From the Collection of Emma Richardson Cherry, a painter and charter member of the Société Anonyme.
Although Alfred Stieglitz may be credited with introducing modern art to an American audience, the Société Anonyme (i.e., "Corporation Incorporated"), elevated the recognition of avant garde art through its programs of exhibitions and lectures. Co-founded by Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, and Katherine Dreier, an arts patron and artist, in 1920, the Société collected and displayed paintings, collages, sculptures, and photographs by a wide-ranging group of artists that reflected the experimental nature of modernism. Artworks by well-known American and European figures were displayed alongside those by those by lesser known, and in some cases, outsider artists. Nevertheless, regardless of whether a work was by Duchamp or Walmar Shwab, these wonderfully curious constructions and artworks were embraced by critics, curators and private collectors, and popular taste was also influenced over time.
