The records of the Charles Campbell Gallery in San Francisco date from 1960 to 2001 and measure 17.6 linear feet. The records include business correspondence with galleries, curators, trusts, and individual buyers and sellers; business records consisting of administrative files, business notebooks, and financial material; artist and exhibition files; and Charles Campbell's related personal files that include correspondence, catalogs, newsletters, and clippings about jazz, and photos and travel. Substantial artist files exist for Nathan Oliveira, which contain original artwork and photos of the artist, Peter Allegaert, Gordon Cook, Charles Griffin Farr, Morris Graves, Robert Harvey, Geer Morton, Fred Reichman, Jean Rustin, Stephani Sanchez, and Wayne Thiebaud, among others.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Charles Campbell Gallery in San Francisco date from 1960 to 2001 and measure 17.6 linear feet. The records include business correspondence with galleries, curators, trusts, and individual buyers and sellers; business records consisting of administrative files, business notebooks, and financial material; artist and exhibition files; and Charles Campbell's related personal files that include correspondence, catalogs, newsletters, and clippings about jazz, and photos and travel. Substantial artist files exist for Nathan Oliveira, which contain original artwork and photos of the artist, Peter Allegaert, Gordon Cook, Charles Griffin Farr, Morris Graves, Robert Harvey, Geer Morton, Fred Reichman, Jean Rustin, Stephani Sanchez, and Wayne Thiebaud, among others.
The records are a rich resource for documenting the Bay Area Figuration art movement in the San Francisco region.
Business correspondence is with galleries, curators, trusts, and individuals mostly regarding loans and sales. Correspondents include Allan Stone Gallery, Bryce Bannatyne Gallery, Canfield Gallery, Forum Gallery, Felix Landau Gallery, Henri Ghent, Barbara Guest, Phyllis Hattis, and Trini Gallery, among many others. Although there is scattered correspondence with artists filed among the business correspondence, the bulk of the gallery's correspondence with artists is found in the Artist and Exhibition Files.
Business records include administrative files comprised of mailing lists, business registration records, newsletters, information about affiliated organizations (including The San Francisco Art Dealers Association), and records and clippings about arts law. Gallery notebooks contain information about the gallery's day-to-day activities and also include inventories, contacts, accounting information, and lists of business arrangements and dealings. Financial materials include appraisal and consignment records, invoices, insurance records,donation records, and a vendor analysis report comprise the financial material.
Almost two-thirds of the collection is comprised of artist and exhibition files. In addition to the artistis listed above, there are substantial artist files for Ruth Asawa, E. J. Bellocq, Elmer Bischoff, Robert Berlind, John Battenberg, Joan Brown, William Theophilus Brown, Charles Mattox, Robert Qualters, Beth Van Hoesen, Carlos Villa, Paul Wonner, among many others. The artist files also include artwork, such as pen and ink and pencil sketches by Peter Allegaert, ink and gouache sketches by Nathan Oliveira, and a pen and ink sketch by John Goray. Scattered photos depict artists (notably Oliveira), their studios, artwork and installation shots, and exhibition attendee notebooks document shows from 1978 to 1987.
The collection also contains personal correspondence and files relating to Charles Campbell's interest in jazz and travel. These records include music catalogs, clippings, newsletters, correspondence, brochures, tickets, maps, travel agendas, and photos. Campbell's personal correspondence is scattered throughout the collection, and documents Charles' and his wife Esther's friendships with artists and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Business Correspondence, 1968-1996 (Boxes 1-3; 2.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Business Records, circa 1968-2001 (Boxes 3-5; 2.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Artist and Exhibition Files, 1960-1999 (Boxes 5-15; 10.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Personal Files, circa 1972-circa 1998 (Boxes 16-17; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1965-2000 (Boxes 17-19; 0.7 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The Charles Campbell Gallery was established by Charles Campbell in 1972 in North Beach, San Francisco, following his ownership of The Louvre, a frame shop that he established in 1947. The Charles Campbell Gallery was among the most important San Francisco galleries of that era, especially for showing local artists. Campbell was a close friend of many of the leading Bay Area artists, most of whom had exhibibitions at his gallery, including Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud, Hassel Smith, Elmer Bischoff, and Gordon Onslow-Ford. Some of the artists represented and shown at the gallery were later identified with the region's signature art movement, Bay Area Figuration, including Nathan Oliviera, Paul Wonner, Gordon Cook, William Theophilus Brown, James Weeks, and Joan Brown.
