Summary of Alfred H. Barr Jr.
Captivated by cutting edge modern art and grounded in classical connoisseurship, art historian Alfred Barr shaped the way that generations of artists and art historians studied modern European and American art. Appointed the first director of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1929, the young Barr promoted the art of modernists like van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Matisse and Cézanne, creating a canon of modern art still largely adhered to today, and his retrospectives of van Gogh and Picasso helped to perpetuate the legendary artistic myths that remain in the public imagination to this day.
In his attempt to educate the public about modern art, his formalist approach was an effort to help the viewer see and understand the new art that tended to deviate from traditional naturalism. His formalism would be consequential for subsequent critics, most famously Clement Greenberg, but also drew criticisms from more socially-minded critics. It has only been in recent years that the Museum of Modern Art has come to revisit Barr's schematic, diversifying and complicating Barr's original vision.
- While Barr was interested in some of the most advanced art of the early-20th century, his more traditional art historical training led him to systematize the new art, just as art historians had always done. He wanted the Museum of Modern Art, one of the first-ever modern art museums, to be a place of scholarship, whose chief goal was not necessarily to discover the new but to classify the old. He tended to group eras and movements of art history into schools of thought and technique, or what are commonly called -isms, i.e. Expressionism, Cubism, etc, His schematic of modern art's progress from "-ism" to "-ism" is still prevalent today.
- Barr's approach to exhibition design was quite revolutionary. Always a teacher, Barr strove to make modern art accessible and relevant to a diverse audience who was unaccustomed to such radical art that veered away from traditional naturalism. Thinking of the museum as a laboratory, Barr used innovative pedagogical techniques to formulate wall labels and installations. He relied on leading questions, juxtapositions, and even humor to engage the audience.
- While Barr's formalism seems restricting and even traditional, he had a capacious view of what constituted modern art. Influenced by the Bauhaus and Constructivist workshops in Russia, Barr understood modern art to encompass not just painting and sculpture but also applied art, design, architecture, film, photography, and theater.
- Barr wanted to create a permanent home for the world's greatest modern artists, a controversial idea in the early-20th century when modern art was characterized by its constantly changing nature. In that sense, "a museum for modern art" seemed to be an oxymoron. While the permanent collection did not really ever resemble a revolving door, Barr was dedicated to using the museum as a laboratory to educate and engage the viewers, bringing modern art to a wider audience.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. and Important Artists and Artworks
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)
In 1937, MoMA acquired Picasso's little-known painting Demoiselles d'Avignon and first exhibited it in 1939 with the opening of its new building. In announcing the acquisition in a January 1939 press release, Barr wrote, "Picassos Demoiselles d'Avignon is one of the very few paintings in the history of modern art which can justly be called epoch-making.... It is not primarily for its historic importance, however, that the Museum of Modern Art has acquired this extraordinary picture, for as a work of art the Demoiselles d'Avignon remains one of Picasso's most formidable achievements." In describing it as a transitional work between Picasso's Blue and Rose periods and his revolutionary Cubist paintings, Barr cites Picasso's assertive genius in making this painting and positions it as one of the most important paintings of the 20th century.
While other artists had seen the painting in Picasso's studio and it had been exhibited in 1916, the painting remained largely unknown until MoMA purchased it. The public response was not enthusiastic and outright suspicious. As one New York Times critic put it, "The average man can see no sense in Picasso's work. There must be a trick in it somewhere, if collectors are willing to pay thousands of dollars for one of these splotchy scrawls." Barr strove, though, to educate the museum's audiences to help them appreciate the important work.
Oil on canvas - The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Red Studio (1911)
Matisse's The Red Studio entered MoMA's collection in 1949. Barr had written about Matisse in 1931 in conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum, but it was his 1951 study of Matisse that not only cemented Matisse's reputation but also constituted a major art historical achievement. As later MoMA curator John Elderfield explained, Barr's monograph "brought the big guns of North American institutional scholarship - with its special access to artists, archives, galleries, collectors, and teams of researchers - to bear on a modern subject for the first time, to a deeply unsettling effect that continues to reverberate more than half a century later."
Barr's study provided an overview not only of Matisse's entire career but also his critical reception and added previously unknown documentation to Matisse's narrative. In grounding his study in meticulous research instead of unfounded opinion, Barr produced a tome not of art criticism but of art history, an approach to modern art that had not previously been undertaken.
While Barr's reading of Matisse developed over several decades, he saw Matisse's development in cycles, starting with orderly compositions in the late 19th century, moving into more lively Impressionist compositions, and then back to a more structured orderliness. Barr would slightly amend this schema, but as Elderfield remarks, "Barr's desire to over-classify did obfuscate at times, and his wish to counter the popular, light Matisse by emphasizing his favored austere artist created an implausible early dark period and disconnected the paintings of the First World War from his preceding as well as, more reasonably, succeeding production." Despite Barr's shortcomings, Matisse entered the modern lexicon alongside Picasso, and the many examples of his work in MoMA's collection would be crucial for the young, developing Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Elaine de Kooning.
Oil on canvas - The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Improvisation no. 30 (Canons) (1913)
Barr discussed Kandinsky's work in his catalogue essay for the exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art. He positions him as having learned the lessons of Matisse and Gauguin and then as having outpaced them in his quest for abstraction. He pointed out that the artist's theory of art "was mystical, depending upon an awareness of the spiritual in the material, and an expression of this feeling through the material medium of paint." Barr revealed that Kandinsky's many improvised abstracts were the manifestation of a mind that knew no other way to express itself. While Kandinsky intended his Improvisations and Compositions to be pure abstract works, recognizable imagery emerges. In this case of Improvisation no. 30, one sees two canons in the bottom right corner. Kandinsky admitted their presence but insisted that they ended up there unconsciously. For this reason, Barr cites Kandinsky anticipating the later Surrealists who would embrace the unconscious in their automatic drawing process.
In writing about Kandinsky, one senses Barr's bias toward French art. In a backhanded compliment, Barr judged that Kandinsky's latest paintings "became more drily geometrical but in the last few years he has turned to more organic forms, perhaps under the influence of the younger Parisians, Miró and Arp, to whom he pointed the way twenty years before." Here, Kandinsky becomes less innovative as he began with Matisse and Gauguin and had to be shown the way back out by Miró and Arp.
Oil on canvas - The Art Institute of Chicago
Painterly Realism of a Boy with a Knapsack - Color Masses in the Fourth Dimension (1915)
When Barr was organizing his groundbreaking Cubism and Abstract Art exhibition, he visited Europe in 1935 to acquire paintings that he could include in the show. While the Nazi's notorious Degenerate Art exhibition did not happen until 1937, in 1934 Hitler had already declared that there was no place for modern art in Germany and that modern artists were "incompetents, cheats, and madmen." Barr understood the situation well enough to know that much of the modern art made and residing in Germany was now in grave danger. While in Berlin that year, he was able to smuggle several works by Malevich out of Germany, two of which he rolled up in his umbrella.
Along with Kandinsky and others, Malevich was a pioneer of abstract, non-objective art, and according to Barr's friend and colleague Phillip Johnson, "...Malevich was to [Barr]...the greatest artist of the period." The Russian Suprematists and Constructivists, in Barr's view, were doing more to advance avant-garde notions into realms of everyday life, including architecture, photography, and typography. While Barr acknowledged that Malevich was sometimes influenced by aerial photographs of the city when making his compositions, Barr focused his analysis of Malevich on his use of pure geometric forms and its influence on other abstract artists in central Europe.
Oil on canvas - The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Staatliches Bauhaus Ausstellung (1923)
For Barr, the work of the Bauhaus artists in post-World War I Germany represented a monumental step in the evolution of modern art and informed his thinking not only about MoMA's departmental organization but many of its exhibitions as well. Joost Schmidt's poster, promoting the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition in Weimar, employs an asymmetrical layout that juxtaposes geometric shapes and innovative typographies.
The diagonal thrusts and tension of Schmidt's cover design is an apt reflection of what Barr identified as the school's "gradual emancipation...from [de] Stijl domination." In other words, the Bauhaus artists were not beholden to the strict aesthetic theories espoused by the De Stijl artists of using only horizontal and vertical lines; the Bauhaus artists instead engaged in more playful and dynamic compositions. In exhibitions on Machine Art and the Bauhaus throughout the 1930s, Barr focused the "geometric beauty, kinetic rhythms, beauty of material and surface, and visual complexity and function" in his appraisals of the Bauhaus experiments of integrating fine arts and applied arts.
