A. E. GALLATIN COLLECTION
"Museum of Living Art”
A. E. Gallatin et al.
A. E. Gallatin et al.: A. E. GALLATIN COLLECTION ["Museum of Living Art”]. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1954. First edition [1,500 copies]. Quarto. Tan cloth titled in red. 155 pp. 97 plates, 10 in color. Private bookplate to front pastedown. Spine cloth spotted, but a very good copy.
8 x 10.5 hardcover book with 155 pages, 97 plates with 10 in color, a frontispiece photo of A.E. Gallatin, photographic portraits by Gallatin of Arp, Braque, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Mondrian, and Picasso, taken in the artists' studios, and a catalog of 179 abstract paintings and sculpture by American and European artists, with emphasis on geometric abstraction. Texts by A.G. Gallatin, Jean Hélion and James Johnson Sweeney, with critical notes by George L.K. Morris (reprinted from earlier editions of the catalogue published by New York University); and artists' biographies.
- The Plan of The Gallery of Living Art: A. E. Gallatin
- The Evolution of Abstract Art as Shown in The Gallery of Living Art: Jean Helion.
- Painting: James Johnson Sweeney.
- Catalogue: Prepared by Goerge L. K. Morris in 1940, revised by Marianne Winter Martin and Henry Clifford, 1954.
- Plates
- Portraits by Gallatin of Arp, Braque, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Mondrian, and Picasso, taken in the artists' studios
Includes plates by Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Fernand Léger, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Hans Arp, Constantin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, Robert Delaunay, Charles Demuth, Andre Derain, Cesare Domela, John Ferren, Suzy [Morris] Frelinghuysen, Naum Gabo, A. E. Gallatin, Alberto Giacometti, Fritz Glarner, Julio Gonzales, Juan Gris, Hans hartung, Jean Hélion, Paul Klee, Roger de la Fresnaye, Jacques Lipchitz, El Lissitzky, John Marin, André Masson, Henri Matisse, Jacques Mauny, Piet Mondrian, George L. K. Morris, Ben Nicholson, Man Ray, Georges Seurat, Kurt Schwitters, Charles G. Shaw, Joaquín Torres-Garcia, Georges Vantongerloo, and John Wallace.
"The Gallery of Living Art, New York University, was founded in order that the public might have the opportunity to study the many phases of the newer influences at work in progressive twentieth century painting, not only in private collections and at picture dealers, but in a public museum containing a permanent collection."
From the web site for New York University: "Open to the public free of charge from 8 am to 10 pm every weekday and on Saturdays until 5 pm, and steeped in the informal, comfortable atmosphere of a college study hall, the Gallery of Living Art served contemporary American artists as — in Gallatin's own words — a 'laboratory' for 'exploration and experimentation' and a forum for intellectual exchange. Its greatest contribution lay in spurring the development of the New York School. Hans Hofmann often brought his classes to the Gallery for firsthand discussions in front of the pictures. Other frequent visitors included Arshile Gorky, Philip Guston, David Smith, Robert Motherwell, Adolf Gottlieb, and Elaine and Willem de Kooning, all of whom have testified to the Gallery's vital role in introducing them to the vocabulary of Cubism and biomorphic abstraction. In December 1942, constrained by the wartime economy, University administrators decided to convert the South Study Hall into a library processing facility. Gallatin was soon contacted by Fiske Kimball, director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art . . . . Kimball offered Gallatin a suite of rooms in which to hang his collection and agreed to allow him to continue to add or subtract works at will."