The Armory Show

The Armory Show

The American Armory Show was the most critical in the history of the United States, the show was held in Manhattan’s 69^th Regiment Armory in the year 1913. The show that brought modernism to America that led to the display of 1200-1300 works by various artists. The show was attended by a quarter of a million Americans (Raverty, 2002). It did promote the understanding and the knowledge of modern American art through the marketing of the reach American art. From the show, the entire world did start appreciating the importance of contemporary American literature. Most citizens did not make sense of whatever they were seeing, and the newspapers questioned the artists’ sanity. The show was later taken to Boston and Chicago that led to its effects spreading across the whole country. The artists then embraced the new spirit of experimentation as conservative art institutions and lots of experience (Gotthardt, 2016).

The International Exhibition of Modern Art was known merely as the Armory Show brought a new dawn of Art Modernism in America. This brought the use of avant-garde to describe paintings and sculptures. Despite the name Armory Show, this was an exhibition of armor suits, nor was it affiliated with the military in any way other than its venue. The show got its name from the location that was chosen by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. Many of the exhibitions have been taken at the United States National Guard Armories. Just before the American Armory Show, Americans had never witnessed a Modern art coming from the European avant-garde. The show, therefore, created a strong impact because the Expressionism, Modern dance, and Cubism radically diverged from what was considered fine art by that time. It exposed the American public to the new language of abstract art (Gotthardt, 2016).

There was no existence in the modern American sculptor before the Armory Show; it is therefore usually assumed that the exhibition was the real source of the avant-garde trends in both American sculptor and paintings. This means that the display affected and enlightened the American artists that compelled and transformed the style of their work afterward. While this has been established to be true, it has not been established whether or not the avant-garde sculpture in America was influenced by the Armory Show. The following questions can, therefore, test the impact of the show on the American sculpture. What was the nature of the American sculpture before the Armory Show? What was the quality of the Europeans and Americans’ exhibition in the Armory Show? (Gotthardt, 2016).

The show did attract over 87,000 visitors to New York before moving to Chicago, where critic Harriet Monroe saw it did set the first precedent for the modern art marketing. It did help in the creation of an understanding of American art. The people from all over the world started appreciating the importance of art and how this arts would change the world most of the perceptions which existed over art especially the American paintings before the show was entirely unappreciative of the American art, the introduction of this show in 1913 has made the modern art very values and has modified the general perception the great tribute which was set by the show die present the search for the new beauty in the art both in painting and sculpture and the longing for the latest version of the truth to be observed (Kuhn, 1938). The modern American has come a long way in terms of marketing, as this art made it possible for the whole world to have a taste of the great American art. In modern art, just the same way it has been preserved, the contemporary arts are being stored in various centers accord the country and through marketing is done by Armory Show.

The Armory Show did change the perception that people had concerning art. This is due to the fact that in marked the new dawn of modernism in America. The art show, which came in at the time of the phrases Avant-Garde, was used in the description of the paintings and the modern sculpture. This made the marketing of the modern arts in the country quite a serious business. Borrowing from this show, the contemporary artist and the exhibitions did start appreciating the art of that they were producing and started opening up their doors to the people. The Armory Show did act as an eye-opener to most artists who, before this period, did not appreciative the aspect of art marketing. With the show being marked on a yearly basis the modern art marketing, which followed the Armory Show at 100, did exposes some of the development which has occurred in the painting and sculpture development.  He shows dud change the perception of America and that of the entire world and had a considerably profound effect on the artistes and the collectors of the various arts (Raverty, 2002).

The Armory Show impacted American popular culture and the art world. However, the initial reactions from people were adverse because there was a lack of language and context for a better understanding of the avant-garde art emerging from Europe and the new abstract art philosophy. The Americans were only familiar with representational and realistic art; this prompted many citizens to visit the show with the hope of impressionism and landscape painting. The abstract art eventually diverged from what people expected to see and appreciate. While attending the Armory Show, president Theodore Roosevelt however, ridiculed the European art movement pretension. He called the Cubists and Futurists ‘lunatic fringe’ and ‘European extremists’. The Armory Show was produced by two important things, the ever-burning desire by people to get informed on the slightly known activities abroad. Secondly, the desire to break down the smug condition of the local arts affairs as per the ambition of the American sculptors and painters (Kushner et al., 2013).

