The papers of painter Andrew Dasburg and his wife and sculptor Grace Mott Johnson date from 1833 to 1980 (bulk 1900 to 1980), and measure 8.8 linear feet. The collection documents each artist's career and personal lives, including their brief marriage and their friendships with many notable artists in the New Mexico and New York art colonies during the early twentieth century. The papers of Dasburg (6 linear feet) and Johnson (2.8 linear feet) include biographical materials; extensive correspondence with family, friends, and fellow artists, such as John F. Carlson, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Marsden Hartley, Henry Lee McFee, and Ward Lockwood; writings by Dasburg, Johnson, and others; scattered legal, financial, and business records; clippings; exhibition materials; numerous photographs of Johnson and Dasburg, friends, family, and artwork; and original artwork, including two sketchbooks by Johnson.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter Andrew Dasburg and sculptor Grace Mott Johnson date from 1833 to 1980, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1900 to 1980, and measure 8.8 linear feet. The collection is divided into the papers of Andrew Dasburg (6 linear feet) and the papers of Grace Mott Johnson (2.8 linear feet), and documents each artist's career and personal lives, including their brief marriage, and friendships with many notable artists in New Mexico and New York art colonies during the early twentieth century. Found are scattered biographical, legal, and financial materials. Extensive correspondence (particularly in Dasburg's papers) is with family, friends, and fellow artists, such as John F. Carlson, Florence Ballin Cramer, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Marsden Hartley, Henry Lee McFee, Vera Spier Kuhn, and Ward Lockwood. Dasburg's papers also include letters to Johnson and his two later wives.
Johnson's correspondence is also with numerous artist friends and others, including John F. and Margaret Carlson, Florence Ballin Cramer, Jo Davidson, Florence Lucius, Walter Frankl, Lila Wheelock Howard, Henry Lee McFee, Mary Riley, Lee Simonson, Lindsey Morris Sterling, Alice Morgan Wright, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Vera Spier Kuhn. Letters to her son Alfred are quite detailed and revealing. Writings are by Dasburg, Johnson, and others. Johnson's writings include a very brief diary and her poetry. Writings by others are about the Taos and New Mexico art communities. Printed materials about both artists include clippings and exhibition catalogs. There are numerous photographs of Dasburg and Johnson, individually and together, and with friends and family. Of note are a group photograph of Birge Harrison's art class in Woodstock, New York, which includes Johnson and Dasburg, and a photograph of Dasburg with friends Konrad Cramer and John Reed. Dasburg's papers also include snapshots of Florence Lucius, Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer, Frieda and D. H. Lawrence, and Mabel Dodge Luhan. Original artwork by the two artists include two sketchbooks by Johnson and three prints and two drawings by Dasburg.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 2 series of each artist's papers:
Missing Title
Series 1: Andrew Dasburg Papers, circa 1900-1980 (Box 1-7; 6.0 linear feet)
Series 2: Grace Mott Johnson Papers, 1833-1963 (Box 7-10; 2.8 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Andrew Michael Dasburg (1887-1979) was born in Paris, France, to German parents. After his father died and when he was five, Dasburg and his mother moved to New York City. In 1902 Dasburg started attending classes at the Art Students' League and studied with Kenyon Cox and Frank Du Mond. He also took night classes with Robert Henri. In 1907 he received a scholarship to the Art Students' League summer school in Woodstock, New York and spent three summers studying there in Birge Harrison's painting class. While in school he became friends with many young artists, including Morgan Russell and his future wife, Grace Mott Johnson.
Grace Mott Johnson (1882-1967) was born in New York City. She began drawing when she was four years old, and when the family moved to a farm in 1900 she enjoyed sketching horses and other farm animals. At the age of 22 she left home to study at the Art Students' League with sculptors Gutzon Borglum and James Earle Fraser, and also attended Birge Harrison's painting class in Woodstock. Throughout her career she would sculpt animals from memory, and would often attend circuses and farms for inspiration.