Campbell partnered with Paul Thiebaud in 1990 and the gallery changed its name to the Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery, and began to show a fresh roster of artists. The partnership ended on friendly terms in 2001, with the business becoming the Paul Thiebaud Gallery. After this, Campbell re-established his independent gallery for a short while collaborating with a former gallery assistant Steven Lopez. This collaboration ended in a lawsuit resolved in 2007-2008 that essentially dissolved the gallery in all but name.
Campbell was also very interested in jazz and he was at one point the manager of trombone player Turk Murphy. They briefly ran a club together in San Francisco, The Italian Villa.
Charles Campbell died in 2014 at the age of 99.
Provenance:
Charles Campbell donated the Charles Campbell Gallery records in 2002.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Serices 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.
United States. General Services Administration Search this
Type:
Video recordings
Citation:
Legal records relating to Richard Serra v. United States General Services Administration et al, 1985-1988. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Public sculpture -- New York (State) -- New York -- Public opinion Search this
Business records include administrative files, business notebooks, and financial records. Administrative files include clippings and correspondence regarding arts law and art theft [not at the Charles Campbell Gallery], business registration records, advertisements for photography and conservation services, mailing lists, gallery stationary and sign mock-ups, and information about organizational affliations, including the California Arts Council and the San Francisco Art Dealers Association.
Business notebooks provide information about the gallery's day-to-day activities and contain inventories, contacts, accounting information, lists of business arrangements and dealings, and scattered photos and business cards. In addition to the notebooks, other financial records include appraisals, consignments, donations, income statements and inventories, insurance records, invoices and a vendor analysis report.
Arrangement:
This series is arranged as 3 subseries. Administrative and financial materials are arranged alphabetically. The business notebooks are arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
1: Administrative Files, circa 1974-1993
2: Business Notebooks, circa 1972-1999
3: Financial Material, circa 1968-2001
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Serices for more information.
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:
Charles Campbell Gallery records, 1960-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian's Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
The Gustave Harrow legal records relating to the Estate of Mark Rothko measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1957-1986. The records document the case brought by the New York State Attorney General's Office as cross-petitioner to the case brought by Rothko's daughter Kate, against the executors of Rothko's estate, Frank Lloyd and the Marlborough Gallery, for mismanagement and self-dealing. There are also records related to Harrow's writings about the case. Lastly, included in the collection are materials relating to art law issues in connection with the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Scope and Contents:
New York State Attorney General Gustave Harrow's records relating to the Estate of Mark Rothko consist of legal and other documentation of the state's case in connection with the Mark Rothko Estate and Foundation, from Surrogate Court through appeals, as well as from Harrow's writings about the case, both during and after the trial. Various trial documents include affidavits, briefs, EBTs (examination before trial) trial transcripts, motions, depositions, notes and clippings, and miscellaneous records related to the case and post-trial activities. Also found are reference materials, Harrow's writings in connection with the case.
Unrelated to the Rothko case are Harrow's research materials for possible legal actions by the state in connection with Walter Annenberg's proposed donation of a Communication Center to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and with other issues including donations, object authenticity and the Packard Collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: General Files, 1957-1981, undated
Series 2: Motions, 1971-1979, undated
Series 3: Decisions, 1970-1979, undated
Series 4: Appeals Documents, 1972-1979, undated
Series 5: Miscellaneous Case and Post-Trial files, 1972-1984, undated
Series 6: Reference Materials, Notes and Writings, 1970-1986
Series 7: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Walter Annenberg Etc., 1971-1981, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Gustave Harrow was a New York State Assistant Attorney General, and an adjunct professor in the Graduate Program in Arts Administration at NYU. Abstract Expressionist Artist Mark Rothko died on February 25, 1970 leaving the bulk of his estate, including 798 paintings (the greater part of his life's work) to the Mark Rothko Foundation which he had created shortly before his death. His daughter Kate [Rothko Prizel] brought suit against the estate executors and Marlborough Gallery for self-dealing, fraud, and conspiring with Marlborough owner, Frank Lloyd to waste the assets of the estate. The state of New York Attorney General's Office, represented by Harrow, joined the case as a cross-petitioner on behalf of the people of New York's interest as beneficiaries of the charitable Foundation. The case resulted in the return of most of the paintings, the removal of the executors (accountant Bernard Reis, artist Theodoros Stamos, and anthropology professor Morton Levine), and a $9.2 million judgment against them and Frank Lloyd. The case had a lasting effect on laws dealing with artists' estates, and Harrow was instrumental in framing a bill that aimed at reducing fraud in the fine arts market. Harrow wrote about the Rothko Estate case in several articles and in the 1979 book Art, the Artist, and the Consequences of Rothko: Lasting Legal Impressions from the Estate of Great Artist.