Lithograph - The Museum of Modern Art, New York
There's no question that Picasso was, in Barr's eyes, the great master of the 20th century, and his Guernica is largely considered to be the artist's greatest triumph and his grandest political statement. Painted in the aftermath of the destruction of the eponymous Basque town by Nazi and Italian warplanes requested by Franco, the painting brought worldwide attention to the atrocities being committed during the Spanish Civil War. Barr wrote, Picasso "used modern techniques not merely to express his mastery of form or some personal and private emotion but to proclaim publicly through his art his horror and fury over the barbarous catastrophe which had destroyed his fellow men." Barr certainly had the capacity to empathize with Picasso's fury, having witnessed the Nazis ransack museums and galleries in Stuttgart just a few years prior.
Picasso lent Guernica to MoMA on permanent loan, with the stipulation that it be returned to Spain once Generalissimo Franco was no longer in power. The painting remained at MoMA for several decades and made an important impact on the burgeoning Abstract Expressionists who imbibed all the Modern offered. After some difficulties, MoMA returned the painting to Spain in 1975, following Franco's death.
Oil on canvas - Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid
City Square (1948)
In 1936, Barr purchased an early Giacometti sculpture, making it the first of his works to enter a museum collection, and Barr continued to add Giacometti's sculptures and drawings to the collection over the years. Writing of the Dadaist and Surrealist movements of the early 20th century, which included the works of Max Ernst, Man Ray, and Alberto Giacometti, Barr stated, "They turned...to primitive art as a revelation of unspoiled group expression and to the art of the insane and of children as the uninhibited expression of the individual." Barr considered Giacometti's bronze sculptures of jagged little pedestrians (as well as the artist's earlier work) to be profound in their childlike simplicity, and in their bizarre, Surrealist-like "attempt to recapture the atmosphere of dreams." Of course, Giacometti's Surrealism and his confrontation of existential themes such as death and loneliness took on new powers after the horrors of World War II.
Works such as City Square would become important touchstones for artists in New York City who were struggling to understand and deal with "postwar man." As author Mary Gabriel explains, "Though Giacometti had not intended to make a philosophical statement, his figures were the ultimate Existential works.... No sculptor had ever portrayed humankind in such a way, and no one - sculptor or painter - had portrayed the human figure in the wake of war as honestly as he did." Barr's keen eye not only elevated the artists he chose to include in MoMA's collection, it also in some ways shaped contemporary artistic production by introducing these artists to to future young, aspiring artists.
Bronze - The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Biography of Alfred H. Barr Jr.
Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr. was born in Detroit to Alfred Hamilton Barr, Sr., a Presbyterian minister, and Annie Elizabeth Wilson, a homemaker. The family soon moved to Baltimore, Maryland where Barr spent his childhood. He was valedictorian of his high school class, graduating at the age of 16, and then went on to study at Princeton University in 1918.
Post-World War I years
After two years, he chose Art History as his major, studying with Charles Rufus Morey - an expert on early Christian iconography - and Frank Jewett Mather, who introduced the young Barr to modern art. Barr graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton in 1922, and received an M.A. the following year. After traveling in Europe in 1924, Barr enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Harvard. Between 1925 and 1928, Barr also taught art history at Princeton University and developed the first-ever course on modern art, which he began teaching at Wellesley College in 1927.
While at Harvard, Barr studied under Dr. Paul J. Sachs, the associate director of Harvard's Fogg Art Museum. Under Sachs's tutelage, Barr concentrated on connoisseurship and museum studies, and he curated the very first modern art show at the Fogg. According to his biographer Sybil Kantor, Barr's "message was clear: modern art can be approached rationally, objectively, and without hysteria or (his favorite word) prejudice." Around this time, Barr also met the architect Philip Johnson, who Barr would later appoint to direct The Museum of Modern Art's architecture department.
In 1927 and 1928, Barr traveled to Europe again to conduct something of a reconnaissance mission on modern art, collecting books, photographs, and information. His visit to the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany would be consequential for his understanding of modern art. Founded by Walter Gropius, and home to artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and the then unrecognized American artist Lyonel Feininger, the Bauhaus idea of combining fine arts, crafts, and architecture to create an integrated art would influence Barr's organization of the Museum of Modern Art and his future presentation of architecture and design. Through his travels, he acquainted himself with the art of the De Stijl group in the Netherlands and the Constructivists in Russia. Establishing connections with these avant-garde artists would prove to be consequential not only for the Museum of Modern Art but for the artists themselves who soon faced dire political regimes in the coming decade.
Early in 1929, Sachs, along with the philanthropists Abby Aldrich Rockefeller - the wife of John D. Rockefeller - Lillie P. Bliss, Mary Quinn Sullivan, art collector A. Conger Goodyear, and editor and critic Frank Crowninshield formed a committee to raise funds for a new museum devoted to modern art. On Sachs's recommendation, they chose the 27-year-old Barr as the museum's director-to-be. Barr's acceptance put his dissertation on hold, but he decided to devote his life to his new role.
Barr responded with detailed plans for a multi-departmental museum, complete with sections devoted to modern architecture, film, photography, theatrical design sets, commercial art, and industrial art. Under Barr's reign, the Museum of Modern Art would be more than a house for modern painting and sculpture, but the Museum's original founders did not share Barr's grand vision of a permanent home for modern art. Dwight Macdonald wrote in his 1953 profile of Barr for The New Yorker, "They had in mind nothing more complicated than an American version of the Luxembourg - a refuge for Modern art until it was 'ripe' enough to be accepted to our Louvre, the Metropolitan." But as far as Barr was concerned, if it was modern and culturally significant, it had a place at MoMA. MoMA continued adding to its collection of painting, sculpture, film, and design, but by the late-1940s, it had shuttered its Department of Theatre Arts for lack of a clear mission. The dance and theatre archives, consisting of photographs and ephemera, were transferred to various libraries and departments.
MoMA's first exhibition, Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, van Gogh, was dedicated to the stylistic similarities of the Post-Impressionists and opened on November 7, 1929. Here, Barr met Margaret ("Marga") Scolari-Fitzmaurice, an Irish-Italian woman who at the time was teaching Italian at Vassar College while studying art history there. The two married in 1930.
During a year-long sabbatical from the museum, Barr and his wife traveled to Germany in 1932-33 and rented a home in Stuttgart, a city known for its modern art and architecture. Adolph Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany while the Barrs were there, and the two witnessed first-hand the closing of Stuttgart's art galleries and museums by the newly-empowered Nazi party. Not long after this experience, Barr sponsored the German-Jewish art historian Erwin Panofsky to receive a full-residency professorship at New York University after the Nazis would not let him return to Hamburg.
Shocked by what they had seen, the Barrs traveled to Ascona, Switzerland and briefly took up residency there. In Switzerland, Barr wrote a series of articles about what he had witnessed in Germany. When they returned to the U.S., Barr tried to get his articles published but to no avail. Mrs. Barr once recalled, "Everybody said he was hysterical, exaggerating - it couldn't be as bad as that!" One of the articles was printed in a small magazine called Hound and Horn, but none of the other articles saw a printing press until the entire set was published in Magazine of Art in 1945.
Cubism and Abstract Art was a groundbreaking 1936 display of 400 objects that occupied all five floors of the museum, the public was given a chance to contemplate the evolution of modern European art. In his easy-to-follow prose, Barr laid out how 20th-century artists faced the problem of how to paint the external world when it had been painted and refined by centuries of previous depictions. He wrote in his introduction, "The more adventurous and original artists had grown bored with painting facts. By a common and powerful impulse they were driven to abandon the imitation of natural appearance." Beginning with Cubism, Barr charted the progression towards abstraction that spurred avant-garde artists.
