Collection of the Société Anonyme: Museum of Modern Art 1920 [presented to Yale University] [inscribed by Duchamp and Dreier]
- SIGNED
- New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, published for the Associates in Fine Arts, 1950
New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, published for the Associates in Fine Arts, 1950. First edition. 223 pp. Original printed wrappers. Spine a little sunned and rolled, slight minor surface wear, near fine. “Founded in New York in 1920 by Katherine S. Dreier, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray to promote contemporary art among American audiences, Société Anonyme, Inc., was an experimental museum dedicated to the idea that the story of modern art should be told by artists.” (Yale Art Gallery) The catalogue lists works and biographical information, in addition to critical comments, for 167 artists, and upwards of 300 works by them. Two appendices at the end list exhibitions of the Societe Anonyme as an independent organization, and then as a collection under the care of Yale.
This copy is inscribed by Duchamp and additionally signed by Dreier in September 1950 to Nan and Garrett Stearly. Stearly was a member of the Christian organization the Oxford Group; it’s unclear what his relationship to the Société was, but the inscription is warm. The book itself is not uncommon and well-represented institutionally, but very rare inscribed. We’ve only tracked one other inscribed copy, to Francis Picabia.
This copy is inscribed by Duchamp and additionally signed by Dreier in September 1950 to Nan and Garrett Stearly. Stearly was a member of the Christian organization the Oxford Group; it’s unclear what his relationship to the Société was, but the inscription is warm. The book itself is not uncommon and well-represented institutionally, but very rare inscribed. We’ve only tracked one other inscribed copy, to Francis Picabia.