For and Against : Views on the Infamous 1913 Armory Show

On February 17, 1913, the American Association of Painters and Sculptors opened the Armory Show in New York. The ad-hoc association had started out with the modest goal of showing some of the "new" art coming out of Europe--Duchamp, Matisse, Picasso and many more of today’s acknowledged masters. What they ultimately created was a sprawling showcase of some of the most ground-breaking (many said subversive) art America had ever seen.

"For and Against" is the frank and engaging account of this historic show's original reception, capturing the full range of impassioned opinion both for and against the new art. First published, remarkably, by the show's organizers and sold at its Chicago venue, "For and Against" has long been out of print, but this new, expanded edition brings the Armory story to life once again.

Kenyon Cox (1856-1919) was an American painter, writer and teacher. His work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He is the author of several books--including "Old Masters and New" and "Concerning Painting: Considerations Theoretical and Historical"--and criticism appearing in The Nation, Century and Scribner's magazines.

Arthur B. Davies (1863-1928) was an American artist, with works in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. He also served as President for the Association for American Painters and Sculptors, overseeing the International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show) in 1913.

Frederick James Gregg (d. 1928) was a writer and art critic for the New York Evening Sun. Friendly with artists in the Ashcan School, which included John Sloan and Arthur B. Davies, Gregg later acted as the public relations director for the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and the 1913 Armory Show.

Frank Jewett Mather, Jr. (1868-1953) was an American art critic and professor. He was a frequent contributor to New York's Evening Post, The Nation, and Burlington Magazine. His books include "Art in America", "Estimates in Art", and "Concerning Beauty". He was a professor at Williams College and Princeton University. The College Art Association honors Mather with an annual award in his name, given to a writer for distinguished art criticism.

Walter Pach (1883-1958) was an artist, art critic and historian and author. A translator and influential adviser on European modern art, Pach helped organize exhibitions and artist groups, as well as purchase work for both private and public collections. His many publications include "The Masters of Modern Art", a translation of "The Journals of Eugene Delacroix", "Queer Thing, Painting: Forty Years in the World of Art", "An Hour of Art" and "Ananias, or The False Artist".

Francis Picabia (1879-1953) was a French artist and poet associated with the early Cubist, Dada and Surrealist movements. His art works appear in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A volume of his writing was recently published by MIT Press: "I Am a Beautiful Monster: Poetry, Prose, and Provocation".

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was President of the United States of America from 1901-1909. During his administration he tightened industrial regulations, increased federal focus on conservation, and expanded America's global presence militarily and diplomatically. Though Roosevelt remains known as a soldier and an explorer, he was also an editor for The Outlook magazine (following his presidency) and the author of more than a dozen books on the military, the environment, and the American West.