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.
Collection Citation:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1940. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Brown Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
United States. Works Progress Administration Search this
Extent:
2.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1900-1970
Summary:
The papers of artist Joseph Stella measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1970. The papers shed light on his life and career through biographical materials, mixed personal and professional corresponence, writings by Stella and others, printed materials, and photographic materials.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of artist Joseph Stella measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1970. The papers shed light on his life and career through biographical materials, personal and professional corresponence, writings by Stella and others, printed materials, and photographic materials.
Biographical materials include address books and loose addresses for contacts in the U.S. and abroad, calling cards, business cards, inventories of Stella's artwork, financial papers, drawings and artwork by children and others, several oversized sketches by Stella, papers from the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors Inc., a ration book from World War II, one contract from the Cooperative Gallery, and other miscellaneous personal papers. Correspondence includes mostly letters received by Stella from art organizations, museums, dealers, family members, and colleagues including the Museum of Modern Art, Artists for Victory, ACA Gallery, M. Knoedler & Co., the Whitney Museum, Andrew Bondi, Marie Dumoulard, Katherine Dreier, August Mosca, and Charmion von Wiegand. An invitation to a lecture on Joseph Stella by Phyllis Ackerman is also present. Writings in Italian and English include an autobiography by Stella, essays about his life and work, poems, loose notes about his paintings and materials, and three notebooks. Writings about Stella by others, drafts of letters (especially in Italian), and some sketches are also present. Printed materials consist of newspaper clippings mostly concerning Stella's career, exhibition invitations and catalogs, printed reproductions of Stella's artwork, reference material, and more. Photographic materials include portraits of Stella, photos from his studio and travels, and the artist with friends and family; images of his artwork; and several photos from exhibitions.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as five series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1915-1970 (Boxes 1, 4, OV 5; .3 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1921-1960 (Box 1; .8 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1920s-1940s (Box 2; .5 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Materials, 1896, 1912-1963 (Boxes 2-4, OV 5)
Series 5: Photographic Materials, circa 1900-1960 (Boxes 3-4, OV 5; .5 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph Stella (1877-1946) was a New York City Painter and draughtsman who immigrated from Muro Lucano Italy in 1896. He received a traditional education while in Italy. At the suggestion of his brother, a medical doctor, Stella studied medicine for two years before leaving that path for his art. His primary subjects to draw and paint during this time were immigrants, laborers, and others he saw in the streets of New York City. Giotto, Masaccio, and Andrea Mantegna were his primary influences at the time. In circa 1899, Stella began taking classes at the Art Students League of New York, studying under William Merritt Chase. He received a scholarship for a year's tuition and began exhibiting his artwork shortly after. In 1902, Stella was sent to Pittsburgh by the periodical The Survey to paint scenes of that city. Illustrating for periodicals became his primary source of income during this period. In 1909, Stella moved to Italy to study glazing, and in 1911, he moved to Paris, where he encountered Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism for the first time. During these few years in Europe, he befriended Marcel Gromaire, Jules Pascin, Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini, and Amedeo Modigliani. Stella returned from Europe in 1912 and had three paintings exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show. Several years later, his subject matter shifted towards New York architecture, and he created some of his most well-known works including Brooklyn Bridge (1919-20) and New York Interpreted (1922). Bourgeois Gallery exhibited Stella's work from the late teens until the artist went to Dudensing Galleries in 1925. The following year, he moved to Naples and returned to the U.S. in 1934. In 1936, Stella had a solo exhibition at Cooperative Gallery in Newark, New Jersey; and the gallery exhibited his work for the rest of his life. There was a retrospective of Stella's work at The Newark Museum in 1936 and solo shows at Associated American Artists (1941) and Knoedler Galleries (1942). Other galleries who exhibited Stella's work include Valentine Gallery, New York, Galerie Sloden, Paris, Galerie Jeune Peinture, Paris, and Zabriskie Gallery, New York. From 1935 to 1937, he worked for the Works Progress Administration in the easel division. Stella served on the exhibition committee of Societe Anonyme, was a director of the Salons of America, and a member of the Federation of Painters and Sculptors Inc. He died of heart failure in 1946.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel 5137 (frames 1-63) including 29 loose sketches and a 16-page sketchbook by Joseph Stella. The materials were returned to Alan Pensler after microfilming, and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Joseph Stella papers were donated in three installments. Stella's nephew, Sergio Stella, donated records in 1971 and 1986. Alan Pensler, a Washington, D.C. art dealer who acquired the papers from a woman who purchased the home and its contents of Dr. Giovanni Stella, Stella's brother, donated records in 1996.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' 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.
Occupation:
Draftsmen (artists) -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Joseph Stella papers, circa 1900-1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art, 1943-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program. Funding for the digitization of two motion picture films was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee, and for the remaining sound and video recordings from the Smithsonian's Collection Care Pool Fund. Funding for the digitization of the collection, not including audiovisual materials, was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art, 1943-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program. Funding for the digitization of two motion picture films was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee, and for the remaining sound and video recordings from the Smithsonian's Collection Care Pool Fund. Funding for the digitization of the collection, not including audiovisual materials, was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
The records of the New York City based Valentine Gallery measure 1.8 linear feet and date from circa 1890 to 1960. The bulk of the material documents the gallery's dealings with artists Louis Eilshemius, John Kane, Henri Matisse, and C.S. Price. Additionally, there is one scrapbook which contains printed materials regarding Valentine Gallery exhibitions from 1925-1936.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the New York City based Valentine Gallery measure 1.8 linear feet and date from circa 1890 to 1960. The bulk of the material documents the gallery's dealings with artists Louis Eilshemius, John Kane, Henri Matisse, and C.S. Price. Additionally, there is one scrapbook which contains printed materials regarding Valentine Gallery exhibitions from 1925-1936.
The artist's file for Eilshemius contains biographical information; correspondence between Valentine Dudensing and the artist, as well scattered letters from Carl Van Vecten, Alfred H. Barr, and museums and institutions; writings and notes; price lists and other financial and legal documents; printed material from Eilshemius's varied career and from his affiliation with the Valentine Gallery; photographs including portraits of the artist, and photos of installations and of works of art; and a scrapbook containing clippings and scattered other printed materials covering Eilshemius's shows at the Valentine Gallery.
Artists' files for John Kane, Henri Matisse, and C.S. Price contain scattered documentation. The file for John Kane includes correspondence between Valentine Dudensing and Kane's estate managers as well as museums and institutions, price lists, legal records, and printed materials. There are two letters from Henri Matisse to Valentine Dudensing regarding travel plans and a thank you message. The C.S. Price file consists of letters from Price regarding specific works of art, and scattered financial records.