The title page of the catalogue includes a list of the types of art work Barr chose: painting, sculpture, constructions, photography, architecture, industrial art, theatre, films, posters, typography. His infamous chart connecting various movements, artists, and outside influences became an important touchstone for understanding the development of modern art. Barr diagrammed chronological and stylistic influences across a large swath of European art in an attempt to create an easy-to-understand narrative. The breadth of media attests to Barr's understanding of the wide-ranging nature of modern art, and yet his insistence on charting the stylistic similarities and confluences between artists drew much ire. Art critic Meyer Schapiro charged that by concentrating on formal devices, Barr stripped modern art of its historical and cultural context. Additionally, Barr's chart of stylistic influences and borrowing has a predominant French bias, which led to the roles of German and Eastern European artists being downplayed in the development of abstraction.
Barr's next consequential exhibition, Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism, was conceived as the second part of the objective and historical presentation of modern art after the Cubism and Abstract Art show. While the main purpose was to present the historical flowering of Dada and Surrealist art, the show contained drawings by children and the mentally ill, which many of the artists had claimed as influences, but it also included objects from as early as 1450. As the press release describes, works from Leonardo da Vinci, Hieronymus Bosch, Walt Disney, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Peter Blume, and Georgia O'Keeffe all shared exhibition space.
The response by the public and the artists included was heated. In 1937, an article written for a local newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi criticized The Museum of Modern Art: "Majority opinion in America is not friendly to modernism.... Those who stand for hours in front of paintings and rapturously exclaim they are finding new and hidden meanings therein are merely fakers and flourflushers." Barr responded with a letter of his own, exclaiming that while majority opinion may not take kindly to forms of modern art, that same majority has also been hostile "to most original and radical innovations, such as automobiles or airplanes or transatlantic cables or Protestantism or the theory that the earth is round and not flat." Barr, ever the cheerleader for modern art, wanted to help the public understand.
Barr's vision of the museum was far more radical than the founding philanthropists imagined; thinking of the museum more as a laboratory, an idea, he certainly borrowed from his visit to the Bauhaus, he wanted to include wide swaths of contemporary visual culture beyond just painting and sculpture, including photography, architecture, and even theatre. Because of the Great Depression, MoMA did not start collecting on a permanent basis until the mid-1930s, but then the collection rapidly expanded.
Barr had a penchant for drawing torpedo-shaped diagrams that described the thrust and movement of modern art and, thus, how he imagined MoMA's permanent collection. In the 1941 version, the tail of the torpedo is populated with the pioneering Cézanne and other Post-Impressionists. Connected to the tail, one sees the School of Paris and the "Rest of Europe" comprising the body of the missile, while the art of the United States and Mexico, growing out from Europe, comprises the nose of the bomb. As Barr explained, "The blunt end pushes into the advanced field of art by means of the changing exhibitions. The bulk is made of 'accepted' modern art. The tail tapers off into art which has become 'classical' and is ready for the general museum. The torpedo moves forward by acquiring an d retains its length of 70 years by giving to other museums. A strong and well-proportioned permanent collection gives body to the Museum and supplies a background to any changing exhibitions." In other words, Barr thought of the "permanent" collection in a much more fluid way than one usually does; as more advanced art was "accepted" by the public, the earlier art would be distributed to other museums, presumably more august institutions like the Metropolitan Museum. Of course, that was not to be the case, as MoMA retains much of its earliest acquisitions.
As art historian Robert Storr points out, the use of a torpedo - a bomb - to express the trajectory of modern art surely had its sources in Barr's feelings of World War II. Perhaps Barr was facing the prospect in 1941 that Europe itself - along with its art - would be destroyed, and it would be left to the U.S. and Mexico to continue the push forward.
In 1943, MoMA exhibited a one-man show by a relatively unknown slipper manufacturer-cum-artist named Morris Hirshfield, who was referred to as a "primitive painter." A self-taught artist, Hirshfield's paintings were meticulously patterned, and the figures in his paintings were infamous for having two left feet. The exhibition was scorned by critics, and though Barr had little to do with the exhibition, MoMA's chairman of the board of directors, Stephen Clark, blamed Barr for the debacle. Clark and Barr clashed on nearly everything, and Barr was forced to resign as Museum Director that same year.
In the apocryphal account of Barr's forced resignation, Barr refused to leave, and instead secluded himself in the museum's library, running the day-to-day operations from behind the scenes. This story has since been confirmed as untrue. However, Barr was re-hired by the museum after a special administrative post was created for him, which came with a significant pay cut.
Since Barr had left Harvard to run the museum in 1929, he was never able to complete his Ph.D., but with the publication of his book Picasso: Fifty Years of his Art in 1946, Harvard accepted the book as Barr's dissertation and awarded him his Ph.D.
Soon after this, Barr was appointed to Director of Collections at MoMA, and moved back into his old office. He concentrated his energies on building up the museum's collection of paintings and sculptures. In 1960, the New York Times art critic John Canaday referred to Barr as "the most powerful tastemaker in American art today," a title which Barr protested as it suggested he was the dictator of the art world. He said more modestly, "The artists lead; the Museum follows, exhibiting, collecting and publishing their work. In so doing it tries to act with both wisdom and courage, but also with awareness of its own fallibility."
Barr and Abstract Expressionism
Before World War II, Barr was heavily criticized by many contemporary American artists and critics for not including in MoMA's collection much of the abstract art being produced in the very city Barr's museum called home. In 1940, the group American Abstract Artists, led by Ad Reinhardt, picketed The Museum of Modern Art and distributed a leaflet that opened with the provocation, "HOW MODERN is THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART? WHAT DOES 'MODERN' MEAN? Does it mean ALL THE GREAT ART OF ALL TIME? ... Shouldn't 'Modern' conceivably include the 'Avant-garde'?"
Indeed, Barr was initially reticent to accept works by the Abstract Expressionists, but the museum purchased Jackson Pollock's She Wolf in 1944, and a Theodoros Stamos painting was accepted as a gift in 1947. In 1948, the Museum also purchased one of Willem de Kooning's black and white abstractions. Even though Barr was MoMA's Director of Collections after the war, there is little evidence to suggest that he was personally instrumental in launching the museum's post-war favor toward Abstract Expressionism. In fact, it was MoMA curator Dorothy Miller's 15 Americans show that opened in 1952, which showcased Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, William Baziotes, and Bradley Walker Tomlin, that signaled the museum's acceptance of the so-called New York School.
While Barr did personally acquire a painting by the young, little-known Grace Hartigan, the Collections Committee's prime focus, under Barr's rule, remained with acquiring and showcasing the works of the modern masters like Picasso, Braque, Matisse and Léger.
Later Years and Death
Barr continued to organize exhibitions and write catalogs on Matisse and Picasso in his last years at the Museums, and he forged a strong relationship with the director René d'Harnoncourt, who was appointed in 1949.
Barr officially retired from the museum in 1967 and settled in his Connecticut home. He fell ill with Alzheimer's disease in 1975, and passed away in a rest home six years later in 1981.
The Legacy of Alfred H. Barr Jr.
Barr was arguably the catalyst for the American public's acceptance of and enthusiasm for modern art in the latter half of the 20th century. His work with The Museum of Modern Art helped secure modern art's place as an institution, rather than just a fleeting trend. As one friend stated at his memorial service, "He did not simply show contemporary art and earlier pioneering masters in an established museum setting. Imbued with the inventive, independent spirit of the best artists of the time, he created a new kind of museum-one with an open, adventuresome policy, which participated in the outlook and interest of the artists of our time, and in many different kinds of arts which had been ignored in the older museums."
The narrative of modern art that Barr developed has endured as the canonical version of 20th-century art. Barr's legacy at MoMA constitutes the bedrock of one of the most complete collections of modern art anywhere in the world. In an attempt to address the criticism that Barr's vision of modern art was too narrow, namely too male and too white, subsequent curators and directors recently have attempted to expand the narrative that Barr helped fashion by including more women and artists of color among the ranks of important modern artists that are exhibited in the galleries. In recent years after two expansions, some critics have argued that MoMA has lost the scholarly ambitions that were so important to Barr to focus instead on what feels like more corporate concerns of selling as many high-priced tickets as possible. Barr's ambition, though, of engaging viewers and exposing them to new art forms remains a guiding principle of MoMA.
Influences and Connections
Useful Resources on Alfred H. Barr Jr.
