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THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART

THE SOCIETE ANONYME COLLECTION
Lent by the Yale University Art Gallery
June 4 - July 1   September 6 - October 2

The Societe Anonyme was organized in 1920 to foster an interest in the new painting and sculpture of our century. The society took its self-effacing name in order to throw the spotlight on the art which it sponsored, rather than on its own activities. Yet its guiding spirits, Miss Katherine S.Drier and Marcel Duchamp, could hardly conceal the personal imprint which recorded their courage, their enthusiasm, and their preferences. The Society made itself felt through the 'twenties. In the decade preceding the founding of the Museum of Modern Art, it organized some forty exhibitions in New York, including one-man shows for Archipenko, Campendonk, Leger, Klee, Elishemius, Stella, and Villon. It was an educational institution, with many publications to its credit. 

The Society built up a collection to illustrate its advanced point of view. Here practically all of the trends of the period were represented: the Cubists, Villon and the more mechanistic Leger from Paris; the early Chirico from Italy; the German Fantasist, Paul Klee; the Russian Constructivists, Malevitch and Lissitzky with their absorption in pure geometric form, and the well-known Mondrian of the "Stijl" group in Holland. 

The Collection became the property of Yale University's Art Gallery in 1941, where it takes its place both for its broad coverage of the twentieth century and as a record of a vital and constructive effort in support of the art of our time. This constructive effort continues. The Collection's history is not concluded. From time to time new canvases are added through the generosity of donors. The Collection is still growing and living like the art it contains. 

So gradual is the general acceptance of the painter's vision that Miss Dreier's comment on these canvases twenty-five years ago is still relevant today. "The important ting is for the public to look on these paintings..with an open mind, permitting them to convey to the onlooker the meaning that underlies their construction. If we will have the patience, as well as the courage, to leave our preconceived ideas of art behind, we will find that our life has become enriched by the new sensations which these pictures reveal, for to live, art must enlarge its vision." 

1. Joseph Albers   The Gate 
2. Rudolph Bauer   Andante V
3. Ella Bergmann-Michel   Collage
4. Heinrich Campendonk   Interior with head and still life 
5. Heinrich Campendonk   Pastoral Scene
6. John R. Covert   Brass Band
7. John R. Covert   Drums
8. Giorgio De Chirico   The Lovers
9. Giorgio De Chirico    Metaphysical Interior
10. Arthur G. Dove   Sunrise III
11. Katherine S. Dreier   The Eternal Hills 
12. Marcel Duchamp   The Bachelors
13. Max Ernst   Papillon  
14. Fritz Glarner   Peinture Relative 
15. Marsden Hartley   The Rubber Plant  
16. Vassily Kandinsky   Improvisation No.7
17. Vassily Kandinsky   Composition: Bright Circle
18. Vassily Kandinsky   The Waterfall
19. Ragnhild Keyser    Composition I
20. Paul Klee   Architectur rot-grune Stufung
21. Paul Klee   The Ambassador of Autumn
22. Paul Klee   Ground Festivals
23. Paul Klee   Precious Container for Stars 
24. El Lissitzky   Proun 99
25. Kasmir Malevitch    The Knife Grinder 
26. Matta   The Knife Grinder 
27. Jean Metzinger   The Port
28. Johannes Moizahn   Immaterial Figure  
29. Johannes Moizahn   Curving Machine  
30. Piet Mondrain   Fox Trot B 
31. Heinrich Nauen   The Good Samaritan 
32. Emil Nolde   Morning in the Flower Garden 
33. Papazoff   Head
34. Laszlo Peri   Two Rooms
35. Man Ray   Promenade 
36. Kurt Schwitters   Relief with Red Segment 
37. Kurt Schwitters   Collage
38. Joseph Stella   Battle of Lights, Coney Island 
39. Jacques Villon   In Memoriam
40. Jacques Villon   Still Life