Walter Pach

Who was Walter Pach?

Walter Pach was an artist, critic, lecturer, art adviser, and art historian who wrote extensively about modern art and championed the cause of modern art. Through his numerous books, articles, and translations of European art texts Pach brought the emerging modernist viewpoint to the American public.

He organized exhibitions of contemporary art for New York City galleries of the period. He was also extremely helpful to Arthur B. Davies, president of the landmark exhibition of 1913, the "International Exhibition of Modern Art," known as the Armory Show, as well as to one of its founders Walt Kuhn, by bringing together leading contemporary European and American artists. Another original founder Jerome Myers spent over a year supervising the American portion of the show.

Pach helped John Quinn and Walter Arensberg gather their collections. He also secured individual works for museums, such as a portrait by Thomas Eakins for the Louvre, and Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Socrates for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.