Related Materials:
Among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are the Mark Rothko Foundation records, 1976-1987; Legal records relating to Richard Serra v. United States General Services Administration et al., 1985-1987.
The Archives of American Art interviewed multiple artists as part of the Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project. Many of the interviews reference Rothko and his work, and relationships with the artist.
The Legal records relating to Richard Serra v. United States General Services Administration et al., 1985-1987 contains documentation of another lawsuit handled by Gustave Harrow.
Separated Materials:
Another small collection (11 items) of Mark Rothko papers were loaned to the Archives for microfilming on reel 3135. The papers were in the possession of George Carson, husband of Rothko's ex-wife Edith Carson. Carson gave the papers to the Mark Rothko Foundation and gave the Archives of American Art permission to microfilm them. The microfilm is available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan but are not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
The Gustave Harrow legal records relating to the Estate of Mark Rothko were donated to the Archives of American Art by Marilynn Karp March 23, 1996. Mr. Harrow had deposited the papers with Ms. Karp, a colleague of Harrow's at New York University where he was an adjunct professor.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recording 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:
Artists -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States Search this
Within the Morris Louis papers (circa 3 linear feet) are scattered biographical materials for Morris Louis and Marcella Brenner. Correspondence is with family friends, artists, and galleries, the bulk of which consists of photocopies. Of note are letters from Helen Frankenthaler, Clement Greenberg, Leonard Bocour, Kenneth Noland, and Anne Truitt. Business records include lists of artwork, receipts for art supplies, and scattered tax records. Six notebooks belonging to Morris Louis contain miscellaneous notes about students, studio rental payments, addresses, travel expenses, and a short list of paintings. There is one notebook of Marcella Brenner's containing notes about expenses and addresses. Also found are printed materials, one canvas sample, and one embossing stamp. Photographs are of Morris Louis, Marcella Brenner, and the Bernstein family.
The majority of the collection (circa 15 linear feet) consists of records created and maintained by Marcella Brenner in the course of managing Louis' estate and posthumous exhibitions and projects. There are numerous gallery exhibition records for many posthumous and retrospective exhibitions between 1965 through 2002, including those held at the Andre Emmerich Gallery, the Hirshhorn Museum, and numerous other U.S. and international galleries and museums. Louis' artwork is documented in highly detailed inventory lists and cards. Legal records document the lawsuit brought by the Bernstein family against Marcella Brenner which began in 1964 and ended in 1970 in favor of Brenner. Financial records document sales.
Printed materials include clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and other miscellaneous materials. Writings include essays about Louis and manuscript copies of the book Trustee for the Human Race: Litigation over the Morris Louis Paintings written by Ruth S. Blau under contract for Marcella Brenner. Photographs are primarily of artwork depicted in exhibition installations. Project files are found for several posthumous documentary film projects and a catalog raisonne, and include a series of audio recordings of interviews of 27 artists conducted by Anita Faatz in 1970-1971. Artists interviewed include Clement Greenberg, Leonard Bocour, Andre Emmerich, Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, and many others.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 2 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Morris Louis Papers, circa 1910s-1998 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 2: Morris Louis Estate Papers, 1947-2007 (14.9 linear feet; Boxes 3-19, OV 20)
Biographical / Historical:
Morris Louis (1912-1962) was one of the earliest American Color Field painters, and, along with other Washington, D.C., painters, formed the movement known as the Washington Color School.
Born in Baltimore, M.D., to Russian immigrants Louis Bernstein and Cecelia Luckman, Morris Louis attended the Maryland Institute of Fine and Applied Arts from 1927-1932 and served as president of the Baltimore Artists' Association in 1935. During the Depression, he worked in New York City on the steering committee of the Easel Division of the Federal Arts Projects of the Works Project Administration (WPA). He exhibited Broken Bridge at the WPA Pavilion of the New York World's Fair in 1939.
In 1947, Louis married Marcella (Siegel) Brenner, and moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, a close suburb of Washington, D.C., where he taught private art classes and continued painting, using his apartment bedroom as a studio. In 1948, Louis participated in the Maryland Artists, 16th Annual Exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and began using Leonard Bocour's Magna acrylic paint, which he would use exclusively for the rest of his painting career.