- Alfred H. Barr, Jr. and the Intellectual Origins of the Museum of Modern ArtBy Sybil Kantor
- Alfred H.Barr, Jr.: Missionary for the ModernBy Alice Goldfarb Marquis
- Defining Modern Art: Selected Writings of Alfred H. Barr, Jr.By Alfred Hamilton Barr, Irving Sandler, Amy Newman
- Picasso; fifty years of his art by Alfred H. Barr JrBy Alfred Hamilton Barr
- Cubism and abstract art: Painting, sculpture, constructions, photography, architecture, industrial art, theatre, films, posters, typographyBy Museum of Modern Art, Alfred Hamilton Barr
- What is Modern Painting?By Alfred Hamilton Barr
Alfred H. Barr Jr. - Mtaalamu wa sanaa na historia ya sanaa, Alfred H. Barr aliamua jinsi vizazi vya wasanii na wanahistoria wa sanaa walivyojifunza sanaa ya kisasa ya Ulaya na Amerika. Alipoteuliwa kuwa mkurugenzi wa kwanza wa Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa ya Kisasa huko New York City mnamo 1929, Barr mchanga aliendeleza sanaa ya kisasa kama vile Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Matisse na Cézanne, na kuunda canon ya sanaa ya kisasa ambayo bado inashikamana na leo, na retrospectives yake ya Van Gogh na Picasso ilisaidia kuendeleza hadithi za kisanii ambazo ziko katika mawazo ya umma hadi leo. Katika jaribio lake la kuelimisha umma juu ya sanaa ya kisasa, mbinu yake ya formalist ilikuwa juhudi ya kumsaidia mtazamaji kuona na kuelewa sanaa mpya ambayo ilizidi kupotoka kutoka kwa asili ya jadi. Utaratibu wake ulikuwa na matokeo kwa wakosoaji wa baadaye, maarufu zaidi Clement Greenberg, lakini pia alivuta ukosoaji kutoka kwa wakosoaji wenye akili zaidi ya kijamii. Ni katika miaka ya hivi karibuni tu kwamba Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa ya Kisasa limekuja kurudi kwenye mpango wa Barr, kupanua na kuchanganya maono ya awali ya Barr. Wakati Barr alikuwa na nia ya baadhi ya sanaa ya juu zaidi ya karne ya 20, mafunzo yake ya kihistoria ya sanaa ya jadi zaidi ilimwongoza kuunda sanaa mpya, kama vile wanahistoria wa sanaa walikuwa wamefanya daima. Alitaka Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa ya Kisasa, mojawapo ya makumbusho ya kwanza ya sanaa ya kisasa, kuwa mahali pa elimu, ambako lengo kuu halikuwa lazima kuwa kugundua mpya bali kuainisha ya zamani. Yeye alikuwa na mwelekeo wa makundi enzi na harakati ya historia ya sanaa katika shule ya mawazo na mbinu, au kile kawaida huitwa -isms, yaani. Expressionism, Cubism, nk, Mpangilio wake wa maendeleo ya sanaa ya kisasa kutoka "-ism" hadi "-ism" bado unatawala leo. - Njia ya Barr ya kubuni maonyesho ilikuwa ya mapinduzi kabisa. Barr alijitahidi kufanya sanaa ya kisasa iweze kupatikana na muhimu kwa watazamaji mbalimbali ambao hawakuwa wamezoea sanaa ya kimapinduzi ambayo iligeuka mbali na asili ya jadi. Akidhani jumba la makumbusho kama maabara, Barr alitumia mbinu za ubunifu za ufundishaji kutengeneza lebo za ukuta na mitambo. Alitegemea maswali ya kuongoza, kulinganisha, na hata ucheshi ili kuvutia wasikilizaji. - Ingawa mtindo wa Barr unaonekana kuwa wenye vizuizi na hata wa kitamaduni, alikuwa na maoni ya kina kuhusu kile kilichofanyiza sanaa ya kisasa. Alipoathiriwa na Bauhaus na Warsha za Constructivist huko Urusi, Barr alielewa sanaa ya kisasa kujumuisha sio uchoraji na sanamu tu bali pia sanaa ya kutumika, muundo, usanifu, filamu, upigaji picha, na ukumbi wa michezo. Barr alitaka kuunda nyumba ya kudumu kwa wasanii wakubwa wa kisasa duniani, wazo lenye utata mwanzoni mwa karne ya 20, wakati sanaa ya kisasa ilijulikana kwa asili yake inayobadilika daima. Kwa maana hiyo, "jumba la makumbusho la sanaa ya kisasa" lilionekana kuwa jambo lisiloeleweka. Wakati mkusanyiko wa kudumu haukuwahi kufanana na mlango wa kuzunguka, Barr alijitolea kutumia makumbusho kama maabara ya kuelimisha na kuvutia watazamaji, kuleta sanaa ya kisasa kwa watazamaji pana. "Alfred H. Barr Jr. na ""Wafanisi na Kazi za Sanaa muhimu: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"" (1937), mchoro wa Picasso ""Demoiselles d'Avignon"" ulipatikana na kuonyeshwa kwa mara ya kwanza mnamo 1939 na ufunguzi wa jengo lake jipya." "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka wa 1939, Barr aliandika: ""Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon ni moja ya michoro michache sana katika historia ya sanaa ya kisasa ambayo inaweza haki kuitwa epoch-making.""" "Hata hivyo, si kwa sababu ya umuhimu wake wa kihistoria kwamba Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa ya Kisasa limepata picha hii ya ajabu, kwa kuwa kama kazi ya sanaa, ""Demoiselles d'Avignon"" bado ni moja ya mafanikio makubwa zaidi ya Picasso." "Kama kazi ya mpito kati ya Picasso ya ""Blue na Rose"" na ""Revolutionary Cubist"" michoro yake, Barr anataja Picasso ya ""assertive genius"" katika kufanya mchoro huu na nafasi yake kama moja ya michoro muhimu zaidi ya karne ya 20." Picasso aliwahi kuigiza picha hiyo katika studio yake na ilionyeshwa mwaka 1916, lakini bado haijulikani hadi MoMA ilipoinunua. Watu hawakupendezwa na jambo hilo na walianza kutilia shaka jambo hilo. Kama vile mchambuzi mmoja wa New York Times alivyosema, "Mtu wa kawaida hawezi kuona maana yoyote katika kazi ya Picasso. "Ni lazima kuwe na ujanja fulani ikiwa wakusanyaji wako tayari kulipa maelfu ya dola kwa mojawapo ya michoro hiyo yenye madoa.""" Hata hivyo, Barr alijitahidi kuwaelimisha wasikilizaji wa jumba hilo la makumbusho ili kuwasaidia kuthamini kazi hiyo muhimu. Mafuta kwenye canvas - The Red Studio (1911) - Matisse's The Red Studio iliingia mkusanyiko wa MoMA mnamo 1949. Barr aliandika juu ya Matisse mnamo 1931 kwa kushirikiana na maonyesho katika Jumba la Makumbusho, lakini ilikuwa utafiti wake wa 1951 wa Matisse ambao haukuimarisha tu sifa ya Matisse, lakini pia ulifanya mafanikio makubwa ya historia ya sanaa. "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka wa 1900, John Elderfield, msimamizi wa Jumba la Makumbusho la Marekani, aliandika: ""Makumbusho ya Barr yalileta silaha kubwa za elimu ya taasisi za Amerika Kaskazini - kwa upatikanaji wake wa pekee kwa wasanii, kumbukumbu, maonyesho ya sanaa, wakusanyaji, na timu za watafiti - kushughulikia mada ya kisasa kwa mara ya kwanza, kwa athari ya kutisha sana ambayo inaendelea kusikika zaidi ya nusu karne baadaye." Utafiti wa Barr ulitoa muhtasari sio tu wa kazi nzima ya Matisse lakini pia mapokezi yake ya ukosoaji na kuongeza nyaraka zisizojulikana hapo awali kwa hadithi ya Matisse. Kwa kuanzisha utafiti wake katika utafiti wa kina badala ya maoni yasiyo na msingi, Barr alitoa