A scrapbook dates from 1925-1936 and includes newspaper and magazine clippings about exhibitions and artists represented by the Valentine Gallery. Artists and exhibitions mentioned in the clippings include Alexander Brook, Giorgio de Chirico, Stuart Davis, Jean Lucrat, Carlos Merida, and Joseph Stella. Also, there is a poster created by Valentine Dudensing to fundraise for ambulances for France.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 2 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Artists Files, circa 1890-1960 (Box 1, 3; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Scrapbook, 1925-1936 (Box 2, 4; 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The Valentine Gallery was founded by F. Valentine Dudensing in 1926 and operated in New York City until 1947. The gallery hosted many exhibitions of Modern European art and specialized in School of Paris paintings.
F. Valentine Dudensing was born in 1892 in New York City. His father, Richard Dudensing was a well known art publisher and gallerist who owned Dudensing Galleries. Valentine served in World War I in the United States Aviation Corps and in 1920, married Margaret van der Gros. During a trip to Europe in the early 1920s, Dudensing became acquainted with the son of artist Henri Matisse, Pierre. Together, they conceived a gallery managed by Dudensing in New York while Matisse organized and curated art from Europe.
In 1947, Valentine Dudensing closed his gallery and moved to France with his wife. He died in 1967.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel NY59-5) including gallery index cards. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Valentine Gallery records were donated by gallery founder, Valentine Dudensing in 1958. Dudensing also lent the Archives of American Art gallery index cards for microfilming in 1959. Roy R. Neuberger donated materials regarding Louis Eilshemius in 1959 who received the material from Valentine Dudensing.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
John Storrs' extensive correspondence spans over fifty years and documents his personal and professional life. There are extensive letters to his wife Marguerite Storrs, including love letters written before they were married and letters written to her during his visits to the United States. Letters written by Marguerite to John are located series 2.2. John Storrs' love letters to other women, including Yolande de Manziarly, are found within his general correspondence.
General correspondence primarily consists of Storrs' correspondence with friends, colleagues, art critics and historians, patrons, art organizations, and galleries. Where they exist, Storrs' drafts of outgoing letters are interfiled with letters he received in a chronological arrangement. Storrs was friends with many artists, architects, performers, and writers in both the US and Europe. Among the artists he corresponded with are Berenice Abbott, Hendrick Andersen, George Biddle, Jerome Blum, Arthur Bock, Louis Bouche, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Walter Cole, Arthur Davies, Jessica Dismorr, Katherine Dreier, Marcel Duchamp, Leo Friedlander, Marsden Hartley, Jean Helion, Gertrude Lambert, Fernand Leger, Jacques Lipchitz, Man Ray, Richard Recchia, Edwin Scott, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Stella, Maurice Sterne, Alfred Stieglitz, Leopold Survage, Jacques Villon, and William and Marguerite Zorach. Other notable correspondents include architects Edward Bennett, Paul Phillippe Cret, R. Buckminster Fuller, and Alfonso Iannelli; writers and publishers Sherwood Anderson, Louise Bryant, William Bullitt, Max Eastman, Jane Heap, Paul Scott Mowrer, and Gertrude Stein; art critics Phyllis Ackerman, Frank Crowninshield, and Maurice Raynal; art patrons Arthur Aldis, Mildred Bliss, and Charles Worcester; friend and curator Alice Roullier; and dancer Maud Allan. A portion of the general correspondence is in French.
A small amount of correspondence with galleries, museums, and curators concerns exhibitions and sales of Storrs' artwork. Also found is correspondence concerning his participation in art organizations. Researchers should note a portion of Storrs' business correspondence, especially regarding his major sculpture commissions and his dealings with Downtown Gallery, are found in Series 3: Personal Business Records.
See Appendix for a list of correspondents from Series 2.1.
Smith, Howard E., 1912, 1913, 1914, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1926, undated
Societe de Saint-Jean, 1917
Sowerby, Leo, 1918
Spaulding, W. B., 1910
Sprague, Albert A., 1921
Stearns, Harold E., 1932
Stein, Gertrude, undated
Stein, Rita, undated
Stella, Joseph, 1929
Stephens, E. A., 1949
Stephens, Lucille Chandler, 1925
Sterne, Maurice, 1925
Sterner, Carl John, undated
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1930
Stinson, Roxie R., 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, undated
Stora, M. & R., 1926
Storgo Laboratories (David Goldsmith), 1936, 1937
Storrs, Frank Herbert, 1924, 1926
Storrs, John W., 1918
Storrs, Louis, 1939
Storrs, Ronald, 1925, 1927, 1928
Sueur, G., 1926
Survage, Leopold & Germaine, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1937, 1945, undated
Tancrede, Robert, 1945
Tartarin, A., 1930
The Tavern, 1928
Taylor, Catherine, 1911, 1912
Texas Centennial Exposition, 1936
Thanlow, Ch. L. & Ingrid, 1919, undated
The Seven Arts Magazine, 1918
Thomas, Maxime, 1930
Tillson, Rex, 1923
Toledo Museum of Art, 1938
Tooker, Marion F., 1911
Toulouse, Roger, 1949, 1955, undated
The Transatlantic Review, 1924
Truman, Harry S., 1945 (letter to)
Turnbull, Yale, 1925, 1926
Tyson, Russell, 1922, 1927
Vallette, S., 1920
Valsuani, Claude, 1919, 1922, 1933, 1951, 1955
Vestal, Donald B., 1931
Villon, Jacques, undated
Vinton, Warren Jay & Helen Augur, 1924
Voccia, Luigi, 1914
Vogelgesang, Shepard, 1935
Wacker, Fred, 1955
Walpone, Marguerite, 1918
Ware, Mary, undated
Waring, P. A., 1921
Warwick, Katherine Murray, 1916
Webster, H. A., 1920
White, Charles E., 1932, 1933
Whitney Museum of American Art, 1933
Williams, Frederick, 1924
Williams, Walter R., 1909, 1911, 1912, undated
Wilson, A. J., 1935
Wolf, Walter, 1923
Worcester, Charles H., 1928, 1929, 1945, undated
Wright, Alan, 1910
Wright, Katherine, 1921
Zamoyski, August, 1921
Zorach, William & Marguerite, 1922, 1924
Restrictions:
This series contains access-restricted medical records.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
John Henry Bradley Storrs papers, 1890-2007, bulk 1900-1956. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
The Peppino Mangravite papers measure 6.2 linear feet and are dated 1918-1982. They consist of correspondence, subject files, recorded interviews with significant artists and transcripts, writings and notes, miscellaneous records, printed matter, and photographs documenting Mangravite's career as a painter and educator.
Scope and Content Note:
The Peppino Mangravite papers measure 6.2 linear feet and are dated 1918-1982. They consist of correspondence, subject files, interviews with artists, writings and notes, miscellaneous records, printed matter, and photographs documenting Mangravite's career as a painter and educator.
Series 1: Correspondence includes chronological correspondence documenting Mangravite's career as a painter and educator. Correspondence is with employers, dealers, museums, galleries, collectors, clients, arts and educational organizations, publishers, and other artists. Much of the correspondence is between Mangravite and his dealers, the Dudensing Gallery and the Rehn Galleries, and with other galleries and museums where his paintings were exhibited. Mangravite's mural commissions are also discussed. Additional events documented include Mangravite's two Guggenheim Fellowships and his trip to Europe in 1955 to interview famous artists.