In 1952, Morris Louis and Marcella Brenner moved to Washington, D.C. and set up a studio in his home where he would complete his most notable canvases. He began teaching at the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts and met artist Kenneth Noland who was also exploring Color Field painting. Through Noland, Louis met art critic Clement Greenberg in 1953, and they visited artist studios in New York City to study abstract expressionist works, including those by Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, and Franz Kline. Louis and Noland were greatly influenced by Frankenthaler's staining technique, and Louis began experimenting with staining methods upon his return to Washington. Clement Greenberg became a life-long advocate for Louis and, in 1954, included Louis in the seminal group exhibition, "Emerging Talent," organized by Greenberg for the Kootz Gallery. In 1960, Andre Emmerich became his dealer in the United States and Lawrence Rubin represented him in Paris.
Using thinned Magna paint and unstretched, unprimed canvases, Louis created his works by rotating the canvas as the paint moved across and soaked in. Between 1958 and 1962 Louis produced three major series of paintings—the Veils, the Unfurleds, and the Stripes. Each series numbered more than one hundred canvases. Louis never documented his exact painting methods and would not allow anyone to watch him work, including his wife. His own worst critic, Louis destroyed many of his paintings that did meet his standards, including a large number of his earliest works and many created between 1954 and 1957. He also designated numerous surviving works for destruction prior to his death.
Louis was diagnosed with lung cancer on July 1, 1962 and died a few months later. The Andre Emmerich Gallery held a previously scheduled exhibition as planned, a month following Louis' death, as a memorial exhibition.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art are the Marcella Brenner journals, 1962-2000. The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) also holds papers of Morris Louis and the Morris Louis Estate in their Morris Louis Study Collection.
Provenance:
The Morris Louis and Morris Louis Estate papers were donated by Marcella Brenner in several installments in 1976, 1986, and 1988. Subsequent donations in 2009 and 2012 were donated by Marcella Brenner via Ann M. Garfinkle, Executor. The Anita Faatz interviews were donated in 1976 by Marcella Brenner.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center. Many of the audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with 26 artists conducted by Anita Faatz in 1970-1971 are access restricted and written permission is required from the person interviewed. Please contact reference services for more information. Any 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.
Materials relate to Thompson's time as editor of Chicago Midwest Art, Midwestern Art Reviews and Chicago Gallery Guide, and as a member of the Chicago New Art Association. Found are Aegis Publishing Company records, correspondence and subscription confirmation and requests, drafts of issues of publications, and printed material. Chicago New Art Association records concern two symposia: "Art and the Law" and "Art and Science." Of note is a lecture given by Armin D. Lehman for Chicago Midwest Art. Also found is an illustrated essay by Dr. Irwin Russ and photographs of artists and exhibitions. Within records relating to the Chicago New Art Association is correspondence from Gyorgy Kepes.
Collection 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.
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:
Domenica M. Thompson papers, 1965-1973. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection received support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing. Contact Reference
Services for more information.
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.
The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own in the following material: all drawings and photocopies of drawings.
Collection Citation:
William P. Daley papers, 1905-2016 (bulk 1951-2001). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Records kept by Perry Rathbone pertaining to the lawsuits and counter suits over the multi-million dollar estate of Mathilde Beckmann, widow of the painter Max Beckmann. Included are: documents of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the New York Surrogate's Court, and a State Court in Florida; correspondence, various wills and codicils to wills of Mathilde Beckmann; testimony of art experts; and supporting material, including clippings, exhibition catalogs, slides and photographs. Much of the material consists of photocopies sent to Rathbone as executor of Mrs. Beckmann's original (1975) will.
Biographical / Historical:
Rathbone (1911-2000) was executor of the estate of Mathilde Beckmann (ca. 1904-1986), the widow of painter Max Beckmann. The suit and counter suits over her estate began just after her death in 1986 and related to re-writing in 1982 of Mrs. Beckmann's original will of 1975, in which Hedda von Kaulbach Schoonderbeek--her elder sister and only surviving relative--was primary benefactor, as well as the disposition of several works of art by Max Beckmann to the National Gallery of art and other museums.
The new will made Mrs. Beckmann's caretakers, sisters Betty Sue Robinson and Mary Dent the primary beneficiaries, leaving Schoonderbeek with just {dollar}5,000 of the multi-million dollar estate and excluded most of the recipients of works of art altogether. In 1985, almost all of Mrs. Beckmann's property was transferred to the Robinson sisters, and in February 1986 Mrs. Beckmann was moved by the Robinsons to Florida, where she died just a few weeks later. In June, Perry Rathbone and Frederic Houston, as executors of the original will, Schoonderbeek, and a friend, Richard Keoseian, filed suit in Surrogate's Court in Manhattan. Although the suit was successful in challenging Robinson and Dent, it spawned several bitter and protracted counter suits, which finally concluded in 1997. By then most of the initial parties were deceased, and the bulk of the estate spent on attorney's fees.