The Armory Show art did compel a better understanding of modern art marketing. With the art lasting for over the longest time. It has acted based on all the contemporary arts in America. Most artists and artworks, especially in the Madison Gallery, through this art show. American modern marketing of the various forms of art today borrows much from this show. The work which exhibited most of the actions of the different artist of the period has been instrumental in the development of the critical arts marketing components. According to most artists in the modern world of art, the Armory Show can be considered the key as an essential tool to benchmark how the best technique can be promoted through the element of marketing. A most successful artist in the modern world has had their success as a result of the knowledge that is borrowed from the case of the Armory Show (Raverty, 2002)..

Several qualities made the success of the artists in marketing the modern art in America, and several artists have been inspired by the Armory Show; these include artists like Davis and Walt Kuhn. Several vital elements made these artists be superior in the show; these include the virtues of believing in themselves, making proper use of the tools available for marketing, and adequate time management. Artist like Kuhn believed so much in him despite all the challenges he went through, this aspect applied by Kuhn in believing in oneself has dramatically demonstrated the impacts to other artists. He worked extra hard in promoting his show and making enormous profits in his sales. This did not make the end to his journey, and he was, however, determined that his artistic work would flourish. He was quite optimistic and was convinced that hard work would guarantee him success. The 1913 Armory Show also brought some positive impacts to the artistic works of people like Madison and Macbeth Gallery that showed the contemporary works and the Armory Show roles. However, there was a flurry of publicity that surrounded the Armory Show that is now legendary, and the show is acknowledged to have significantly changed the whole course of the 20^th-century arts in the United States (Kushner et al., 2013).

The Armory Show has over been the longest time since its inception has consistently been regarded as a moment of cultures crisis and the radical break with the tradition. Out of it emerges new and vital arts and the element of marketing for America. It is considered the bomb into American art, changing the overall perception and the value that people initially had on the aspect of art marketing in America. Modern art has become one of the most popular business forms as a result of this event. Most of the art galleries from this show did create the platform of the means of marketing or art in America. Before, the Armory Show, the element of marketing of art was something that had not been imagined of. The galleries did keep the various collection in for the purposes of future use an ever for the purposes of creation of the beauty that the artist did create these forms of the art form. As such, the Armory Show did reach Americans on them and has promoted the element of marketing American art to the whole world (Kuhn, 1938).

The availability of the marketing tool was another critical element that was there in the 1913 Armory Show on marketing. The simplicity in tools collection brought many advantages to the artists’ work. From posters display, burners, postcards, and ads that were very instrumental to them. The use of these simple tools brought significant changes to the artists (Rose et al., 1980).  A perfect example was Kuhn; his work was transformed by the first encounter with modernism and post-impressionism. Davies and Kuhn both studied in Europe, and both had developed a great appreciation for the groundbreaking developments that were taking place. Both had dreams of altering American art and culture. They became entirely instrumental in bringing a display of European art to the United States, and this brought what Americans had never seen before. With their great exhibitions, they allowed several American artists to realize what was lacking in their careers (Rose et al., 1980).

The Armory Show was significant in providing the audience with the means of identifying modern arts in America, apart from that of European tradition. The 1913 exhibits, critics have noted, marks the advent of the contemporary art with an intensified kind of interest in Native American art by the Anglo painters and sculptors. The arts, which involved a collection of various global techniques such as Indian art, did open the windows for the modernism of American art. Critics of the 1913 exhibition praised or denounced works through their connection to Native American sculpture, weaving, and basketry. Precise Innate American the whole object was leisurely in contradiction of European landscapes at the Armory Show. The limitations of satisfactory art, the choices as to what substances were suitable for display as art, were transferred through Native American energy as active. While some of the detractors used orientations to Inherent American art as a process of compensation the work of fauvist and knowledgeable art as just ‘decorative,’ others proprietary Indian art in the similar habits that contemporary art was labeled: ‘authentic,’ ‘instinctual,’ and ‘spiritual’ (Kuhn, 1938)

The Armory Show did create a precedent the modern art. The contemporary American art has come to the limelight and has gained recognition in the global platform; as a result, show. From the Armory Show, the works did come to realize the importance of American art. The show literary marketed and is still selling American art, an aspect which has made modern American art valuable. Saving on time is one thing that artists learned from the show, Kuhn and Davis were two artists who learned the time factor and never wasted time in show preparation. These artists were ever hardworking and never spent any time to get their work done together. Kuhn, however, later realized that the most efficient and the modern way of putting the European avant-garde squarely in the shortest time was by the application of the new fields of product marketing and through public relations(Goldstein, 2013).