In 1909 Johnson and Dasburg went to Paris and joined the modernist circle of artists living there, including Morgan Russell, Jo Davidson, and Arthur Lee. During a trip to London that same year they were married. Johnson returned to the United States early the next year, but Dasburg stayed in Paris where he met Henri Matisse, Gertrude and Leo Stein, and became influenced by the paintings of Cezanne and Cubism. He returned to Woodstock, New York in August and he and Johnson became active members of the artist community. In 1911 their son Alfred was born. Both Dasburg and Johnson showed several works at the legendary Armory Show in 1913, and Dasburg also showed at the MacDowell Club in New York City, where he met the journalist and activist John Reed who later introduced him to Mabel Dodge (Luhan), a wealthy art patron and lifelong friend. In 1914 Dasburg met Alfred Stieglitz and became part of his avant-garde circle. Using what he had seen in Paris, Dasburg became one of the earliest American cubist artists, and also experimented with abstraction in his paintings.
Dasburg and Johnson lived apart for most of their marriage. By 1917 they had separated and Dasburg began teaching painting in Woodstock and in New York City. In 1918 he was invited to Taos, New Mexico by Mabel Dodge, and returning in 1919, Johnson joined him there for a period of time. Also in 1919, Dasburg was one of the founding members of the Woodstock Artists Association with John F. Carlson, Frank Swift Chase, Carl Eric Lindin, and Henry Lee McFee. In 1922 Dasburg and Johnson divorced, and also at that time he began living most of the year in Santa Fe with Ida Rauh, spending the rest of the year in Woodstock and New York City. Dasburg became an active member of the Santa Fe and the Taos art colonies, befriending many artists and writers living in these communities, and remaining close friends with Mabel Dodge Luhan. Here he moved away from abstraction, and used the southwestern landscape as the inspiration for his paintings.
In 1928 he married Nancy Lane. When that marriage ended in 1932, he moved permanently to Taos, and with his third wife, Marina Wister, built a home and studio there. Dasburg periodically taught art privately and at the University of New Mexico. In 1937 he was diagnosed with Addison's disease, which left him unable to paint again until 1946. In 1945 he and his wife Marina separated. Dasburg was recognized for his career as an artist in a circulating retrospective organized by the American Federation of Arts in 1959. He also had retrospectives in Taos in 1966 and 1978. His artwork influence several generations of artists, especially in the southwest, and he continued creating art until his death in 1979 at the age of 92.
Grace Mott Johnson lived in the Johnson family home in Yonkers, New York during the 1920s and later moved to Pleasantville, New York. In 1924 she went to Egypt to study ancient Egyptian sculpture. During the 1930s she became a civil rights activist. She produced very little art during the last twenty years of her life.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Andrew Dasburg, July 2, 1964 and March 6, 1974. Additional related collections at other repositories include the Andrew and Marina Wister Dasburg Papers at the New Mexico State Archives, the Andrew Dasburg Papers at Syracuse University Library, and the Grace Mott Johnson Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming. Reel 2803 contains photocopies of ten Morgan Russell letters to Dasburg. Reels 4276-4278 include biographical material, subject files, photographs, correspondence, writings, and exhibition material. The photocopies on reel 2803 were discarded after microfilming, and the items on 4276-4278 were returned to the lender. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson papers were donated by their son, Alfred Dasburg, in 1980. Syracuse Univresity lent materials for microfilming in 1978 and 1989.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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.
Correspondence, 1913-1963, regarding Lockwood's work on murals for government buildings, and letters from Andrew Dasburg, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Abraham Rattner; a 23 page diary, 1931-1933; an anecdotal reminiscence of John Marin; career resumes; 6 sketchbooks; 6 speech texts; material relating to mural projects in Washington, D.C., in Lexington, Kentucky, and in Wichita, Kansas; photographs of Lockwood, his works, and of mural classes; exhibition catalogs; clippings; and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Mural painter, painter and educator; born in Kansas; attended University of Kansas, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Ransom Academy in Paris. Worked on various government buildings painting murals for the WPA. Taught in the art departments at University of Texas, University of California at Berkeley and elsewhere. Lived in Taos, N.M. for many years.
Provenance:
Donated 1964 by Mrs. Ward Lockwood, widow of Lockwood.
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.
