s nearly eighty-year career. Alex Katz has always been one of our favorite artists.
Katz has been an inspiration to many artists, including Jonas Wood, who set up a printing press in his Culver City studio not long ago and named Katz as one of his most important influences. Alex Katz celebrated his 95th birthday in July. He works out every day and still paints enormous works in the SoHo studio where he has lived since 1968.
His paintings and prints look deceptively simple. Katz reduces figures and landscapes to what appear to be basic forms and limited colors. On closer examination, however, the figures and landscapes are elegant in their design, the colors, especially in his prints, are layers of complex shades.
Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Alex Katz or any of the other fine art available at VFA.
Amanda Fortini. Alex Katz Is Still Perfecting His Craft. The New York Times Style Magazine. August 18, 2022.
Tom Vitale. ‘Armory Show’ That Shocked America In 1913, Celebrates 100. NPR/Art & Design. February 17, 2013.