kitabu cha historia ya sanaa, mbinu ya sanaa ya kisasa ambayo haijawahi kufanywa hapo awali. Wakati Barr's kusoma Matisse maendeleo zaidi ya miongo kadhaa, yeye aliona maendeleo Matisse katika mizunguko, kuanzia na mpangilio mpangilio mwishoni mwa karne ya 19, kusonga katika zaidi animated Impressionist compositions, na kisha nyuma ya mpangilio zaidi muundo. "Barr alibadilisha kidogo mpango huu, lakini kama Elderfield anasema, ""tamaa ya Barr ya over-classify alifanya obscure wakati mwingine, na tamaa yake ya kukabiliana na maarufu, mwanga Matisse kwa kusisitiza msanii wake favorite austere aliunda muda usiowezekana mapema giza na disconnected michoro ya Vita ya Kwanza ya Dunia kutoka kwa uzalishaji wake wa awali kama vile, zaidi busara, mafanikio." Matisse aliingia katika msamiati wa kisasa pamoja na Picasso, na mifano mingi ya kazi yake katika mkusanyiko wa MoMA ingekuwa muhimu kwa vijana, kuendeleza Abstract Expressionists kama Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, na Elaine de Kooning. Mafuta juu ya canvas - Makumbusho ya Sanaa ya Kisasa, New York Improvisation no. "Barr aliandika ""Kandinsky"" katika kitabu chake cha ""Catalog Essay"" cha 1913 kwa ajili ya maonyesho ya ""Cubism and Abstract Art.""" Yeye anamweka kama amejifunza masomo ya Matisse na Gauguin na kisha kama kuwazidi katika utafutaji wake wa abstraction. "Mchoro huo ulisema kwamba ""mawazo ya msanii huyo ya sanaa yalikuwa ya kichawi, yakitegemea ufahamu wa mambo ya kiroho katika vitu vya kimwili, na kueleza hisia hizo kupitia rangi.""" Barr alifunua kwamba maandishi mengi ya Kandinsky yaliyobuniwa bila mpango yalikuwa maonyesho ya akili ambayo haikujua njia nyingine ya kujieleza. Ingawa Kandinsky alikusudia Improvisations na Compositions zake kuwa kazi safi za abstract, picha zinazotambuliwa zinaibuka. Katika kesi hii ya Improvisation hakuna. "30 ""Mtu anaona makombora mawili katika kona ya chini ya kulia." Kandinsky alikiri kuwapo kwao lakini alisisitiza kwamba walifika huko bila kujua. Kwa sababu hii, Barr anataja Kandinsky akitangulia Surrealists wa baadaye ambao wangekumbatia hali ya chini katika mchakato wao wa kuchora moja kwa moja. Katika kuandika kuhusu Kandinsky, mtu anahisi upendeleo wa Barr kuelekea sanaa ya Kifaransa. "Barr alisema kuwa ""picha za hivi karibuni za Kandinsky zilikuwa na umbo la kijiometri, lakini katika miaka michache iliyopita amegeuka kuwa aina ya kikaboni, labda chini ya ushawishi wa vijana wa Paris, Miró na Arp, ambao aliwaonyesha njia miaka ishirini iliyopita.""" Katika kipindi hiki, Kandinsky alishindwa kuanzisha kazi zake za kisanii, na baada ya kuanzisha kazi za Matisse na Gauguin, Miró na Arp walimweleza njia ya kurudi. Mafuta kwenye canvas - Taasisi ya Sanaa ya Chicago Realism ya Picha ya Mvulana na Knapsack - Rangi ya Wingi katika Dimension ya Nne (1915) Wakati Barr alikuwa akipanga maonyesho yake ya Kubism na Sanaa ya Abstract, alitembelea Ulaya mnamo 1935 kupata michoro ambayo angeweza kujumuisha kwenye maonyesho. "Hata hivyo, Hitler alitangaza kwamba ""hakuna nafasi kwa sanaa ya kisasa nchini Ujerumani"" na kwamba wasanii wa kisasa ni ""wasio na uwezo, wadanganyifu, na wazimu.""" Barr alielewa hali hiyo vizuri vya kutosha kujua kwamba sanaa nyingi za kisasa zilizotengenezwa na kuishi Ujerumani sasa zilikuwa katika hatari kubwa. Alipokuwa Berlin mwaka huo, aliweza kusafirisha kazi kadhaa za Malevich nje ya Ujerumani, mbili ambazo aliweka kwenye mwavuli wake. Pamoja na Kandinsky na wengine, Malevich alikuwa waanzilishi wa sanaa isiyo ya kawaida, isiyo ya lengo, na kulingana na rafiki na mwenzake wa Barr Phillip Johnson, "... Malevich alikuwa kwa [Barr]... msanii mkubwa wa kipindi hicho". Kulingana na Barr, waumini wa Suprematist na Constructivist wa Urusi walikuwa wakifanya mengi ili kuendeleza mawazo ya avant-garde katika maeneo ya maisha ya kila siku, kutia ndani usanifu, upigaji picha, na uchapaji. Wakati Barr alikiri kwamba Malevich wakati mwingine aliathiriwa na picha za angani za jiji wakati wa kufanya nyimbo zake, Barr alizingatia uchambuzi wake wa Malevich juu ya matumizi yake ya fomu safi za kijiometri na ushawishi wake kwa wasanii wengine wa abstract katika Ulaya ya kati. Mafuta kwenye canvas - Makumbusho ya Sanaa ya Kisasa, New York, 1923 - Kwa Barr, kazi ya wasanii wa Bauhaus katika Ujerumani baada ya Vita Kuu ya Kwanza ya Dunia iliwakilisha hatua kubwa katika mageuzi ya sanaa ya kisasa na ilijulisha mawazo yake sio tu juu ya shirika la idara ya MoMA, lakini pia maonyesho yake mengi. "Poster ya Joost Schmidt, inayoendeleza maonyesho ya Bauhaus ya 1923 huko Weimar, inatumika mpangilio wa asymmetrical ambao unaunganisha maumbo ya kijiometri na typographies za ubunifu. """ Mshtuko wa mstatili na mvutano wa muundo wa kifuniko cha Schmidt ni tafakari sahihi ya kile Barr alijua kama shule ya "kuachiliwa hatua kwa hatua... kutoka kwa utawala wa Stijl". Kwa maneno mengine, wasanii wa Bauhaus hawakuwa na dhamira ya dhana kali za urembo zilizotumiwa na wasanii wa De Stijl za kutumia mistari ya usawa na wima tu; wasanii wa Bauhaus badala yake walijihusisha na nyimbo za kuchezea na zenye nguvu. Katika maonyesho juu ya sanaa ya mashine na Bauhaus katika miaka ya 1930, Barr alizingatia "urembo wa kijiometri, rhythms kinetic, urembo wa nyenzo na uso, na utata wa kuona na kazi" katika tathmini zake za majaribio ya Bauhaus ya kuunganisha sanaa nzuri na sanaa za kutumika. "Picasso, ambaye ni msanii wa sanaa ya kisasa, aliandika ""Mwanzoni mwa karne ya 20,"" na ""Guernica"" ni ""mafanikio makubwa ya msanii na taarifa yake kubwa ya kisiasa.""" Picha hiyo ilichorwa baada ya mji wa Basque kuharibiwa na ndege za kivita za Nazi na Italia kwa ombi la Franco, na ilileta tahadhari ulimwenguni kote kwa ukatili uliokuwa ukifanywa wakati wa Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe vya Uhispania. "Picasso aliandika hivi: ""Picasso alitumia mbinu za kisasa si tu kuelezea ustadi wake wa fomu au hisia fulani za kibinafsi na za kibinafsi, bali kutangaza hadharani kupitia sanaa yake hofu na hasira yake juu ya msiba wa kikatili ambao ulikuwa umeharibu wenzake.""" "Barr alikuwa na uwezo wa kuelewana na hasira ya Picasso, baada ya kuwaona Wanazi wakipora makumbusho na maonyesho ya sanaa huko Stuttgart miaka michache tu kabla ya hapo.""" Picasso alitoa Guernica kwa MoMA kwa mkopo wa kudumu, na masharti kwamba itarudishwa kwa Hispania mara moja Generalissimo Franco hakuwa tena madarakani. Mchoro huo ulibaki katika MoMA kwa miongo kadhaa na ulifanya athari muhimu kwa Abstract