Provenance:
Donated 1998 by Perry T. Rathbone, executor of the Beckmann estate.
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.
Serra, Richard, 1938- -- Trials, litigation, etc Search this
Extent:
4 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Date:
1985-1988
Scope and Contents:
Legal records and other papers, 1985-1988, of Assistant New York State Attorney General Gustave Harrow, assembled in his service as legal counsel to sculptor Richard Serra in the matter of Richard Serra v. United States General Services Administration, et. al., including Harrow's correspondence; proceedings of the 1985 public hearing to decide whether Serra's 1981 sculpture Tilted Arc commissioned by the GSA for the Federal Plaza in New York City should be relocated; copies of legal affidavits, complaints, memoranda and points of law, opinions, subpoenas, dispositions, and other documents; research on copyright, torts, trademark cases, not-for-profit corporations, and other topics; printed material about Tilted Arc; a Tilted Arc chronology of events; copies of installation documents; a VHS video recording from Tokyo Broadcasting System, 1985; and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Gustave Harrow served as Richard Serra's attorney in his unsuccessful lawsuit to block the Federal Government's removal of his site-specific sculpture Tilted Arc commissioned by the Art-in-Architecture program of the General Services Administration for the Federal Plaza in New York City. A public hearing was held in 1985, and a decision handed down by Dwight Ink of the GSA, establishing a panel to consider alternative sites for the sculpture. In 1986, Serra filed a lawsuit to prevent the GSA from removing Tilted Arc.The lawsuit was dismissed in 1987. Serra filed an appeal in 1988. The sculpture was removed on March 15, 1989.
Provenance:
Donated 1997 by the widow of Gustave Harrow, Laurie Harrow.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Topic:
Public sculpture -- New York (State) -- New York -- Public opinion Search this
The Sylvan Cole Gallery records and Sylvan Cole papers measure 29.4 linear feet and date from 1935 to 2004, with the bulk of the records dating from 1959 to 2003. The records shed light on the gallery's operations through administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, institution and museum files, gallery and dealer files, client and collector files, financial records, and appraisal and legal records. The collection also includes papers of Sylvan Cole, including material generated during his career as president and director of Associated American Artists Gallery; an appraiser of fine-art prints; and an authority on twentieth-century American prints. Some personal material is present as well.
Scope and Contents:
The Sylvan Cole Gallery records and Sylvan Cole papers measure 29.4 linear feeet and date from 1959 to 2004, with one item, A Modern Pilgrim's Print Book, from 1935. The records shed light on the gallery's operations through administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, institution and museum files, gallery and dealer files, client and collector files, financial records, and appraisal and legal records. The collection also includes papers of Sylvan Cole, including material generated during his career as president and director of Associated American Artists Gallery; an appraiser of fine-art prints; and an authority on twentieth-century American prints. Some personal material is present as well.
Gallery administrative records consist of correspondence files, organization and membership records, daily planners, files on art conservation and restoration, and an essay by Sylvan Cole titled "Some Observations" about buyers in the commercial print industry. Artist files shed light on the gallery's dealings with artists Raphael Soyer, Martha Bloom, Stuart Davis, Clare Leighton, Ben Shahn, and others through correspondence, biographical summaries and resumes, clippings, price lists, exhibition catalogs and announcements, financial papers, and scattered photos.
Exhibition and event files consist of price lists, announcements, catalogs, press releases, newspaper clippings, and more related to solo and group exhibitions held at Sylvan Cole Gallery and elsewhere that involved either artwork from the Cole Gallery or Sylvan Cole himself. The series also includes materials from art auctions and fairs.
Both institution and museum files as well as gallery and dealer files contain correspondence, printed material, shipping records, exhibition announcements and catalogs, consignment records, invoices, inventories, price lists, and some appraisal records. Galleries and dealer files shed light on the book companies, galleries, and print-dealers that Sylvan Cole and his gallery conducted business with. Client and collector files consist of correspondence, sales records, receipts and invoices, inventories, price lists, and some appraisal records.
Financial records are comprised of sales and consignment records, remittances, paid bills, receipts, and invoices. The collection's appraisal and legal records consist of material documenting laws in New York and at the federal level relevant to fine-art prints and multiples; one file containing the Sylvan Cole Gallery's incorporation records; and records of appraisals performed by Sylvan Cole.
