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Albert Eugene Gallatin (July 23, 1881 – June 15, 1952) was an American artist. He wrote about, collected, exhibited, and created works of art. Called "one of the great figures in early 20th-century American culture," he was a leading proponent of nonobjective and later abstract and particularly Cubist art whose "visionary approach" in both collecting and painting left "an enduring impact on the world of modern art."


Early life and education

Gallatin was born in 1881 into a wealthy and socially prominent family. Showing a youthful interest in art and literature, he began to collect works by
Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the '' Saturday ...
,
Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He ...
, and James McNeill Whistler while still in his teens. The common element in these purchases was a preference for works that he saw as possessing a harmonious, refined, and decorative nature, rather than a naturalistic or literal one. He appreciated their aesthetic over their narrative content and their intrinsic over their didactic or utilitarian value. As he collected art, he also began to write about it. For the two decades following the turn of the century, Gallatin produced a constant stream of articles, small monographs, and books of engraved plates. Between 1900 and 1910 most of these concerned Beardsley and Whistler. In examining their drawings and paintings he sought to find out what gave these works enduring value as opposed to superficial and temporary popularity. To him, their excellence showed in elegance of line and quality of design. He also drew attention to what he called a "decorative feeling" in works by these two artists in contrast to what he considered to be the less aesthetic realism of Degas and Millet. He maintained that modern art did not become popular because it was good, but because it scandalized. For example, in 1902 he wrote that Beardsley's drawings attracted notice by their shocking distortion of perspective and proportion and their escape from artistic conventions. Because their true value was not readily apparent, he believed that only connoisseurs along with Beardsley's fellow artists could fully appreciate them. In another article, he called Whistler an artist "whose work must remain more or less incomprehensible to the general public." He also wrote that the best art was created solely for its own sake. He wrote of Whistler's "unflinching devotion to beauty" and freedom from "commercialism, vulgarity, and the spirit of gain." Gallatin said Whistler's subjects were never ugly or lacking taste. In his view, Whistler was not a realist because he never descended to the obvious or commonplace. When his father died in 1902, Gallatin became head of a family consisting of himself, two sisters, and their mother. As a member of New York's social elite he gave and attended high-profile dinners, dances, weddings, and benefits. His name appeared frequently in the press as a result these activities and also as a result of his pioneering affection for automobiles and motor sport. His inheritance made it unnecessary for him to work for a living and he chose not to follow the lead of other members of his class by engaging in banking, stock brokerage, or other professional occupation. Instead, he continued to collect art and to enhance his reputation as an art connoisseur by his writings. During the years leading up to the First World War he became increasingly interested in American artists such as illustrator
Otho Cushing Otho Williams McD. Cushing (October 22, 1870 – October 13, 1942) was an American artist, known primarily for his early 20th century illustration and cartoons, for magazines and posters. His sometimes-homoerotic style, often featuring classical ...
, ''pleinair'' painter Frederick Frieseke, and painter of interiors Walter Gay. He also acquired and wrote about artists associated with the
Ashcan School The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, was an artistic movement in the United States during the late 19th-early 20th century that produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city's poorer neighborhoods. ...
Everett Shinn Everett Shinn (November 6, 1876 – May 1, 1953) was an American painter and member of the urban realist Ashcan School. Shinn started as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia, demonstrating a rare facility for depicting animated movement, a ...
,
William Glackens William James Glackens (March 13, 1870 – May 22, 1938) was an American realist painter and one of the founders of the Ashcan School, which rejected the formal boundaries of artistic beauty laid-down by the conservative National Academy of De ...
,
Ernest Lawson Ernest Lawson (March 22, 1873 – December 18, 1939) was a Canadian-American painter and exhibited his work at the Canadian Art Club and as a member of the American group The Eight, artists who formed a loose association in 1908 to protes ...
, and
John Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...
as well as other young American artists, including John Marin and
Boardman Robinson Boardman Michael Robinson (1876–1952) was a Canadian-American painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Biography Early years Boardman Robinson was born September 6, 1876 in Nova Scotia. He spent his childhood in England and Canada, before mov ...
. While the drawings, paintings, and prints of these artists appear to have little in common with the work of Beardsley and Whistler, he saw in them a similar feeling for form, elegance of line, and "entire freedom from all taint of the academic." Glackens, he wrote, was like Whistler in his originality, his great color sense, and his ability to bring subjects to life. Shinn's paintings revealed to him a "personal expression of the artist's genius" and he also saw in them a "decorative instinct" that he admired in virtually all the art he collected. He was pessimistic about the capacity of museums and government agencies to support young American artists and believed they would be best served by individual art lovers, collectors, and "enlightened" critics. Gallatin served in World War I as a member of a naval reserve unit and directed two civilian groups: a federal government committee on exhibitions of art propaganda and a municipal committee that encouraged artists to make posters supporting the war effort. This involvement led to a book, ''Art and the Great War'', (1919) in which Gallatin discussed war-related art in the allied nations, giving many examples of paintings, drawings, posters, caricatures, and prints that he admired. In 1918, with Duncan Phillips and
Augustus Vincent Tack Augustus Vincent Tack (1870–1949) was an American painter of portraits, landscapes and abstractions. Early years Tack was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved with his family to New York in 1883. After graduating from St. Francis Xavier ...
, he organized an exhibition, the Allied War Salon of New York. The works in this show were almost all traditionally representational. The exceptions were paintings by a British artist,
C.R.W. Nevinson Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...
, whose work at this time could be described as a
cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
version of
futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
. Nevinson's ''French Troops Resting'' of 1916, was exhibited at the Keppel & Co. galleries in 1919 and was probably included in the 1918 show. It and similar works of his are said to have been Gallatin's first introduction to this aspect of
modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
.


