The papers of painter F. Edwin Church (1876-1975) measure 0.7 linear feet and date from circa 1882-2012. The papers include correspondence relating primarily to loans and sales of Church's Japanese art collection and his own artwork, sketches and a study on panel for a painting, and biographical information including genealogical information and photos of Church and his family.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter F. Edwin Church (1876-1975) measure 0.7 linear feet and date from circa 1882-2012. The papers include correspondence relating primarily to loans and sales of Church's Japanese art collection and his own artwork, sketches and a study on panel for a painting, and biographical information including photos of Church and his family. Also found is correspondence relating to family genealogy, which is especially significant since Church had the same name as Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900).
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
F. (Frederic) Edwin Church (1876-1975) was a painter in New York, New York, best known for his portraits.
Church attended the Art Students League and the Académie Julien in Paris and was awarded the Clark Prize in 1916 by the National Academy of Design for best figurative composition.
His works included gilded-age portraits, impressionist landscapes, and still lifes. He used botanical and bird motifs in many of his backgrounds, indicative of the Japanese influence in his work.
Church signed his works F. Edwin Church in order to distinguish himself from the unrelated Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900).
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Frederic Edwin Church letters to Charles F. Olney, 1891-1896.
Provenance:
Donated in 2022 by Jan Wiley, scholar and authorized representative of the Church family. Wiley worked with Mary Grothe, F. Edwin Church's granddaughter, to organize and compile the material.
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.
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:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Citation:
F. Edwin Church papers, circa 1882-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Artists' letters and documents collected by Zalesch and letters written to him in response to inquiries concnering autographs and biographical information.
REEL 3097: Twenty-six letters (1845-1973) written by George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Isabel Bishop, Frederick Stuart Church, Thomas Doughty, Ernest Fenollosa, Ben Foster, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, John La Farge, Homer Dodge Martin, Joseph Pennell, Edward Willis Redfield, John Rogers, John Singer Sargent, Richard Stankiewicz, Thomas Sully, and Elihu Vedder. Also included are a Harvard University bond for William Wetmore Story's tuition signed by Franklin H. Story (1834) and a biographical questionnaire completed by John La Farge for The Cyclopedia of American Biography (1925).
UNMICROFILMED: Letters written by Roy Lichtenstein, William Gropper, Gluyas Williams, Ordway Partridge, Frederick Burr Opper, James Wells Champney, C. Gray Parker, Ben Foster, Louis Betts, Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge, Richard Lippold, Romare Bearden, Isabel Bishop, Thomas Hart Benton, Richard Stankiewicz, and others; a brochure for a work of art by Robert Indiana; a certificate from The Brooklyn Art Association for one share of capital stock in the name of William Potter Lage; one page of correspondence documenting a decision made for the Society of American Artists containing a note from Francis D. Millet to J. Alden Weir, followed by a note from Weir to Frederic Church, signed "O.K." by Church.
Vol. XXVI, no. 5, Feb. 1924 periodical, Old Hughes, published by the students of Hughes High school in Cincinnati, Ohio containing a published exchange of letters between principal C. M. Merry and Josephine W. Duveneck, daughter-in-law of painter Frank Duveneck about the Hughes High School purchasing a painting by Duveneck, and a reminiscence of Duveneck by William P. Teal, head of the art department at Hughes High School.
Biographical / Historical:
Saul Zalesch, an art historian, began collecting artists' letters around 1981.
Provenance:
This collection of letters was lent for microfilming by Zalesch in 1984 (reel 3097). Zalesch donated an additional three letters in 1993, twenty-five in 1999, one letter in 2008, and a publication in 2009.
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.