Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) is one of the most iconic artists in the world, and how he became a household name in the United States is a fascinating, largely untold story. 'Van Gogh in America' details the early reception of the artist's work by American private collectors, civic institutions, and the general public from the time his work was first exhibited in the United States at the 1913 Armory Show up to his first retrospective in an American museum at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1935, and beyond. The driving force behind the project, the Detroit Institute of Arts, was the very first American public museum to purchase a Van Gogh painting, his 'Self-Portrait', in 1922. Leading Van Gogh scholars chronicle the considerable efforts made by early promoters of modernism in the United States and Europe, including the Van Gogh family, Helene Kröller-Müller, numerous dealers, collectors, curators, and artists, private and public institutions, and even Hollywood, to frame the artist's biography and introduce his art to America.
Sponsors -- Foreword / Salvador Salort-Pons -- Acknowledgments / Jill Shaw -- Lenders to the Exhibition -- Note to the Reader -- America Wakes Up to Van Gogh / Jill Shaw -- Becoming the Most Popular Dutch Painter: Van Gogh in America, c. 1910-1950 / Chris Stolwijk and Julia Krikke -- Van Gogh in New York: Picturing the First Years, 1912-29 / Susan Alyson Stein -- Appendix: Montross Correspondence, 1920-23 / Susan Alyson Stein -- The Dutch Connection: The Role of Vincent Willem van Gogh and Helene Kröller-Müller in the Presentation of Van Gogh in America / Joost van der Hoeven and Roelie Zwikker -- The Heartland Steps Up: Van Gogh in the Midwest, 1913-36 / Jill Shaw -- Van Gogh in (and around) Hollywood, 1920-70 / Rachel Esner -- Van Gogh in America: A Chronology of Key Events and Exhibitions, 1908-37 / Dorota Chudzicka -- Checklist of the Exhibition -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- Photography Credits.
Art--Collectors and collecting--United States--20th century
Painting, Dutch--Collectors and collecting--United States