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Catalog Data

Creator:
Nordness, Lee  Search this
Subject:
Gibran, Kahlil  Search this
Grippe, Peter  Search this
Gikow, Ruth  Search this
D'Arista, Robert  Search this
Hebald, Milton  Search this
Guglielmi, Louis  Search this
Kearns, James  Search this
Kachadoorian, Zubel  Search this
Meigs, Walter  Search this
Prestopino, Gregorio  Search this
Lebrun, Rico  Search this
Levi, Julian E. (Julian Edwin)  Search this
Williams, Hiram  Search this
Zerbe, Karl  Search this
Crawford, Ralston  Search this
Aronson, David  Search this
Blaustein, Al H.  Search this
Collie, Alberto  Search this
Metromedia, Inc.  Search this
Johnson Wax  Search this
Cooper-Hewitt Museum  Search this
Little Studio  Search this
Talent Discovery Company  Search this
Forms and Objects (Firm)  Search this
Lee Nordness Galleries  Search this
American Art Expositions (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Nordness Gallery  Search this
Type:
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
117.5 Linear feet, Boxes 1-121
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series: Series 1: Nordness Gallery, Inc. and Lee Nordness Galleries Art Advisory Section, Inc., circa 1938-1992, bulk 1958-1982 (67.8 linear feet; Boxes 1-67, 117-119) Series 2: Lee Nordness Galleries Exhibition Section, Inc., 1938-1985 (25.5 linear feet; Boxes 68-93, 120, FC 122) Series 3: Forms & Objects, Inc., circa 1931, circa 1959-1984 (13.5 linear feet; Boxes 93-106, 120) Series 4: American Art Expositions, Inc., 1955-1968 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 106-107) Series 5: The Little Studio, Inc., 1947-1969 (7.7 linear feet; Boxes 108-115, 121) Series 6: Talent Discovery Company, 1953-1957 (0.9 linear feet; Boxes 115-116, 121) Series 7: Personal Papers of Lee Nordness, 1948-1976 (0.7 linear feet; Box 116)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Summary:
The Lee Nordness business records and papers measure 117.5 linear feet and date from circa 1931 to 1992 with the bulk of materials dating from 1954 to 1984. The records document seven New York City art-related companies with which Nordness was involved: Talent Discovery Company, The Little Studio, Ltd., American Art Expositions, Inc., Nordness Gallery, Inc., Lee Nordness Galleries Art Advisory Section, Inc., Lee Nordness Galleries Exhibition Section, Inc., and Forms & Objects, Inc. Records include correspondence, artist's files, business and legal records, inventories, financial and sales records, printed materials, scrapbooks, and photographic materials. Also found is a small group of personal papers.
Citation:
Lee Nordness business records and papers, circa 1931-1992, bulk 1954-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Portions of the collection and material lent for microfilming are available on 35 mm microfilm reels NAU1-NAU3, N69-21 and D169 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Funding:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collection Care Preservation Fund
Use Note:
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.
Related Materials:
Three microfilm reels of material were loaned to the Archives of American Art by Lee Nordness in 1959 regarding American Art Exposition, Inc.'s <em>Art:USA 58</em> and <em>Art:USA:59</em>. Microfilm includes correspondence, catalogs, visitor lists, press releases, lists of artwork, financial records, and advertising materials and is available on reels NAU1, NAU2 and NAU3.
Later, in 1964 and 1969, Lee Nordness loaned original materials for microfilming compiled by Nordness Gallery about the careers of Gregorio Prestopino, Julian E. Levi, and Lee Gatch, including correspondence, exhibition materials, biographical information, clippings, and photographs. Loaned material is available on reels N69-21 and D169. Original materials were returned to Nordness, but some may have been included in later donations and those originals have been integrated with the other donated records.
The contents of microfilm reels are not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Biography Note:
New York City gallerist and entrepreneur Lee Nordness (1922-1995) was born in Olympia, Washington. He studied art in college and received a bachelor's degree from Uppsala University in Sweden. From 1954-1956, Nordness ran a small gallery, Talent Discovery Company, out of his apartment in New York City. Around 1955, Nordness became the director of The Little Studio, Ltd., a gallery started by Richard Kollmer in 1952 to showcase moderately priced artwork by young artists. Nordness took over the business in 1957; it closed in April 1963.
In 1958, Nordness incorporated American Art Expositions, Inc. to organize Art:USA:58 , a large exposition of contemporary American art held at Madison Square Garden. The following year Art:USA:59 was held at the New York Coliseum.
Lee Nordness opened his own gallery, Nordness Gallery, Inc., in December 1957 on Madison Avenue. The gallery promoted a roster of contemporary painters and sculptors, including David Aronson, Al Blaustein, Alberto Collie, Ralston Crawford, Robert D'Arista, Kahlil Gibran, Ruth Gikow, Peter Grippe, Milton Hebald, Zubel Kachadoorian, James Kearns, Julian Levi, Walter Meigs, Gregorio Prestopino, Hiram Williams, Karl Zerbe, and the estates of Louis Guglielmi and Rico Lebrun. In 1966, Lee Nordness reorganized his businesses. He closed Nordness Gallery and opened Lee Nordness Art Advisory Section, an art consulting service to corporations, collectors, museums, and individuals, and Lee Nordness Galleries Exhibition Sections, Inc. to handle exhibitions and the sale of paintings and sculptures.
Lee Nordness had an interest in American crafts and, beginning in 1968, he added a permanent roster of American craftmakers to exhibit alongside paintings and sculpture. He opened Forms & Objects, Inc. to handle the exhibition and sales of fine crafts such as ceramics, fiber, glass, metal and wood. With a need for additional exhibition space, the gallery moved a few blocks off Madison Avenue to 236-238 East 75th Street.
Nordness traveled the globe to assemble prominent collections for clients, such as Art:USA, a collection of contemporary works by 102 American artists for S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Art:USA traveled throughout the United States and Europe in the mid-late 1960s before being donated to the National Collection of Fine Arts (Smithsonian Institution). In the late 1960s, he assembled a collection of 300 American craft objects for S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. called Objects:USA, which toured throughout the United States and Europe. This collection was disassembled in the late 1970s, many of the works donated to the Museum of Arts and Design, formerly the Museum of Contemporary Craft.
Nordness closed his New York galleries in the mid-1980s. Soon after, he moved to Belfair, Washington and opened Lee Nordness Galleries, Inc. in 1986. He passed away in 1995 in Washington.
Language Note:
The collection is in English.
Provenance:
The Lee Nordness business records and papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in several increments by Lee Nordness in 1976, 1986 and as a bequest in 1996. Original materials were also lent by Nordness in 1964 and 1969 for microfilming, some of which may have been included in subsequent donations.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Theme:
Art Market  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)7232
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209372
AAA_collcode_nordlee
Theme:
Art Market
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209372