The personal papers of Charles Lang Freer, the industrialist and art collector who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. The papers include correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, and photographs.
Scope Content:
The personal papers of Charles Lang Freer, the industrialist and art collector who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. The papers include correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, financial material, architectural drawings, and photographs.
Correspondence, circa 1860-1921, includes Freer's correspondence, 1876-1920, with artists, dealers, collectors, museums, and public figures; letterpress books contain copies of Freer's outgoing letters, 1892-1910; correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler, and his wife Beatrix, 186?-1909, with Lady Colin Campbell, Thomas R. Way, Alexander Reid, Whistler's mother, Mrs. George W. Whistler, and others; correspondence of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, 1904-1913, regarding works in Canfield's collection; and correspondence of Freer's assistant, Katharine Nash Rhoades, 1920-1921, soliciting Freer's letters from his associates, and regarding the settlement of his estate.
Also included are twenty-nine pocket diaries, 1889-1890, 1892-1898, 1900-1919, recording daily activities, people and places visited, observations, and comments; a diary kept by Freer's caretaker, Joseph Stephens Warring, recording daily activities at Freer's Detroit home, 1907-1910. Inventories, n.d. and 1901-1921, of American, European, and Asian art in Freer's collection, often including provenance information; vouchers, 1884-1919, documenting his purchases; five volumes of scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeill Whistler, 1888-1931, labeled "Various," "Peacock Room," "Death, etc.," "Paris, etc.," and "Boston...London" ; three volumes of newsclippings, 1900-1930, concerning Freer and the opening of the Freer Gallery of Art.
Correspondence regarding Freer's gift and bequest to the Smithsonian Institution, 1902-1916; and photographs, ca. 1880-1930, of Freer, including portraits by Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen, Freer with others, Freer in Cairo, China and Japan, Freer's death mask, and his memorial service, Kyoto, 1930; photographs of artists and others, including Thomas Dewing, Ernest Fenollosa, Katharine Rhoades taken by Alfred Stieglitz, Rosalind B. Philip, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Abbott H. Thayer, Dwight Tryon, and Whistler; and photographs relating to Whistler, including art works depicting him, grave and memorial monuments, works of art, the Peacock Room, and Whistler's memorial exhibition at the Copley Society.
Organization of the Papers:
This collection is organized into twelve series.
Series 1: Genealogical and Biographical Data
Series 2: Correspondence
Series 3: Diaries
Series 4: Freer Colleague Materials
Series 5: Art Inventories
Series 6: Financial Materials
Series 7: Exhibition Loan Files
Series 8: Biblical Manuscripts and Gold Treasure Files
Series 9: American School of Archaeology in China
Series 10: Printed Material
Series 11: Outsize Material
Series 12: Photographs
Biographical Note:
1854 February 25 -- Born in Kingston, New York
1873 -- Appointed accountant and paymaster of New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad by Frank J. Hecker (1846-1927)
1876 -- Moves to Indiana to work, with Hecker, for the Detroit and Eel River and Illinois Railroad
1880 -- Moves to Detroit, participates in organization of the Peninsular Car Works with Hecker
1883 -- Becomes vice president and secretary of Peninsular Car Company when it succeeds Peninsular Car Works
1883 -- Begins collecting European prints
1884 -- Peninsular Car Company constructs plant on Ferry Avenue
1887 -- Meets Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)
1887 -- Acquires proofs of 26 etchings, Venice, Second Series(1886), by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
1887 -- Purchases a small Japanese fan attributed to Ogata Korin(1658-1715)
1887 -- Buys land on Ferry Avenue
1889 -- Meets Frederick Stuart Church (1826-1900) and Dwight William Tryon (1849-1925) in New York
