The three letters from artist Luigi Lucioni to art historian Nelson C. White measure 0.02 linear feet and are dated June 5, 1922, June 27, 1923, and December 11, 1927. In these letters, which reflect the friendship between Lucioni and White, Lucioni writes about various topics the two correspondents had discussed in person, including the National Academy of Design, his studio and work, and novels and plays that interest him.
Scope and Contents:
The three letters from artist Luigi Lucioni to art historian Nelson C. White measure 0.02 linear feet and are dated June 5, 1922, June 27, 1923, and December 11, 1927. In these letters, which reflect the friendship between Lucioni and White, Lucioni writes about various topics the two correspondents had discussed in person, including the National Academy of Design, his studio and work, and novels and plays that interest him.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Series 1:Luigi Lucioni letters to Nelson C. White, 1922-1927 (Folder 1; 3 Items)
Biographical / Historical:
Connecticut painter, art historian, and collector, Nelson C. White (1900-1989), was born in Waterford, Connecticut. Son of artist Henry C. White, Nelson was a friend of the artist Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988), a realist painter best known for his landscapes of Vermont and portraits of opera singers.
Provenance:
The Luigi Lucioni letters to Nelson C. White,1922-1927, were donated in 2017 by George Cooke White, Nelson C. White's son.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
The research material of Connecticut artists and authors Nelson and Henry C. White, measures 4.5 linear feet and dates from circa 1851-1961. The bulk of the collection consists of Nelson C. White's correspondence, writings, and research, primarily related to J. Frank Currier and Abbott Handerson Thayer, and referencing Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Also found are the correspondence, writings, and research files of Nelson's father, Henry C. White, primarily relating to Dwight W. Tryon. Research files include artist correspondence, writings and notes, printed material, photographs of the artists, and photographs of artwork and exhibition installations.
Scope and Contents:
The research material of Connecticut artists and authors Nelson and Henry C. White, measures 4.5 linear feet and dates from circa 1851-1961. The bulk of the collection consists of Nelson C. White's correspondence, writings, and research, primarily related to J. Frank Currier and Abbott Handerson Thayer, and referencing Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Also found are the correspondence, writings, and research files of Nelson's father, Henry C. White, primarily relating to Dwight W. Tryon. Research files include artist correspondence, writings and notes, printed material, photographs of the artists, and photographs of artwork and exhibition installations.
Nelson C. White's correspondence is with Elizabeth Currier, gallery owners, and other individuals in possession of artwork by Currier, conducted during his research on J. Frank Currier, as well as with Elizabeth Dewing Kaup and others concerning his research on Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Miscellaneous material includes reviews of White's autobiography on Abbott Handerson Thayer, and White's ink sketches for a holiday card.
Nelson C. White's writings and notes consist of annotated drafts of Abbott H. Thayer: Painter and Naturalist, The Life and Art of J. Frank Currier, and articles including "Cremona," and "The Art of Thomas W. Dewing."
White's research files form the bulk of the collection. 9 folders of research material on J. Frank Currier consist primarily of photos of artwork and of an installation at Lyman Allyn Museum, but also include a transcript of Currier's 1870 diary, and 3 photographs (copy prints) of Currier. White's research material on Abbott Handerson Thayer is substantial and includes: biographical material on Thayer, such as family reminiscences by Thayer's daughter, Gladys Thayer, and his father, William Henry Thayer; copies and originals of Thayer's letters to his first wife, Kate Thayer, and his second wife, Emma Beach Thayer, and correspondence with William Henry Thayer; typescript copies and originals of Thayer's correspondence with artists, politicians, naturalists and others including George Grey Barnard, Frank Weston Benson, George de Forest Brush, Royal Cortissoz, Maria Oakey Dewing, Thomas Wilmer Dewing , Charles Lang Freer, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Singer Sargent, Edward Martin Taber, and George Alfred Williams; annotated drafts of Thayer's writings and notes on art, philosophy, and nature including his theories on concealing coloration and wildlife preservation; printed material including 2 Thayer exhibition catalogs and news clippings of Thayer's letters to editors; and photographs of Thayer, his family and friends, his home and studio, and his artwork.
Henry C. White's papers include a folder of White's correspondence relating to the publication of his book, The Life and Art of Dwight William Tryon and including a letter from Elizabeth Currier; drafts of his biography of Tryon, including revisions by Mrs. Bender, Alfred Vance Churchill, and Mr. Rossiter; research material on Tryon including transcripts of letters from Tryon to George Alfred Williams, from Charles Lang Freer to Tryon, and from James McNeill Whistler to Henri Fantin-Latour; a typescript of autobiographical "notes and recollections" by Tryon; and photographs of Tryon, his home and studio, his artwork, and the Tryon Art Gallery at Smith College.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series.
