"...The nature of that demonstration (Armory Show) was such that it could not be repeated; the need was for an exhibition occurring regularly, year in and year out, which should bring together the public and the artists who felt the vital movement of the time. That was the statement of the case made in 1916 by Morton L. Schamber, one of the strongest of our younger painters, some two years before his untimel death..."

(From: Walter Pach: Queer Thing, Painting. Harper Brothers, 1938

Schamberg was a member of Society of Independent Artists where he showed in the first exhibition 1917 and again in 1920. Both catalogues are illustrated but none of his.
No biogr. data, just the name and adress (Schamberg's is c/o Walter Pach. There is a reproduction of your painting "View from Wallstreet".

Again Schamberg is mentioned in a new book by Oliver W. Larkin, "Art and Life in America", 1949. Just that he showed with the above society and lived in France and Italy.

Will that help any? Shall I look further for illustr.?

MORTON L. SCHAMBERG, 1882-1918

Painter

Born Philadelphia, 1882. Studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and, 1903-06, painting at the Pennsylvania Academy. With William Meritt Chase's summer classes in Holland, 1902, England, 1903, and Spain, 1904. Close friend of Charles Sheeler with whom he shared a studio in Philadelphia, 1906-09. To Paris and Italy, 1908-09. Influenced by the School of Paris. His early works were admired by Arthur B. Davies, Marie Sterner and Walter Pach. Schamberg died in 1918. His work was shown by the Société Anonyme in the first exhibition in 1920 and frequently thereafter.

Morton Schamberg was so effectively a part of America's first experience of modern art that it is difficult to understand why he should have become so thoroughly forgotten. As early as 1908 he had stripped his painting of superficial detail and was working with bold outlines and broad color areas suggestive of Fauve pattern. Through Arthur B. Davies' interest he became one of the younger exhibitors at the Armory show, and three years later made his stand as one of the first directors of the Society of Independent Artists. So discriminating a collector as JohnQuinn owned six of his works, one of which, *the Well* of 1916, was close to our *Machine*. These delicate abstractions derived from mechanical forms indicate that Schamberg was one of the first to explore the immense potentialities of machine art. It is not too much to hope that a revival of interest in his work will reveal his accomplishments in their proper dimensions.

G.H.H., 1949

Exh.: Armory Exhibition, 1915; Independents, 1917, 1920: Société Anonyme, 1st exhibition 1920, Worcester 1921, MacDowell Club, 1922; JohnQuinn Collection, New York, 1926; "Pioneers of Modern Art in America", Whitney Museum, 1946.

Bibl.: *John Quinn Collection, 1926, repr.; W. Pach, Queer Thing, Painting,*

(Morton L. Schamberg)

New York, 1938; L. Goodrich, *Pioneers of Modern Art in America*, New York, 1946; O.W. Larkin, *Art and Life in America*, New York, 1949.

MACHINE, 1916.

Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 22 3/4. 1941.673.

Purchased; Marie Sterner, 1919. Gift of Katherine S.Dreier, 1920.