Researcher Julia May Boddewyn has published a new book, 'The Valentine Gallery: The Forgotten Story of Valentine Dudensing, Matisse, Picasso, and the US Market for Modern Art (1926-1947)', which unearths the history of a pivotal but overlooked New York gallery. Founded a century ago, the F. Valentine Dudensing Gallery was responsible for introducing European Modernism to America, hosting the first US solo shows for icons like Joan Miró and Piet Mondrian, and organizing the American debut of Picasso’s 'Guernica'.
This recovery of the gallery’s history is significant because it fills a major gap in the provenance and market history of Modern art in the United States. Through the discovery of long-lost ledger books and diaries found in a French attic, Boddewyn provides a detailed record of how European masterpieces transitioned into American private and museum collections, cementing Dudensing’s role as a primary architect of American Modernist taste.