The records of New York City Grace Borgenicht Gallery date from circa 1953 to 1996 and measure 18.2 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, financial and legal records, exhibition files, printed material, two scrapbooks, and photographic negatives of artwork. The majority of the collection consists of artists' files.
Scope and Contents:
The records of New York City Grace Borgenicht Gallery date from circa 1953 to 1996 and measure 18.2 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, financial and legal records, exhibition files, printed material, two scrapbooks, and photographic negatives of artwork. The majority of the collection consists of artists' files.
Administrative files focus on advertising, events, gallery renovation, artists' insurance, and writings about the gallery. Correspondence concerns galleries, artists, works of art, and gallery prints and includes correspondence with the Library of Congress, Hokin Gallery, and Raab Gallery in Berlin. Exhibition files are found for exhibitions of Milton Avery, Paul Burlin, Stuart Davis, and Wolf Kahn, and several artists from Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Canada, as well as for international art fairs. Artists' files mainly contain correspondence with galleries and patrons regarding the artists and their work, and with artists. Files are found for Milton Avery, Charles Biederman, Ilya Bolotowsky, Martin Chirino, Stuart Davis, Jose De Rivera, Roy Gussow, Philip Grausman, and Wolf Kahn, among many others. Financial and legal records include sales and operations ledgers, artists' contracts, and documents concerning arts organizations. Printed materials consist of exhibition announcements and catalogs. Two scrapbooks include clippings and other printed materials. Also found are photographic negatives of artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1970-1995 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1950s-1995 (2 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, circa 1970-1996 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Series 4: Artists Files, circa 1950s-1995 (11.2 linear feet; Boxes 4-13, 16-22)
Series 5: Financial and Legal Records, 1953-1995 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 13-15)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1950s-1995 (0.8 linear feet; Box 15)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, circa 1950s-circa 1980s (0.3 linear feet; Box 23)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, circa 1950s-circa 1980s (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 24-25)
Biographical / Historical:
In May 1951 Grace Borgenicht Brandt (1915-2001) opened the Grace Borgenicht Gallery on 57th Street in New York City with an exhibition of Jimmy Ernst. At that time, the gallery was one of a handful that represented contemporary American artists. Jimmy Ernst, Milton Avery, Ilya Bolotowsky, Edward Corbett, Jose de Rivera, Roy Gussow, Wolf Kahn, and Gabor Peterdi were among the artists represented by the gallery.
The gallery held multiple exhibitions for individual artists such as Milton Avery, Wolf Kahn, Paul Burlin, and Stuart Davis. Although Borgenicht's main focus was American contemporary artists, the gallery also held several exhibitions featuring artists from Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Mexico.
The Grace Borgenicht Gallery closed in 1995.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Grace Borgenicht Brandt conducted by Dorothy Seckler on January 10, 1963.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel D112) including 72 letters from artists Leonard Baskin, Edward Corbett, Sidney Gordin, Wolf Kahn and Elbert Weinberg. They are addressed to gallery director Grace Borgenicht (Grace Borgenicht Brandt), and regard the artists' their work, travels, exhibition plans, and other activities. Also included is a photograph of Brandt and a resume. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Material lent for microfilming is available on 35mm microfilm reel D112 at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Provenance:
Owner Grace Borgenicht Brandt originally lent material for microfilming in 1963. She donated additional papers in 1996.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Grace Borgenicht Gallery records, circa 1953-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Charles Biederman, 1976 May 6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Interview of Charles Biederman conducted 1976 May 6, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Biederman (1906-2004) was a sculptor from Red Wing, Minnesota.
General:
Originally recorded 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 41 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
The papers of Los Angeles art historian, art critic, and writer Merle Schipper measure 12.1 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 1999. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, writing and research project files, printed material, writings by others, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Los Angeles art historian, art critic, and writer Merle Schipper measure 12.1 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 1999. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, writing and research project files, printed material, writings by others, photographs, and artwork.
Biographical material consists of a notebook planner and professional contact addresses, as well as Schipper's resume and bibliography. Scattered correspondence is both personal and professional with family and colleagues.
Over one-half of the collection consists of Schipper's writing, research, project, and exhibition files. There are drafts, essays, manuscripts, notes, and research documentation about California art and artists, an exhibition of craftsman William Spratling curated by Schipper, Schipper's dissertation and additional projects on Jean Helion, the exhibition Americans in Paris in the 1950s (1997), additional exhibitions, as well as transcripts of interviews with artists. The research files on Helion include an interview transcript with Willem de Kooning about Helion and correspondence with artists about Helion, including Charles Biederman, Alexander Calder, Philip Guston, Carl Holty, Jack Tworkov, and others. Additional exhibition files are found for Visions of Inner Space (1988) and Marmo: The New Italian Stone Age (1989). Artists interviewed by Schipper include Billy Al Bengston, Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Laddie John Dill, Kenneth Noland, Eric Orr, and others.
Extensive printed materials include clippings and copies of journals and periodicals containing Schipper's writings.
