De Zayas, Paul Haviland, and Agnes Ernst Meyer started the journal 291 in 1915, with later input from Francis Picabia. It existed for eleven months, from March 1915 to February 1916, and included short articles, poems, and artistic statements, paired with reproductions of artwork by the most avant-garde artists affiliated with the gallery 291. As Stieglitz recalled years later, de Zayas, Haviland, and Meyer felt that World War I had "put a damper on everything" and "that 291 [the gallery] should publish a monthly devoted to the most modern art and satire . . . [to] bring some new life into 291." Acting as artist, editor, writer, and publisher, de Zayas played an integral part in the conception and running of the periodical. This drawing, which represents an abstract caricature of Stieglitz and his camera, was used as the cover design of the first issue.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Cover Design for "291" (journal)
Artist:Marius de Zayas (Mexican, Veracruz 1880–1961 Stamford, Connecticut)
Date:1915
Medium:Black ink, watercolor, graphite, and white correction fluid with collage of cut paper on board
Dimensions:27 1/2 in. × 21 in. (69.9 × 53.3 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949
Accession Number:49.70.212
the artist (to Stieglitz); Alfred Stieglitz, New York (ca. 1915–d. 1946; his estate, 1946–49; gift to MMA)
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The Decade of the Armory Show: New Directions in American Art 1910–1920," February 27–April 14, 1963, no. 28.
Lawrence. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. "Marius de Zayas: Conjurer of Souls," September 27–November 8, 1981, no. 30.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Marius de Zayas: Conjurer of Souls," December 18, 1981 – February 14, 1982, no. 30.
New York. Center for Inter-American Relations. "Marius de Zayas: Conjurer of Souls," March 2 – April 4, 1982, no. 30.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Octavio Paz: Los Privilegios de la Vista," March–June 1990, no. 83.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Marius de Zayas: A Mexican in New York," September 13, 1990–March 1991, no catalogue.
Katonah, N. Y. Katonah Museum of Art. "Friends and Family: Portraiture in the World of Florine Stettheimer," September 19–November 28, 1993, unnumbered cat. (p. 24).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York," November 21, 1996–February 23, 1997, unnumbered cat. (p. 56).
Washington, D. C. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "Celebrity Caricature in America," April 10–August 23, 1998, unnumbered cat. (fig. 4.32).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Marius de Zayas & Stieglitz Circle," March 19–June 27, 2004, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 258.
Paris. Grand Palais, Galeries nationales. "Mexique - 1900-1950 - Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco et les avant-gardes," October 5, 2016–January 23, 2017, no. 166.
Arturo Schwarz. New York Dada: Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia. Exh. cat., Städtische Galerie, München. Munich, 1973, p. 9, no. 1 (printed version of "291" cover).
William Innes Homer. "Picabia's 'Jeune fille américaine dans l'état de nudité' and Her Friends." Art Bulletin 57 (March 1975), pp. 110, 115, fig. 11.
William Innes Homer. Alfred Stieglitz and the American Avant-Garde. Boston, 1977, p. 193, fig. 90 ("291" printed version).
Craig R. Bailey. "The Art of Marius de Zayas." Arts Magazine 53 (September 1978), pp. 141, 143, ill. ("291" printed version).
Willard Bohn. "The Abstract Vision of Marius de Zayas." Art Bulletin 62 (September 1980), pp. 441, 445, 447, 451, fig. 15.
Sarah Whitaker Peters. Becoming O'Keeffe: The Early Years. New York, 1991, p. 64, fig. 27.
Francis M. Naumann. New York Dada, 1915–23. New York, 1994, pp. 58–59.
Charles Brock in Sarah Greenough. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 2000, pp. 150, 501 n. 29.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 238, 291, no. 258, ill. (color).
Antonio Saborit inMexique - 1900-1950 - Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco et les avant-gardes. Ed. Agustin Arteaga. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Galeries nationales. Paris, 2016, pp. 243–44, no. 166, ill. p. 253 (color).
Marius de Zayas (Mexican, Veracruz 1880–1961 Stamford, Connecticut)
1915
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