Art collecting: 1920s

In 1916, Gallatin had dismissed modernists in general and cubists in particular as immature. He thought their work to be half-baked, mediocre, and depressing. By the middle of the 1920s, through the influence of Nevinson, of the critic,
Clive Bell Arthur Clive Heward Bell (16 September 1881 – 17 September 1964) was an English art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group. He developed the art theory known as significant form. Biography Origins Bell was born in East ...
, and of the authors of articles in ''The Arts'' magazine, he had thoroughly revised his opinions. Nevinson showed that cubism was not a gimmick, but a technique that emerged naturally from the art of its time. Bell articulated a formalist aesthetic that coincided with Gallatin's belief that art was not good because of its realism, but because the two-dimensional space of the painting, drawing, or print possessed a satisfying composition, line, shape, color, and texture. Pictorial representation, trueness to life, and the illusion of depth were secondary concerns. Bell also voiced an opinion that seems to have been latent in Gallatin's thought as well: good art is well-ordered rather than chaotic and it proceeds from the artist's thought processes and intuitive sense of rightness more than his emotions.
William Zorach William Zorach (February 28, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts. He is notable for being at the forefront of American artists embracing cubism, as well as fo ...
and other authors of articles in ''The Arts'' discussed an art of "purely abstract forms and colors" that, through an elimination "of everything not vitally necessary," produced a true art. The difficulty of judging what is a "masterpiece" and what is an "abortion" is no different for abstract than it is for representational art: it takes experience, careful study, and "listening to one's inner response." In the years between 1920 and 1926 Gallatin became a member of the modernist
Société Anonyme The abbreviation S.A. or SA designates a type of limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance language as their official language and employ civil law. Originally, shareholders could be literally anonymous and collect div ...
and was introduced to the influential artist-critic Jacques Mauny who soon became his friend and advisor. Mauny introduced him to
Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
and other painters and to the dealer and author, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. These men helped further to shape his growing appreciation for cubism and Mauny, in particular, helped him revamp his collection by adding paintings by artists such as Cézanne and Picasso and selling ones that no longer suited his taste. In the mid-1920s Gallatin studied art with the artist and teacher,
Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...
, and in 1926 produced some small still lifes and mythology-themed paintings which have been described as having "broad areas of open space broken up by clusters of oddly shaped forms." His interest in cubism deepened and he added works to his collection by
Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...
and
Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...
. At least partly in response to articles by Forbes Watson in ''The Arts'' and Henry McBride in ''The Dial'', Gallatin began planning for a public gallery based on his collection of modern art. Early in 1927, as a result of a family connection with New York University, he was able first to organize a small show and, in December of that year, to open his Gallery of Living Art in the south study hall of that university's main building on Washington Square. The gallery has been called the first museum devoted exclusively to modern art. (The Phillips Memorial Collection, opened in 1920, might also lay claim to that distinction but for the fact that it was not ''exclusively'' modernist.) Consisting almost entirely of works from Gallatin's collection and assembled with help from the critic, Henry McBride, there were, at its opening, paintings and works on paper by twenty-four artists, both American and French. In addition to the forty-three of his own, Gallatin included fifteen borrowed works. There was no entry fee and from the beginning it was seen as place for artists to use as well as the general public.


