Walter Pach (July 1, 1883 – November 27, 1958) was an artist, critic, lecturer, art adviser, and art historian who wrote extensively about
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...
and championed its cause. Through his numerous books, articles, and translations of European art texts Pach brought the emerging modernist viewpoint to the American public.
[
He organized exhibitions of contemporary art for New York City galleries of the period. He was also extremely helpful to Arthur B. Davies, president of the landmark exhibition of 1913, the " International Exhibition of Modern Art," known as the ]Armory Show
The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by thAssociation of American Painters and Sculptors It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibition ...
, as well as to one of its founders Walt Kuhn, by bringing together leading contemporary European and American artists. Another original founder Jerome Myers spent over a year supervising the American portion of the show.
Pach helped John Quinn and Walter Arensberg gather their collections. He also secured individual works for museums, such as a portrait by Thomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...
for the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, and Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
's ''The Death of Socrates
''The Death of Socrates'' () is an oil on canvas painted by French painter Jacques-Louis David in 1787. The painting was part of the neoclassical style, popular in the 1780s, that depicted subjects from the Classical age, in this case the story ...
'' for the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
.
Pach's fluency in French, German, and Spanish made it possible for him to understand and interpret the avant-garde ideas developing in Europe and translate them for the English-speaking audience. He was able to communicate personally with many noted artists in Europe and Mexico and mediate between gallery dealers and museum curators on their behalf. His correspondence with major figures in 20th-century art are an important source of information, not only about the artists but about the art world during the first half of the 20th century.
Biography
Pach was born in New York City on July 11, 1883. His father, Gotthelf Pach, was a prominent commercial photographer who, with his family, ran the New York studio of Pach Bros. They did most of the photographic work for the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
. The young Pach often accompanied his father on museum assignments. In 1903, Pach graduated from the City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
with a degree in art. He studied with Robert Henri
Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher.
As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...
at the New York School of Art and went abroad to paint with William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design.
...
in the summers of 1903 and 1904.
In 1907, Pach moved to France and became part of the Gertrude and Leo Stein
Leo Stein (May 11, 1872 – July 29, 1947) was an American art collector and critic. He was born in Allegheny City (now in Pittsburgh), the older brother of Gertrude Stein. He became an influential promoter of 20th-century paintings.
Educatio ...
circle, and moved among the Parisian avant-garde, exhibiting with them and writing about their work and new artistic vision. In 1908 he wrote the first article on Cézanne to be published in the U.S., which appeared in ''Scribner's Magazine
''Scribner's Magazine'' was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. ''Scribner's Magazine'' was the second magazine out of the Scribner's firm, after the publication of ...
''. He also interviewed Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
that year and published an article about him in the same periodical. He helped manage and teach in several of William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design.
...
's summer art schools in various European locales.
Pach was the only American artist to be closely affiliated with the Section d'Or group of artists, including Albert Gleizes
Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...
, Jean Metzinger
Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...
, Duchamp brothers Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...
, Raymond Duchamp-Villon
Raymond Duchamp-Villon (5 November 1876 – 9 October 1918) was a French sculptor.
Life and art
Duchamp-Villon was born Pierre-Maurice-Raymond Duchamp in Damville, Eure, in the Normandy region of France, the second son of Eugène and Lucie Duch ...
, Jacques Villon
Jacques Villon (July 31, 1875 – June 9, 1963), also known as Gaston Duchamp, was a French Cubist and Abstract art, abstract painter and printmaker.
Early life
Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, Damville, Eure, ...
and others. Pach was responsible for securing loans from these painters for the 1913 Armory Show
The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by thAssociation of American Painters and Sculptors It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibition ...
. Most of the artists in Paris who sent works to the Armory Show knew Pach personally and entrusted their works to him.[Laurette E. McCarthy, Walter Pach, Walter Pach (1883-1958), ''The Armory Show and the Untold Story of Modern Art in America'', Penn State Press, 2011](_blank)
/ref>
Pach married artist Magdalene Frohberg in 1914, and their son Raymond was born at the end of that year. He began advising Walter and Louise Arensberg on their art collecting and introduced them to Marcel Duchamp in 1915. The following year, with Duchamp and the Arensbergs, he was a major force in the creation of the Society of Independent Artists. In the summer of 1918 Pach taught two classes, including one on modern art, at the University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
. In the summer of 1922 he taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
, where he lectured and wrote about Native American art
The visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which in ...
. He helped organize exhibitions and raised money for a museum to be dedicated to the indigenous arts of the Americas. He was also a friend of José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...
and Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
and helped organize the Mexican chapter of the Society of Independent Artists. In 1923 he began an affiliation with New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, where he taught periodically.
While he is not remembered today as a painter, Pach devoted much of his creative efforts to painting. He thought of himself both an artist and a writer, despite advice from friends like art historian Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...
who urged him to devote his time to writing.
His writings include monographs on a wide range of subjects, social commentary on the art world, and a book on museum structures. His first publications included brochures for the 1913 Armory Show
The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by thAssociation of American Painters and Sculptors It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibition ...
, including Odilon Redon
Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolist painting, Symbolist draftsman, printmaker, and painter.
Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, Redon worked almost exc ...
, and a book about the work of his close friend Raymond Duchamp-Villon titled ''A Sculptor's Architecture''.Walter Pach, ''A Sculptor's Architecture'', Association of American painters and sculptors, Incorporated, 1913
/ref>
In 1923, Pach wrote ''Georges Seurat
Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
'', a book art historian John Rewald
John Rewald (May 12, 1912 – February 2, 1994) was an American academic, author and art historian. He was known as a scholar of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro, Seurat, and other French painters of the late 19th cen ...
later cited by as an important text on the artist. ''Masters of Modern Art'' and a monograph on Duchamp-Villon in French were published the following year. The first solo exhibition of his own art took place in 1925 at Joseph Brummer Galleries, New York.
He created a stir in 1928 in the art world with ''Ananias, or The False Artist'', a well-known indictment of opportunistic artists and corruption in the art world.
Pach considered Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...
a seminal figure in the development of modern art and was the first historian to lecture on him in America. He published his well-received monograph, ''Vincent Van Gogh'', in 1936, and translated the journals of Eugène Delacroix in 1937. His recollections of a life spent in art, ''Queer Thing, Painting'', appeared in 1938. ''Ingres'' was published in 1939, as well as ''Masterpieces of Art'', written for the 1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...
, for which he was the exhibition director. His 1948 ''The Art Museum in America'' called into question the relevance, responsibility, and future of the American art museum. He long championed the artists of Mexico and published an essay on Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
in 1951 for the National Museum of Fine Arts, Mexico, for its 50-year retrospective exhibition on the artist. His last book, ''The Classical Tradition in Modern Art'', was published posthumously in 1959.
He died on November 27, 1958, in Manhattan, New York City
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...
.
References
Sources
*Malloy, Nancy and Stover, Catherine. ''A Finding Aid to the Walter Pach Papers, 1883-1980, in the Archives of American Art.'
The Walter Pach Papers Online
Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
*McCarthy, Laurette E. ''Walter Pach (1883-1958): The Armory Show and the Untold Story of Modern Art in America.'' College Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011.
*Tomkins, Calvin. ''Duchamp: A Biography''. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.
External links
*
AskArt artist page
Walter Pach Papers Online at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art
Self-Portrait, 1955
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pach, Walter
1883 births
1958 deaths
American art collectors
American art curators
American art historians
Artists from New York City
Historians from New York (state)
Modern art
Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico