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1968 re-print of the 1947 third edition of this monumental exhibition catalogue from the seminal Museum of Modern Art exhibition that ran from December 1936 to January 1937, New York, an amazing exhibition that no–one could agree on. Edited by museum director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., this edition includes his essay, plus essays by the French poet and critic Georges Hugnet that had arrived too late for inclusion in the first edition. Lavishly illustrated throughout, the exhibition included "more than 700 objects. The earliest date of any object shown will be about 1450; the latest, 1936. More than 157 American and European artists will be represented, ranging from such extremes as Giovanni di Paolo and Leonardo da Vinci of the fifteenth century to Walt Disney, Rube Goldberg and Thurber of the twentieth century, and including such famous names both old and modern as Hieronymus Bosch, Dürer, Arcimboldo, Hogarth, William Blake, Cruickshank, Lewis Carrol, Daumier, Delacroix, Edward Lear, Redon, Chagall, de Chirico, Duchamp, Picasso, Arp, Dali, Ernst, Grosz, Magritte, Miro, Klee, Man Ray, Tanguy, Peter Blume, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Alexander Calder."
The exhibition encompasses the history of the fantastic in art, "the main body of the exhibition is devoted to the Dada and Surrealist movements of the past twenty years together with certain pioneers. [...] There are also special sections on fantastic architecture and on comparative material, including the art of children, and the insane." It includes the work of Arcimboldo, Hieronymous Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, Peter Huys, Leonardo Da Vinci, Giovanni Battista Bracelli, William Hogarth, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, William Blake, Lewis Carroll, Thomas Cole, Eugène Delacroix, James Ensor, Henry Fuseli, Francisco Goya, Victor Marie Hugo, Edward Lear, Odilon Redon, Henri Rousseau, Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Hans Arp, Johannes Baader, J. T. Baargeld, Max Ernst, Hans Bellmer, Edward Burra, Joseph Cornell, Salvador Dali, Oscar Dominguez, Leonor Fini, Alberto Giacometti, George Grosz, Raoul Haussmann, Hannah Höch, Valentine Hugo, Marcel Jean, René Magritte, André Masson, Edouard Mesens, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, Richard Oelze, Meret Oppenheim, Wolfgang Paalen, Dr. Grace Pailthorpe, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Christian Schad, Kurt Schwitters, Yves Tanguy, Sophie Henriette Täuber-Arp, Peter Blume, Alexander Calder, Federico Castellón, Arthur Dove, Walker Evans, Wyndham Lewis, Georgia O’Keefe, Wallace Putnam, David Alfaro Siqueiros, James Thurber, Antonio Gaudi, Kurt Schwitters, and many more.
"Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism, The Museum of Modern Art’s first exhibition to focus on Dada, was organized by founding director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., in 1936. It was the most comprehensive presentation of Dada works since the Dadaists’ own exhibitions. It was also the first to be organized by a nonparticipant and the first to present Dada as a historical movement. The exhibition was rife with controversy and provoked fierce reactions from battling factions among the Dadaists and the Surrealists. For example, Tristan Tzara, a leader of the Dada movement and one of the exhibition’s most important lenders, threatened to forbid Barr from exhibiting his loans when he learned that the exhibition’s title had been changed from The Fantastic in Art to include Surrealism and that the French Surrealist André Breton was to write the catalogue preface. For their part, Breton and French Surrealist poet Paul Éluard disapproved of the final format of the exhibition; they wanted it to be an official Surrealist “manifestation.” Critical response to the exhibition was mixed. In 1937, when the show circulated around the country, lender Katherine Dreier withdrew her artworks and feuded with Barr over his inclusion of works by children and “the insane,” and A. Conger Goodyear, President of the Museum’s board of trustees, requested that other items be removed." [MoMA]
Very Good copy w/o dust jacket. Light age/dustiness.
File under:
Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Hieronymous Bosch
Albrecht Dürer
Peter Huys
Leonardo Da Vinci
Giovanni Battista Bracelli
William Hogarth
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
William Blake
Lewis Carroll
Thomas Cole
Eugène Delacroix
James Ensor
Henry Fuseli
Francisco Goya
Victor Marie Hugo
Edward Lear
Odilon Redon
Henri Rousseau
Marc Chagall
Giorgio de Chirico
Marcel Duchamp
Vasily Kandinsky
Paul Klee
Pablo Picasso
Hans Arp
Johannes Baader
J. T. Baargeld
Max Ernst
Hans Bellmer
Edward Burra
Joseph Cornell
Salvador Dali
Leonor Fini
Alberto Giacometti
George Grosz
Raoul Haussmann
Hannah Höch
Valentine Hugo
Marcel Jean
René Magritte
André Masson
Edouard Mesens
Joan Miro
Henry Moore
Richard Oelze
Meret Oppenheim
Wolfgang Paalen
Dr. Grace Pailthorpe
Francis Picabia
Man Ray
Christian Schad
Kurt Schwitters
Yves Tanguy
Sophie Henriette Täuber-Arp
Peter Blume
Alexander Calder
Federico Castellón
Arthur Dove
Walker Evans
Wyndham Lewis
Wallace Putnam
David Alfaro Siqueiros
James Thurber
Antonio Gaudi
Alfred H. Barr Jr.
Georges Hugnet
Arno Press / New York
MoMA / New York
Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic
Dada
Surrealism
Out-of-print / Rare
Theory / Essay
Film / Video
Painting
Sculpture / Installation
Poetry
Art
