How Do We Picture America?
Chapter 3 of the National Academy of Design's 200th Anniversary Timeline. 1900-1942
The Lake (1923) by Ernest Leonard BlumenscheinNational Academy of Design
As European avant-garde movements flourished in the early 20th century, the National Academy became a bastion for artists upholding a representational aesthetic. The institution continued to champion the figurative tradition, both in the school curriculum and membership.
Furthermore, to strengthen its national profile during this period, the governing council expanded membership beyond the vicinity of New York City to important satellite locations such as Old Lyme, CT, New Hope, PA and Taos, NM.
Society of American Artists Jury (1890) by National Academy of DesignNational Academy of Design
1906
The Society of American Artists merges with the NAD. With the merger, the NAD’s membership greatly expanded as members of the SAA automatically became part of its membership roll.
The 82nd Annual exhibition of 1907 was the first held after the merger of the National Academy and the Society of American Artists, and it could arguably be seen as the beginning of the prejudice against the Academy for what was deemed to be its policy of exclusion of anything modern or progressive.
A large number of works were rejected from the annual of this year and protests ensued, led by Academician Robert Henri, who withdrew two of his paintings that had been selected for inclusion.
He believed the institution was steeped in conservatism and unwilling to support the art of young, progressively minded artists, noting the jury's "lack of catholicity as regards point of view."
Henri’s rebellious leadership led to the formation of an independent group, The Eight, comprising American painters who exhibited only once together in 1908 at Macbeth Galleries but who helped established one of the main currents in 20th century American art - urban Realism. These artists opposed academic conventions and technical formulae. Many found their dark and boldly painted subjects on the rough and tumble streets of New York City, depicting scenes of immigration and urban poverty.
Along with Henri, members of The Eight included John Sloan, William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, Arthur B. Davies, Ernest Lawson, and Maurice Prendergast.
Self-Portrait (1901/1902) by John White AlexanderNational Academy of Design
1909
The presidency of John W. Alexander demonstrated the first attempt in this period to offset the increasing antagonism felt toward the Academy. It revolved around Alexander’s commitment to adopt a truly nationalistic point of view, both in terms of the membership and American art in general.
He argued that the Academy should provide an institutional structure and legitimate forum for the growth and development of American art. One of the prime objectives of his presidency was the acquisition of a building that would meet the space needs of the Annual exhibitions.
The 1910 Exhibition of Independent Artists was modeled after the Salon des Indépendants in France and was a precursor to the famed Armory Show of 1913. It exemplified the growing sentiment of this time that posited the National Academy as an art dictatorship. The exhibit did not ‘accept’ or ‘reject’ works, as was the practice of the Academy’s Annual exhibitions, but allowed opportunity for individuality and experimentation by showing works by all who submitted.
1913: The International Exhibition of Modern Art, commonly known as the Armory Show, brings European modernism to America. The above works are seminal examples of modernist trends in painting and sculpture shown in the exhibition. The increasing number of large scale annual group exhibitions in New York City in the first decades of the 20th century was a sign that the National Academy was no longer the frontrunner for exhibiting contemporary art.
The Academy opened the Annual of 1913 on the same day that the Armory Show closed, bringing its conservatism and traditionalism into even sharper focus. The above works were included in the Academy's 1913 Annual exhibition.
1925
A highlight for the institution during these difficult years was the Academy’s Centennial Exhibition that opened to fanfare at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in October 1925.
"The consensus of opinion among those who attended the opening bears out the prediction of artists throughout the country that from the standpoint of its importance to American art the centennial show would be without parallel in its wealth and variety of works."
Academician Douglas Volk suggested the exhibition be held in Washington D.C. seeing that the Academy was a national institution. New York’s Grand Central Galleries provided their space, rent free, following the showing in Washington.
The Life Class in the National Academy School (1931/1934)National Academy of Design
In the 1920s, the Academy’s school successfully sustained its reputation as one of the leading art school in New York City. The registration during the Academy’s centennial year was 574, the largest registration in its history up to this point.
