In 1929 The Museum of Modern Art opened with the mission of "encouraging and developing the study of modern arts . . . and furnishing popular instruction." The spaces in which these goals have been realized at the Museum are integral to the institution’s history, and the inaugural year of the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building provides the ideal moment to explore them.

This exhibition traces the development of educational activities at the Museum through the various spaces that were devoted to them between 1929 and 1969. The spaces considered range from the Young People’s Gallery, the People’s Art Center (which closed in 1969), the War Veteran Art Center, and the Children’s Art Carnival, to a caravan designed to travel to communities throughout New York City.

This selection from the Museum of Modern Art Library and the Museum Archives highlights the institution’s progressive educational activities and the individuals who shaped them. An animated timeline of the history of education at the Museum during this period accompanies these documents.

Gwendoline Farrelly
Landau Fellow
Education Department
The Museum of Modern Art

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Introductory Case Labels
Spaces for Learning
Cullman Building


In 1932 The Museum of Modern Art initiated a number of key educational practices, including gallery talks, lectures, interpretive texts on the collection, and temporary exhibitions, as well as teacher workshops and programs designed specifically for high school students.

Shortly after, in 1937, the Museum created its first space for education, the Young People’s Gallery, an "educational experiment" located off-site, with the purpose of "making the Museum’s collections . . . more accessible to New York public and private schools."

That year Victor d’Amico joined the Museum’s staff as the first Director of Education, and in 1939 the Young People’s Gallery moved into the new Museum building, where it was active until the mid-1950s. The Young People’s Gallery was home to classes and exhibitions for children and families and was furnished with the specific needs of children and families in mind.

This display focuses on the activities of the Young People’s Gallery and documents exhibitions and classes held there.

Class in progress at the Young People’s Gallery, The Museum of Modern Art, 1939
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Photographic Archive, "MoMA Activities, Young People’s Gallery, 1940"

Young People’s Gallery class and exhibition space set up for a class, 1940
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, "MoMA Activities, Young People’s Gallery, 1940"

Students engaged in artmaking at the Young People’s Gallery, 1940
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, "MoMA Activities, Young People’s Gallery, 1940"

View of the exhibition Twelve Favorites—artworks from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, selected and arranged by high school students, at the Young People’s Gallery, 1940
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, "MoMA Activities, Young People’s Gallery, 1940"

Brochure for the Young People’s Gallery, 1939
The Museum of Modern Art Library

List of classes offered at the Young People’s Gallery, 1944
The Museum of Modern Art Library

View of the exhibition Creative Work by Parents and Young Children, The Museum of Modern Art, 1950
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, INS #449-3

Works of art created by families in Museum art classes, displayed at The Museum of Modern Art, 1950
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, INS #449-4

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The Museum of Modern Art’s Armed Services Program, established during World War II, provided art materials to United Service Organization (USO) camp bases for use by men and women in uniform. Upon the return of war veterans to civilian life, the Museum focused on their interests with ongoing programming.

The War Veteran Art Center opened in the summer of 1944 in a small space on West Fifty-sixth Street. Given the success of this experimental program, an expanded version of the Center officially opened in October 1944, with studio spaces off-site at 681 Fifth Avenue.

From 1944 to 1948 the Center was devoted to the rehabilitation of veterans. Its goal was "to discover the best and the most effective ways of bringing about, through the arts, the readjustment of the veteran to civilian life." The work of the War Veteran Art Center was considered progressive within the field of art therapy in the United States.

This display represents the classes, exhibitions, and activities held in and generated by the War Veteran Art Center. The People’s Art Center assumed the activities of the War Veteran Art Center upon its closure in 1948, with the new goal of welcoming veterans "along with non-veteran civilians" to art classes for children and adults.

An "art kit" circulated by the Museum to USO camps, c. 1940
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Photographic Archive, "MoMA Activities, Young People’s Gallery, 1940"

A servicewoman using an "art kit" circulated by the Museum, c. 1940
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, "MoMA Activities, Young People’s Gallery, 1940"

Announcement for the War Veteran Art Center at The Museum of Modern Art, c. 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Library

War Veteran Art Center Brochure, c. 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Library

Panel from the exhibition Art for War Veterans, The Museum of Modern Art Auditorium Galleries, 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, Exhibition # 297

Panel from the exhibition Art for War Veterans, The Museum of Modern Art Auditorium Galleries, 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, Exhibition # 297

A class in progress at the War Veteran Art Center, 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, Exhibition # 297

A letter from a veteran to The Museum of Modern Art, 1946
The Museum of Modern Art Library

A class in progress at the War Veteran Art Center, c. 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, Exhibition # 297

Opening wall label of the exhibition Art for War Veterans, 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, Exhibition # 297

A selection of veterans’ artworks displayed in Art for War Veterans, 1945
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, Exhibition # 297

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In 1942 the Museum held its first annual Children’s Festival of Modern Art, open exclusively to young visitors. The festival space was divided into two sections: a motivational area where children began by playing with specially designed motivational games and a studio area where children created art.

The spaces, furniture, and motivational games were all designed by Victor d’Amico, Director of Education at the Museum, as were those created for the Young People’s Gallery. The Children’s Festival of Modern Art, later renamed the Children’s Holiday Fair, Children’s Holiday Circus, and Children’s Holiday Carnival, was held at the Museum in such spaces as the Young People’s Gallery and a Buckminster Fuller dome in the sculpture garden. The educational philosophy embodied in these events espoused an experiential, child-centered approach to learning.

