A SYMPOSIUM AT THE BOSTON ATHENÆUM “John Storrs and the American Avant-Garde” Friday, May 21, 2010, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The Boston Athenæum

John Storrs (1885–1956) was one of this country’s most important mod- ernist sculptors. As an artist who divided his time between Chicago, New York, and Paris in the 1910s and ‘20s, he was poised at the forefront of both the European and American avant-garde movements. This scholarly sympo- sium, organized by David Dearinger, Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings & Sculpture at the Boston Athenæum, and Guest Curator Debra Bricker Balken, will examine Storrs’s interactions with modernist artists and place him in the context of his times. This symposium is presented in conjunction with the exhibition, “John Storrs: Machine-Age Modernist,” which is organized by the Boston Athenæum and will be on view at the Athenæum from May 12 through September 3, 2010. The exhibition will then travel to the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Grey Art Gallery, New York University. Man Ray (1890-1976), John Storrs, 1929. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. There is no fee for this event but reservations are required. Please call the Boston Athenæum’s reservation line, 617-720-7600, after April 1, 2010.

9:00 a.m. Registration and coffee 9:30 a.m. Welcome Paula D. Matthews, Stanford Calderwood Director & Librarian David B. Dearinger, Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings & Sculpture 9:45 a.m. “John Storrs: Machine-Age Modernist” Debra Bricker Balken, Guest Curator for the Exhibition 10:30 a.m. “John Storrs and the Société Anonyme: ‘the collection avant la lettre of collections in America’” Jennifer Gross, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut 11:15 a.m. Break 11:30 a.m. “John Storrs and Native American Art” Heather Hole, Assistant Curator of Paintings, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 12:15 p.m. Panel Discussion Moderator: Carol Troyen, Kristin and Roger Servison Curator Emerita of American Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1:00 p.m. Conclusion and exhibition viewing

Major funding for the exhibition, “John Storrs: Machine-Age Modernist,” has been provided by the follow- ing: the Henry Luce Foundation, which has also funded this symposium; the Florence Gould Foundation; Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund; and Cushing Academy. Additional funding is provided by the Susan Morse Hilles Bicentennial Fund for Exhibitions, the Richard Wendorf Bicentennial Fund for Exhibitions, Elizabeth and Robert Owens, Anne and Joseph P. Pellegrino, Sandy and Jim Righter, and two anonymous donors. John Storrs (1885-1956), Forms in Space, Number 1, 1927. The The Boston Athenæum is located at 10½ Beacon Street in downtown Boston, half a block from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Francis Lathrop Fund, 1967. Photo- Massachusetts State House and easily accessible from the Park Street Station of the MBTA. Parking is avail- graph by Jerry L. Thompson © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Art Resource, NY. able under the Boston Common (enter from Charles Street).

THE BOSTON ATHENÆUM 10½ Beacon Street • Boston, MA 02108-3777 • 617-227-0270 • www.bostonathenaeum.org