The Braunstein/Quay Gallery records measure 36.9 linear feet and date from 1956 to 2011. The records consist of administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, and financial records that shed light on the gallery's operations through correspondence, price lists, inventories, printed material, born digital material, photographs, and more.
Scope and Contents:
The Braunstein/Quay Gallery records measure 36.9 linear feet and date from 1956 to 2011. The records consist of administrative papers, artist files, exhibition and event files, and financial records that shed light on the gallery's operations through correspondence, price lists, inventories, printed material, born digital material, photographs, and more.
Administrative records consist of property records, advertising files, papers related to professional organizations, non-profits, 139 Spring Street Inc., and scant personal and professional papers from Ruth Braunstein. Correspondence files include letters exchanged between Braunstein and collectors, museums and galleries, artists, conservationists, and printers. Photographs found here depict the gallery's physical space as well as images captured during events, exhibitions, and installations from the 1960s to 1980s.
Artist files mostly include resumes or biographies, correspondence, price lists, newspaper clippings, exhibition announcements, press releases, and catalogs. Folders might also include press packets, a mixture of personal and professional correspondence; CDs, DVDs, photographs, slides, and negatives of artists, artwork, and gallery installations; exhibition material such as loan agreements, announcements and catalogs, reviews, and notices of sale; shipping and transportation papers; and financial records.
Exhibition and event files shed light on group exhibitions held at Braunstein/Quay and events and exhibitions held elsewhere that involved artwork or artists with Braunstein/Quay. Folders might include contracts and agreements, loan and shipping records, correspondence, printed material, photographs, born digital materials, financial papers, and artist resumes. Also found here are press releases, catalogs, announcement cards, and scant clippings from Braunstein/Quay's exhibitions. Financial records consist of artist statements, sales records, and bills for shipping, framing, conservation, and utilities.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as four series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1961-2009 (Box 1-4; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Artist Files, 1956-2011 (Box 4-29, 39; 25.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Exhibition and Event Files, 1961-2010 (Box 29-33; 4.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Financial Records, 1965-1996 (Box 33-39; 3.8 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Braunstein/Quay Gallery was a contemporary art gallery founded in 1961 in San Francisco, California, by Ruth Braunstein. An early proponent of sculptural clay, fiber art, art furniture, glass, and ceramic work as fine art, the gallery dealt with contemporary art in various mediums. Some of Braunstein/Quay's most well-known artists include Peter Voulkos, Richard Shaw, Robert Brady, John Altoon, Bruce Conner, and Mary Snowden.
Ruth Braunstein and Verna Are began renting a gallery space in Tiburon, California, in July 1961 under the name Gallery 32. Verna Are's expertise was in furniture and interior design items, while Braunstein's was contemporary fine art. Later in the summer of 1961, Braunstein changed the name to The Quay Gallery. She credited architect Raphael Soriano as having come up with the name. In the early 60s, Braunstein developed relationships with others in the California art community, namely David Stuart, Jackie Anhalt, Felix Landau, and Rolf Nelson. Early artists at the gallery included Hal Riegger, Doris Aller, Igor Medvedev, Win NG, Jim Melchert, and Elton Bennet.
In May 1965, Braunstein moved the gallery to San Francisco. After fellow gallerist Jim Newman closed his gallery near Braunstein's in 1968, Braunstein began showing several of Newman's artists, including Richard Shaw, Bruce Conner, Jeremy Anderson, and Sidney Gordon. In 1968, the gallery had its first show of Peter Voulkos's work after agreeing to pay him a stipend for one year. Voulkos and Braunstein's relationship continued into the 2000s.
In 1970, Braunstein went into business with collector Rena Bransten to start Quay Ceramics Gallery. Silvia Brown was involved with the business for one year, and later, Bransten's daughter, Trish, became partners with Braunstein after her mother left. Ruth Braunstein still operated her art gallery, then named Braunstein Gallery, which had moved from its original location on Jerome Street to Sutter Street in San Francisco. Quay Ceramics Gallery was located next door. Several administrative changes and name variations occurred over the next few decades, but Braunstein kept its gallery space on Sutter Street until 1999.