Art collecting: 1930s

The composition of the Gallery of Living Art was informal and fluid, changing frequently as Gallatin added to his collection or simply wished to revise the display. Somewhat conservative at first, it grew to include major paintings in the cubist, neo-plasticist, and constructivist style by artists such as Picasso, Braque, Gris,
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
,
Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...
,
Jean Hélion Jean Hélion (April 21, 1904October 27, 1987) was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter. He w ...
, and
El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, ; – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Эль Лиси́цкий; yi, על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist ...
as well as ones in the
surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
style by
Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...
, Jean Arp, and André Masson. Gallatin hung the gallery with the few large paintings occupying wall space by themselves. By the mid-1930s, these large paintings included Picasso's '' Three Musicians'' (1921), Léger's ''The City'' (1919), and Miró's ''Painting (Fratellini)''. Most of the collection consisted of small works making it easy for moderately-sized ones, such as Miró's '' Dog Barking at the Moon'' (1926) and Mondrian's ''Composition with Blue and Yellow'' (1932), to attract the viewer's notice. During the 1930s Gallatin continued to receive advice from Jacques Mauny. He also was aided by a succession of friends and acquaintances beginning with Henry McBride (1927–32), followed by
Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...
(1932–33) and then Jean Hélion and
George L.K. Morris George Lovett Kingsland Morris (November 14, 1905 – June 26, 1975) was an American artist, writer, and editor who advocated for an "American abstract art" during the 1930s and 1940s, and is best known for his Cubist sculptures and paintings. ...
(1933-ca. 1940). Following his own inclination and their influence, he purged figurative works in favor of abstraction and emphasized non-objective works over ones having identifiable subjects. In 1936 Gallatin changed the name of the gallery to
Museum of Living Art A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
. By this time both the
Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
and the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
had opened to the public and Gallatin's museum was credited as having the collection that most interested, and influenced, young New York artists such as
Arshile Gorky Arshile Gorky (; born Vostanik Manoug Adoian, hy, Ոստանիկ Մանուկ Ատոյեան; April 15, 1904 – July 21, 1948) was an Armenian-American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. He spent the last years of hi ...
,
Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of "the most promising ...
,
Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...
, and the de Koonings. In 1938 ''Life Magazine'' profiled Gallatin and the Museum in a photo spread entitled "Albert Gallatin's Great-Grandson Sponsors a Museum of Abstract Art." The images included a caricature of Gallatin by Léger, a photo of a set of panels in the museum, major works in the collection, and copies of photographs that Gallatin had taken of prominent Parisian artists. On August 24, 1939, Gallatin purchased
Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...
's “Composition with Blue” from art dealer
Curt Valentin Curt Valentin (5 October 1902, Hamburg, Germany – 19 August 1954, Forte dei Marmi, Italy) was a German-Jewish art dealer known for handling modern art, particularly sculpture, and works classified as "degenerate" and stolen from European museums b ...
. He donated it to the Philadelphia Museum of Arts, against which a claim for restitution was filed in 2021 because the painting had been seized by Nazis.


