Inside Sandzen Spring 08

INSIDE SANDZÉN
This feature, highlighting a discovery relating to Sandzén from the archives, will be periodically updated on the website and is planned for each issue of Gallery Notes.

The possible relationship of Birger Sandzén and the famous Armory Show of 1913 (shown both in New York City and Chicago) was raised in a letter dated January 2, 1980 from Dr. Emory Lindquist to Margaret and Pelham Greenough, while he was doing research for his book Birger Sandzén: An Illustrated Biography (2nd printing, 2005). He had found no references to the show in Sandzén's correspondence and wondered whether Margaret or Pelham knew "of sources that might reflect his response to [the Armory show and later developments inspired by it]."

Pelham's response (noted by date at the top of Lindquist's letter) has not yet been found. However, since Lindquist adds nothing on this matter in his finished text (pp. 66-67) beyond his summary in this letter, it seems likely that no additional information was found.

However, Sandzén did write a review of the Armory Show in Swedish for the Chicago weekly Hemlandet (8 May 1913), which was given front-page, right-hand-column space with a picture of Sandzén. A summary of the article with translated excerpts appeared in "Birger Sandzén on Art, Music, and Transcendence," by Dr. James M. Kaplan, in the Swedish-American Historical Quarterly (56.1 [January 2005]: 46-7; 55, n. 34).

Sandzén wrote that the exhibit "gives a rather clear overview of the last seventy-five years' developments in art with "the post-impressionists and other 'independents' draw[ing] the most attention both from the artists and the general public." He concludes that "Just about every single artist and critic who is not completely blinded by old prejudices and traditions predict that this exhibit will be epochal in America's art life." Kaplan sums up the relationship between Sandzén and the Armory Art Show in the footnote by stating that Sandzén "places himself squarely in the camp of the exhibit's defenders."

Although this article by Kaplan has been available in the Archives for almost three years, a recent letter from Prof. Kaplan to the editor of this column and the serendipitous processing of Emory's letter (part of his " book file") converged to emphasize this review's significance as new material throwing light on the question asked as the new year began in 1980. Dr. Lindquist would be sorry not to have had this material at hand earlier, but he knew what all researchers know--that something inevitably escapes the most diligent searching, but that, sometimes, with luck, someone else will find it and then two and two will be put together.

Delmar C. Homan, Volunteer Archivist