In 1975, Ruth Braunstein joined gallerists Phyllis Kind from Chicago, Carl Solway from Cincinnati, and Ed Thorp from Santa Barbara to establish a gallery in New York called 139 Spring Street, Inc. They opened with a show of Peter Voulkos and Sam Tchakalian. Only Voulkos artwork sold; bought by fellow art dealer Grace Borgenicht. The partners dismantled the gallery coop four years later.
Braunstein/Quay promoted the San Francisco art scene and the careers of many artists for 50 years. In addition to the artists mentioned above, other artists influenced by Braunstein/Quay include Dominic DiMare, Gyongy Laky, Myra Block, Elin Elisofon, Robilee Frederick, Bean Finneran, David Anderson, Kimberly Austin, Arthur Okamura, Dennis Oppenheim, and Kyle Reicher. Braunstein/Quay, known to represent Braunstein's perspective on what she connotated as 'fine art,' exhibited works in the 1990s by tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy, and held a group show exhibiting works by tattoo artists, Out of Skin: Work by Tattooers (1996). Other unique shows included a group exhibition dedicated to dog imagery, The Dog Show, A Group Exhibition (1988); a group exhibition of book art, Redefining the Book (1994); and an exhibition of photographs of actress and Andy Warhol associate, Candy Darling, Candy Darling, Always a Lady (1997). In 2010, Cabrillo Gallery held a retrospective of Braunstein's career as a gallerist, Ruth Braunstein and the Braunstein Quay Gallery, 1961-Present.
Ruth Braunstein was born in Minneapolis in 1923. She pursued a career in modern dance, dancing professionally in Washington D.C. and at the Minneapolis Dance Center. She married Theodore Braunstein in 1943. They moved to San Francisco, California, in 1960 and had two children, born two years apart. Aside from her career as a gallerist, Braunstein gave lectures, juried art competitions, participated in workshops, and was involved in various professional art organizations. In the early 1970s, Ruth Braunstein, along with a group that included Michael Wallace, Jim Willis, Buzz Sawyer, and Helen Henninger, founded the San Francisco Art Dealers' Association. The association put on a series of Introductions exhibitions every July for artists who had never shown in San Francisco; these exhibitions ran until 2002. Braunstein was also a committee member for ArtTable and on the board of Fiberworks. She passed away in September, 2016.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in several installments from 1974 to 2011 by gallery director and owner Ruth Braunstein.
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. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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 dealers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Braunstein/Quay Gallery records, 1956-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Rena Bransten, 2014 May 29-2015 July 10. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
An interview of James Newman conducted 1974 May 13, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art. Newman speaks of his initial interest in art at Stanford University; meeting Walter Hopps and opening his first gallery with him in the 1950s; the history of the Dilexi Gallery in San Francisco; and his philosophy of collecting. He recalls Robert Craig Kauffman, William T. Wiley, and Jeremy Anderson.
Biographical / Historical:
James Newman (1933- ) is an art dealer from San Francisco, Calif.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 48 min.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art are the records of the Dilexi Gallery, 1957-1971, founded and directed by James Newman.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
East & West Gallery (San Francisco, Calif.) Search this
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972 Search this
Extent:
0.2 Items (linear ft. (on partial microfilm reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
1918-1958
Scope and Contents:
Letters recieved, including several from J. Edgar Hoover concerning a painting by Leonid Gechtoff, 1935-1938; two autographed photographs of Hoover; photographs of Leonid Gechtoff and his work; a scrapbook, ca. 1918-1929, containing letters, photographs, exhibition catalogs, clippings and printed miscellany; naturalization papers for Ethel Gechtoff; and material concerning her East & West Gallery in San Francisco, 1956-1958, including leases, exhibition announcements, clippings, and a price list for works of art.
Biographical / Historical:
Leonid Gechtoff was a Russian landscape painter who emigrated to this country in 1922; settling in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1923, where he remained until his death in 1941. His wife Ethel Gechtoff ran a Gallery in San Francisco 1956-1958.