1890 -- Commissions Wilson Eyre (1858-1944) to design house on Ferry Avenue, Detroit, Michigan
1890 -- On first trip to London, meets James McNeill Whistler(1834-1903)
1892 -- Moves to Ferry Avenue house
1892 -- Tryon and Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) undertake decoration of reception rooms
1893 -- Lends American paintings to World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago
1893 -- Purchases first piece of Chinese art, a small painting of white herons by an anonymous Ming dynasty (1368-1644) artist
1894 -- Begins yearlong trip around the world, which includes visit to the Whistlers in Paris and first trip to Asia, stopping in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, China, and Japan
1896 -- Meets Matsuki Bunkyo (1867-1940) in Boston
1899 -- Takes part in consolidation of railroad-car building companies then retires from active business
1900 -- Attends Exposition International Universelle in Paris
1900 -- Buys villa in Capri with Thomas S. Jerome
1901 -- Meets Siegfried Bing (1838-1905) in Paris and Ernest Fenollosa(1853-1908), who visits Freer in Detroit
1902 -- Meets Dikran Kelekian (1868-1951)
1902 -- Spends summer in Britain building Whistler collection
1902 -- Views Whistler's, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room
1904 -- Purchases Whistler's Peacock Room
1904 -- Offers his art collections and funds to build a museum in which to house them to the Smithsonian Institution
1905 -- Smithsonian committee visits Freer in Detroit
1906 -- United States government formally accepts Freer's gift on January 24
1906 -- Freer signs Deed of Gift to Smithsonian Institution on May 5
1907 -- On second tour of Asia, meets Hara Tomitaro 1868-1939) in Yokohama, Japan
1908 -- Takes third trip to Asia, specifically to West Asia to study Rakka ware
1909 -- Tours Europe to study art museums
1909 -- On fourth trip to Asia, attends memorial ceremony for Fenollosa (d.1908 September) at Miidera, Japan, and meets Duanfang (1861-1911) in China
1910 -- On last trip to Asia, visits Longmen Buddhist caves in China
1911 -- Suffers stroke
1912 -- Lends selection of objects for exhibition at Smithsonian Institution
1913 -- Meets Eugene (1875-1957) and Agnes E. (1887-1970) Meyer
1913 -- Commissions Charles Adams Platt (1861-1933) to design museum building in Washington
1914 -- Meets Katharine Nash Rhoades (1885-1965) in Detroit
1915 -- Settles in New York City
1915 -- Site of future Freer Gallery of Art is determined
1916 -- Platt's plans for Freer Gallery are approved by Smithsonian Regents and Commission of Fine Arts and ground is broken in September
1918 -- After falling ill in Detroit, Freer travels to New York for treatment
1918 -- Work on the museum building is delayed by the war
1919 -- Freer appends codicil to will permitting acquisitions of Asian, Egyptian, and Near Eastern (West Asian) art
1919 -- Dies in New York City on 25 September and is buried in Kingston, New York
1919 -- Construction of Freer Gallery completed
1920 -- John Ellerton Lodge (1876-1942) is appointed director of the Freer Gallery
1923 -- Freer Gallery opens to the public on May 9
1930 -- Memorial ceremony for Freer is held at Koetsuji, Kyoto
Charles Lang Freer was an American industrialist who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. He was a well-known collector of Asian art, and strongly supported the synthesis of Eastern art and Western art. One of his most famous acquisitions was James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room.
Index:
Index to cross-referenced correspondents in the series Charles Lang Freer correspondence
Beal, Junius E. -- See: -- Warring, Joseph Stephens
Black, George M. -- See: -- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Board of Education (Kingston, New York) See: Michael, M. J.
Bonner, Campbell See: University of Michigan
Boughton, George H. See: Yardley, F. C.
British Museum See: Binyon, Laurence; Hobson, R. L.
Brown, Harold H. See: Art Association of Indianapolis
Buchner, Evelyn B. See: Knoedler, M., and Company
Buckholder, C. H. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Butler, S. B. See: Unidentified correspondents
Carnegie Institute See: Balken, Edward Duff; Harshe, Robert B.