Art work: 1930s-1940s

In February 1936 Gallatin resumed painting. He had been deliberate and unhurried in his collecting, acquiring first small pieces on paper and, on becoming comfortable with an artist's work, gradually moving on to larger oil paintings. Similarly, he took many months to work up his own easel productions from conception to finished state. The works themselves were uniformly non-objective. At the time critics saw them as cerebral and "euclidean." In 1938, Edward Alden Jewell, the perceptive critic for the ''New York Times'' called them "pure" and, making an early use of the term, "non-objective" (the quote marks are his). They have since been seen as "sensitively realized abstractions," structural designs of an architectural nature, imbued with "subtle structural strength," and "endlessly inventive." The term "decorative" was also applied to them, both in a pejorative sense and one more in keeping with his own use of the term, which connoted harmony and a higher plane of taste. In 1936 paintings of his were included in a show at the Galerie Pierre, Paris. Previously exhibited
Paul Reinhardt Galleries Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
in New York, it was then called "Five Contemporary American Concretionists" and lacked his work. He was generally reticent about his work but in 1938 told an interviewer that he tried to strip his painting down to the essentials of art. The statement fits with his writings on the artists whose work he admired. He felt art was best when least connected to things in the world: pure line, color, shape, texture, and tone. In keeping with this attitude, he rarely gave his paintings distinctive names, leaving them untitled or calling them simply "Composition" or "Abstraction." In 1937 Gallatin joined the
American Abstract Artists American Abstract Artists (AAA) was formed in 1936 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major fo ...
group (to which Morris already belonged) and began to give it financial support. The group was formed by a loose assembly of artists to help educate the public about abstract art and to hold exhibitions. The following year, at the Georgette Passedoit Gallery in New York, he had his first solo exhibition and also sold a painting, ''Composition'' (1938), to the Museum of Modern Art. During the summer of that year he made his last trip abroad and thereafter enlarged his collection without traveling. In 1939 he exhibited with two other members of American Abstract Artists—Morris and Charles G. Shaw—at the gallery of Jacques Seligmann in New York. Since all three were non-objective painters and all were wealthy New Yorkers, they came to be called the "Park Avenue Cubists." From that time forward, non-objective art in general and Gallatin's art in particular became increasingly accepted within the New York art world. In 1941 he was said to paint with taste, fine touch, and inventive skill. In 1945 Edward Alden Jewell referred to him as an "impressive exponent of this form of abstraction" whose "work is refreshingly individual," "vigorous and expertly painted," and in 1947 he wrote that Gallatin was secure in his position as "uncompromising nonobjectivist" whose work was "all neatness and smooth reasonable decorum." In 1942 Gallatin was referred to as New York's "abstract king" in a profile that appeared in the "Talk of the Town" section of the ''New Yorker'' magazine.


Later life and work

During the 1940s Gallatin continued to exhibit his own paintings and organize exhibits of others. In 1942 he put together a show devoted to American women, including Morris's wife, Suzy Frelinghuysen, as well as Alice Trumbull Mason and
Esphyr Slobodkina Esphyr Slobodkina (russian: Эсфирь Соломоновна Слободкина; September 22, 1908 – July 21, 2002) was a Russian Empire-born American artist, author, and illustrator, best known for her classic children's picture book ''Ca ...
. That same year New York University informed him that he had to close the Museum of Living Art so that the space it occupied could be repurposed as a wartime economy measure. Greatly disappointed, Gallatin accepted an offer from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to provide a home for it. Within a few months 175 works from his collection were moved to Philadelphia and a few were donated to the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to which Morris and Frelinghuysen were connected. During the remainder of the 1940s, until his death in 1952, he continued to paint, promote, and collect non-objective art. In 1952 was given a one-man retrospective exhibition at the Rose Fried Gallery, New York. On his death he dispersed his remaining works of art to the New-York Historical Society, the Museum of the City of New York, the National Gallery of Art, and his two sisters. At the end of his life the style of painting that he had championed was falling out of favor as abstract-expressionist art achieved its first critical recognition. Since that time it has regained critical attention and public appeal and is seen at least by some as influencing the
minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
and hard-edge artists who came into prominence in the 1960s as well as younger artists such as
Sarah Morris Sarah Morris (born 20 June 1967 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England) is an American and British artist. She lives in New York City in the United States. Personal life and education Morris was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, in south-east England, on 20 Ju ...
and Mai Braun.