There are a few scattered writings by others about art and artists. Photographs are of Schipper, artists, artwork, and places, including Paris. Artwork includes one original poster print by Kiki Smith and one drawing by Matt Mullican.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1970s-1998 (5 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: General Correspondence, 1944-circa 1998 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Writing and Research Project Files, circa 1930s-1999 (7.8 linear feet; Boxes 1-9)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1933-1997 (3.1 linear feet; Boxes 9-12, OV14-16)
Series 5: Writings By Others, circa 1944-1991 (0.2 linear feet; Box 12)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1960s-circa 1992 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 12-13)
Series 7: Artwork, 1982-1992 (0.1 linear feet; Box 13, OV16)
Biographical / Historical:
Merle Schipper (1922-2001) was an art historian, writer, and art critic active in Los Angeles, California.
Born in Toronto, Canada, Merle Solway Schipper was naturalized in Los Angeles in 1950 and received a PhD in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974. Schipper was a familiar figure on the Los Angeles art scene. Her primary scholarly focus grew out of her dissertation research on Jean Helion, but much of her writing attention was devoted to Los Angeles artists and art world events. She was a regular contributor to many art periodicals, including ArtScene, Images and Issues, Artweek, ARTnews, and the Los Angeles Daily News.
As an independent curator, Schipper's research interests led to several exhibitions, including Americans in Paris: the 50s (1979) at California State University, Northridge, Visions of Inner Space (1988) co-curated with Lee Mullican at UCLA's Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, Marmo: the New Italian Stone Age (1989), Being There/Being Here: Nine Perspectives in New Italian Art (1991), traveling exhibition sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute, and an exhibition of William Spratling for the Craft and Folk Art Museum in 1997. Schipper also taught and lectured at UCLA, USC, CSU Northridge, and Claremont Graduate School.
Merle Schipper died in 2001.
Provenance:
The Merle Schipper papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2002 by the Merle Schipper Estate via Schipper's daughter Amy Schipper Howe.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Art historians -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Kostka's résumé, 1993; correspondence, 1954-1955, between Kostka, Charles Biederman and Naum Gabo in which they discuss the philosophy of art in relation to Kostka's Institute of Design Master's Thesis topic (the changing concepts of space between 1913-1930); and clippings, 1989-1993.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, watercolorist, photographer, ceramist; Ashland, Or. Kostka attended the Institute of Design in the late 1940s-1950s. He was influenced at the time by a lecture given in 1948 by painter Naum Gabo, and later included him as a major aspect of his Master's Thesis.
Provenance:
Donated 1994 by Robert Kostka.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The microfilmed David Barr papers relating to Charles Biederman consist of 18 letters from sculptor Charles Biederman in which he writes of his views on art, artists, structuralism, constructivists, dealers, and exhibiting. Also included are exhibition catalogs showing Biederman's work and two magazine articles about Biederman.
Biographical / Historical:
David Barr (1939-2015) was a sculptor and painter in Novi, Michigan. He founded Michigan Legacy Art Park in 1995. As a young artist interested in structuralism, Barr introduced himself to the sculptor Charles Biederman (1906-2004), and subsequently maintained a correspondence with him.
Charles Biederman was an abstract artist who began his career as a painter before moving to focus more on three-dimensional forms. Biederman coined the label "structurist" and it is a movement commonly attached to him.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art holds the oral history interview with David Barr, 1982 December 28-1983 January 25 and the microfilmed Charles Biederman papers, 1930-1977.
Provenance:
Lent for mirofilming 1977 by David Barr.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The microfilmed Charles Biederman papers contain correspondence, journals, writings, printed material, and published materials. Microfilmed on Reels 1446-1450 are personal and business correspondence regarding Biederman's art and books Art as Evolution of Visual Knowledge and The New Cézanne. Among the correspondents are John and Joan Barnes, David Barr, David Bohm, Ian Finley, Peggy Guggenheim, S.I. Hayakawa, Marjorie Mercer Kendig, Ron Kostyniuk, and Eugene Pauls. Also included are two copybooks with letters from Biederman to John and Eugenie Anderson. Microfilmed on Reels 1662-1679 are correspondence with Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Eric Bell, Naum Gabo, Kathleen Lonsdale, Dorothy Miller, Victor Pasmore, and poet Jonathan Williams and others; notes and typed manuscripts of Biederman's articles and books about art; an audio script of a film; exhibition catalogs and announcements; clippings; and a biographical sketch.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Biederman (1906-2004) was a painter and sculptor from Red Wing, Minnesota. Biederman was born in Cleveland, Ohio and studied art at the Cleveland Art Institute, and later at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. He worked and lived in Chicago, New York, and Paris before settling in Red Wing, Minnesota in 1942. Biederman was the author of numerous books on art theory, and best known for his three-dimensional painted aluminum constructions, created from the early 1950s to the late 1990s.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Neil Juhl Larsen research material on Charles Biederman, circa 1927-2011 and the microfilmed David Barr papers relating to Charles Biederman, 1963-1976.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1978-1979 by Charles Biederman.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.