Mangravite's long teaching career is also documented in correspondence with Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, Avon School, Fieldston School of the Ethical Culture Schools, Potomac School, Dana Hall School, and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. Other topics covered in the correspondence concern Mangravite's published or proposed writings, particularly articles and books reviews, most notably for the Saturday Review of Literature and American Magazine of Art. Mangravite's membership activities in a variety of artists' organizations, such as the College Art Association, the American Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers; the American Artists' Congress, and the American Federation of Arts is well-represented in the correspondence.
A list of major correspondents can be found in the series description for Series 1: Correspondence.
Series 3: Interviews with Artists includes audio recordings, transcripts, photographs, notes and reports. During the summer of 1955, Mangravite traveled to England, France, and Italy where he conducted interviews with eight artists - Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Giorgio De Chirico, Marino Marini, Henry Moore, Giorgio Morandi, Georges Rouault, and Graham Southerland - recording their ideas about art, life, and education. In 1972, Mangravite recorded an interview with Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, and the two artists were photographed together on that occasion.
Series 4: Writings, Notes, and Lectures consists of articles, papers, talks, lectures, miscellaneous writings, and notes by Mangravite, and a small number of items by other writers. Series 5: Miscellaneous Records includes art work by Mangravite and others, audiovisual records, biographical information, and financial records. Among the printed matter in Series 6 are articles, exhibition announcements, invitations, catalogs, and miscellaneous printed items by and about Mangravite, art-related topics, and other subjects. In Series 7: Photographs, photos of people include Mangravite, students, and other artists. Photos of works of art are of murals and paintings by Mangravite and sculpture by Edgar Britton.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1918-1977 (Boxes 1-2; 1.75 linear ft.; Reels 5878-5880)
Series 2: Subject Files, 1940-1960 (Box 2; 0.25 linear ft.; Reel 5880-5881)
Series 3: Interviews with Artists, 1955, 1972 (Boxes 3, 8; 0.65 linear ft.; Reel 5881)
Series 4: Writings, Notes and Lectures, 1928-1965 (Box 3; 0.35 linear ft.; Reel 5881)
Series 6: Printed Matter, 1918-1982 (Boxes 4-6; 2.65 linear ft.; Reels 5881-5882)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1926-circa 1970 (Boxes 7-8; 0.4 linear ft.; Reel 5882)
Biographical Note:
In 1914, at the age of eighteen, Peppino Gino Mangravite (1896-1978) settled in New York City with his father. The young man had already completed six years of study at the Scuole Techiniche Belle Arti in his native Italy, where coursework included the study of anatomy and Renaissance fresco techniques. Upon arrival in New York, he enrolled at Cooper Union, and by 1917 was studying under Robert Henri at the Art Students League.
Mangravite began his teaching career - one that lasted half a century - as assistant to Hans Peter Hansen at the Hansen School of Fine Arts in New York during the academic year 1918/19. He was an involved and committed teacher who worked equally well with young children and college students. For several summers in the 1920s, he ran summer art camps in the Adirondacks for children and adults. From 1926-1928 Mangravite lived in Washington D.C., where he taught at the Potomac School. The majority of his life was spent in New York where he served on the faculties of Sarah Lawrence College, Cooper Union, the Art Students League, and, most notably, Columbia University. In addition, he spent 1937-38 as head of the art department of Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and from 1940-1942 taught at the Art Institute of Chicago. Mangravite was active in professional arts and education organizations. He wrote a number of articles about art education and served as chairman of the College Art Association's Committee for the Study of the Practice of Art Courses, 1943-1944.
In addition to teaching studio courses, Mangravite was a working artist. Represented by Dudensing Gallery, and later Rehn Galleries, he exhibited widely throughout the United States, and, occasionally, abroad. He won a number of awards, including a gold medal for mural painting at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exhibition, 1926; the American Gold Medal Purchase Prize, Golden Gate Exposition, San Francisco, 1939; Alice McFadden Eyre Medal for best print, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1946; and a silver medal for mosaic design, Architectural League of New York, 1955. Mangravite was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships in 1932 and 1935, and during that same period was commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department to paint murals for post offices in Hempstead, N.Y. and Atlantic City, N.J. Other commissions of note include a mural for the Governor's Mansion in the Virgin Islands, and a mosaic mural for the main altar of the Workers' Chapel, St. Anthony's Shrine, Boston, Mass.
Sponsored by Columbia University and with the assistance of the United States Information Agency, Mangravite met with art department heads of several European universities in 1955 to discuss Columbia University's plans for a new arts center. He also interviewed eight artists - Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Giorgio De Chirico, Marino Marini, Henry Moore, Giorgio Morandi, Georges Rouault, and Graham Southerland -recording their ideas about art, life, and education.
Peppino Mangravite died in 1978.
Provenance:
Most of the collection was donated by Peppino Mangravite in 1977. Additional papers were donated in 2003 by his daughter Denise Mangravite Scheinberg that include records documenting Mangravite's 1955 interviews with European artists, a sound recording and photographs of his meeting with Rufino Tamayo in 1972, a motion picture film of Mangravite's painting class at the Potomac School, and a small number of printed items.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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.
The papers of painter Philip Evergood measure 11.61 linear feet and date from 1890 to 1971. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and business correspondence; writings, including essays, lectures, speeches, and sound recordings of radio appearances; subject files; personal business records; printed material; scrapbooks; artwork, including oil paintings, sketches, and childhood drawings; and photographs of Evergood, his family and friends, and his work.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter Philip Evergood measure 11.61 linear feet and date from 1890 to 1971. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and business correspondence; writings, including essays, lectures, speeches, and sound recordings of radio appearances; subject files; personal business records; printed material; scrapbooks; artwork, including oil paintings, sketches, and childhood drawings; and photographs of Evergood, his family and friends, and his work.
Biographical materials include curriculum vitae, forms, memberships, and the contact information of friends and acquaintances. Correspondence is with business associates and artists, including Charles Edward Smith, Rockwell Kent, Frank Kleinholz, Leon Kroll, Joan Miro, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Writings consist primarily of Evergood's artist statements, essays, lectures and speeches, as well as notes, transcripts, and recordings of broadcast radio shows. Subject files focus on art institutions and organizations, funding opportunities, and political topics of personal interest.