Expressionists waliopanda ambao walichukua yote ya kisasa iliyotolewa. Baada ya matatizo kadhaa, MoMA ilirudisha mchoro huo Hispania mwaka 1975, baada ya kifo cha Franco. Mafuta kwenye canvas - Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid "Kuhusu Dada na Surrealism, pamoja na kazi za Max Ernst, Man Ray, na Alberto Giacometti, Barr alisema, ""Walielekeza... kwa sanaa ya awali kama ufunuo wa usemi wa kikundi cha watu wasio na maadili na kwa sanaa ya watu wazimu na watoto kama usemi wa mtu binafsi.""" "Barr aliona sanamu za Giacometti za shaba za watembea kwa miguu wadogo (kama vile kazi ya awali ya msanii) kuwa za kina katika unyenyekevu wao wa utotoni, na katika ""jaribio la kushangaza la kurudisha hali ya ndoto.""" Kwa kweli, surrealism ya Giacometti na mapambano yake ya mada za kuwepo kama vile kifo na upweke ilipata nguvu mpya baada ya vitisho vya Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu. "Kama vile City Square, ilikuwa ni ""mfano wa sanaa"" kwa wasanii wa New York ambao walikuwa wakijitahidi kuelewa na kushughulika na ""mtu wa baada ya vita.""" "Mwandishi Mary Gabriel aliandika: ""Japo Giacometti hakuwa na nia ya kutoa taarifa ya kifalsafa, sanamu zake zilikuwa kazi za mwisho za Kipofu... Hakuna mchongaji aliyewahi kuigiza ubinadamu kwa njia hiyo, na hakuna mtu - mchongaji au mchoraji - aliyewahi kuigiza sura ya binadamu baada ya vita kwa uaminifu kama alivyoufanya." Macho ya Barr hayakuinua tu wasanii aliochagua kujumuisha katika mkusanyiko wa MoMA, lakini pia kwa njia fulani iliunda uzalishaji wa kisasa wa kisasa kwa kuanzisha wasanii hawa kwa wasanii wachanga wa baadaye. Alfred Hamilton Barr Jr. alizaliwa Detroit kwa Alfred Hamilton Barr, Sr., mhudumu wa Presbyterian, na Annie Elizabeth Wilson, mama wa nyumbani. Familia hivi karibuni wakiongozwa na Baltimore, Maryland ambapo Barr alitumia utoto wake. Alipata shahada ya kwanza ya chuo kikuu akiwa na umri wa miaka 16 na baadaye akajiunga na Chuo Kikuu cha Princeton. Baada ya miaka miwili, alichagua Historia ya Sanaa kama mkuu wake, akisoma na Charles Rufus Morey - mtaalamu wa iconography ya Kikristo ya mapema - na Frank Jewett Mather, ambaye alianzisha Barr mchanga kwa sanaa ya kisasa. Alihitimu kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Princeton mwaka 1922 na kupata shahada ya uzamili. mwaka uliofuata. Baada ya kusafiri Ulaya mwaka 1924, Barr alijiandikisha katika programu ya Ph.D. katika Chuo Kikuu cha Harvard. Kati ya 1925 na 1928, Barr pia alifundisha historia ya sanaa katika Chuo Kikuu cha Princeton na kuendeleza kozi ya kwanza juu ya sanaa ya kisasa, ambayo alianza kufundisha katika Chuo cha Wellesley. Alipokuwa Harvard, Barr alisoma chini ya Daktari Paul J. Sachs, mkurugenzi msaidizi wa Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa la Fogg la Harvard. Chini ya uangalizi wa Sachs, Barr alizingatia elimu ya makumbusho na masomo ya makumbusho, na aliandaa maonyesho ya kwanza ya sanaa ya kisasa huko Fogg. Kulingana na mwandishi wake wa wasifu Sybil Kantor, "ujumbe wa Barr ulikuwa wazi: sanaa ya kisasa inaweza kukaribia kwa busara, kwa usawaziko, na bila hysteria au (neno lake la kupenda) ubaguzi". Wakati huo huo, Barr pia alikutana na mbuni Philip Johnson, ambaye Barr baadaye angemteua kuongoza idara ya usanifu wa Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa ya Kisasa. Katika mwaka wa 1927 na 1928, Barr alisafiri tena Ulaya kufanya kazi ya upelelezi juu ya sanaa ya kisasa, kukusanya vitabu, picha, na habari. Ziara yake ya Bauhaus katika Dessau, Ujerumani ingekuwa na matokeo kwa uelewa wake wa sanaa ya kisasa. Kuanzishwa na Walter Gropius, na nyumbani kwa wasanii kama vile Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, na msanii wa Marekani Lyonel Feininger, wazo la Bauhaus la kuchanganya sanaa nzuri, ufundi, na usanifu ili kuunda sanaa ya pamoja, lingekuwa na ushawishi juu ya shirika la Barr la Makumbusho ya Sanaa ya Kisasa na uwasilishaji wake wa baadaye wa usanifu na kubuni. Kupitia safari zake, alijifunza sanaa ya kikundi cha De Stijl nchini Uholanzi na Constructivists nchini Urusi. Kuanzisha uhusiano na wasanii hawa wa avant-garde ingekuwa na matokeo sio tu kwa Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa ya Kisasa lakini kwa wasanii wenyewe ambao hivi karibuni walikabiliwa na serikali mbaya za kisiasa katika muongo ujao. Mwanzoni mwa mwaka 1929, Sachs, pamoja na Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, mke wa John D. Rockefeller, Lillie P. Bliss, Mary Quinn Sullivan, mkusanyaji wa sanaa A. Conger Goodyear, na mhariri na mkosoaji Frank Crowninshield, waliunda kamati ya kukusanya fedha kwa ajili ya makumbusho mapya ya sanaa ya kisasa. Kwa mapendekezo ya Sachs, Barr, mwenye umri wa miaka 27, alichaguliwa kuwa mkurugenzi wa baadaye wa jumba hilo la makumbusho. Kukubaliwa kwa Barr kulifanya dissertation yake iwekwe kando, lakini aliamua kujitolea maisha yake kwa jukumu lake jipya. Barr alijibu kwa mipango ya kina ya jumba la makumbusho la idara nyingi, kamili na sehemu zilizowekwa kwa usanifu wa kisasa, filamu, upigaji picha, seti za muundo wa ukumbi wa michezo, sanaa ya kibiashara, na sanaa ya viwanda. Wakati wa utawala wa Barr, Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa ya Kisasa lingekuwa zaidi ya nyumba ya uchoraji na sanamu za kisasa, lakini waanzilishi wa awali wa Jumba la Makumbusho hawakushiriki maono makubwa ya Barr ya nyumba ya kudumu ya sanaa ya kisasa. "Wikipedia inaelezea jinsi kazi ya Barr ya kuunda ""Luxembourg"" ilivyopatikana katika makumbusho ya kisasa ya Louvre, na inaelezea jinsi ilivyopatikana katika makumbusho ya kisasa ya Louvre." Lakini kwa kadiri Barr alivyokuwa na wasiwasi, ikiwa ilikuwa ya kisasa na ya kitamaduni muhimu, ilikuwa na mahali katika MoMA. MoMA iliendelea kuongeza mkusanyiko wake wa uchoraji, sanamu, filamu, na muundo, lakini mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1940 ilikuwa imefunga Idara yake ya Sanaa ya Theatre kwa ukosefu wa utume wazi. Hifadhi za dansi na ukumbi wa michezo, zilizo na picha na ephemera, zilihamishwa kwa maktaba na idara mbalimbali. Maonyesho ya kwanza ya MoMA, Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh, ilijitolea kwa kufanana kwa mtindo wa Post-Impressionists na kufunguliwa mnamo Novemba 7, 1929. Katika mwaka wa 1920, Barr alikutana na Margaret Scolari-Fitzmaurice, mwanamke wa Ireland na Italia ambaye wakati huo alikuwa akifundisha Kiitaliano katika Chuo cha Vassar wakati akisoma historia ya sanaa huko. Walifunga ndoa mwaka 1930. Baada ya kuachana