The papers of sculptor Arnold Rönnebeck and painter Louise Emerson Ronnebeck measure 4.24 linear feet and date from 1884-2002. The collection contains biographical material, family and professional correspondence, sketches and drawings, writings, a scrapbook, and printed material. There are also numerous photographic prints, copy prints, negatives, and 7 glass plate negatives of the Rönnebecks and their artwork, travels, family, and friends, including Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Alfred Stieglitz, and Tony Luhan.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of sculptor Arnold Rönnebeck and painter Louise Emerson Ronnebeck measure 4.24 linear feet and date from 1884-2002. The collection contains biographical material, family and professional correspondence, sketches and drawings, writings, a scrapbook, and printed material. There are also numerous photographic prints, copy prints, negatives, and 7 glass plate negatives of the Rönnebecks and their artwork, travels, family, and friends, including Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Alfred Stieglitz, and Tony Luhan.
Biographical materials include articles on the Rönnebecks by Betsy Fahlman, curriculum vitae, and documentation on the Emerson family. Correspondence is primarily between Arnold Rönnebeck to Louise, and also includes letters in German to Arnold's sister Irmgard Rönnebeck. Among the professional and personal correspondence from friends and family to both of the Rönnebecks are letters from Kenneth Hayes Miller to Louise Ronnebeck.
Writings include essay drafts, notes, and poetry by the Rönnebecks, including Arnold Rönnebeck's "Paint-As-You-Go Plan." There is a scrapbook of clippings covering Louise Ronnebeck's work. Additional printed material includes Christmas cards, clippings, and exhibition announcements and catalogs of both the Rönnebecks' work. Artwork consists of drawings and sketches by Arnold Rönnebeck.
Photographic materials include photographs of the Rönnebecks and their travels to Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, and Europe. The series also contains photos, copy prints, negatives, and 7 glass plate negatives of artist friends, and formal and informal documentation of their works of art and public and private art commissions.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1926-2002 (9 folders; Box 1, OV 7)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1909-1998 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1, 5)
Series 3: Writings, 1920-1944 (6 folders; Box 1, 5)
Series 4: Scrapbook, 1926-1966 (1 folder; Box 1)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1923-1999 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 6: Artwork, 1915-1950 (2 folders; Box 2, 5)
Series 7: Photographic Materials, 1884-1976 (2.6 linear feet; Box 2-6)
Biographical Note:
Sculptor Arnold Rönnebeck (1885-1947) was part of the "Stieglitz circle" and settled in Denver where he served as director of the Denver Art Museum from 1926-1931. Rönnebeck married Louise Emerson (1901-1980) in 1926. Emerson was a painter and muralist who worked on New Deal mural commissions in Colorado and Wyoming.
Arnold Rönnebeck was born in Nassau, Germany and was a noted sculptor and lithographer. From 1905 to 1907, Rönnebeck studied architecture at the Royal Art School in Berlin and spent a year studying sculpture in Munich. In 1908, he moved to Paris where he furthered his studies in sculpture under Aristede Maillol and Emile Bourdelle. From 1914 to 1918, Rönnebeck served as an officer in the German Imperial Army during World War I. In 1923, he emigrated to the United States where he became part of the Stieglitz circle.
In 1925, Rönnebeck visited Mabel Dodge Luhan at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico, where he met his future wife, the painter Louise Emerson, born Mary Louise Harrington Emerson in 1901. After their marriage, the Rönnebecks lived in Denver where Arnold Rönnebeck worked as director of the Denver Art Museum and continued to execute commissioned works, including bas reliefs, portrait busts, and sculptures. He died in Denver, Colorado in 1947. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Louise Emerson Ronnebeck continued to receive commissions for frescoes and murals in Colorado and Bermuda and died in Denver, Colorado in 1980.
Related Material:
Correspondence between Arnold Rönnebeck and Alfred Stieglitz and Marsden Hartley is located at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 2001 by Ursula Moore Works and Arnold Rönnebeck, the artists' daughter and son.
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.
Arnold Rönnebeck and Louise Emerson Ronnebeck papers, 1884-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the 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.
A history of having a great many times not continued to be friends : the correspondence between Mabel Dodge and Gertrude Stein, 1911-1934 / Patricia R. Everett
Mabel Dodge Luhan & company : American moderns and the West / Edited by Lois P. Rudnick and MaLin Wilson-Powell ; Introduction by Wanda M. Corn ; With essays by Lois P. Rudnick, MaLin Wilson-Powell, Carmella Padilla