Personal business records include artist lists, contracts with galleries, and banking and estate records. Printed materials include clippings, four clippings scrapbooks, exhibition catalogs, and periodicals with articles featuring Evergood. There are loose sketches and mixed media, including oils and watercolors, of Evergood's artwork. Photographs are of Evergood, his friends and family, and photographs and negatives of his artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1930-1971 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, 24, OV 13)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1930-1970 (3.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-4, 24)
Series 3: Writings, 1905-1970 (1.8 linear feet; Boxes 4-5, 24)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1919-1971 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 5-6)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1902-1970 (0.5 linear feet; Box 6)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1914-1970 (2.4 linear feet; Boxes 7-9, 11, 24)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1924-1954 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 11-12)
Series 8: Artwork, 1905-1970 (1.5 linear feet; Box 9, OV 14-20, 24, OV 25, RD 23)
Series 9: Photographic Materials, 1890-1970 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 9-10, 24, OV 21-22, 26-27)
Biographical / Historical:
Painter and printmaker Philip Evergood (1901-1973) lived and worked in New York City and Bridgewater, Connecticut and was known as an expressionist and social realist who incorporated elements of the fantastic into his works. A native New Yorker, Evergood's father, Miles Blashki, was a Polish-Australian artist, and his mother, Flora Jane Perry, was English. At his mother's insistence, Evergood attended boarding schools in England and graduated from Eton in 1919. He left Cambridge University to pursue art studies at London's Slade School of Fine Arts and returned to America in 1923 to study with George Luks at the Art Students League.
In 1927, Evergood held his first one man show at New York's Dudensing Gallery and continued to travel back and forth between France, Spain, and America throughout the 1920s. In 1931, he married dancer and actress Julia Cross and found work as a muralist and painter for the WPA Federal Arts Project in the early 1930s. From 1937-1938, he served as president of the New York Artists Union and, along with other social realist painters, joined Herman Baron's stable at the ACA (American Contemporary Art) Gallery, where he exhibited several one man shows during the late 1930s and 1940s.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Evergood was a popular lecturer and taught at art schools, including the Skowhegan School, and began producing large scale lithographs and etchings along with his paintings. While working as a picture framer for additional income, he met the art collector Joseph Hirshhorn who would purchase 10 artworks at their first meeting and become a life long patron. He continued to exhibit his work at the ACA Gallery and the annual contemporary shows of major museums, such as the Carnegie Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago. Evergood exhibited in over 35 exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Whitney Museum in 1960, and died in a house fire in Bridgewater in 1973.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are Letters from Philip Evergood; Gael Hammer letters relating to Miles and Philip Evergood; an oral history interview with Philip Evergood by Forrest Selvig, December 3, 1968; and Philip Evergood interview with John I.H. Baur, June 1959.
Provenance:
Philip Evergood donated his papers to the Archives in 1971. Additional materials were donated in 1974 by Evergood's wife, Julia Cross Evergood. In 1977, two typescripts of essays were donated by Abram Lerner. A small addition was donated in 2018 by Kendall Taylor, who originally received the material from Julia Cross Evergood.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) measure approximately 9.3 linear feet and date from circa 1897 to 1955. The collection documents the life and work of the artist, who was best known for his paintings and illustrations depicting scenes of vaudeville, night clubs, burlesque, and New York City. Marsh was a lifelong free-lance illustrator for the New Yorker, Esquire and many other national magazines. Papers include correspondence, diaries, notebooks, sketches, scrapbooks, business and financial papers, and photographs, as well as some biographical and printed material.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) measure approximately 9.3 linear feet and date from circa 1897 to 1955. The collection documents the life and work of the artist, who was best known for his paintings and illustrations depicting scenes of vaudeville, night clubs, burlesque, and New York City. Marsh was a lifelong free-lance illustrator for the New Yorker, Esquire and many other national magazines. Papers include correspondence, diaries, notebooks, sketches, scrapbooks, business and financial papers, and photographs, as well as some biographical and printed material.
Marsh's correspondence is typically with family, friends, artists, colleagues, dealers, government officials, publishers, greeting card companies, admirers and former students. Correspondence concerns both personal and professional matters, documenting his relationships with family and friends and his work on various projects ranging from book illustrations to the murals he executed as part of the Treasury Department Art Program. Diaries include those Marsh kept as an adolescent, those in which he recorded his technique and work on art, and those in which he recorded his daily engagements. Notebooks include ones on art, in which he recorded notes on particular works and on painting techniques, mediums and other processes; ones used as address books and to record notes on travel and art work; and ones on finances, in which he kept track of earnings from his stocks and art, as well as some student notebooks. Diaries and notebooks both document various practical aspects involved in the creation of Marsh's art work.
Sketches include ones on loose sheets and scraps of paper and in sketchbooks, documenting some of the sources and recurrent themes of Marsh's art work, as well as shedding light on Marsh's process of creation. Scrapbooks consist primarily of clippings (illustrations, reviews, reproductions of art work) compiled by Marsh, documenting the publication, exhibition, and reception of his art work. Business and financial papers consist of paperwork (contracts, agreements, statements, receipts, permissions) relating to business matters, practical concerns, and financial aspects involved in handling his various art projects and in exhibiting and selling his art work. Photographs include ones of Marsh's family and friends, the artist at work (sketching around Coney Island and on the streets of New York), and his art work (some of which was compiled into volumes by Marsh and some of which was compiled by Norman Sasowsky).
Also found are limited amounts of biographical material, including juvenilia, official documents, awards and certificates, writings, an appraisal of Marsh's estate, and catalogs of Marsh's art work, and printed material, including exhibition catalogs, clippings, and publications.
Arrangement:
The Reginald Marsh papers are arranged as 9 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1910s-1955 (boxes 1, 11; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1920-1954 (boxes 1-2, OV 12; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Diaries, 1912-1954 (box 3; 1 linear foot)
Series 4: Notebooks, 1919-1954 (box 4; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Sketches, 1901-1954, undated (boxes 4-5, OV 12-21; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1901-1954, undated (boxes 6, 9-11; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Business and Financial Papers, 1923-1954 (box 6; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, circa 1897-1908, 1920-1952 (boxes 6-8, 10; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1931-1955 (boxes 8, 10; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Reginald Marsh was born in Paris on March 14, 1898. His father, Fred Dana Marsh, was a well-known muralist, and his mother, Alice Randall Marsh, was also an artist who painted miniature watercolors. Marsh returned with his family to the United States in 1900 and grew up in Nutley, New Jersey.
After graduating from Yale University in 1920, Marsh moved to New York, where he worked as an illustrator for the New York Evening Post and Herald, Vanity Fair and Harper's Bazaar. Beginning in 1922, he worked as staff artist at the New York Daily News doing a cartoon review of vaudeville and burlesque. During the 1920s, he designed theater curtains for the Greenwich Village Follies and other theater productions, and became one of the original cartoonists at The New Yorker after it was founded in 1925, actively working for the magazine until 1931 and regularly contributing drawings from time to time after that.
In 1923, Marsh married Betty Burroughs, who was the daughter of the curator of painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and herself a sculptor. They divorced in 1933, and he married his second wife, Felicia Meyer, a landscape painter, in 1934.
