The Jean Gabriel Lemoine papers relating to Morgan Russell measure 0.2 linear feet and are comprised of 20 items that date from 1921-1923 and 1964. The item dating from 1964 is a typescript of a letter fragment. Included are 17 letters and letter fragments written by Morgan Russell in 1923 to Jean Gabriel Lemoine, art critic for L'Echo de Paris. In these letters Russell explains his art and the Synchromism style that he developed with Stanton MacDonald-Wright. Also found are a one page list naming ten paintings in his studio, an article by Lemoine about Russell, and a typed extract about Russell from La Peinture Abstraite by Michel Senghor.
Scope and Content Note:
The Jean Gabriel Lemoine papers relating to Morgan Russell measure 0.2 linear feet and are comprised of 20 items that date from 1921-1923 and 1964. Included are 17 letters and letter fragments written by Morgan Russell in 1923 to Jean Gabriel Lemoine, art critic for L'Echo de Paris. One item dates from 1964 and is a typescript of a letter fragment. In these letters Russell explains his art and the Synchromism style that he developed with Stanton MacDonald-Wright. Also found are a one page list naming ten paintings in his studio, written in 1921 in Morgan Russell's hand, a news clipping of article by Lemoine about Russell, and a typed extract about Russell from La Peinture Abstraite by Michel Senghor. All of the items in the collection are in French. The collection also includes a few notes about the items in each folder, probably written by Lemoine.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection, items are arranged into one series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Jean Gabriel Lemoine papers relating to Morgan Russell, 1921-1923, 1964 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Biographical Note:
Jean Gabriel Lemoine was an art critic for L'Echo de Paris at the time that he corresponded with abstract painter Morgan Russell (1886-1953). Lemoine also wrote for Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Revue Belge d'Archeologie et d'histoire de l'Art and Beaux Arts Magazine. Morgan Russell studied at the Art Students League in New York with James Earle Fraser and Robert Henri from 1906 to 1907. His first trip to Europe in 1906 was sponsored by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, and he returned to Paris in 1908 and joined the Academie Matisse. He settled in Paris and did not return to the United States until 1946. In 1911 he studied with Canadian color theorist Ernest Tudor-Hart. Also at this time he met fellow artist Stanton Macdonald-Wright with whom he developed the theories of Synchromism. In 1913 he and Macdonald-Wright exhibited together as Synchromists at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery, Paris, where they attracted the attention of French critics, including Lemoine. Russell continued to paint abstract works until 1930 when he began painting large-scale religious works.
Related Material:
Also available at the Archives of American Art are the Stanton Macdonald-Wright letters to Morgan Russell, 1913-1938, found on microfilm reel 1266. Microfilm reels 4524-4542 contain Morgan Russell papers that were loaned for filming by the Montclair Art Museum in 1991.
Separated Material:
One annotated exhibition catalog, Les Synchromistes: Morgan Russell et S. Macdonald-Wright, from 1913, and four photographs of Russell's artwork were kept by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery Library when they transferred the collection to the Archives of American Art. These items are also available on microfilm reel 1190 at the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
The papers were transferred to the Archives from the National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) in 1976. NCFA acquired them as part of a purchase in 1972 of Russell's artwork from Lucien Goldschmidt, Inc.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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.
The papers of New York painter and art critic William Anderson Coffin date from 1886-1924 and measure 1.6 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered biographical materials and correspondence, project files for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artist's Committee of One Hundred, and the exhibition of works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, three additional scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York painter and art critic William Anderson Coffin date from 1886 to 1924 and measure 1.6 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered biographical materials and correspondence; project files for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artist's Committee of One Hundred, and the exhibition of works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris; three additional scrapbooks; printed material; and photographs.
Scattered biographical material includes membership cards and an autobiographical essay. Correspondence is with colleagues and related generally to receptions and events, including an invitation to the launch of the U. S. Battleship Arizona. There are one or two letters each from Frank W. Benson, Edwin Howland Blashfield, Royal Cortissoz, Walter Gay, and Whitney Warren.
