Salons v. Independents

Said the Society of Independent Artists: "We dislike having to pit our puny strength against the Rockefeller Real Estate Company but we shall have to do it."

Said the Salons of America: "This fight was in no way forced by us. On the contrary it was chosen by the Independents."

Aware that there existed no better publicity than such atrabilious statements and sincerely, gloriously angry, Manhattan's two great Bohemian art societies opened simultaneous rival shows last week. The Independents were organized in 1917 by John Sloan, one of the best of U. S. etchers, to emulate the no-jury shows which in art-conscious Paris used sometimes to approach the pinnacle of Paris success--a street riot. The Salons of America, an offshoot, was started four years later by disgruntled Independents. As anyone might have predicted, the fight this year centered upon the now hoary squabble between Rivera and Rockefeller Center, in which both societies were invited to exhibit. Claiming that Rockefeller authorities were certain to exercise censorship, John Sloan's Independents refused, went instead to the Grand Central Palace. Claiming exactly the opposite, the Salons went to the Center. Joy to the public of a no-jury show is that anybody can exhibit, for a small membership fee. Joy to the critics is that the shows are always bad, almost always funny. As usual both shows had canvases by "Sunday"' painters who were harness makers, subway conductors, etc. etc. Prohibition, once a main subject, had disappeared. President Roosevelt appeared nine times in the Salons of America, twice in the Independents. Lincoln, always a favorite, followed Mr. Roosevelt in popularity in the Salons, was missing in the rival exhibit. There were portraits of Lenin in both shows but most were in the Independents, who also showed a picture by one Charles Goeller entitled Reconciliation, showing Diego Rivera and John Davison Rockefeller Sr. clasping hands in such a manner that each was thumbing his nose (see cut). A design for a new Rockefeller dime bore the motto "Oily to bed and oily to rise. . . ." The Salons of America's Poet's Dream by Columba Krebs was a woman with a raven for hair, cherries for lips, shells for ears, a lily for a hand, a swan's neck. A crucifixion scene by one Samuel Hershey included newshawks, a microphone, a vendor of hot dogs and miniature crucifixes, a few indolent policemen. Independent Jose de Creeft showed a picador made of stove pipes and scrap iron. Independent Lucienne Bloch, daughter of Composer Ernest Bloch (see p. 48). showed a panel of photographs of the destroyed Rivera-Rockefeller murals. A picture of a clock stopped at 9 o'clock referred to the execution of Sacco & Vanzetti.

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