In the early 1920s, Marsh began to study painting and attended classes taught by John Sloan and Kenneth Hayes Miller, among others, at the Art Students League in New York. He made several trips to Europe, once in 1925-1926 and again in 1928, to study the old masters in the museums. In 1929, he began to paint in egg tempera. He also worked in watercolor, painting several large compositions in 1939-1940. In the 1940s, he studied the "Maroger medium" with Jacques Maroger and began to use this emulsion technique in his paintings. In addition to painting, he also worked in lithography, etching, and engraving.
Marsh had his first one-man show of oils and watercolors at the Whitney Studio Club in 1924 and another show of lithographs there in 1928. He had one-man shows of his watercolors at the Valentine Dudensing Galleries in 1927, the Weyhe Gallery in 1928, and the Marie Sterner Galleries in 1929. In 1930, he had his first show of paintings at the Rehn Galleries, where he regularly exhibited for the next two decades.
In 1935 and 1937 respectively, Marsh was commissioned by the Treasury Department Art Program to paint two murals in the Post Office Department Building in Washington, D.C. and a series of murals in the rotunda of the Customs House in New York. Beginning in 1935, Marsh taught drawing and painting at the Art Students League. In the summer of 1946, he was guest instructor at Mills College, Oakland, California, for six weeks. In 1949, he was appointed head of the Department of Paintings at Moore Institute of Art, Science, and Industry, Philadelphia and taught advanced painting there in 1953-1954.
Beginning in the mid-1930s, some of Marsh's art work began to be reproduced on greeting cards issued by the American Artists Group and Living American Art, Inc. He also did illustrations for editions of Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie (1938), John Dos Passos's USA (1945) and Adventures of a Young Man (1946), and Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper (1946), among others. He continued to do freelance illustrations for magazines, including Esquire, Fortune, and Life. Notably, he served as an artist correspondent for Life during the Second World War, and traveled to Brazil in 1943 to draw the army installations there.
Marsh was the recipient of various awards throughout his career, including the M. V. Kohnstamm Prize from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1931, the First W. A. Clark Prize and Corcoran Gold Medal from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1945, and the Gold Medal for Graphic Arts of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1954.
Marsh died of a heart attack in Dorset, Vermont on July 3, 1954.
This biographical note draws heavily from information originally printed in the catalogue of the Reginald Marsh Retrospective Exhibition organized by the Whitney Museum in 1955.
Related Material:
The Archives holds several collections of different provenance that relate to Reginald Marsh, including Felicia Meyer Marsh and Meyer Family Papers (available on reels 2082, 2087-2090, and 4474-4475), Fred Dana Marsh illustrated letters (available on reel 3134), Norman Sasowsky Research Material on Reginald Marsh (partially available on reels 1195 and 1463-1464), and Reginald Marsh Printed Material, consisting of two yearbooks from Lawrenceville School donated by Alvin Macauley who was a classmate of Marsh (not available on microfilm). In addition, a portion of the materials loaned and microfilmed in 1963 on reel NRM 19, including several small paintings, are housed in the Pierpont Morgan Library.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming. Some of the material loaned for microfilming in 1963, including the bulk of Marsh's sketchbooks and some anatomy sketches, was subsequently donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and Whitney Museum of American Art. Other loaned material, including several small paintings, was from the Pierpont Morgan Library. Most of the files of clippings that were donated to AAA with Marsh's papers were transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery Library in 1979. Even though this material is not technically part of the collection housed in AAA, copies are available on microfilm reels NRM3-NRM17 (sketchbooks and sketches), NRM 19 (material from the Pierpont Morgan Library), NRM 20 (small paintings), and 2233-2234 (clippings). A portion of the material donated to AAA with the Reginald Marsh papers has been separated to create a new collection of Felicia Meyer Marsh and Marsh Family papers. Loaned and transferred material is not described in this finding aid.
Provenance:
A large portion of the Reginald Marsh papers, including diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks, and photograph albums, was lent for microfilming in 1963 by Marsh's wife, Felicia Meyer Marsh. Some, but not all, of this material was subsequently donated to AAA in 1979, after the death of Mrs. Marsh, along with some additional material, including notebooks, scrapbooks, biographical and printed material. Another portion of the collection, comprised mainly of correspondence and a catalog of Marsh's art work, was donated in 1964. Three items of Marsh juvenilia were donated in 1984 by Alice Heffernan. Sketches that Mrs. Marsh bequeathed to the Whitney Museum were donated to AAA by the museum in 1987, along with 5 sketchbooks previously lent. Later gift portions were microfilmed.
Restrictions:
The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.
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.
Topic:
Etchers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Letters, writings, photographs, printed material, and a DVD videorecording relating to Trunk's career as a modernist painter. Letters are from Juliana Force, Arthur E. McFarlane, Henry McFee, author B.F. Morrow, and Charles J. Simpson, secretary of the American Veterans Society of Artists, Harry C. Richardson, Gertrude Herdle Moore, Holger Cahill, Audrey F. McMahon, Hugo C.M. Wendel, Kimon Nicolaides, Zoltan Hecht, and Marion M. Grant, among others. Writings include consignment forms and reports from the Dudensing Gallery, New York City, an artist statement, one notebook labeled Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Etruscan, and Greco-Roman, one notebook on fresco painting, and two notebooks listing information on art works by Trunk. Photographs are of Trunk, his wife, and others. Printed material consists of scrapbook pages, newspaper clippings, exhibition catalogs and pamphlets mostly concerning Trunk's exhibitions at Dudensing Gallery, New York. The DVD documents the 1989 Trunk exhibition at Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, filmed by the donor, Joseph Smith.
Biographical / Historical:
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Herman Trunk (1894-1963) was a modernist painter who worked in a variety of media, and is well known for his watercolor paintings produced in the early 20th century.
Provenance:
Donated in 2008 by Joseph G. Smith, Herman Trunk's nephew.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of painter, collector, and writer John Graham measure 11.2 linear feet and date from 1799 to 1988, with the bulk of materials dating from 1890 to 1961. Papers document the life of John Graham, born Ivan Dombrowsky, through personal documents related to military service and family history, passports, artifacts, correspondence, appointment books, financial records, inventories, wills, extensive writings and notes, books, clippings, exhibition catalogs, photographs of Graham and his family and friends, and artwork created and collected by Graham.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of painter, collector, and writer John Graham measure 11.2 linear feet and date from 1799 to 1988, with the bulk of materials dating from 1890 to 1961. Papers document the life of John Graham, born Ivan Dombrowsky, through personal documents related to military service and family history, passports, artifacts, correspondence, appointment books, financial records, inventories, wills, extensive writings and notes, books, clippings, exhibition catalogs, photographs of Graham and his family and friends, and artwork created and collected by Graham.
Biographical Materials and Artifacts include passports and other official documents, as well as records related to Graham's family, military service, and medical history. Among the artifacts are paint pots and a palette. Correspondence is with art and antique dealers and collectors, and includes significant correspondence and related documents of Jack Mayer, Graham's agent from the late 1950s. Several artists and famous friends are represented in Graham's correspondence including David Burliuk, Stuart Davis, Ultra Violet, Francoise Gilot, R.B. Kitaj, Marc Tobey, and Ron Gorchov.