Series 1: Nelson C. White Correspondence and Miscellaneous Material, 1921-1953 (Box 1; 0.25 linear feet)
Series 2: Nelson C. White's Writings and Notes, circa 1929-circa 1951 (Box 1, OV 6; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Nelson C. White's Research Files, circa 1851-1961 (Boxes 1-4, OV 6; 2.65 linear feet)
Series 4: Henry C. White Papers, circa 1860-1954 (Boxes 4-5; 1.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Connecticut painter, art historian, and collector, Nelson C. White (1900-1989) was born in Waterford, Connecticut, to artist Henry C. White. He studied at the National Academy of Design and Yale University and established himself as a landscape painter whilst also pursuing a literary career. He was the author of two biographies: The Life and Art of J. Frank Currier (1936), and Abbott H. Thayer: Painter and Naturalist (1951). White also penned an article on his friend, Thomas Wilmer Dewing ("The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing"), which was published in 1929.
White's father, Henry C. White (1861-1952), was an artist known primarily for his landscapes and seascapes of his native Connecticut. Born in Hartford, White began his career in 1875, studying with Dwight W. Tryon. In the 1880s he enrolled in the Art Students League in New York, while continuing to study with Tryon and other artists, including Kenyon Cox and George de Forest Brush. In the 1890s he traveled in Europe and then returned to Hartford where he taught drawing at the Hartford Public School, and co-founded the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts in 1910. Like his son, White had literary aspirations, and in 1930 published a biography of his life-long friend and teacher entitled The Life and Art of Dwight W. Tryon. Two years after his death in 1952, the Lyman Allyn Museum held a memorial exhibition for White, curated primarily by Nelson C. White.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art holds several collections related to the Nelson and Henry C. White research material on Abbott Handerson Thayer and Dwight William Tryon. These include research material on Abbott Handerson Thayer and other artists, 1895-1990, donated by Thomas B. Brumbaugh; the Abbott Handerson Thayer letter and drawings to Caroline Peddle Ball, circa 1890-1893; and the Dwight William Tryon papers, 1872-1930.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels 1330 and 2807) including autobiographical notes by Tryon, letters to Nelson C. White and Henry C. white, photographs of artwork, and an article. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Archives of American Art purchased two linear feet of material from Nelson C. White in 1956. White also lent material and donated papers in 1978 and 1983.
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 Nelson and Henry C. White research material is owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
The papers of Burt Chernow measure 21.8 linear feet and consist mainly of research materials gathered and produced in the course of writing Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography over an extensive period of close contact with the subjects, from the early 1980s until Chernow's death in 1997. Research materials for the biography include photocopies of personal documents of the Christos, hundreds of recorded interviews with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, their family members, and their associates, transcripts of interviews and research on interview subjects, other collected research material compiled chronologically, drafts of the biography written by Chernow, drafts of the biography and its epilogue produced after Chernow's death, and business records related to the book's production, which include significant correspondence with the Christos. Also found are the published German and U.S. editions of the biography, printed materials and photographs related to the book's subject matter, and fabric samples from five of the Christos' projects undertaken during Chernow's association with them. Chernow's career as an art critic, writer, educator, and arts advocate, primarily in Southern Connecticut, is documented in Chernow's other writings, organizational records, printed materials, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Burt Chernow measure 21.8 linear feet and consist mainly of research materials gathered and produced in the course of writing Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography over an extensive period of close contact with the subjects, from the early 1980s until Chernow's death in 1997. Research materials for the biography include photocopies of personal documents of the Christos, hundreds of recorded interviews with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, their family members, and their associates, transcripts of interviews and research on interview subjects, other collected research material compiled chronologically, drafts of the biography written by Chernow, drafts of the biography and its epilogue produced after Chernow's death, and business records related to the book's production, which include significant correspondence with the Christos. Also found are the published German and U.S. editions of the biography, printed materials and photographs related to the book's subject matter, and fabric samples from five of the Christos' projects undertaken during Chernow's association with them.
Chernow's career as an art critic, writer, educator, and arts advocate, primarily in Southern Connecticut, is documented in Chernow's other writings, organizational records, printed materials, and photographs. Other writings include drafts of articles, lectures, exhibition reviews, and catalog essays, some of which include research material gathered on the subjects. Artists written about by Chernow include Arman, Milton Avery, Barkley Hendricks, Francisco Zuñiga, Lester Johnson, Gabor Peterdi, and Jean Woodham, among many others, and including many Connecticut artists. A recorded interview with Arman, as well as transcripts of multiple interviews with Zuñiga, are filed with these writings. Also found are many writings and lectures related to the value of visual art in public life and in elementary and higher education. Numerous lectures by Chernow about several of the Christos' large-scale projects are also found, one of which, on the Wrapped Reichstag, is recorded on video.
Organizational records document Chernow's involvement in various art education organizations, his years of teaching at Housatonic Community College, his development of the Housatonic Museum of Art collection, and his work with several local arts organizations in Westport, Conn., including the Westport Arts Advisory Council, the Westport Arts Center, the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection Committee, and the Westport Weston Arts Council. Types of documents found include correspondence, clippings, photographs, flyers, and notes.