Carpenter, Newton H. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Caulkins, Horace James See: Pewabic Pottery
Chao, Shih-chin See: Gunn, Chu Su
Chicago & North Western Railway Co. See: Hughett, Marvin
Clark, Charles Upson See: Clark, Arthur B.
Cleveland Museum of Art See: Whiting, Frederic Allen
Columbia University See: Braun, W. A.; Gottheil, Richard; Hirth, Friederich
Commission of Fine Arts See: Moore, Charles
Corcoran Gallery of Art See: Minnigerode, C. Powell
Crocker, Anna B. See: Portland Art Association
Dannenberg, D. E. See: Karlbeck, Orvar
De Menoncal, Beatrice See: Lien, Hui Ch'ing Collection
De Ricci, Seymour See: Ricci, Seymour de
Defnet, William A., Mrs., See: Franke, Ida M.
DeMotte See: Vigouroux, J.
Detroit Institute of Arts See: Detroit Museum of Art
Detroit Publishing Company See: Livingstone, W. A.
Detroit School of Design See: George Hamilton; Stevens, Henry
DeVinne Press See: Peters, Samuel T.; Witherspoon, A. S.
Dyrenforth, P. C. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Eddy, Arthur J. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Eggers, George Williams See: Art Institute of Chicago
Farr, Daniel H. See: Robinson and Farr
Farrand School (Detroit) See: Yendall, Edith
Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) See: Laufer, Berthold
Flagg, Frederick J. See: Allen, Horace N.
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University See: Forbes, Edward; Pope, Arthur Upham; Sachs, Paul J.
French, M. R. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Fu, Lan-ya See: Pang, Lai-ch'en
Fujii, Yoshio See: Yoshio, Fujii
Gerrity, Thomas See: Knoedler, M., and Company
Goupil Gallery See: Marchant, William
Gray, William J. See: Barr, Eva
Great Lakes Engineering Works See: Hoyt, H. W.
Grolier Club See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Heinemann, W. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Holden, Edward S. See: West Point, U. S. Military Academy
Hudson, J. L. See: Weber, William C.
Hutchins, Harry B. See: University of Michigan
Hutchins, Charles L. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Kelekian, H. G. See: Kelekian, Dikran G.
Kent, H. W. See: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lee, Kee Son See: Li, Chi-ch'un
Levy, John See: Schneider, A. K.
Library of Congress See: Rice, Richard A.; Wright, Helen
Louvre (Paris, France) See: Midgeon, Gaston
Matsuki, Z. See: Matsuki, Kihachiro
McKim, Mead and White See: White, Stanford
Mills, A. L., Colonel See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Miner, Luella See: Lien, Hui Ch'ing Collection
Minneapolis Institute of Arts See: Breck, Joseph; Van Derlip, John R.
Monif, R. Khan See: Rathbun, Richard
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston See: Lodge, John Ellerton
Naser, Katen & Nahass See: Katen, K.
Nordlinger, Marie, Miss See: Meyer-Riefstahl, Marie
Panama Pacific International Exposition See: Moore, Charles C.; Trask, John E. D.
Peabody Museum See: Morse, Edward Sylvester
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts See: Trask, John E. D.
Saint-Gaudens, Augusta H. See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Saint-Gaudens, Homer See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Samurai Shokai See: Nomura, Yozo
San Francisco Art Association See: Laurvik, J. Nilsen
Scribner's, Charles, Sons See: Van Dyke, John C.
Shaw, Wilfred B. See: University of Michigan
Shirae, S. Z. See: Yamanaka and Company
Smith College See: Clark, Arthur B.
