Follow @yaleARTbooks In 1920, three luminaries of the American art world—Katherine Dreier, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray, founded Société Anonyme. Frustrated by America’s indifference and frequent hostility to its artists, Dreier and Duchamp sought to cultivate a community of American modern artists that would inspire, through exhibitions, lectures, and eventually
After exploring her creative urges through journalism, sculpture, poetry, and theater, Berenice Abbott (1898–1991) found a home for her artistic talents in photography while working in Paris as a darkroom assistant to Man Ray. Abbott knew Ray from an earlier encounter in New York, and though at the beginning of
“Traditions are beautiful–but to create them–not to follow.” – Franz Marc, motto of the Société Anonyme Before there was MoMA, there was the Société Anonyme, an organization founded in 1920 by Katherine S. Dreier, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray as America’s first “experimental museum” for contemporary art. Aiming to provide