Personal Business Records contain appointment books spanning 1931 to 1961 which record appointments but were also used as notebooks and sketchbooks. Other Business Records include inventories of Graham's books and antiques made by Graham, records of antique-related transactions, wills of Graham and his last wife, Marianne Strate, and extensive personal financial records from the last few years of his life.
Graham's writings are found scattered throughout the collection, as is his artwork. The Writings series is dominated by Graham's lengthy book projects, found in multiple drafts. The author's annotated published works are also found, as well as typescripts of several published essays by and about Graham. Lists, notes, and writings on a wide range of subjects are found on loose pages and in notebooks dated from 1931 to 1961. Among the Printed Materials are many annotated books from Graham's library, some of which contain drawings, and clippings and exhibition catalogs related to Graham's career going back to the 1920s. Reference files of printed ephemera and clippings collected by Graham are found on a variety of subjects, some of which contain pictorial subjects used in Graham's paintings.
Photographs depict Graham from childhood through his last years in cabinet card portraits, passport photographs, and snapshots. Photographs are also found of his parents, his five wives and four children, and a number of famous friends including Pablo Picasso, Françoise Gilot, their children, and Arshile Gorky. Artwork includes Graham's sketchbooks of 1934, 1960, and 1961, loose sketches, and a collection of file folders with many symbols and illustrations. Also found among the artwork are antique and contemporary prints and drawings collected by Graham.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials and Artifacts, 1799, 1822, 1891-1961 (Boxes 1, 11-12, 17; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1932-1988 (Box 1; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, circa 1931-1962 (Boxes 1-3; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1839, circa 1923-1986 (Boxes 3-5, OV 13; 2.9 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Materials, circa 1885-1961 (Boxes 6-9, OV 14; 3.7 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1860-1985 (Box 9-10, 17, OV 15; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1852-1961 (Box 10, OV 16; 1 linear foot)
In New York, Graham studied at the Art Students League, taking classes with John Sloan, William von Schlegell, and Allen Tucker. Among his fellow students were Dorothy Dehner and David Smith, Adolph Gottlieb, Alexander Calder, and Elinor Gibson, who married Graham in 1924. The couple lived briefly in Elinor's native Baltimore, Maryland, where he met Etta and Claribel Cone, collectors of modern European paintings. It may have been the Cone sisters who introduced Graham to their circle of avant-garde artists and art collectors in Paris in the late 1920s. Whatever its origin, Graham's early style has been compared to Cezanne, Braque, Derain, and Chirico, and his frequent trips to Europe made him a conduit for current art ideas and trends for the American artists who knew him.
Graham exhibited his paintings steadily in the late 1920s and early 1930s, including shows at the Society of Independent Arists (New York) in 1925, the Modernist Galleries (Baltimore) in 1926, Galerie Zaborowski (Paris) in 1928 and 1929, at Dudensing Galleries (New York) and Phillips Memorial Gallery (Washington) in 1929, the First Biennial at the Whitney Museum in 1932, and at 8th Street Gallery (New York) in 1933. During this period Graham and his wife Elinor lived in Paris, New York City, New Jersey, and upstate New York. He spent a year teaching at Wells College in Aurora, New York, where he also executed a series of wall panels in 1932. Graham's friendships with other artists during this period included Arshile Gorky, Stuart Davis, and Willem de Kooning. De Kooning is said to have called Davis, Gorky, and Graham the "three smartest guys on the scene."
Graham's European travels also enabled him to earn a living by buying primitive sculpture and antiques for collectors and dealers. In the 1930s he bought African Art for Vanity Fair editor and art collector Frank Crowninshield, and in 1936, Graham arranged an exhibition of Crowninshield's collection at Jacques Seligmann gallery. Graham and Elinor Gibson divorced in 1934 and he married Constance Wellman in Paris in 1936. They lived in Brooklyn Heights near Adolph Gottlieb, David Smith, and Dorothy Dehner, and worked for Hilla Rebay in her formation of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which became the Guggenheim Museum. Suffering financial hardship in the late years of the Depression, Constance and Graham lived in Mexico for several stretches of time, and Graham published several articles on Mexico and Mexican Art, and an essay entitled "Primitive Art and Picasso" in Magazine of Art.
Graham was a prolific writer, but only a few of his written works found their way into print. Aside from his essays, published works include a small book of poetry, Have It!, published in 1923, and a book which presented Graham's personal theories of art entitled System and Dialectics of Art, published in 1937 by Delphic Studios, an eclectic New York gallery and small press run by Alma Reed. The book was influential for a younger generation of American artists; Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in particular both expressed appreciation for Graham's ideas. For decades, Graham worked on several other major written works which were not published, including a highly stylized, symbolist work about his childhood and an encyclopedic collection of short, didactic essays on a wide range Grahamiam themes, a work which Graham usually referred to as Orifizio Mundi.
In 1942, Graham organized the exhibition "French and American Painters" at McMillen Gallery (New York) which showed Modigliani, Picasso, Braque, Rouault, and Matisse, alongside the Americans Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Stuart Davis, David Burliuk, and Walt Kuhn, among others. The show was well-received critically and, as it was Jackson Pollock's first public exhibition and Willem de Kooning's second, and the occasion of Pollock and Lee Krasner's meeting, could be considered a watershed event in contemporary American art.
Graham's own style made a pronounced shift away from abstraction in the 1940s. He began referencing renaissance art in his paintings, incorporating occult symbols, and signing them "Ioannus Magus," or "Ioannus San Germanus." His marriage to Constance ended acrimoniously around this time. He met Marianne Strate, a bookbinder, through her daughter Ileana Sonnabend and son-in-law Leo Castelli. They lived in Southampton, New York, where Graham was close to the Castellis, Paul Brach, Miriam Schapiro, and where he renewed his friendship with Willem de Kooning, who had a studio in Castelli's East Hampton home in the early 1950s. Marianne died in 1955.
Graham exhibited at the Stable Gallery in 1954, and at the newly-opened, uptown Whitney Museum of American Art in 1955. Jack Mayer became Graham's dealer in the late 1950s, held exhibitions at his Madison Avenue gallery, Gallery Mayer, in 1960, and arranged for an exhibition at the Tennessee Fine Arts Center in 1961, shortly before Graham's death. Graham left the United States for the last time in 1959, lived in Paris for two years, and died in June 1961 in a hospital in London. Gallery Mayer held a memorial exhibition at the end of 1961. Retrospective exhibitions of Graham's work have been held at the Art Institute of Chicago (1963), the Museum of Modern Art (1968), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1969), and the Phillips Collection (1987).
Separated Materials note:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel 5049) including six volumes of notebooks and several loose sketches. Loaned materials were returned to MoMA and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The papers of John Graham were given to the Archives of American Art in five separate accessions between 1985 and 1988. The bulk of papers were donated by Graham's son, John David Graham, in 1985, with later additions from Patricia Graham, the widow of John David Graham, in 1986, 1987, and 1988, via the Andre Emmerich Gallery, Inc. The Department of Prints and Drawings of the Museum of Modern Art donated more papers and loaned additional materials for microfilming in 1986.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via the Archives of American Art website.