Smithsonian Institution See: Holmes, William Henry; Rathbun, Richard; Ravenel, Walcott, Charles D.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Detroit) See: Plumb, Helen
Societe des Beaux-Arts See: Reid, Alexander
Stevens, George W. See: Toledo Museum of Art
Stratton, Mary Chase Perry See: Pewabic Pottery
Tanaka, Kichijiro See: Yamanaka and Company
Tuttle, William F. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Union Trust Company (Detroit) See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
United States Military Academy See: West Point, U. S. Military Academy
University of Chicago See: Zug, George Breed
University of Pennsylvania, Univ. Mus. See: Gordon, George Bryon
Ushikubo, D. J. R. See: Yamanaka and Company
Wallis & Son See: Barr, Eva; Thompson, C. Croal Ward, Clarence See: Oberlin College
Warren, Edward K. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Warring, Stephen See: Warring, Joseph Stephens
Watkin, Williams R. T. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Watson, Margaret, Miss See: Parker, Margaret Watson
Whistler, Anna See: Stanton, Anna Whistler
Whiting, Almon C. See: Toledo Museum of Art
Williams College See: Rice, Richard A
Wright, F. G. See: Orbach and Company
Yatsuhashi, H. See: Yamanaka and Company
Index to cross-referenced correspondence in the series Whistler correspondence
Bell, William See: Unidentified correspondents
Brown, Ernest See: Painter Etchers' Society, Committee
Cowen, John T. See subseries: Charles Lang Freer Correspondence
Ford, Sheridan See: Reid, Alexander
Haden, Francis Seymour See: Painter Etchers' Society, Committee
Haden, Francis Seymour, Lady See: Haden, Deborah Whistler
Leighton, Frederick, Baron See: Campbell, Lady Colin
Moore, Albert See: Reid, Alexander
Morley, Charles See: Pall Mall Gazette
Morris, Harrison S. See: Reid, Alexander
Pennell, Joseph See: Miscellaneous typescripts
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts See: Reid, Alexander
Prange, F. G. See: Reid, Alexander
Societe des Beaux-Arts See: Reid, Alexander
Society of Portrait Painters See: Reid, Alexander
Stevens Fine Art See: Reid, Alexander
Studd, Arthur See: Miscellaneous typescripts
[Vanderbilt?], George, Mrs. See: George, Mrs.
Whistler, William McNeill, Mrs. See: Whistler, Nellie
Whistler Memorial Committee See: Miscellaneous typescripts
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art microfilmed portions of the Freer papers in 1992. The microfilm is available at the Archives of American Art's Washington D.C. office, the Freer Gallery of Art Library, and through interlibrary loan.
Provenance:
Gift of the Estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Collected photographic portraits of Charles Lang Freer by Edward Steichen, Alvin Langdon Coburn, etc. Taken in Detroit, Capri, Japan, Egypt etc. Photographs date from the 1880s to near his death in 1919.
Photographic portraits of Charles Lang Freer
Arrangement:
Organized by photographer and by country.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.01
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Seven albumen prints prints taken in 1892 by commission of Goupil Gallery director D.C. Thomson. The photographs were taken prior to the sale of 49 Prince's Gate, so furniture and porcelains have been removed. The prints were sent to Charles Freer by Goupil Gallery staff in 1902.
Photographs of the Peacock Room at 49 Prince's Gate, London
Arrangement:
Organized in 1 box.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.02.3.1
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Seven collodion prints prints taken by S.B. Bolon & Co. in 1904 by commission of Obach & Co., London. The photographs were taken as the present owner of 49 Prince's Gate sought to sell the room.
Photographs of the Peacock Room at 49 Prince's Gate, London
Arrangement:
Organized in 1 box.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.02.3.2
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs of the memorial ceremony conducted on May 1,1930 at Koetsuji in Kyoto, as well as memorial rites undertaken at the same location in 1921; photographs of the plaster bust created directly following Freer's demise; a profile portrait of the deceased Freer by his assistant Katherine Nash Rhoades (1885-1965).
Photographs of memorials and memorial ceremonies to Charles Lang Freer in Kyoto; photographs of Freer's death mask, and a sketch of the deceased Freer by Katharine Nash Rhoades
Arrangement:
Organized by country.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 01.7
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs of Charles Lang Freer at Villa Castello in Capri, ca.1903. Also includes photograph of Freer's friend Thomas Spencer Jerome (1864-1914), and views of the villa.
