The collection is arranged into 1 series: Series 1: Artwork Documentation Files, 1926-1997, undated (Boxes 1-4; 3.3 linear feet)
Access Note / Rights:
The collection is open for research.
Summary:
The papers of art collectors Rita and Daniel Fraad measure 3.3 linear feet and date from 1926 to 1997. The collection consists of art documentation files that reflect their American art collecting activities. Found in the files are any combination of the following materials: correspondence, sales receipts, treatment reports and photographs, loan agreements, facilities reports, exhibition and auction catalogs, clippings, photographs, transparencies, and slides.
Citation:
Rita and Daniel Fraad papers, 1926-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Biography Note:
Rita (1915-2004) and Daniel Fraad (1912-1987) were American art collectors in New York, New York.
Rita (née Ritch) and Daniel Fraad were born in Brooklyn, New York, and met in their youth. Daniel graduated in 1935 from Brown University with a B.A. in biology and Rita graduated from Smith College in 1937 with a degree in political science. In 1938, Daniel joined Allied Maintenance Corporation (later Ogden Maintenance Corporation), a maintenance and cleaning services company started by his father in 1888. In the same year that Daniel joined the family business, Rita and Daniel were married. The couple eventually settled in Scarsdale, New York.
Rita and Daniel Fraad actively supported art institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Academy of Design, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. In 1965, the couple became members of the Archives of American Art and in 1989 Rita joined the Board of Trustees. She also sat on the Visiting Committee on American Art and Sculpture for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was a member of the American Art Forum of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). Rita was a SAAM commissioner for twelve years, and served as chair of the Collections Committee.
Over the years, Rita and Daniel Fraad amassed a museum-quality collection of American art which included works from George Bellows, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Cole, Jasper Cropsey, Arthur Davies, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, John Singer Sargent, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Joseph Stella, and James Whistler. In 1964, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, organized an exhibition of the Fraad collection which traveled to the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In 1985, the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas also presented an exhibition of the Fraad collection.
Daniel Fraad died in 1987 and Rita passed away in 2004. In December 2004, the Fraad collection was auctioned at Sotheby's and raised over sixty five million dollars. The sale broke auction records; the amount was the highest total for any single owner's collection.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 2005 by Rita and Daniel Fraad via Jurate Nemickas, Fiduciary Administrator for the estate of Rita and Daniel Fraad.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