Rights:
Reel 5049: Museum of Modern Art, NY: John Graham Notebooks: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from the Museum of Modern Art. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Chronological correspondence documents Mangravite's career as a painter and educator and is with employers, dealers, museums, galleries, collectors, clients, arts and educational organizations, publishers, and other artists. The majority of the letters are written in English, but some are composed in French and Italian as well. Although primarily business correspondence, there is also a significant amount of personal correspondence with friends, colleagues, and former students. The letters often cover both business and personal topics, as Mangravite seemed to form close relationships with many of the people at the galleries and schools with which he was associated. Correspondence dated from 1918 to the 1950s is comprised mostly of incoming letters. Starting in the 1950s, the correspondence includes more outgoing correspondence, usually in the forms of onion skin copies and handwritten drafts. Correspondence is arranged chronologically, except two folders of undated letters, which are arranged alphabetically by last name of writer. A list of major correspondents follows.
A large amount of correspondence is between Mangravite and his dealers, the Dudensing Gallery and the Rehn Galleries, and discusses financial agreements, sales, and accounts. There is also correspondence with other galleries and museums where his paintings were exhibited. Mangravite's mural commissions are also discussed in the correspondence. Also found are invitations to participate in exhibitions, notifications of prize awards and artwork sales, invitations to be on juries for art competitions, or miscellaneous requests from fellow artists, fans, collectors, and clients. Significant events documented here include Mangravite's two Guggenheim Fellowships and his trip to Europe in 1955 to interview famous artists.
Mangravite's long teaching career is also documented in this series. Correspondence is found with Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, Avon School, Fieldston School of the Ethical Culture Schools, Potomac School, Dana Hall School, and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. Additionally, Mangravite was also a sought-after speaker and his correspondence includes many lecture invitations and requests as well as arrangements for accepted speaking engagements.
Other topics covered in the correspondence concern Mangravite's published or proposed writings, particularly articles and books reviews, most notably for the Saturday Review of Literature and American Magazine of Art. Also, there is some correspondence with publishers regarding book project ideas and manuscripts. Mangravite's membership activities in a variety of artists' organizations, such as the College Art Association, the American Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers; the American Artists' Congress, and the American Federation of Arts are well-represented in the correspondence. Of particular interest is Mangravite's response to an artists' rental policy debate during the 1930s, concerning the payment of rental fees for artworks exhibited in shows and galleries.
Major Correspondents
American Artists Congress
American Federation of Arts
American Society of Painters
Arms, John Taylor
Avon School
Barr, Alfred
Barzun, Jacques (Columbia University)
Bear, Donald J.
Benson, Emanuel
Biddle, George
Burchfield, Charles
Canaday, John
Canby, Courtlandt
Chagall, Marc
Clancy, John (Rehn Galleries)
Cole, Sylvan Jr. (Associated American Artists)
College Art Association
Colorado Springs Fine Art Center
Columbia University
d'Harnoncourt, Rene
Dana Hall School
Davis, Stuart
Dudensing, Richard
Fieldston School of the Ethical Culture Schools
Force, Juliana
Gonzales, Xavier
Harper & Brothers Publishers
Knight, Frederick
Larom, Henry V.
Lockwood, Ward
Magafan, Ethel and Jenne and Edward Chavez
Maldarelli, Oronzio
Manso, Leo
Manzella, David
Moe, Henry Allen
Mumford, Lewis
Pearson, Ralph M. (Design Workshop)
Philips, Duncan
Picken, George
Poor, Henry V.
Potomac School
Preston, Carol (Potomac School)
Rehn, Frank K. M.
Rice, Norman (Art Institute of Chicago)
Rich, Daniel Catton (Art Institute of Chicago)
Robinson, Boardman (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center)
Roosevelt, Willard
Root, Edward W.
Saint-Gaudens, Homer
Sarah Lawrence College
Sculptors and Gravers
Simonson, Lee
Speicher, Gene
Sweet, Frederick A. (Portland Art Museum)
Talbot, William
Thayer, H. Standish
Vander Sluis, George
Watson, Forbes
Watkins, Franklin C.
Weston, Harold
Wilder, Mitchell A. (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center)
Wyatt, Stanley
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Peppino Mangravite papers, 1918-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of painter, printmaker, and photographer Konrad Cramer and his wife, painter and printmaker Florence Ballin Cramer, measure 8.5 linear feet and date from 1897 to 1968. Papers document both artists' personal and professional lives and are especially rich in documentation of the art community of Woodstock, New York, where Florence Ballin first attended art classes in 1906, and where the couple settled in 1911. Records include biographical materials, correspondence, a Christmas card album, diaries, writings, business records, personal financial records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of painter, printmaker, and photographer Konrad Cramer and his wife, painter and printmaker Florence Ballin Cramer, measure 8.5 linear feet and date from 1897 to 1968. Papers document both artists' personal and professional lives and are especially rich in documentation of the art community of Woodstock, New York, from 1906, when Florence first attended art classes there, and where the couple resided until their deaths in the 1960s. Records include biographical materials, correspondence, a Christmas card album, business records, diaries, writings, personal financial records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Correspondence is between the Cramers and other artists, curators, gallery staff, editors, writers, and personal friends and family. Many drafts and carbons of outgoing letters are also present. The Christmas card album brings together original cards made by their artist friends in the 1920s and early 1930s. Diaries are of both artists, mostly from 1949 onward, with notes and excerpts from earlier diaries present. Writings include technical and biographical essays by Konrad Cramer, and autobiographical and historical essays by Florence Ballin Cramer; notebooks and notes relate to art, travel, photography, and other subjects. Personal Business Records include price lists, receipts, and gallery correspondence with dealers and exhibitors; correspondence, accounting records, and writings related to Florence Ballin Cramer's Florence Gallery in New York City (1919-1920); records related to Woodstock arts and civic organizations in which the Cramers were involved; and personal financial records.
Printed Materials include publicity materials related to the Cramers' various endeavors and the activities of Woodstock arts and civic organizations, as well as dozens of books, little magazines, and journals by and about members of the Woodstock artist's colony. Photographs depict the Cramers and their friends, including early Art Students League Classes and the annual Maverick festival in the 1920s. Also found are a small number of photo-collages and experiments with color photography, and a series of early twentieth century photographs in the pictorialist style. Artwork includes early sketchbooks of both artists; loose sketches, drawings, and designs; textile designs by Konrad Cramer; and prints and printing blocks.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged into 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1898-1955 (3 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1900-1964 (2.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-3, 9)
Series 3: Christmas Card Album, 1921-1961 (0.8 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Diaries, 1906-1962 (1 linear foot; Box 4)
Series 5: Writings, 1897-1962 (0.7 linear feet; Box 5, OV 11)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1918-1962 (0.3 linear feet; Box 5, OV 10)
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1906-1968 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 6-7, 9, OV 11)
Series 8: Photographs, 1906-1960 (0.5 linear feet; Box 7)
Series 9: Artwork, 1897-1954 (1 linear foot; Boxes 8-9, OV 10-11)
Biographical/Historical note:
Konrad Cramer was born in Wurtzburg, Germany, in 1888, and studied at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts from 1906 to 1908 with Ludwig Schmidt-Reutte and Ernest Schurth. After a year in the German army, he returned to Karlsruhe to set up a studio, making frequent trips to Munich, where he was exposed to the experimental artists of the Blaue Reiter group, including Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc.