The success of the Children’s Festival of Modern Art inspired the mobile version of the program—the Children’s Art Carnival. The Carnival was constructed on site in locations that included Harlem, Milan, Barcelona, New Delhi, and Hong Kong.

Announcement for the Children’s Holiday Circus of Modern Art at The Museum of Modern Art, 1944
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Photographic Archive, INS # 247-4

Floor Plan of the Children’s Holiday Circus at The Museum of Modern Art, 1943
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, INS # 247-1

Aerial view of the interior of the space designed for the Children’s Holiday Circus, 1944
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, INS # 247-16

Children entering the Children’s Holiday Circus, 1944
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, INS # 247-6

Children using motivational games in the Children’s Holiday Circus, 1944
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, INS # 247-22

Workshop area, Children’s Holiday Circus, 1944
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, PA, INS # 247-10

Children participating in the Children’s Art Carnival motivational and workshop areas, c. 1957
The Museum of Modern Art Library

Image of the Children’s Art Carnival under construction in India, c. 1962
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Department of Circulating Exhibitions, II.2/139 (7)

Installation view of the circulating exhibition Work from the Children’s Art Carnival in India, 1966–69
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Department of Circulating Exhibitions, II.2/139 (7)

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During the period 1929–69 the Museum initiated a number of projects beyond its walls to disseminate the art education programs and activities developed by the Education Department.

The Museum’s earliest off-site endeavors were exhibitions of high-quality reproductions of artworks that circulated among local and national schools.

In 1952 and 1953 the Museum co-produced a series of television shows with WNBC-WNBT called Through the Enchanted Gate, which introduced the family activities of the People’s Art Center classes to a national audience. A printed guide was distributed to families to help them continue the activities at home, and it offered the opportunity to submit works of art for display on the television show.

The final, though ultimately unrealized, iteration of this project was the Art Caravan mobile vehicle, designed to travel throughout New York City to provide motivational activities and studio art opportunities to public schools and the community at large.

These activities, along with a number of Education Department publications from this period, are documented in this display.

Circulating Teaching Portfolio, Modern Sculpture, c. 1949
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Circulating Exhibitions, Teaching Portfolios, II.1/108 (1)

Guides for the Through the Enchanted Gate television series, distributed to parents after the program
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Early Museum History, III.8.b

Cover of Art of the Young Child, published by The Museum of Modern Art, 1954
The Museum of Modern Art Library

Insert in Art of the Young Child demonstrating art education techniques to parents
The Museum of Modern Art Library

How to Make Objects of Wood, published by The Museum of Modern Art, 1954
The Museum of Modern Art Library

Presentation publication on the Art Caravan, 1969
The Museum of Modern Art Library

Presentation model of the Art Caravan, 1969
The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Photographic Archive, "MoMA Activities, Children’s Art Carnival, 1st Birthday, 5/23/70"

WNBC-WNBT (New York)
in cooperation with The Museum of Modern Art
Through the Enchanted Gate: "Adventures Under the Sea" 1953
Kinescope, black and white, sound, 30 min.
The Museum of Modern Art. Viewing copy courtesy the Victor and Mabel d’Amico Archive

"Adventures Under the Sea" was part of the thirteen-week television series Through the Enchanted Gate, produced by Victor d’Amico, Director of Education at The Museum of Modern Art, and aired on WNBC-WNBT from 1952 to 1953. The show exemplifies the progressive, child-centered, and process-based approach to art education the Museum had developed at this time.

The series grew out of the educational programs pioneered by d’Amico at the Museum, including the Children’s Holiday Carnival, and was created with the hope that "children will enjoy the program and gain in their own development, and also that parents will realize the importance of good teaching techniques." A free guide distributed to parents upon request enabled families to engage with the educational activities after the television program ended.

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Acknowledgments:
Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Sarah Ganz, Director of Education Resources and Wendy Woon, Deputy Director of Education for their support and encouragement of this exhibition from its inception. Special thanks are also owed to Michelle Elligott, the Museum Archive, Milan Hughston and Jennifer Tobias, the Museum Library, for approving the use of the objects included in this exhibition. Outside the Museum thanks are owed to Christopher Kohan of the Victor D'Amico Institute of Art.

For support and assistance with design, research, and organization within the Museum, many thanks go to Allegra Burnette, Creative Director, Digital Media; Michelle Elligott, Museum Archivist, the Museum Archive; Elisabeth Elsas, Freelance Graphic Designer, Graphics; Sarah Ganz, Director, Educational Resources, Education; Tom Grischkowsky, Archives Specialist, Archives; David Hart, Educational Media Intern, Digital Media/Education; Michelle Harvey, Associate Archivist, Archives; Milan Hughston, Chief, Library and Museum Archives; James Kuo, Senior Graphic Designer, Graphics; Rebecca Roberts, Assistant Editor, Publications; Jennifer Russell, Deputy Director, Exhibitions; and Jenny Tobias, Librarian, Collection Development, Library.

Pictured above, top to bottom:
Cover of brochure announcing the War Veteran Art Center, c. 1944
Brochure for the War Veteran Art Center, c. 1945 (insert)
View of the Children's Creative Center, c. 1937
View of the Children's Creative Center, c. 1937
Example of a workshop area for a Children's Creative Center/Art Carnival, c. 1937
Art Caravan proposal publication, c. 1969 (cover)
Interior view of the Art Caravan model, c. 1969 (insert)

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