August 16,1932
Founded by Herman Baron, the A.C.A. Gallery opens its doors at its first
location at 1269 Madison Avenue on 91st Street.
November 1932
ACA opens the historic exhibition
Selections from the John Reed Club which includes Adolf Dehn, William
Gropper, Philip Reisman and Raphael Soyer, among others. The exhibition
establishes the gallery’s early commitment to Social Realism and art with
a message.
December 1932
ACA organizes a Christmas benefit and sale to help artists suffering from
the financial effects of the Great Depression. This is the first of many
philanthropic exhibitions at the gallery.
1933
ACA moves to 52 West 8th Street in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
November 1935
The first meetings of the American Artists’ Congress, formed by Stuart
Davis, Herman Baron and Hugo Gellert are held at ACA. The first exhibition
of the
American Artists’ Congress is presented at ACA from November 10th
through the 23rd.
Source: American Magazine of Art, Vol. 29 #4 April 1936 Aesthetic
Freedom and the Artist&acut; Congress Illustration by Peppino Mangravite
1937
Mexican Art Exhibition opens and includes work by noted artists Rufino
Tamayo and Romero Orozco among others to benefit the League of Revolutionary
Artists and Writers of Mexico. David Alfaro Siqueiros gives a talk
Social Art vs. Abstract Art.
1940
ACA presents the first exhibition ever of the revolutionary new medium,
silkscreen prints and introduces the media to the world.
1940
ACA moves to 26 West 8th Street.
1943
ACA moves to 63 East 57th Street.
May 18, 1949
Congressman George A. Dondero, Republican of Michigan, attacks ACA Gallery
in a speech delivered on the House Floor of Representatives and calls it
"…the hub, the gathering point of Marxists in art, whose subtle, nefarious
un-American schemes receive their prime incitement." He goes on to say
the gallery, "…should be shunned like a plague center of infection."
July 1949
Herman Baron responds to Congressman Dondero´s allegations in the essay,
American Art Under Attack.
1959
ACA celebrates its twenty-seventh anniversary with a show,
31 American Contemporary Artists including gallery artists David
Burliuk, Philip Evergood, William Gropper, Robert Gwathmey, Moses Soyer
and Charles White, among others.
1961
Herman Baron dies. His nephew Sidney Bergen becomes owner and establishes
a separate gallery to examine and handle American and European master works.
Professional art historians and curators were hired, photographic archives
were set up and the gallery made the transition to a modern business.
1967
George Luks Retrospective opens at the gallery.
1968
ACA moves to 25 East 73rd Street.
1969
The exhibition
Major Acquisitions Including The Lester Avnet Collection of American Paintings
opens and features important paintings by Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Burchfield,
Mary Cassatt, William M. Chase, Guy Pene du Bois, Lyonel Feininger, William
Glackens, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer,
Edward Hopper, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Reginald Marsh, Georgia O’Keeffe,
Everett Shinn, John Sloan and Max Weber, among others.
1972
The historic exhibition,
Four American Primitives: Edward Hicks, John Kane, Anna Mary "Grandma"
Moses and Horace Pippin opens at the gallery.
1975
ACA becomes the exclusive agent for the family's collection of
artist Joseph Cornell and celebrates the occasion with a major exhibition
of his boxes and constructions.
1978
ACA moves to 21 East 67th Street.
1978
Masterpieces from New York Private Collections, a major loan exhibition,
opens at the gallery to benefit the Chemotherapy Foundation.
Stuart Davis
1981
To celebrate the gallery’s 50th anniversary, the major loan exhibition
Social Art in America (1930-1945) opens to benefit the City University
of New York Graduate School Art History Scholarship Fund. The accompanying
catalogue includes and essay by noted art historian, Dr. Milton Brown.
1987
ACA moves to The Fuller Building at 41 East 57th Street.
1987
The inaugural show
Visions of America: 1787-1987, an exhibition of American Genre Paintings
in commemoration of the bicentennial of the United States Constitution,
opens in the gallery new location on 57th Street.
1995
American Collage opens and features major works by Romare Bearden,
Joseph Cornell, Grace Hartigan and Robert Rauschenberg, among others.
2000
ACA expands and moves to 529 West 20th Street in New York City’s Chelsea
district.
2001
Jeffrey Bergen becomes owner and director of ACA.
2002
The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago was acquired by the Elizabeth A.
Sackler Foundation and given to The Brooklyn Museum for permanent display.
2005
Invited by the Royal Family of Dubai, ACA brings the largest exhibition
of the world's greatest masterpieces to the country.
March 28, 2008
ACA receives the first annual
Art To Life Award from A.I.R. Gallery and Art and Living Magazine
in honor of 75 years of promoting women in the arts.
2008
ACA begins historic association with ABC Carpet and Home to bring the
highest quality art to their retail location on 19th Street and Broadway.