Provenance:
The donor, Sonia Gechtoff, is the daughter of Leonid and Ethel Gechtoff, and also a painter.
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.
An interview with Bill and Peggy Foote conducted 2014 February 16-17, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project at Bill's office and home in San Francisco, California.
Dr. and Ms. Foote speak of their early days growing up and their introduction to art; their meeting in Stockton; the beginnings of the Lincoln Square Gallery; their introduction to Viola Frey; their increasing involvement as art dealers in the Bay Area in the '60s and '70s; Peggy Foote's time at the California College of Arts and Crafts; their collection of Viola Frey's work and other artists' work; their interactions with Charles Fiske and Viola Frey; Frey's early years in Lodi; Frey's love of collecting jewelry and small ceramic figurines; and Frey's work in relation to gender issues. They also discuss Frey and Fiske's health issues; Frey's time at CCAC; Frey's relationship with Fiske; Frey's work as it related to Robert Arneson and Peter Voulkos and other Bay Area artists; Peggy Foote's gallery Conway Antiques in the 70's and 80's; Bill Foote's remembrances at Frey's memorial. Mr. and Ms. Foote also recall Shirley Hanson, Rena Bransten, Squeak Carnwath, Gary Knecht, Leslie Wenger, Nancy Hoffman, Richard McDonald, Maryanne Schulz, the Wiebe twins, Robert Arneson, Vernon Coykendall, Noni Eccles Treadwell, Sam Perry, Jackie Maybeck, Gloria Champion, Jack Laycox, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Bill Foote (1937- ) and his wife Peggy (1935- ) are art collectors and retired art and antique dealers in San Francisco, California who collected Viola Frey's works of art. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
An interview of Patricia (Trish) Bransten, conducted 2015 October 5 and 6, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project at Bransten's home in San Francisco, California.
Biographical / Historical:
Patricia (Trish) Bransten (1959- ) is an art dealer in San Francisco, California. Bransten is Gallery Director at Rena Bransten Gallery which represented Viola Frey. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Artists' Legacy Foundation.
An interview with Rena Bransten conducted 2014 May 29- 2015 July 10, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project at Bransten's home in San Francisco, California.
Bransten speaks of attending the Dalton School; her childhood; her father's interest in illuminated manuscripts; her parents; attending Smith College; attending art museums as a kid; college studies; getting married and moving to California; art history at Berkely; Massimoo Zanetti Beverage; being on various museum boards; differences and similarities in art tastes between her and her husband; going to galleries; Ruth Braunstein Gallery; Quay Ceramics; the Elizabeth Arden Building; gallery locations in San Francisco; ceramics; Ron Nagle; travels and collecting; her daughter Trisha; eclectic collecting; buying with your heart; Vik Muniz; her sons; John Baldessari; the 1970s and 1980s; gallery visitors; video art; Dara Birnbaum; Viola Frey; Hung Liu; touring exhibitions; common threads in shows exhibited; gallery publications; art critics; Viola Frey's life and work; changes in the art world; investment collecting; working with Andy Warhol; art fairs; ARCO; art fair fatigue; online sales; impact of the Internet; Watermark; photography; Dawoud Bey; Birmingham Project; changes in the city; art buying as philanthropy; Creative Growth; Art Dealers Association of America; San Francisco Art Dealers Association; finding artists to exhibit; gallery clientele; gallery assistants; influence of museums; Gustave Courbet; Don Ed Hardy; Ruth Asawa; Black Mountain College; gallery shows that stand out; American art; future of the gallery. In the final session Branston recalls her relationship with Viola Frey; Frey's childhood; Frey's relationship with Betty Woodman; Frey's experimental nature and techniques; and Frey's multiple shows at the Quay Gallery. Bransten also recalls the Smith College Art Museum, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Phyllis Lehmann, Barbara Jakobson, Sarah Charlesworth, Marina Abramovic, Yerba Buena, Betty Asher, Virginia Zabriskie, Ruth Braunstein; Peter Voulkos, Richard Shaw, Dilexi Gallery, Markus Lupertz, Hermann Albert, Peter Chevalier, Thomas Schindler, Tony DeLap, John Caldwell, Stephen Wirtz, John Baldessari, William T. Wiley, Peter Vandenburg, Sandy Shannonhouse, Dara Birnbaum, Jim Campbell, Betty Woodman, Hung Liu, Fred Wilson, Garth Clark, Ann Kohs, Manuel Neri, Rupert Garcia, Judith Golden, Walter Maciel, Vernon Coykendall, John Waters, Doug Hall, Phyllis Kind, Ed Thorpe, Jenny Baie, and Markus Lüpertz.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Rena Bransten (1933- ) is an art dealer in San Francisco, California who collected Viola Frey's works of art. Interviewer Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded as 6 sound files. Duration is 3 hr., 57 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Topic:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Artists' Legacy Foundation.
