ARTICLES
Hommage à James Thrall Soby
Jeanneret, Marie-Louise
Marie-Louise Jeanneret-Art moderne, Genève, 1980.
In-4, publié en feuilles sous une chemise illustrée en noir, xvi-pl.
Avec 40 planches en noir et en couleur en hors-texte.
Bon état d'ensemble. Couverture très légèrement salie.
Livre non disponible
Ce catalogue d'exposition a été édité à l'occasion de l'exposition Hommage à James Thrall Soby -figure majeure du MoMA- présentée à Genève, du 20 décembre 1979 au 1er mars 1980.
"James Thrall Soby (1906-1979) was an author, critic, connoisseur, collector and patron of the arts. In autumn 1925 he bought his first picture, a color reproduction of two nudes by Maxfield Parrish. While at Williams, Soby became interested in illustrated books, especially those by artists of the School of Paris. Leaving Williams in 1926 at the end of his sophomore year, he went to Paris, where he began collecting contemporary pictures. Upon returning to Hartford he became interested in the activities of the Wadsworth Atheneum, working under A. Everett ("Chick") Austin from 1928 to 1938 when that museum, the oldest in America, was in the vanguard of the modern movement. During this period he continued to collect modern art and began to write articles and books about contemporary artists.
In November 1940 he was appointed to The Museum of Modern Art's Acquisitions and Photography committees. From February 1942 throughout the Second World War he directed the Museum's Armed Services Program. He served as Director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture from October 27, 1943, through January 1, 1945, and as Chairman of that department on an interim basis during 1947 and 1957. Soby's principal roles at the Museum were as Trustee (1942-79); advisor to its Committee on the Museum Collections, 1940-67 (of which he was Chairman, 1944-45, 1950-67, and Vice Chairman, 1946-50); and director of over fifteen major exhibitions. In June 1985 the James Thrall Soby Gallery, which was devoted largely to the work of Giorgio de Chirico, was dedicated on the second floor of the Cesar Pelli designed Museum.One of Soby's primary activities was writing. For some years he wrote a monthly art column for The Saturday Review of Literature and was editor of Magazine of Art; his principal books include Arp (1958), Balthus (1956-1957), Contemporary Painters (1948), Dali (1941, rev. 1946), de Chirico (1941 and 1955), Gris (1958), Miró (1959), Modern Art and the New Past (1957), Modigliani (1951), Romantic Painting in America (with Dorothy C. Miller, 1943), Rouault (1945, rev. 1947), Shahn (1947 and 1957), Tanguy (1955), Tchelitchew (1942) and XXth Century Italian Art (with Alfred H. Barr, Jr., 1949). These books, many of which accompanied Museum of Modern Art exhibitions, are models of scholarship combined with a sympathetic stance toward the modern idiom that was based on personal acquaintance with the artists." (James Thrall Soby Papers, Museum of Modern Art Archives, 2010)
"James Thrall Soby (1906-1979) was an author, critic, connoisseur, collector and patron of the arts. In autumn 1925 he bought his first picture, a color reproduction of two nudes by Maxfield Parrish. While at Williams, Soby became interested in illustrated books, especially those by artists of the School of Paris. Leaving Williams in 1926 at the end of his sophomore year, he went to Paris, where he began collecting contemporary pictures. Upon returning to Hartford he became interested in the activities of the Wadsworth Atheneum, working under A. Everett ("Chick") Austin from 1928 to 1938 when that museum, the oldest in America, was in the vanguard of the modern movement. During this period he continued to collect modern art and began to write articles and books about contemporary artists.
In November 1940 he was appointed to The Museum of Modern Art's Acquisitions and Photography committees. From February 1942 throughout the Second World War he directed the Museum's Armed Services Program. He served as Director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture from October 27, 1943, through January 1, 1945, and as Chairman of that department on an interim basis during 1947 and 1957. Soby's principal roles at the Museum were as Trustee (1942-79); advisor to its Committee on the Museum Collections, 1940-67 (of which he was Chairman, 1944-45, 1950-67, and Vice Chairman, 1946-50); and director of over fifteen major exhibitions. In June 1985 the James Thrall Soby Gallery, which was devoted largely to the work of Giorgio de Chirico, was dedicated on the second floor of the Cesar Pelli designed Museum.One of Soby's primary activities was writing. For some years he wrote a monthly art column for The Saturday Review of Literature and was editor of Magazine of Art; his principal books include Arp (1958), Balthus (1956-1957), Contemporary Painters (1948), Dali (1941, rev. 1946), de Chirico (1941 and 1955), Gris (1958), Miró (1959), Modern Art and the New Past (1957), Modigliani (1951), Romantic Painting in America (with Dorothy C. Miller, 1943), Rouault (1945, rev. 1947), Shahn (1947 and 1957), Tanguy (1955), Tchelitchew (1942) and XXth Century Italian Art (with Alfred H. Barr, Jr., 1949). These books, many of which accompanied Museum of Modern Art exhibitions, are models of scholarship combined with a sympathetic stance toward the modern idiom that was based on personal acquaintance with the artists." (James Thrall Soby Papers, Museum of Modern Art Archives, 2010)