Photographs of Charles L. Freer in Capri
Arrangement:
Organized by country.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Freer first visited the Mediterranean island of Capri in 1894. In 1900 he purchsed the Villa Castello with fellow Michigander Thomas Spencer Jerome. In 1906, Jerome purchased Freer's share of the Villa.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.01.4
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs of Charles Lang Freer and colleagues in japan, between 1895 and 1910. Although none are dated, two photographs of Freer with his rickshaw men are likely from his first visit to Japan in 1895. The other two were likely take in 1909 or 1911 at the Yokohama villa of Freer's friend Hara Tomitaro (原富太郎; 1868-1939).
Photographs of Charles Lang Freer in Japan
Arrangement:
Organized by country.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.01.6
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs of Charles Lang Freer's home in Detroit Michigan, taken between 1892 and 1918. Views include 4 exteriors, showing before and after the addition built in 1906 to house the Peacock Room. Interior views include the Picture Gallery above the stables in 1906, and a glass plate negative of the new gallery completed in 1911.
Photographs of Charles Lang Freer's house in Detroit
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.04
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs depicting the artist James McNeill Whistler in his studio in Paris, studio portraits of Whistler, and other artists' portraits of Whistler.
Portraits of James McNeill Whistler
Arrangement:
Organized by subject.
Local Numbers:
FSA.A.01 12.02.1
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Twelve photographs depicting scenes and buildings in the Syrian city of Aleppo, likely acquired druing Freer's travel there in June of 1908. Nine additional prints depict the Byzantine and early Islamic period ruins at Resafa.
Photographs of Syria collected by Charles Lang Freer
Arrangement:
Organized by subject.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Lang Freer traveled to Syria in June 1908, mostly to pursue more examples of Raqqa pottery. The source of the prints are unknown.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.11
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs of Charles Lang Freer taken by Alvin Langdon Coburn, February 1909. They depict Freer in a variety of poses, such as leaning against a desk, examining some artwork, or simply facing the camera. One print was sent to the Freer Gallery in 1955 by a relative of Freer's business partner Frank Hecker. Two autochromes and 14 platinum prints.
Arrangement:
Organized by country.
Biographical / Historical:
Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a middle class British family. Coburn began exploring photography after receiving a camera for his eighth birthday. However, it was not until a few years later that he began exploring photography seriously. Coburn opened his first studio in New York City in 1902 to exhibit his prints, and became part of a crowd that wanted to establish photography as art. He moved to London in 1904 to take portraits of celebrities, including an iconic one of George Bernard Shaw posed nude as Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker." Coburn not only shot portraits, but also unique street scenes of New York City. He was quite interested in creating the fractured affects of cubism and futurism through use of photography, as demonstrated in his "vortographs." He experimented with perspective and abstract patterns. Later in his life, Coburn became disinterested in photography as his interest in mysticism grew. He resumed photography in the 1950s before his death in 1966.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.01.2
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs of Ernest Fenellosa's memorial service at Homyoin, Miidera in Otsu, November 14, 1909. Attendees included Charles Freer, Gaston Migeon, Hara Tomitaro and Fenollosa's widow. Includes 8 large format prints of the ceremony and 3 smaller, undated prints of the memorial.
Arrangement:
Organized by country.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.03.03
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Twenty one photographic images depicting the Peacock Room in Freer's home in Detroit, take by George R. Swain in Spring of 1908. The collection contains 10 standard size prints; 4 mammoth plate prints; 7 original glass plate negatives. The photographs also display selections from Freer's own extensive ceramics collection.
Arrangement:
Organized in two boxes, for prints and negatives, and one folder for large format prints.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.02.3.3
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Photographs depicting temples, roads, sculpture, and artwork in Egypt. Photographers and studios represented include Antonio Beato (1832-1906); Maison Bonfils (active 1867-early 20th century), and Zangaki Adelphoi (active 1870s-1890s).
