Foreword

Herbert, Robert L.; Apter, Eleanor S.; Kenney, Elise K.

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Foreword

Robert L. Herbert (Editor), Eleanor S. Apter (Editor), Elise K. Kenney (Editor)

Description: The Société Anonyme and the Dreier Bequest at Yale University: A Catalogue...

The Société Anonyme and the Dreier Bequest at Yale University: A Catalogue Raisonné

~The Yale University Art Gallery has been privileged since 1941 to possess the finest and most comprehensive collection of twentieth century art of any university museum. Thanks to the gift of the Société Anonyme Collection and the subsequent addition of a generous portion of Katherine Dreier’s private collection in 1953, the Yale Art Gallery...

Author

Robert L. Herbert (Editor), Eleanor S. Apter (Editor), Elise K. Kenney (Editor)

PublisherYale University Art Gallery

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00158.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-16881

Foreword

The Yale University Art Gallery has been privileged since 1941 to possess the finest and most comprehensive collection of twentieth century art of any university museum. Thanks to the gift of the Société Anonyme Collection and the subsequent addition of a generous portion of Katherine Dreier’s private collection in 1953, the Yale Art Gallery has a broad study collection of both major and minor European and American modernists, as well as an extensive array of distinguished and famous works by such artists as Kandinsky, Mondrian, Joseph Stella, Malevich, Klee, Lissitzky, Schwitters, Brancusi, Duchamp, Ernst, Léger, and Villon, and key works by lesser-known masters such as Bruce, Schamberg, Pannaggi, and Covert. A catalogue of the collection was produced in 1950, but it has been out of print for quite some time, and the need for a new catalogue, including the 1953 donation as well as a history of the Société Anonyme, has long been felt. Fortunately, Robert L. Herbert, the Robert Lehman Professor of the History of Art at Yale, agreed to write the historical introduction and major segments of the catalogue and to supervise numerous students who participated in the research and writing of this volume. The herculean task of sifting through the Dreier and Société Anonyme archives (the basis for most of the new information in this book) was undertaken jointly by Professor Herbert and his first collaborator and coeditor, Eleanor S. Apter, who also did fundamental research in all phases of the work. They were joined by their coeditor Elise K. Kenney, who gave selflessly of her time and skill to guarantee the accuracy and usefulness of this publication. Over the nine years the project required, several other colleagues made unusual contributions, including Ruth L. Bohan, contributing editor, Rosalyn Deutsche, assistant editor, and Daniel Robbins who, in addition to his research on French artists, conducted a guest seminar at Yale. Many Yale graduate students received valuable practical experience working in seminars or as summer researchers on the more than one thousand works of art in the collection.

The appearance of this scholarly work, published by the Yale University Press, is a major milestone in the continuing effort to study and publish the rich collections of the Yale University Art Gallery. We are grateful to Susan Morse Hilles, a longtime friend of Yale’s collections, whose generous gift helped subsidize production of these volumes.

Alan Shestack
The Henry J. Heinz II Director
Yale University Art Gallery

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