Family

] Albert was a common given name in the Gallatin family. Gallatin's great-grandfather was
Albert Gallatin Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan– American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figure in the early years ...
(1761-1849), Secretary of the Treasury under presidents Jefferson and Madison and one of founders of New York University. His second son was named Albert Rolaz (1800-1890) and Albert Rolaz's first son, Gallatin's father, was named Albert Horatio. Gallatin had two uncles named Albert, one, surnamed Gallatin, had died before his birth, and the other, surnamed Stevens, died in 1904. Two other uncles, Frederic and James Gallatin had sons named Albert. These two cousins were sometimes confused with Gallatin. Like Gallatin, both lived in New York and both were sufficiently prominent to receive frequent mentions in the local press. Frederic's son was simply Albert (born January 8, 1880, died September 1, 1965). This Albert Gallatin formed a collection of ancient Egyptian art sold to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
after his death.
H. G. Fischer, 'The Gallatin Egyptian Collection' Metropolitan Museum Bulletin, March 1967, 253-63.
Gallatin's father, Albert Horatio Gallatin, was born March 7, 1839, and died March 25, 1902. A lifelong resident of New York, he was trained in medicine at New York University, served as a surgeon in the Civil War, and became a professor of chemistry at NYU. Gallatin's mother was Louise Bedford Ewing. She was born in Maryland, August 8, 1843, died in New York, December 3, 1922. Gallatin's older sister, Louise, was born May 1880, and died February 8, 1970. She married Charles Merrick Gay, professor of architecture, University of Pennsylvania, and director of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gallatin's younger sister, Cornelia Lansdale Gallatin (February 14, 1884 – March 26, 1973), married Alfred FitzRoy Anderson (July 13, 1882 – November 15, 1965). He was a member of New York society whose charity work involved disabled veterans and repeal of Abolition. Gallatin himself was born on July 23, 1881, in the country house of his maternal grandmother, Cornelia Lansdale Ewing, which was located in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He attended schools there and in New York, including the Cutler School (New York City), Cutler preparatory school and the
New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include E ...
both in New York City. He did not take the bar exam, however, and later said "I don't know why the devil I did it. I think an abstract artist is of more value to the community than a lawyer." As he matured he mixed freely in New York society, frequenting the opera and charity balls. In 1907 he co-founded the Motor-Car Touring Society. He belonged to the Union Club, the
Pilgrims Society The Pilgrims Society, founded on 16 July 1902 by Harry Brittain, Sir Harry Brittain KBE CMG, is a British-American society established, in the words of American diplomat Joseph Choate, 'to promote good-will, good-fellowship, and everlasting peace b ...
, the Society of Colonial Wars, and was the sole American member of the French branch of the
Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...
. After the United States entered World War I he signed up as an ensign in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve. He also chaired two committees: the Committee on Exhibitions and Pictorial Publicity of the United States Government Committee on Public Information and the Committee on Arts and Decorations of the Mayor's Committee on National Defense. The first dealt with art propaganda and led to the publication of his book, ''Art and the Great War'' (New York, E.P. Dutton & Company, 1919). The second advised artists on contributing work to the war effort. In December, 1918, Gallatin organized an Allied War Salon under the auspices of both committees. The exhibition took place at the American Art Association, Madison Square South, New York. Duncan Phillips of the American Federation of Arts and
Augustus Vincent Tack Augustus Vincent Tack (1870–1949) was an American painter of portraits, landscapes and abstractions. Early years Tack was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved with his family to New York in 1883. After graduating from St. Francis Xavier ...
of the Liberty Loan Committee were co-organizers. It included a large number of paintings, drawings, posters, and other works by the official and unofficial artists of the allied countries. Gallatin was a trustee of New York University and a patron of and donor to numerous art organizations including New York University, the Museum of Modern Art, American Abstract Artists, Museum of the City of New York, and the Berkshire Museum. Contemporaries said Gallatin was conservative, dandified, patrician, and sophisticated. He dressed elegantly, was tall, sober, and bespectacled. His demeanor was formal and few friends were able to see the side of his personality that was relaxed, humorous, and informal. He was hardworking and firmly dedicated to his life's work. He was said to sleep on a hard, narrow bed, that had belonged to Napoleon's brother Joseph. There was never any scandal attached to his name and he never married.