Arrangement:
Organized by subject.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Lang Freer likely acquired most of the prints during his first travel in Egypt in late 1906-early 1907, although he made two subsequent visits in 1908 and 1909.
Felix Bonfils was a French photographer who spent most of his time in the Middle East. Many tourists bought his photos while visiting the Middle East.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.06
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
The papers of King Vidor measure 2.1 linear feet and include correspondence, printed material, and a variety of materials related to the documentary Metaphor: King Vidor Meets Andrew Wyeth (1980) written and directed by Vidor, including production notes, photographs, and motion picture film.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of King Vidor measure 2.1 linear feet and include correspondence, printed material, and a variety of materials related to the documentary Metaphor: King Vidor Meets Andrew Wyeth (1980) written and directed by Vidor, including production notes, photographs, and motion picture film.
Correspondence is mainly between Vidor and multiple galleries and artists whose artworks Vidor collected, and includes single letters from artists Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and Andrew Wyeth. Lengthy correspondence with Associated American Artists is found among other correspondence with galleries. Loan requests from museums borrowing from Vidor's painting collection, and image requests for reproduction rights for paintings owned by Vidor from various publishers are also found, as well as a few sheets of notes related to valuation of paintings.
Printed material includes exhibition catalogs for Millard Sheets and Diego Rivera, clippings on a variety of subjects, including a long article about his film project Metaphor published in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and periodicals with articles about the artist Grant Wood.
Scattered slides are mostly of unidentified artwork.
Material related to Metaphor, Vidor's film project with Andrew Wyeth include photographs of Wyeth and Vidor in Pennsylvania, stills from Vidor's 1925 film The Big Parade, and a still from Metaphor. Production notes include detailed footage and edit notes as well as typescripts of draft narration. Some production notes are arranged as a group, and others are arranged with documentation of the original film containers in which they were found. Motion picture film found in the collection includes a print of the final version of the film, edit master film material (A and B rolls), outtakes, and trims.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series. Digital photographs of original film containers are filed in Series 4.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1941-1982 (Box 1, 1 folder)
Series 2: Printed Material, 1936-1980 (Box 1, 3 folders)
Series 3: Slides, 1964 (1 folder; Box 1)
Series 4: -- Metaphor: King Vidor Meets Andrew Wyeth -- (1980), 1976-1980 (1.9 linear feet; Box 1, FC 1-17)
Biographical / Historical:
King Vidor was an American film director whose prolific career began in 1913, during the silent era, and continued through 1959 when he stopped directing large scale film projects. In addition to his prolific film career, Vidor was an avid collector of American Art who owned works by Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, among others.
Vidor's final film, Metaphor: King Vidor Meets Andrew Wyeth (1980), is a documentary in which he and Wyeth discuss the impact of Vidor's most celebrated film of the silent era, The Big Parade, on Wyeth's painting. The project began when Wyeth wrote a lengthy letter to Vidor crediting his film, which Wyeth claimed to have watched over a hundred times, with having had a direct impact on the compositions of his paintings, which he only noticed after the fact when his wife, Betsy, pointed it out to him.
When Wyeth contacted Vidor for permission to use clips from The Big Parade in a documentary project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to accompany a 1976 exhibition of these works, Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, instead of lending his film to that effort, Vidor went to Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania to film Wyeth himself. Together, the two set out to make a documentary telling the story of the aesthetic relationship between their work, with Vidor directing. The film was completed in 1980 but was never commercially released.
Vidor died in 1982.
Related Materials:
There is an oral history interview with King Vidor held by Columbia University.
Provenance:
Donated 1985 by the King Vidor Trust.
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American art & philanthropy : twenty years of collecting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / Peter C. Marzio ; with texts by Michael K. Brown ... [et al.] ; edited by Kathleen V. Jameson and Diane Lovejoy
Title:
American art and philanthropy
Twenty years of collecting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