Florence Ballin was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1884. She studied at the Woodstock, New York, summer school of the Art Students League beginning in 1906 under Birge Harrison along with fellow students John Carlson, Grace Mott Johnson, and Andrew Dasburg. She served as secretary for the League in 1906, and had a studio on 59th Street in Manhattan, where she held her first exhibition in 1909. In 1911, she traveled to Europe and met Konrad Cramer in Munich and joined him on visits to exhibitions and studios of the vanguard artists. The two married, moved to the United States, and settled permanently in Woodstock, New York.
Konrad Cramer is often credited as being an important link between German and American modernism in art, and his experimentations with abstraction and expressionism during his first years in Woodstock would seem to bear this out. In 1912 and 1913, he painted a series he called "Improvisations" (after Kandinsky) which was shown in a group exhibition at the MacDowell Club in 1913 along with Andrew Dasburg, Oliver Chaffee, and Paul Rohland. Cramer was photographed by Alfred Stieglitz and wrote an essay about the 291 Gallery for Stieglitz's magazine, Camera Work, in 1914.
The Cramers had two daughters, in 1914 and 1917, and Konrad Cramer became an American citizen in 1917. For income, he began designing textiles for department stores using stencils and batiks around 1918. In his painting, he turned from abstract experiments to the traditional subjects of landscape, still life, and figure in a more representational style that blended modern and regional influences. Florence Ballin Cramer opened a gallery on 57th Street in 1919, encouraged by the sculptor Elie Nadelman. The mission of the Florence Gallery, as it was called, was to exhibit and sell the work of living artists. Although it only survived the season, it was the first gallery to show work by Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Alexander Brook, Ernest Fiene, and Stefan Hirsch, and generated important sales for several young artists in her circle.
Konrad Cramer returned to Europe in 1920 on a Rockefeller grant to study educational methods for craftsmen in Germany and France, and on his return he taught at the Woodstock School of Painting and Allied Arts. Cramer also studied lithography with Bolton Brown in Woodstock around this time, and both Cramers took up printmaking and began publishing prints in local arts magazines. The Cramers were deeply immersed in Woodstock life, participating in the annual Maverick festivals, the Woodstock Artists Association, the Historical Society, and other organizations, hosting meetings and serving as officers of many committees and organizations that presented and supported artwork in their community. They enjoyed a rich social life there among fellow artists at frequent parties and festivals, where Konrad provided entertainment with his fiddle and both Cramers memorialized events in countless photographs.
Konrad Cramer exhibited at the Whitney Studio Club in 1924, and taught at the Children's University School (now the Dalton School), where he painted a mural in 1929. The 1930s were busy years in both Cramers' professional lives. Konrad's exhibitions included the Carnegie International (1929 and 1933), and a two-man show at the Dudensing Gallery (1930), where Cramer and Adolph Gottlieb had been selected the most deserving unknown American painters of the year. He was also included in the exhibit Abstract Painting in America at the Whitney Museum (1935). Florence Ballin Cramer exhibited at Marie Harriman Gallery (1931 and 1933), Macy Galleries (1933), the Pennsylvania Academy (1934 and 1936), and the Corcoran (1935 and 1937). Both Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer were included in a traveling exhibition of Woodstock artists organized by the College Art Association (1931), the first and second Whitney Biennials (1933 and 1935), and the Wanamaker Regional Art Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting (1934).
In 1934, the Cramers traveled to Mexico, where they produced many paintings and drawings. Konrad Cramer joined the Federal Art Project briefly in 1935, administering the regional program in Woodstock with Judson Smith. It was around this time that he began to learn photography. He became a sort of community photographer, taking photographs of friends' artwork and commissioned portraits, as well as informal photographs of friends. Cramer experimented with photographic techniques such as solarization and collage, using prisms, panes of glass, or composite printing. He first exhibited photographs in 1936 at the Albany Institute, and established the Woodstock School of Miniature Photography (the "miniature" referring to the then-new format of 35mm film) in 1937. He also taught courses in photography at Bard College in the 1940s, and his photographs and articles about photography were published in national magazines.
For the remainder of his life, Cramer continued to teach, write, and produce photographs, occasionally returning to painting, drawing, and printmaking, creating gouaches, wax resist drawings, and stencils of landscapes and figures, with an increasing interest in abstract styles and automatic techniques. Three of his early paintings were included in the 1946 Whitney Museum exhibition Pioneers of Modern Art in America, and the same year, he exhibited abstract photographs at the Woodstock Artists Association. In the late 1940s, he built an automatic drawing machine which he called the sympalmagraph, which rendered precise, geometric forms. In the late 1950s, he collaborated on a traveling exhibition and book of abstract photographs with Manuel Komroff and Nathan Resnik called The Third Eye.
Florence Ballin Cramer held her last exhibitions at the Woodstock Town House gallery (1953) and at Long Island University (1957). She died in 1962. Konrad Cramer died the following year. Both were memorialized in an exhibition at the Woodstock Artists Association Gallery in 1968.
Separated Materials note:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 1027, D170, and D171) including photographs, diaries, and sketches. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
A portion of the papers in this collection were loaned to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1964 by Aileen Cramer and Margot Cramer Taylor, daughters of Florence and Konrad Cramer. While selected diaries, sketches, and photographs were returned to the donors, some, but not all, of the original loan was subsequently donated with additional materials, in 1975.
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.
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:
Painters -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
0.2 Linear feet ((80 items on partial microfilm reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1928-1933
Scope and Contents:
Papers primarily concern Blanch's association with the Dudensing Galleries, including correspondence, 1928-1932 and undated, lists of works of art, receipts, account statesments, legal documents, and statements issued by the Galleries concerning its representation of modern American artists. Also included are Blanch's studio lease agreement, 1929; miscellaneous correspondence, including a partial letter from Eugene Speicher; applications for fellowships with the Guggenheim Foundation, 1928-1933; and photographs Blanch, including four in his house in Woodstock.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, lithographer, etcher, illustrator, writer, teacher, and lecturer.
Provenance:
Donated by Lucile Blanch, 1975.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk 1892 to 1953. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Grant Program. Digitization of the scrapbooks was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee. Correspondence, financial and shipping records, inventory records, and printed material were digitized with funding provided by the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Walton Family Foundation.
