Galleries of the Photo-Secession, run by photogra-
pher Alfred Stieglitz.
From its beginning the Museum of Modern Art
was a major force in contemporary American art,
unique in its incorporation of living artists into
its program. The first of the seven exhibitions
of the first year of the MOMA, consisting of 98
works by French painters, opened at the end of
1929 on the 12th floor of the Heckscher Building
on Fifth Avenue in New York. The walls, erected
within the extant space under the direction of Barr,
were covered in light-hued monk’s cloth to pro-
vide an appropriate base for the display of modern
art. The inaugural exhibitions at MoMA, widely
informed by the collections and collecting habits
of the museum patrons and trustees, showcased
both European and American art, of which the
European examples were hugely favored over
the American ones.
In 1930, before the full effects of the stock mar-
ket crash of the previous year and ensuing depres-
sion were felt, which in any case had little bearing
on families such as the Rockefellers and Blisses,
Alfred Barr married Italian Margaret Scolari-Fitz-
maurice in Paris at a church on Quay D’Orsay.
Marga, or Daisy as Mrs. Barr was also known,
spoke many languages and was an indispensable
travel partner and general administrator for her
husband. From the outset, Barr’s role as director
was a professorial rather than administrative one,
evident in the way he generously compiled summer
reading lists for trustees including titles by Thor-
sten Veblen.
In his introduction to the catalogue for ‘‘Art In
Our Time, an exhibition to celebrate the tenth anni-
versary of the Museum of Modern Art and the
opening of its new building (11 W. 53rd Street)
held at the time of the New York World’s Fair,
1939,’’ Barr wrote that MoMA ‘‘is a laboratory: in
its experiments the public is invited to participate.’’
Barr’s concept of the laboratory incorporated an
interdisciplinary vision of the museum, which
included the establishment of departments of film,
photography, design, and architecture.
The first ten years of MoMA constituted Barr’s
most influential in terms of programming. In 1932,
Barr’s colleagues and friends, architects Henry-
Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, curated
the seminal exhibitionModern Architecture: Inter-
national Exhibition, which established the active
relationship between the modern and contempor-
ary art. In 1934 Barr mounted theMachine Art
exhibition showcasing the design collection among
other things. Late that same year Dorothy Miller, a
talented art historian, began a long tenure at
MoMA with an appointment as her friend Alfred
Barr’s assistant. In 1936, Barr organized one of his
most respected shows,Cubism and Abstract Art,
the catalogue of which contained the famous
Barr-authored diagram on The Development of
Abstract Art.
Photography always played a central role in
Barr’s modern art and was exhibited as early as- In the mid-1930s Beaumont Newhall, also
from Sachs’s museum course at the Fogg, was
hired as the first MoMA librarian. In addition, he
served as official photographer. Newhall told
MoMA biographer Russell Lynes:
Barr had long wanted an exhibition of photographs on a
scale with the biggest of the painting exhibitions and
given the same importance as had been given them.
With all haste, Newhall and his new wife Nancy
were sent by Barr to Europe to get material for the
historicPhotography, 1839–1937, a traveling exhi-
bition of European and American photographic
work and equipment. In addition to his formative
years as director, Barr’s major contribution to the
field of modern art came in the form of his volume
of writings and his dedication to the permanent
collections of MoMA. In 1943, following the 1941
appointment of Nelson A. Rockefeller as museum
president and the museum’s increased relationship
with the U.S. government, Barr was officially dis-
missed as director, though he never gave up his
office on the premises. Five years later, the same
year Edward Steichen became the director of De-
partment of Photography, Barr was appointed
director of the newly formed Museum Collections
department, a post which he held for the next 20
years, building the museum’s world-renowned col-
lection until his retirement in 1967.
SARAGreenberger
Seealso:Modernism; Museum of Modern Art; New-
hall, Beaumont; Steichen, Edward; Stieglitz, AlfredBiography
Born Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr. in Detroit, Michigan, 1902.
Art History, Princeton, B.A., 1922. Art History, Prince-
ton, M.A., 1923. Attended Harvard University, Art His-
tory and Museum Studies, with Paul J. Sachs, 1924.
Taught Art History Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New
York, 1924 and Princeton University, Princeton, New
Jersey, 1925. Assistant Professor, Wellesley College, Well-
esley, Massachusetts, 1925–1927.Director of the Museum
ofModernArt,NewYork,1929–1943.Director,Museum
Collections, Museum of Modern Art, New York 1947–- Died in Salisbury, Connecticut, 15 August 1981.
BARR, JR., ALFRED H.