na kazi ya makumbusho kwa mwaka mmoja, Barr na mke wake walisafiri kwenda Ujerumani mwaka wa 1932-33 na kukodisha nyumba huko Stuttgart, jiji linalojulikana kwa sanaa na usanifu wake wa kisasa. Adolf Hitler alichaguliwa kuwa Kansela wa Ujerumani wakati Barrs walikuwa huko, na wawili hao walishuhudia kwa mara ya kwanza kufungwa kwa nyumba za sanaa na makumbusho ya Stuttgart na chama kipya cha Nazi. Baada ya miaka kadhaa, Barr alimfadhili mwanahistoria wa sanaa wa Kijerumani Erwin Panofsky kupokea profesa wa makazi kamili katika Chuo Kikuu cha New York baada ya Wanazi kumruhusu kurudi Hamburg. Wakiwa wameshangazwa na yale waliyoona, familia ya Barr ilisafiri hadi Ascona, Uswisi, na kuishi huko kwa muda mfupi. Alipokuwa Uswisi, Barr aliandika mfululizo wa makala kuhusu mambo aliyokuwa ameona nchini Ujerumani. Baada ya kurudi Marekani, Barr alijaribu kuchapisha makala zake lakini hakupata mafanikio. Bi. Barr wakati mmoja alikumbuka, "Kila mtu alisema alikuwa na kichefuchefu, akizidisha - haingeweza kuwa mbaya kama hiyo!" "Mchoro huo ulichapishwa katika gazeti la ""Hound and Horn"" na ""The New York Times"" na haukuchapishwa hadi mwaka 1945." Kubism na Sanaa Abstract ni maonyesho ya 1936 ya vitu 400 ambavyo vilitumiwa katika ghorofa zote tano za jumba la makumbusho, na umma ulipewa nafasi ya kutafakari mageuzi ya sanaa ya kisasa ya Ulaya. Katika maandishi yake rahisi ya kufuata, Barr alielezea jinsi wasanii wa karne ya 20 walivyokabiliwa na tatizo la jinsi ya kupaka rangi ulimwengu wa nje wakati ulikuwa umepakwa rangi na kusafishwa na karne za picha za awali. Aliandika katika utangulizi wake, "Wafanisi wenye ujasiri zaidi na wa awali walikuwa wamechoka kuchora mambo ya hakika. Kwa msukumo wa kawaida na wenye nguvu walichochewa kuacha kuiga sura ya asili". Kuanzia na Cubism, Barr charted maendeleo kuelekea abstraction kwamba spurred wasanii avant-garde. Ukurasa wa kichwa cha orodha ni pamoja na orodha ya aina ya kazi ya sanaa Barr alichagua: uchoraji, sanamu, ujenzi, upigaji picha, usanifu, sanaa ya viwanda, ukumbi wa michezo, filamu, mabango, typography. Chati yake maarufu iliyounganisha harakati mbalimbali, wasanii, na uvutano wa nje ikawa jiwe muhimu la mtihani kwa ajili ya kuelewa maendeleo ya sanaa ya kisasa. Barr aliweka chati ya ushawishi wa muda na mtindo katika sehemu kubwa ya sanaa ya Ulaya katika jaribio la kuunda hadithi rahisi kuelewa. Upana wa vyombo vya habari unathibitisha uelewa wa Barr wa asili ya sanaa ya kisasa, na bado kusisitiza kwake kuorodhesha kufanana kwa mtindo na kuungana kati ya wasanii kulivutia hasira nyingi. Mchambuzi wa sanaa Meyer Schapiro alidai kwamba kwa kuzingatia vifaa vya rasmi, Barr aliondoa sanaa ya kisasa ya muktadha wake wa kihistoria na kitamaduni. Kwa kuongezea, chati ya Barr ya ushawishi wa mtindo na kukopa ina upendeleo wa Kifaransa, ambao ulisababisha majukumu ya wasanii wa Ujerumani na Ulaya Mashariki kupunguzwa katika maendeleo ya abstraction. Maonyesho ya Barr ya Fantastic Art, Dada na Surrealism, ilifanywa kama sehemu ya pili ya uwasilishaji wa kipekee na kihistoria wa sanaa ya kisasa baada ya maonyesho ya Cubism na Abstract Art. Wakati lengo kuu lilikuwa kuwasilisha maua ya kihistoria ya Dada na sanaa ya Surrealist, maonyesho hayo yalikuwa na michoro ya watoto na wagonjwa wa akili, ambayo wasanii wengi walidai kuwa na ushawishi, lakini pia ilijumuisha vitu kutoka mapema kama 1450. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika taarifa ya vyombo vya habari, kazi kutoka Leonardo da Vinci, Hieronymus Bosch, Walt Disney, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Peter Blum, na Georgia O'Keeffe wote walishiriki nafasi ya maonyesho. """ Jibu kutoka kwa umma na wasanii waliohusishwa lilikuwa la moto. "Katika makala iliyoandikwa kwa ajili ya gazeti la Jackson, Mississippi, gazeti la The Museum of Modern Art lilisema hivi: ""Watu wengi nchini Marekani hawapendi sanaa ya kisasa... wale wanaosimama kwa saa nyingi mbele ya michoro na kusema kwa furaha kwamba wanapata maana mpya na iliyofichwa ndani yake ni waongofu na wavuvi." "Barr aliandika barua yake mwenyewe, akisema kwamba ingawa maoni ya wengi huenda yasikubali aina za sanaa za kisasa, wengi hao pia wamekuwa wenye uhasama ""kwa uvumbuzi wa awali na wa kimapinduzi, kama vile magari au ndege au nyaya za kuvuka Atlantiki au Uprotestanti au nadharia ya kwamba dunia ni mviringo na si tambarare.""" Barr, ambaye sikuzote alikuwa mchochezi wa sanaa ya kisasa, alitaka kusaidia umma kuelewa. Maono ya Barr ya makumbusho yalikuwa ya kimapinduzi zaidi kuliko walivyofikiria wafadhili wa mwanzilishi; akifikiria makumbusho kama maabara, wazo ambalo kwa hakika alilipokea kutoka kwa ziara yake ya Bauhaus, alitaka kujumuisha sehemu kubwa za utamaduni wa kisasa wa kuona zaidi ya uchoraji na sanamu, pamoja na upigaji picha, usanifu, na hata ukumbi wa michezo. Kwa sababu ya Mshuko Mkubwa wa Kiuchumi, MoMA haikuanza kukusanya kwa msingi wa kudumu hadi katikati ya miaka ya 1930, lakini kisha mkusanyiko ulipanuka haraka. Barr alikuwa na shauku ya kuchora michoro ya torpedo ambayo ilielezea msukumo na harakati ya sanaa ya kisasa na, kwa hivyo, jinsi alivyotarajia mkusanyiko wa kudumu wa MoMA. Katika picha ya pili ya torpedo, picha ya Cézanne na picha nyingine za Post-Impressionist. "Kujumuisha kwa mkia, mtu anaona ""Shule ya Paris"" na ""Nchi nyingine za Ulaya"" zinazounda mwili wa kombora, wakati sanaa ya Marekani na Mexico, ikikua kutoka Ulaya, inaunda pua ya bomu." Kama Barr alivyoeleza, "Mwisho blunt kushinikiza katika uwanja wa juu wa sanaa kwa njia ya maonyesho kubadilisha. Sehemu kubwa imetengenezwa kwa sanaa ya kisasa 'iliyokubaliwa.' Mkia hupungua kuwa sanaa ambayo imekuwa 'ya kawaida' na iko tayari kwa makumbusho ya jumla. Torpedo ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani ya zamani. Mkusanyiko wa kudumu wenye nguvu na wenye usawa hutoa mwili kwa Jumba la Makumbusho na hutoa mandhari kwa maonyesho yoyote yanayobadilika". Kwa maneno mengine, Barr alifikiri juu ya mkusanyiko wa kudumu kwa njia ya mtiririko zaidi kuliko kawaida; kama sanaa ya hali ya juu zaidi ilikubaliwa na umma, sanaa ya mapema itagawanywa kwa makumbusho mengine, labda taasisi za heshima zaidi kama Jumba la Makumbusho la Metropolitan. Bila shaka, hilo halikuwa jambo la kweli, kwa kuwa MoMA ina sehemu kubwa ya vitu vilivyopatikana mapema zaidi. "Kama mwanahistoria wa sanaa Robert Storr anavyosema, ""kutumia torpedo - bomu - kuelezea mwendo wa sanaa ya kisasa kwa hakika kulikuwa na vyanzo vyake katika