7 letters to Neuhaus from and about Still, 2 copies of Neuhaus' replies, 15 photographs of paintings completed by Still between 1930 and 1940, and one letter from Albert Bierstadt, 1884.
Still writes to Neuhaus in 1941 in order to introduce himself and inquire about the possibility of having his work exhibited at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. In 1942 and 1945, Still writes to Neuhaus regarding available teaching positions and his painting production. Henry Hibbs of the College of William and Mary writes Neuhaus requesting information on Still. A scholar working on a dissertation, 1978-1979, writes twice to Neuhaus about a Still lithograph on loan to the Oakland Museum. Two transcriptions of Neuhaus' replies outline his relationship with Still in the 1940s. One letter from the Oakland Museum to Neuhaus requests the loan of the Still painting PORTRAIT OF MARYLY NEUHAUS.
15 photographs of Still paintings. Ten of the paintings are portraits, the other five consist of three landscapes and two "abstractions." All photographs are annotated, some by Still.
Letter from Bierstadt,1884, concerning an unpaid invoice from the American Artists Union.
Biographical / Historical:
Historian and art dealer; Walnut Creek, Calif.; d. 1995 Neuhaus was Director of Education, 1938-1940, at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. In 1941, he established a gallery, Robert Neuhaus Services in Fine Arts, in San Francisco, which remained open for approximately six months. Artists represented included Clyfford Still, George Post and Joseph Raphael. Still was a painter, and died in 1980. Bierstadt was a landscape painter active in both the U.S. and Europe.
Provenance:
Donated 1986 by Robert Neuhaus.
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.
California Palace of the Legion of Honor Search this
Courvoisier Galleries (San Francisco, Calif.) Search this
Extent:
1.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1934-1995
Scope and Contents:
Papers consist of business and personal letters, 1955-1995, organizational minutes and by-laws of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and Patrons of Art and Music, 1957-1970s, during the period that McEvoy was the financial director of the Palace of the Legion of Honor; and a scrapbook of the Courvoisier Galleries, 1939-1941, containing exhibition announcements, catalogs, and newspaper articles about exhibitions. Among the artists who exhibited were Peter Hurd, Millard Sheets, Jean Varda, Abraham Rattner, Charles Howard, Adaline Kent, DeWitt Peters, and Frederic Taubes.
Biographical / Historical:
Art dealer; San Francisco, Calif. Operated Courvoisier Galleries.
Provenance:
Donated 1997 by Jay McEvoy.
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.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
An interview of Ruth Braunstein conducted 2009 August 10, by Jo Lauria, for the Archives of American Art, at Braunstein's home, in San Fransisco, California.
Biographical / Historical:
Ruth Braunstein (1923- ) is an art dealer and lives and works in San Francisco, California. Braunstein founded Braunstein/Quay Gallery in 1961.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 25 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Patricia (Trish) Bransten, 2015 October 5-6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Five letters from painter Phil Paradise to art dealer Ted Mills, 1991-1992. Letters relate to Mill's contribution to a catalog, American Scene Painting, California 1930s and 1940s.
Biographical / Historical:
Ted Mills is an art dealer in San Francisco, California.
Provenance:
Donated in 2021 by Ted Mills.
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:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
