Institute of Contemporary Art is established.

Originally the Boston Museum of Modern Art and a branch of the the New York museum, it begins with galleries in Cambridge and an office at 114 State Street. It becomes an independent institution with James Sachs Plaut becomes its its first director in 1939, and adopts its current name in 1948. Its purpose is, “To distinguish the good art from the bad; the sincere from the sham; the perceptive from the obtuse.” The institution moves to 14 Newbury Street in 1937, 270 Dartmouth Street in 1938, 210 Beacon Street in 1940, 138 Newbury Street in 1943, 230 Fenway in 1956, and to a new building (first) on Soldiers Field Road in 1960.*