The papers of Sylvan Cole shed light on his career as president and director of Associated American Artists Gallery, a well-known appraiser and authority of fine-art prints, and art lecturer. The papers include correspondence, memos, price lists, and other administrative records from AAAG. Of particular note in this series are letters between Sylvan Cole and lithographer, painter, and sculptor Richard Florsheim as well as material related to the Richard Florsheim Art Fund. Some family and biographical material, membership records, photographs, and clippings are also present.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as nine series.
Series 1: Sylvan Cole Gallery Administrative Records, 1970-2003 (Box 1-3; 2.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Artist Files, 1965-2003 (Box 3-8; 4.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Exhibition and Event Files, 1964-2003 (Box 8-11 ; 3.8 linear feet)
Series 4: Institution and Museum Files, 1976-2004 (Box 12-14; 2.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Gallery and Dealer Files, 1973-2004 (Box 14-18; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Client and Collector Files, 1966-2003 (Box 18-20; 2.8 linear feet)
Series 7: Financial Records,1982-2003 (Box 21-24; 3.6 linear feet)
Series 8: Legal and Appraisal Records, 1967-2003 (Box 24-26, 30-32; 3.2 linear feet)
Series 9: Sylvan Cole Jr. Papers, 1935, 1959-2003 (Box 26-29; 2.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The Sylvan Cole Gallery was founded in 1984 in New York City by Sylvan Cole (1918-2005). The gallery specialized in twentieth-century fine art prints, including lithographs, etchings, screenprints, and woodcuts by European and American artists. Cole started the gallery after his career as the director of the Associated American Artists Gallery (AAAG), an organization that helped transform the commercial print industry in the United States. The Sylvan Cole Gallery exhibited the work of number of artists including Stanley William Hayter, Raphael Soyer, Martha Bloom, Grant Wood, Stuart Davis, and John Taylor Arms. In addition to the individual artists exhibited, the Sylvan Cole Gallery also held group shows of U.S. and European prints; and exhibited at art fairs held in New York, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
Sylvan Cole, commonly referred to as Sylvan Cole Jr., was born in Manhattan in 1918 to Sylvan Cole Sr. and Ballin Cole. (His family's name was Cohn at the time of his birth.) "Junior" graduated from Cornell University in 1939 and then worked for Sears Roebuck & Co. while getting his master's at Rutgers University. He then served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Shortly after returning from the war, Cole began working at AAAG, ultimately serving as its director and president from 1958 to 1983. While at AAAG, Cole appraised artwork, curated exhibitions, and purchased and sold many prints on behalf of the gallery. He developed a lasting relationship with painter, lithographer, and sculptor Richard Florsheim, and after Florsheim's death in 1979, Cole became involved with the Richard Florsheim Art Fund. Cole was well-known as a primary authority on fine-art prints of the twentieth century when he established his gallery in 1984. Cole wrote about and publicly discussed twentieth-century prints over the next few decades, performed appraisals, and worked with the government and Internal Revenue Service from the 1980s to 1990s on laws and court cases involving prints. He helped establish the International Fine Print Dealers Association and was involved in several other organizations including the Fire Island Fine Arts Project, Friends of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, and Appraisers Association of America.
Sylvan Cole's first marriage was with Vivian Vanderpool, and they had three children: Robert, James, and Nancy. Cole's second wife, Lilyan, died in 1988; he then married Mary Myers Cole, who passed away in 2008.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Sylvan Cole conducted by Avis Berman, 2000 June-October.
Provenance:
The Sylvan Cole Gallery records and Sylvan Cole Papers were donated by Sylvan Cole in 2003.
Restrictions:
Sylvan Cole files that pertain to his role as an IRS expert witness from 1985 to 1991 are access restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information. 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:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sylvan Cole Gallery Records and Sylvan Cole Papers, 1935-2004. 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.
Included are 13 letters, several illustrated, from Wood to Hugh Huglin, 1972-1998, many regarding Wood's request of Huglin to find an attorney who could free her of a conservator who had restricted her activities to her great distress. Also included are five color photocopies of illustrated cards, a color photograph of Wood taken by Huglin, and the text of Huglin's tribute to Wood at her 100th birthday party.
Biographical / Historical:
Wood was a ceramist; Ojai, Calif. Brigadier General Hugh Huglin was a close and longtime friend of Wood's.
Provenance:
Donated 2000 by Hugh Huglin.
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.