A century later, the Armory Show has influenced how the professional firms are regularly employed in promoting exhibitions in the major museums. Artists have been therefore able to support themselves vociferously in Europe since the beginning of the century. The artists’ entrepreneurship tradition has significantly extended. Earlier artist-entrepreneurs gave the critical models for Kuhn; the public relations practice became even more important in America. Kuhn became more familiar with the promotion and marketing methods as it was practiced over and over (Raverty, 2002).

The principal advisor to Kuhn, Gregg, was in the earliest conceptualizations of both the AAPS and the exhibition itself. His press entirely excited Kuhn’s entrepreneurial imagination. In Gregg’s press release and the continuous hiring of the newspaper, Kuhn got much established in a relatively new way. His practices emerged from the public relations industry, especially in the information model of the Boston Publicity Bureau. The Boston Publicity Bureau gave a presentation as the neutral provider of complete information to the public. The AAPS released two critical levels of self-presentation and unbiased facts about the contemporary art along though with a hidden motive of representing the European modernism. They, however, claimed that they were following the liberal neutrality in choosing the artwork to be published (Kushner et al., 2013).

Years after the Armory Show, there has been a remarkable revolution in marketing practices, especially in New York and Boston.  Kuhn applied the informational model of public relations for the modernist agenda promotions in Armory Show marketing. Information about the contemporary art that was in articles and pamphlets under Kuhn’s supervision. The Publicity Bureau in Boston, the public relations business, and agencies began rolling up in New York years before the Armory Show. The perfect agenda for the Armory Show was to cast the modernist tendencies in the new light, thereby creating open markets, and the ultimate goal to be established was nothing less than the comprehensive establishment of history along the avant-garde lines. By positioning modernism as a significant part of history, could the artists have the authority of significant players rather than marginal eccentrics? (Rose et al., 1980).

The curators contend that the Armory Show had a more significant impact on the American collectors and the public than the American artists. It expanded the market greatly for contemporary and modern art in New York. Considering that most of the galleries that existed and the new ones opened were only carrying more of Europeans artists than the Americans. Immediately after the Armory Show, Davies predicted that American art would never be the same again; many artists had changed their work while others did not seem to change. After the show, Davies himself began immediately to fragment his figures in a version of Cubism. He had made paintings in a style that was neo-romantic before the show and underwent an almost evangelical conversion to modernism in the course of organizing the Armory Show (Raverty, 2002).

Immediately after World War I, the market in Europe was adversely affected because the Europeans artists realized that they could sell more of their work in America. The show also brought the entire public into a conversation about art that had been confined to the elite circles previously. The Armory Show organizers did not, however, want to wait further for the critical consensus to be established, they, therefore, took the field by storm and were willing to create the modern psychological techniques of persuasion to achieve their ends (Kuhn, 1938)

The Armory Show was a wedge that shifted the American taste; it had a profound effect on artists, collectors, and the entire marketing of art. Some would disagree; modern art is now acceptable. The show initiated a vital link between Europe and America, including the promotion of the marketing strategies; over the next decade’s thousands of European artists took advantage of this link to seek sanctuary for themselves as well as their families. These artists’ emigrants influenced numerous American artists. The Armory Show thus began a critical two-way exchange of artists and the creative ideas, which significantly contributed to the emergence of New York as a major center of the world art (Kuhn, 1938)

In the interim years of artistic modernism, the critical power of the Armory Show on American collectors contributed to the founding of New York’s modern art museums that include the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum. Dicker man said, however, that the show had a significantly profound effect on the American artists, but most remarkably was the exhibition itself. Historian Valerie Paley called the revolution a countercultural moment that put a question to the 19^th-century vision of the world.   In the first decade of the 20^th century, many artists from New York were quite eager to move their work beyond academic styles and therefore closely followed modernist’s advancements in Europe and put adjustments in their work (Stavitsky et al., 2013).

Conclusion

The Armory Show, as it turned out, was an organizational miracle, a perfect example of what American can do in action. Specifically, the Armory Show brought a significant transformation in the marketing of modern art. The show suffers most in the older histories, which almost without exception, new modern art galleries were opened, and the show supported American artists and modernism. Several exhibitions that took place in 2013 celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the Armory Show, a more significant number of publications, programs, and virtual presentations. The first “The New Spirit: American Art in the Armory Show, 1913,” was staged at Montclair Art Museum on February 17, 2013. The second one was titled “The Armory Show at 100,” at the New-York Historical Society. The third exhibition, The Fountain Art Fair, took place at 69th Regiment Armory (Rose et al., 1980).