Collections

The main source for this list is the web site called Museum Angel. *Art Institute Of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois *Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York *High Museum Of Art, Atlanta, Georgia * Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY *Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York *Pennsylvania Academy Of The Fine Arts School and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *
Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...
, Princeton, New Jersey *University of Florida - Samuel P. Harn Museum Of Art, *Gainesville, Florida *Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina *Whitney Museum of American Art, New York


Writings


Articles and monographs, in chronological order

*1900 ''List of Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley''. New York, De Vinne Press, 1900 (one hundred copies) *1902 ''Aubrey Beardsley as a Designer of Book-plates''. Boston, C.E. Peabody, 1902 (reprinted from ''Reader Magazine'', December 1902) *1902 "Note on the Literary Element in Beardsley's Art," ''The Critic'', Vol. 41 (Dec. 1902), pp. 561–569 *1902 "Aubrey Beardsley; Two Recent Estimates of the Work of the Artist," a book review by A.E. Gallatin in ''New York Times'', September 6, 1902, page BR5 *1903 "A Note on Otho Cushing's Drawings," ''Brush and Pencil'', Vol. 11, No. 5 (Feb., 1903), pp. 351–355 *1903 "A Whistler Bibliography: Prepared for The New York Times Saturday Review," ''New York Times'', Jan. 3, 1903 *1903 ''Aubrey Beardsley’s Drawings: a Catalogue and a List of Criticisms''. New York, Godfrey A. S. Wieners, 1903 *1904 ''Whistler's Art Dieta and Other Essays''. Boston, Charles E. Goodspeed, 1904 *1904 "Whistler. The Appreciation of His Art by Messrs. T. R. Way and G. R. Dennis by A.E. Gallatin," a book review in ''New York Times'', January 2, 1904, p. BR12 *1905 "Some Notable Art Criticism," ''The Critic'' (vol. 47, July–December, 1905, pp 259–260 *1907 ''Whistler; Notes and Footnotes and Other Memoranda''. New York, The Collector and Art Critic Co., 1907 *1910 ''Modern Art at Venice, and Other Notes''. New York, J.M. Bowles, 1910 *1910 "Whistler's Pastels," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 1 (Nov., 1910), pp. 8–10 *1911 "A New Etching by Zorn," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 9 (Jul., 1911), p. 261 *1911 "The Graphic Artists of the XIXth Century," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 12 (Oct., 1911), pp. 352–354 *1911 "The International Society," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 11 (Sep., 1911), pp. 325–326 *1911 "The Pastellists," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 5 (Mar., 1911), pp. 142–144 *1911 "The Sculpture of Prince Paul Troubetzkoy," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 7 (May, 1911), pp. 208–209 *1911 "The Winslow Homer Memorial Exhibition," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 6 (Apr., 1911), pp. 167–169 *1912 "Max," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 3, No. 4 (Feb., 1912), pp. 478–480 *1912 "The Paintings of Frederic C. Frieseke," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 3, No. 12 (Oct., 1912), pp. 747–749 *1913 ''Portraits and Caricatures of James McNeill Whistler, an Iconography''. New York, John Lane Company, 1913 *1913 ''Whistler's Pastels and Other Modern Profiles''. New York, John Lane Company, 1913 *1913 "An Exhibition of Women's Portraits by Modern Artists," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 4, No. 8 (Jun., 1913), pp. 983–988 *1913 "Mr. Walter Gay's Interiors," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 4, No. 9 (Jul., 1913), pp. 1023–1027 *1914 "Salon des Humoristes," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 5, No. 5 (Mar., 1914), pp. 175–177 *1916 ''Notes on Some Rare Portraits of Whistler''. New York, John Lane company, 1916 *1916 "The Sculpture of Paul Manship," ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'', Vol. 11, No. 10 (Oct., 1916), pp. 218+220-222 *1916 "William Glackens," ''The American Magazine of Art'', Vol. 7, No. 7 (May, 1916), pp. 261–263 *1916 ''Certain Contemporaries; a Set of Notes in Art Criticism''. New York, John Lane Company, 1916 *1917 ''Paul Manship''. New York, John Lane Company, 1917 *1917 ''Portraits of Albert Gallatin''. Boston, privately printed, 1917 *1918 ''Portraits of Whistler: a Critical Study and an Iconography''. New York, J. Lane, 1918 *1919 ''Art and the Great War''. New York, E.P. Dutton & Company, *1919 *1919 "The Paintings of Max Kuehne," ''The International Studio'', vol. 68 (Aug. *1919), p. xxvii *1920 ''Paintings of French Interiors (edited with an introduction and notes on the plates, by Albert Eugene Gallatin)''. New York, E. P. Dutton and company, 1920 *1921 ''Modern Fine Printing in America; an Essay''. New York, privately printed, 1921 *1922 ''American Water-colourists''. New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, 1922 *1924 ''Gaston Lachaise; Sixteen Reproductions in Collotype of the Sculptor's Work''. New York, Merrymount Press, E.P. Dutton & Company, 1924 *1924 ''Max Kuehne. Sixteen reproductions of the artist's work; edited with a foreword by A. E. Gallatin''. New York, E. P. Dutton & company, 1924 *1925 ''John Sloan, Edited with an Introduction by A. E. Gallatin''. New York, E.P. Dutton & company, 1925 *1933 ''Gallery of Living Art''. New York, 1933 *1934 ''Gallatin Iconography''. Boston, privately printed, 1934 *1939 ''Recent Paintings by Gallatin, Morris, Shaw''. New York, Jacques Seligmann & Co., 1939 *1940 ''Museum of Living Art: A. E. Gallatin Collection''. New York, New York University, 1940 *1943 ''Georges Braque: Essay and Bibliography''. New York, Wittenborn and Company, 1943 (as editor) *1952 ''Bibliography of the Works of Max Beerbohm''. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1952 *1963 ''Of Art: Plato to Picasso, Aphorisms and Observations''. New York, Wittenborn, 1963


