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Catalog Data

Creator:
Gifford, Sanford Robinson, 1823-1880  Search this
Subject:
Whittredge, Worthington  Search this
Bierstadt, Albert  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Diaries
Sketchbooks
Place:
Europe -- description and travel
Egypt -- description and travel
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
0.9 Linear feet
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series: Series 1: Letters, 1855-1874 (Box 1; 3 volumes, 1 folder) Series 2: Printed Material, circa 1850s-1881 (Box 2; 4 folders) Series 3: Artwork, circa 1840s-circa 1870s (Box 2, OV 3; 4 folders) Series 4: Photographs and Copy Prints, 1856-circa 1900, circa 1960s-1970s (Box 2, 5, OV 4; 11 folders)
Access Note / Rights:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Summary:
The papers of landscape painter Sanford Robinson Gifford, date from the 1840s through 1900, and circa 1960s-1970s. The bulk of the papers fall between 1855-1881; material from the circa 1960s-1970s consists of photographic copy prints for which the Archives does not have the originals. The small collection measures 0.9 linear feet of scattered documentation of Gifford's life, primarily extensive biographical accounts of his travels in the mid 1850s and late 1860s in the form of bound letters to his father. These serve as detailed journals of his impressions of Europe and the Middle East, the development of his painting, and his relationships with other artists such as Albert Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredge. The collection also contains sketches by Gifford, printed material including catalogs of Gifford's paintings, and photographs of Gifford and others.
Citation:
Sanford Robinson Gifford papers, 1840s-1900. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
The papers of Sanford Robinson Gifford in the Archives of American Art were digitized in 2007, and total 849 images.
Material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels D254 and 688 at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Funding:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
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:
Five sketchbooks were loaned by Vassar College in 1966 and the originals were returned to the donor after microfilming on reel D254. The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels D254 and 688) including twenty-one sketchbooks, photographs, passports and certificates, an 1888 European travel diary of Mary Louise Willard, wife of Gifford's nephew, Harold, and a 1966 letter. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Biography Note:
Sanford Robinson Gifford was born in Greenfield, New York, in 1823. He attended Brown University from 1842-1844 and moved to New York City in 1845 where he studied drawing, perspective and anatomy under the direction of the British watercolorist and drawing-master, John R. Smith. He also studied the human figure in anatomy classes at the Crosby Street Medical college and took drawing classes at the National Academy of Design. In 1846 he visited the Berkshire Hills and the Catskill Mountains, sketching from nature. "These studies," he wrote to O. B. Frothingham in 1874, "together with the great admiration I felt for the works of Cole developed a strong interest in landscape art, and opened my eyes to a keener perception and more intelligent enjoyment of nature. Having once enjoyed the absolute freedom of the landscape painters life I was unable to return to portrait painting."
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Edith Wilkinson first donated the Sanford Robinson Gifford papers in 1955 and 1957. James C. Gifford donated copy prints of photographs in 1964. Five sketchbooks were lent for microfilming by the Vassar College Art Library in 1966 and George and Frances Gifford Cummings donated additional material in 1973. In 1974, sixteen sketchbooks, photographs, and other materials were lent for microfilming by Dr. Sanford Gifford, Gifford's great-nephew.
Digitization Note:
The papers of Sanford Robinson Gifford in the Archives of American Art were digitized in 2007. The papers have been scanned in their entirety, and total 850 images.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Works of art  Search this
Landscape painters -- New York (State)  Search this
Hudson River school of landscape painting  Search this
Landscape painting -- 19th century -- New York (State)  Search this
Theme:
Diaries  Search this
Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)8974
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211161
AAA_collcode_giffsanf
Theme:
Diaries
Sketches & Sketchbooks
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211161