hisia za Barr za Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu.""" "Mwanzoni mwa 1941, Barr aliona kwamba ""Ulaya yenyewe, pamoja na sanaa yake, ingeharibiwa, na Marekani na Mexico ingeendelea kusukuma mbele.""" "Mwaka 1943, MoMA ilionyesha maonyesho ya mtu mmoja na mtengenezaji wa viatu asiyejulikana, Morris Hirschfield, ambaye aliitwa ""mchoraji wa awali.""" Hirschfield alikuwa msanii wa kujifunza, na picha zake zilikuwa na michoro ya kawaida, na watu waliotajwa katika michoro yake walikuwa na miguu miwili ya kushoto. Maonyesho hayo yalichambuliwa na wakosoaji, na ingawa Barr hakuwa na uhusiano wowote na maonyesho hayo, mwenyekiti wa bodi ya wakurugenzi wa MoMA, Stephen Clark, alimlaumu Barr kwa kushindwa. Clark na Barr waligombana karibu juu ya kila kitu, na Barr alilazimika kujiuzulu kama Mkurugenzi wa Jumba la Makumbusho mwaka huo huo. Katika akaunti ya apocryphal ya kujiuzulu kulazimishwa Barr, Barr alikataa kuondoka, na badala yake kujitenga mwenyewe katika maktaba ya makumbusho, kuendesha shughuli za kila siku kutoka nyuma ya pazia. Tangu wakati huo hadithi hiyo imethibitishwa kuwa si ya kweli. Hata hivyo, Barr alirudishwa kazi na jumba hilo la makumbusho baada ya nafasi maalum ya kiutawala kuundwa kwa ajili yake, ambayo ilikuja na kupunguzwa kwa kiasi kikubwa cha mshahara. "Barr aliondoka Harvard mwaka 1929 na kuanzisha makumbusho ya sanaa, lakini baada ya kuchapishwa kwa kitabu chake ""Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art"" mwaka 1946, chuo kikuu cha Harvard kilikubali kitabu hicho kama thesis ya Barr na kumpa shahada ya PhD." Muda mfupi baada ya hapo, Barr aliteuliwa kuwa Mkurugenzi wa Makusanyo katika MoMA, na akarudi katika ofisi yake ya zamani. Alikazia fikira kujenga mkusanyiko wa michoro na sanamu za jumba hilo la makumbusho. "Mwaka wa 1960, John Canaday, mkosoaji wa sanaa wa New York Times, alimwita Barr ""mwenye nguvu zaidi katika sanaa ya Marekani leo,"" jina ambalo Barr alipinga kwa sababu lilidokeza kwamba alikuwa dikteta wa ulimwengu wa sanaa." "Mwanzoni, alisema, ""Wafanisi huongoza; Makumbusho hufuata, kuonyesha, kukusanya na kuchapisha kazi zao.""" Kwa kufanya hivyo, inajaribu kutenda kwa hekima na ujasiri, lakini pia kwa ufahamu wa kutokosea kwake mwenyewe". "Barr na Abstract Expressionism: ""Kabla ya Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia, Barr alishutumiwa sana na wasanii wengi wa kisasa wa Marekani na wakosoaji kwa kutojumuisha katika mkusanyiko wa MoMA mengi ya sanaa ya abstract inayozalishwa katika makumbusho ya Barr." "Mwaka wa 1940, kikundi cha American Abstract Artists, kilichoongozwa na Ad Reinhardt, kilipiga marufuku maonyesho ya sanaa ya kisasa na kusambaza karatasi iliyoanza na mchochoyo, ""MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IS HOW MODERN?""" 'Kisasa' Humaanisha Nini? Je, hilo lamaanisha Ufundi Wote Mkubwa Zaidi wa Nyakati Zote? ... Je, 'Sasa' haipaswi kutia ndani 'Vanguard'?" "Barr alikataa kuwakaribisha wasanii wa Abstract Expressionists, lakini jumba la makumbusho lilinunua ""She Wolf"" ya Jackson Pollock mnamo 1944 na picha ya Theodoros Stamos ilipokelewa kama zawadi mnamo 1947." Mwaka 1948 makumbusho ya Willem de Kooning yalianza kuhifadhi picha zake za rangi nyeusi na nyeupe. Ingawa Barr alikuwa Mkurugenzi wa Makusanyo ya MoMA baada ya vita, kuna ushahidi mdogo wa kupendekeza kwamba alikuwa binafsi muhimu katika kuzindua baada ya vita ya makumbusho neema kuelekea Abstract Expressionism. "Mwaka 1952 mkurugenzi wa makumbusho ya Marekani Dorothy Miller alionyesha ""Wamarekani 15"" na alionyesha Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, William Baziotz, na Bradley Walker Tomlin, na hivyo kuashiria kukubaliwa kwa makumbusho ya ""Shule ya New York.""" Wakati Barr mwenyewe alipata mchoro wa Grace Hartigan, kamati ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo ya makusanyo. Katika miaka yake ya mwisho katika Makumbusho, Barr aliendelea kuandaa maonyesho na kuandika orodha za Matisse na Picasso, na aliunda uhusiano mkubwa na mkurugenzi René d'Harnandcourt, ambaye aliteuliwa mnamo 1949. Barr alijiuzulu rasmi kutoka jumba hilo la makumbusho mwaka 1967 na kuishi katika nyumba yake ya Connecticut. Alipatwa na ugonjwa wa Alzheimer mnamo 1975 na akafa katika nyumba ya kupumzikia miaka sita baadaye mnamo 1981. The Legacy of Alfred H. Barr Jr. ni kitabu cha kisasa cha sanaa ya kisasa kilichochapishwa na Alfred H. Barr Jr. na kilichochapishwa na Alfred H. Barr Jr. katika mwaka wa 1920. Kazi yake na Makumbusho ya Sanaa ya Kisasa ilisaidia kuhakikisha mahali pa sanaa ya kisasa kama taasisi, badala ya mwenendo wa muda mfupi tu. "Mmoja wa marafiki wake alisema hivi wakati wa ibada ya ukumbusho: ""Hakuonyesha tu sanaa ya kisasa na wasanii wa zamani katika jumba la makumbusho." Akiwa na roho ya ubunifu na kujitegemea ya wasanii bora wa wakati huo, aliunda aina mpya ya makumbusho - moja yenye sera ya wazi, ya kujihusisha, ambayo ilishiriki katika mtazamo na maslahi ya wasanii wa wakati wetu, na katika aina nyingi tofauti za sanaa ambazo zilikuwa zimepuuzwa katika makumbusho ya zamani. Maelezo ya sanaa ya kisasa ambayo Barr aliendeleza yamedumu kama toleo la kawaida la sanaa ya karne ya 20. Urithi wa Barr katika MoMA ni msingi wa moja ya makusanyo kamili zaidi ya sanaa ya kisasa mahali popote ulimwenguni. Katika jaribio la kushughulikia ukosoaji kwamba maono ya Barr ya sanaa ya kisasa yalikuwa nyembamba sana, yaani, ya kiume sana na nyeupe sana, wasimamizi wa baadaye na wakurugenzi hivi karibuni wamejaribu kupanua hadithi kwamba Barr alisaidia mtindo kwa kujumuisha wanawake zaidi na wasanii wa rangi kati ya safu ya wasanii muhimu wa kisasa ambao wameonyeshwa katika maonyesho. Katika miaka ya hivi karibuni baada ya upanuzi mbili, baadhi ya wakosoaji wamesema MoMA imepoteza matarajio ya kitaaluma ambayo yalikuwa muhimu sana kwa Barr, badala yake kuzingatia kile kinachohisi kama wasiwasi zaidi wa ushirika wa kuuza tiketi nyingi za bei ya juu iwezekanavyo. Hata hivyo, tamaa ya Barr ya kuvutia watazamaji na kuwafunulia aina mpya za sanaa inabaki kuwa kanuni inayoongoza ya MoMA. Alfred H. Barr Jr. na asili ya kiakili ya Makumbusho ya Sanaa ya Kisasa - By Sybil Kantor - Alfred H. Barr Jr.: Mishonari wa Sanaa ya Kisasa - By Alice Goldfinger Marquis - Kufafanua Sanaa ya Kisasa: Maandishi ya Alfred H. Barr Jr. - By Alfred Hamilton Barr - 50 ya Sanaa yake - By Alfred H. Barr Jr. - Kubism na Sanaa ya Sanaa: Sanaa, Sanaa, Ujenzi, Picha, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa, Sanaa.