Monographs, alphabetically by title

*''American Water-colourists''. New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, 1922 *''Art and the Great War''. New York, E.P. Dutton & Company, 1919 *''Aubrey Beardsley as a Designer of Book-plates''. Boston, C.E. Peabody, 1902 *''Aubrey Beardsley’s Drawings: a Catalogue and a List of Criticisms''. New York, Godfrey A. S. Wieners, 1903 *''Bibliography of the Works of Max Beerbohm''. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1952 *''Certain Contemporaries; a Set of Notes in Art Criticism''. New York, John Lane Company, 1916 *''Gallatin Iconography''. Boston, privately printed, 1934 *''Gallery of Living Art''. New York, 1933 *''Gaston Lachaise; Sixteen Reproductions in Collotype of the Sculptor's Work''. New York, Merrymount Press, E.P. Dutton & Company, 1924 *''Georges Braque: Essay and Bibliography''. New York, Wittenborn and Company, 1943 (as editor) *''John Sloan, Edited with an Introduction by A. E. Gallatin''. New York, E.P. Dutton & company, 1925 *''List of Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley''. New York, De Vinne Press, 1900 (one hundred copies) *''Max Kuehne. Sixteen reproductions of the artist's work; edited with a foreword by A. E. Gallatin''. New York, E. P. Dutton & company, 1924 *''Modern Art at Venice, and Other Notes''. New York, J.M. Bowles, 1910 *''Modern Fine Printing in America; an Essay''. New York, privately printed, 1921 *''Museum of Living Art: A. E. Gallatin Collection''. New York, New York University, 1940 *''Notes on Some Rare Portraits of Whistler''. New York, John Lane company, 1916 *''Of Art: Plato to Picasso, Aphorisms and Observations''. New York, Wittenborn, 1963 *''Paintings of French Interiors (edited with an introduction and notes on the plates, by Albert Eugene Gallatin)''. New York, E. P. Dutton and company, 1920 *''Paul Manship''. New York, John Lane Company, 1917 *''Portraits and Caricatures of James McNeill Whistler, an Iconography''. New York, John Lane Company, 1913 *''Portraits of Albert Gallatin''. Boston, privately printed, 1917 *''Portraits of Whistler: a Critical Study and an Iconography''. New York, J. Lane, 1918 *''Pursuit of Happiness; the Abstract and Brief Chronicles of the Time''. New York, 1950 *''Recent Paintings by Gallatin, Morris, Shaw''. New York, Jacques Seligmann & Co., 1939 *''Whistler; Notes and Footnotes and Other Memoranda''. New York, The Collector and Art Critic Co., 1907 *''Whistler's Pastels and Other Modern Profiles''. New York, John Lane Company, 1913 *''Whistler's Art Dieta and Other Essays''. Boston, Charles E. Goodspeed, 1904