Renovations were made to the school during the summer of 1929, allowing for special lectures on the history of art to be added to the curriculum. The faculty also increased to include such notable instructors as Karl Anderson, Sidney Dickinson, Leon Kroll and Gifford Beal.
Understandably, the enrollment decreased during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but the high standards of the school continued to be maintained by the school committee under the vigilant chairmanship of the sculptor Edward McCartan.
Kenyon Cox of Cass Gilbert (1907)National Academy of Design
In 1926, Academician Cass Gilbert becomes the first architect president of the National Academy and significantly influences the integration of architecture into the institution during a period of high prestige for classical, traditional architectural design.
Among the architects elected during Gilbert's tenure (1926-1933) were Harvey Wiley Corbett, Benjamin W. Morris, Chester Holmes Aldrich, James Monroe Hewlett, William Mitchell Kendall, and Frederic Charles Hirons.
In 1932, MoMA opened "Modern Architecture: International Style"— the equivalent in architecture that the 1913 Armory show was in art. It introduced new technological innovations, materials—like cast iron, plate glass, aluminum, and reinforced concrete—and concepts in building. The show featured preeminent architects of the day like Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier, among others. Again, the Academy's conservatism, this time in the field of architecture, was brought into focus.
1927: Henry Ossawa Tanner becomes a National Academician (ANA 1909), making him the first Black artist elected to the National Academy. Two years later, in 1929, the "American Negro Artists" exhibition at the National Museum in Washington, D.C. showcased the work of African American artists and was a notable event at the time, attracting over 8,000 visitors.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney saw that American artists with new ideas had trouble exhibiting or selling their work.
In 1914, she established the Whitney Studio in Greenwich Village, where she presented exhibitions by living American artists whose work had been disregarded by the traditional academies.
1930
The Whitney Museum of American Art is founded and opens its first annual exhibition in 1932 in reaction to the conservative Annuals of the NAD. It intended to supplant the Academy’s Annual as the premier place to see contemporary art. (The Whitney's first Biennial was in 1973).
Jonas Lie (1912) by John Christen JohansenNational Academy of Design
Academician Jonas Lie becomes president in 1934. No president of this era did more to try to reform the conservative ways of the organization, and open up the membership to a more liberal, national base.
He pushed for many farsighted changes including more forward-thinking teaching faculty for the school, and the opening of the Annual to more invited artists.
Jonas Lie (1935) by Ellen Emmet RandNational Academy of Design
Lie formed several committees during his presidency to help him reach his goal of broadening the Academy’s membership. First was the Membership Committee with which he hoped to draft new talent from different parts of the country and make the Academy truly national.
Many Academicians opposed the Membership Committee believing it was given too much authority in the selection of candidates for election. As a result, the Council abolished the Committee in 1939. It would be reinaugurated in 1942.
Lie also created the Extension Committee, whose duties involved electing groups of members to act as sub-juries in ‘art centers’ throughout the country, including Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Taos, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The Committee sought to strengthen the Annual exhibition by pulling in a large number of works from around the United States. Unfortunately, it fizzled out of existence around 1937 and the frustrated Lie resigned from his presidency in 1939.
He did, however, successfully encourage the inclusion of such notable Social Realist and Regionalist artists as Reginald Marsh, Paul Sample, and John Steuart Curry as members, all elected ANAs in 1937.
January 1940: American philanthropist, Archer Milton Huntington, husband of Academician Anna Hyatt Huntington, offered the Academy his home at 1083 Fifth Avenue, and the two properties at 3 and 5 on East 89th Street.
Interior rooms of Huntington Mansion
Interior rooms of mansion
In March 1941, a fire occurred at the school’s 109th Street building. Classes were held there on a limited basis until 1946, and the property was sold in 1948.
In the coming years, the National Academy would open its doors to its second home of consequence.
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