Three series of project files document Coffin's work for the Fine Arts Division of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred that established a relief fund for families of French soldier-artists, and an exhibition of artwork by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris. Files contain a variety of materials, such as letters, drafts of reports, meeting minutes, photographs, catalogs and brochures, and other materials. There are two oversized scrapbooks for the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition. The files for the Luxembourg Museum exhibition include a letter signed by Louis Bouché, Bernard Gussow, Alfred H. Maurer, Joseph Stella, and William Zorach protesting the exclusion of their work.
Three additional scrapbooks contain clippings of articles written by Coffin when he was employed as an art critic for The New York Evening Post, Harper's Weekly, and The New York Sun.
Printed material consists of miscellaneous clippings primarily about Coffin, programs from American Rights Committee exercises, a Dixie Club of New York concert, a Lotos Club concert, the Lafayette-Marne Anniversary exercises, and souvenir tickets to various art-related events including several Paris Salon Vernissage events sponsored by the Société des Artistes Francais.
Photographs include an album of photographs of Coffin, various family members, and residences; a photograph of Coffin posing with an unidentified group of his colleagues; and photographs of family friends. Project files also contain photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1922 (2 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1915-1924 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 3: Project File for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, 1900-1901 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 4: Project File for the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred, 1914-1923 (14 folders; Box 1)
Series 5: Project File for the Exhibition of Works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, 1919-1920 (11 folders; Box 1)
Series 6: Scrapbooks of Clippings of Articles Written by Coffin, 1886-1913 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1912-1924 (6 folders; Box 1)
Series 8: Photographs, 1905-1923 (10 folders; Box 1)
Biographical Note:
William Anderson Coffin (1855-1925) of New York City was a landscape and figure painter and art critic. He organized several notable exhibitions and art-related charitable events for relief work in post-World War I France.
William Anderson Coffin was born near Pittsburgh in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on January 31, 1855, the son of Isabella C. Anderson and James Gardiner Coffin. Coffin studied art and graduated from Yale University in 1874. Three years later, he left for Paris and studied with academic artist Léon Bonnat. Coffin exhibited in the Paris Salons of 1879, 1880, and 1882.
In 1882, Coffin moved to New York City, participating in many exhibitions, including at the National Academy of Design. He also wrote as an art critic for Scribner's and Harper's Weekly, among other publications. From 1886 to 1891, he was art critic for The New York Evening Post, and was art editor at the New York Sun from 1896 to 1901.
Coffin directed the Fine Arts Division of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo from 1900 to 1901, and participated as a member of the New York Advisory Board of the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Coffin was also president of the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred that established a relief fund for families of French soldier-artists. For this charitable work, Coffin received the medal of the Legion of Honor from the French government in 1917.
Coffin was a member of various arts organizations including the Lotos Club, the Architectural League of New York, and the National Academy of Design. His artwork is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Municipal Gallery of Venice, Italy, the Albright Art Gallery, and the Brooklyn Museum.
William Anderson Coffin died on October 26, 1925 in New York City.
Provenance:
The William Anderson Coffin papers were donated in 1970 by Stewart Klonis to whom the papers were given by Mrs. DeWitt M. Lockman of Manorville, Long Island, New York.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of painter, art critic, and educator Bertha Fanning Taylor measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1926 to 1971. The papers document the period of time between the two World Wars when Taylor worked in France and her later activities as a teacher at the Norfolk Division of William and Mary College. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, printed material, and typescripts of two autobiographies. Two scrapbooks contain articles Taylor wrote as assistant art critic for the Paris edition of the New York Herald and scattered additional printed material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, art critic, and educator Bertha Fanning Taylor measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1926 to 1971. The papers document the period of time between the two World Wars when Taylor worked in France and her later activities as a teacher at the Norfolk Division of William and Mary College. Found are biographical materials, correspondence , printed material, and typescripts of two autobiographies. Two scrapbooks contain articles Taylor wrote as assistant art critic for the Paris edition of the New York Herald and scattered additional printed material.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Bertha Fanning Taylor (1883-1980) was a painter, educator, and art critic active in Paris, France, and Norfolk, Virginia. She competed for the United States of America in the painting event for the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Related Materials:
Papers of Bertha Fanning Taylor, 1915-1979, are also located at Old Dominion University's Special Collections and University Archives.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 1971 by Fanning and in 1992 by her granddaughter, Claire M. Taylor.
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.