Articles, alphabetically by title

*"Aubrey Beardsley; Two Recent Estimates of the Work of the Artist," a book review by A.E. Gallatin in ''New York Times'', September 6, 1902, page BR5 *"An Exhibition of Women's Portraits by Modern Artists," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 4, No. 8 (Jun., 1913), pp. 983–988 *"The Graphic Artists of the XIXth Century," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 12 (Oct., 1911), pp. 352–354 *"The International Society," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 11 (Sep., 1911), pp. 325–326 *"Max," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 3, No. 4 (Feb., 1912), pp. 478–480 *"Mr. Walter Gay's Interiors," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 4, No. 9 (Jul., 1913), pp. 1023–1027 *"Ernest Lawson," ''The International Studio'', Vol. 59, (Jul., 1916), pp. 14 *"A New Etching by Zorn," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 9 (Jul., 1911), p. 261 *"A Note on Otho Cushing's Drawings," ''Brush and Pencil'', Vol. 11, No. 5 (Feb., 1903), pp. 351–355 *"Note on the Literary Element in Beardsley's Art," ''The Critic'', Vol. 41 (Dec. 1902), pp. 561–569 *"The Paintings of Max Kuehne," ''The International Studio'', vol. 68 (Aug. 1919), p. xxvii *"The Pastellists," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 5 (Mar., 1911), pp. 142–144 *"The Paintings of Frederic C. Frieseke," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 3, No. 12 (Oct., 1912), pp. 747–749 *"Salon des Humoristes," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 5, No. 5 (Mar., 1914), pp. 175–177 *"The Sculpture of Paul Manship," ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'', Vol. 11, No. 10 (Oct., 1916), pp. 218+220-222 *"The Sculpture of Prince Paul Troubetzkoy," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 7 (May, 1911), pp. 208–209 *"Some Notable Art Criticism," ''The Critic'' (vol. 47, July–December, 1905, pp 259–260 *"Whistler. The Appreciation of His Art by Messrs. T. R. Way and G. R. Dennis by A.E. Gallatin," a book review in ''New York Times'', January 2, 1904, p. BR12 *"A Whistler Bibliography: Prepared for The New York Times Saturday Review," ''New York Times'', Jan. 3, 1903 *"Whistler's Pastels," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 1 (Nov., 1910), pp. 8–10 *"William Glackens," ''The American Magazine of Art'', Vol. 7, No. 7 (May, 1916), pp. 261–263 *"The Winslow Homer Memorial Exhibition," ''Art and Progress'', Vol. 2, No. 6 (Apr., 1911), pp. 167–169


References


Notes


Further reading

*A.E. Gallatin Collection, "Museum of Living Art." Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1954 (first edition: New York University, 1930) *Balken, Debra Bricker. Albert Eugene Gallatin and His Circle. Exhibition catalogue. Coral Gables, Fla.: Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, 1986 *Balken, Debra Bricker, and Robert S. Lubar. The Park Avenue Cubists: Gallatin, Morris, Frelinghuysen and Shaw. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, in association with the Grey Art Gallery, NYU, 2002 *D'Harnoncourt, Anne. "A.E. Gallatin and the Arensbergs: Pioneer Collectors of Twentieth-Century Art." Apollo, NS 99, No. 149 (July 1974): 52–61 *Galligan, Gregory. The Cube in the Kaleidoscope: The American Reception of French Cubism, 1918–1938. Ph.D. thesis—Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, 2007 *Larsen, Susan C. "The 'Park Avenue Cubist' Who Went Downtown." Art News 77, No. 10 (December 1978): 80–82 *Stavitsky, Gail. "The Development, Institutionalization, and Impact of the A.E. Gallatin Collection of Modern Art." Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1990 *Stavitsky, Gail. "A.E. Gallatin's Gallery and Museum of Living Art (1927–1943)." American Art 7, No. 2 (Spring 1993): 47–63 *Stavitsky, Gail. "The A.E. Gallatin Collection: An Early Adventure in Modern Art." Bulletin of the Philadelphia Museum of Art 89 (1994): 3–47 *Wainwright, Alexander D. "A Check List of the Writings of Albert Eugene Gallatin," Princeton University Library Chronicle 14, No. 3 (Spring 1953): 141–51


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallatin, Albert Eugene 1881 births 1952 deaths Artists from New York City American abstract artists 20th-century American artists Artist authors People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art People from Villanova, Pennsylvania