unknown Baule
Portrait Face Mask (Mblo) with Crest
unknown Baule
Portrait Face Mask (Mblo) with Bird
unknown Kota
Reliquary Guardian Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)
Unknown
Flywhisk with Carved Handle
Unknown Bete
Figure for a diviner
Alfred Stieglitz
The Terminal
Alfred Stieglitz
The Terminal
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Yvette Guilbert
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Chanteur Américain (American Singer)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Aristide Bruant
Théophile Alexandre Steinlen
Misère (Misery)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Baigneuse debout, en pied (Standing Bather)
Paul Cézanne
Les baigneurs, petite planche (The Bathers, small plate)
Paul Cézanne
Les baigneurs, grande planche (The Bathers, large plate)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Le chapeau épinglé (Pinning the Hat)
Alfred Stieglitz
The Street—Design for a Poster
Théophile Alexandre Steinlen
L’enfant malade (The Sick Child)
Alfred Stieglitz
The Hand of Man
Attributed to Pablo Picasso
Tête de femme (Woman’s Head)
John Marin
Sestiere di Dorso Duro, Venice
Alfred Stieglitz
The Steerage
Alfred Stieglitz
Self-Portrait
Marsden Hartley
Maine Landscape, Autumn No. 13 (recto); Untitled (verso)
Marsden Hartley
Landscape No. 19
Manolo
Chula
Paul Signac
Antibes
Maurice Sterne
Bali
Marsden Hartley
Painting No. 3
John Marin
Woolworth Building (The Dance)
Elie Nadelman
Woman’s Head
Diego Rivera
Le sucrier et les bougies (Sugar Bowl and Candles)
Marsden Hartley
Movement No. 6, Provincetown
Marsden Hartley
Movement No. 7, Provincetown
Marsden Hartley
Vase of Flowers
Marsden Hartley
Still Life No. 1
Gino Severini
Femme et enfant (Woman and Child)
Gino Severini
Femme assise dans un square (Woman Sitting in a Square)
Charles Demuth
In Vaudeville
Charles Demuth
Tree Forms
Charles Demuth
Cyclamen
Kenneth Hayes Miller
Woman Seated on a Rug
Kenneth Hayes Miller
Nude
Kenneth Hayes Miller
Seated Figure
Abraham Walkowitz
Drawing No. 19
Abraham Walkowitz
Watercolor No. 10
Abraham Walkowitz
Bathers
Marsden Hartley
Painting No. 69
John Marin
Autumn
John Marin
Tree
Charles Duncan
Abstraction—Landscape
Stanton Macdonald-Wright
Spring Synchromy
Charles Demuth
Houses
Marsden Hartley
New Mexico No. 2
Marsden Hartley
New Mexico Landscape
Alfred Stieglitz
Bly and Venus
Alfred Stieglitz
Apples
Charles Sheeler
Still Life, Pitcher
Jules Pascin
Girl Seated
Charles Demuth
Eggplant and Peppers
Arthur Garfield Dove
Mowing Machine
John Marin
Lobster Smack
John Marin
Little House, Stonington, Maine
John Marin
Maine Series
Marsden Hartley
Beau Blanc, St. Jeannet
Alfred Stieglitz
Equivalent
Bernard Karfiol
Nude and Figure
Alfred Stieglitz
Equivalent
Alfred Stieglitz
Equivalent
Arthur Garfield Dove
Cow
Alfred Stieglitz
Equivalent
Alfred Stieglitz
Equivalent
Charles Demuth
Red and Yellow Flowers
Charles Demuth
Oranges and Artichokes
John Marin
Pertaining to Stonington Harbor, Maine No. 6
Charles Demuth
Calla Lilies (Bert Savoy)
Arthur Garfield Dove
Something in Brown, Carmine, and Blue
Georgia O’Keeffe
Radiator Building—Night, New York
Wanda Gág
Spring in the Garden
Arthur Garfield Dove
Moon
Arthur Garfield Dove
Yellow, Blue, and Violet
Benjamin Kopman
Portrait—Bear
Florine Stettheimer
Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz
John Marin
Adirondacks, N.Y.
Arthur Garfield Dove
Red Tree and Sun
John Marin
Taos and Vicinity No. 2
Jules Pascin
Comparaison (Comparison)
Alfred Henry Maurer
Girl in Red Dress
Arthur Garfield Dove
Swinging in the Park (There Were Colored People There)
John Marin
Near Taos, New Mexico
Alfred Stieglitz
North from An American Place, New York
John Marin
Approach to the Bridge
Arthur Garfield Dove
Gale
Alfred Stieglitz
Georgia O’Keeffe
Alfred Stieglitz
From the Front Porch, Lake George
Alfred Stieglitz
Poplars Beside Porch, Lake George
Alfred Stieglitz
Poplars Beside Porch, Lake George
George Grosz
Two Figures
George Grosz
Street Scene
Alfred Stieglitz
Radio City—From the Shelton Hotel
Arthur Garfield Dove
Storm Clouds
Georgia O’Keeffe
Flying Backbone
unknown Kota
Gabon, Africa
Reliquary Guardian Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)
19th century
Wood with beaten bronze overlay
24 1/2 x 15 x 3 in. (62.2 x 38.1 x 7.6 cm)
Framed: 27 3/4 x 16 1/2 x 5 in. (70.5 x 41.9 x 12.7 cm)
The Kota people of Gabon once created these reliquary figures to guard the remains of their ancestors, which the Kota believed could bestow protection and good fortune on their descendants. The family member’s bones were ensconced in a basket or bark container, into which the base of the guardian figure was thrust so it might form a sort of “body,” with the carved figure as its head.
In 1914, Stieglitz produced a groundbreaking exhibition of African art that presented the works—perhaps for the first time—not as ethnographic objects, but as genuine fine art. Stieglitz recognized that African art had had a profound impact on European and American artists, including Pablo Picasso, Max Weber, and Romare Bearden. They were inspired by the strong geometry of the works, the abstraction and stylization of their forms, and their emotive power.
Following the Armory Show of 1913, European Modernism had bloomed in numerous galleries around New York, and Stieglitz was disgusted by the commercialization of the work. He turned his focus to more experimental art. In December of 1914, Stieglitz would mount an exhibition that featured Cubist works by Picasso and Georges Braque, alongside this Kota reliquary figure and a large wasps’ nest—intending to draw parallels between Modern artworks, “primitive” art, and the patterns and rhythms found in nature.