Printed material includes many of the books written by Chernow, and monographs and magazines which included essays on specific artists by Chernow. A file of clippings about Chernow spanning his career is also found. Photographs include prints, negatives, and contact sheets, and consist mainly of photographs of artists, many of which were taken by Chernow, and many of which are signed by the artists with a personal note to the Chernows. A handful of personal photographs of the Chernows are also found.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged as 5 series.
Series 1: Research Material for -- Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography -- , 1930-2002 (17.1 linear feet; Boxes 1-17, 23, OV 24)
Series 2: Other Writing, 1962-1999 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 17-19)
Series 3: Organizational Records, 1963-2000 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 19-20, 23, OV 24)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1960-2002 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 20-21, 23)
Series 5: Photographs, 1950-1997 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 21-23, OV 24)
Biographical / Historical:
Burt Chernow was an art historian, writer, educator, collector, and dealer who founded the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and who, upon his retirement from Housatonic Community College, became the authorized biographer of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which he researched through close contact with the Christos from 1984 until his death in 1997. Although he had not completed the biography when he died, his wife Ann Chernow saw the manuscript through to publication, and the biography, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography, was first published in Germany in 2000, and then in the United States in 2002.
Born in New York City in 1933, Chernow earned a master's degree in art education at New York University in 1960, and began his career as an art teacher in the Westport, Connecticut public schools, later joining the faculty of the Art Department at the Housatonic Community College, where he eventually became the department's director. He also taught at the Museum of Modern Art, organizing the Children's Art Carnival in Harlem through the museum, and at Silvermine School of the Arts, the A.B.C.D. Arts Center in Bridgeport, Conn., and the Stamford Museum. While on the faculty at Housatonic Community College, he began collecting original artworks, mainly through donations directly from the artists, for what eventually became the Housatonic Museum of Art. Over the course of nearly 30 years he amassed over 4000 works for the collection, the largest of its kind for a community college, and remained the museum's Emeritus Director until his death. He remained active in civic arts organizations in Westport as well, where he was a founding member of the Westport Arts Center, served on the Westport Arts Advisory Council, and helped to establish the annual Westport Arts Awards.
Upon his retirement from the Housatonic faculty in 1984, Chernow approached Christo and Jeanne-Claude about becoming their authorized biographer. He had participated in their project Surrounded Islands in Miami in 1983, and had played a role in exhibitions and artist talks by Christo at the Aldrich Museum (1981) and the Wadsworth Atheneum (1978) as well. He and his wife Ann Chernow attended and helped to document the Wrapped Pont Neuf (1985) in Paris, and then visited Christo's family in Bulgaria in 1986. It was after their Bulgarian trip that Christo and Jeanne-Claude agreed to authorize him to write their biography, and Chernow's research began in earnest. He conducted hundreds of interviews with them, their family, and associates, participated in the major large-scale projects that took place between 1985 and 1995, and completed a draft of the biography up to the year 1982 before he died suddenly in 1997. After his death, his wife Ann Chernow saw the biography through to publication. It was published with an epilogue by Wolfgang Volz, the Christos' official photographer, bringing the Christos' story up to date from where Chernow had left off, first in Germany, and later in the United States and Italy.
Chernow wrote many books, catalogs, and articles about other artists as well, including Milton Avery, Francisco Zuniga, Gabor Peterdi, Will Barnet, Jean Woodham, and Lester Johnson, among others, and published and lectured widely on the subjects of art education and public art.
Provenance:
Donated 2002 by Ann Chernow, the widow of Burt Chernow.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Burt Chernow papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Burt Chernow papers, 1930-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.
The Laurie Lisle research material on Georgia O'Keeffe and Louise Nevelson measures 3.4 linear feet and dates from 1902-1990. The collection consists of copied biographical papers, recordings, correspondence, and printed material related to O'Keeffe, and 97 recorded interviews related to the life of Louise Nevelson. The outcome of Lisle's research on O'Keeffe resulted in her book, Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe (1980); and on Nevelson, Lisle authored, Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life (1990).
Scope and Contents:
The Laurie Lisle research material on Georgia O'Keeffe and Louise Nevelson measures 3.4 linear feet and dates from 1902-1990. The O'Keeffe portion of the collection consists of biographical papers, recordings, correspondence, and printed material. Biographical material includes academic records, maps and ephemera regarding O'Keeffe's various residences, and legal records concerning law suits and her will. The correspondents in this series include artists, gallery representatives and collectors, and exhibition organizers. Printed material consists of newspaper clippings, magazines, and exhibition announcements for both her and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Also included in the printed material is a file pertaining to Laurie Lisle's book, Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe (1980).
The research material on Louise Nevelson consists of 97 audiocassettes featuring interviews with Louise Nevelson, some members of the Nevelson family, artists, dealers, and peers. The recordings were gathered in preparation for Lisles biography on Nevelson, Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life (1990).
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged as two series.
Series 1: Research Files on Georgia O'Keeffe, 1902-1990 (1 linear foot; box 1)
Series 2: Interviews of and Related to Louise Nevelson, 1975-1988 (2.4 Linear feet; shoeboxes 2-7)
Biographical / Historical:
Louise Lisle is an art historian and author in Sharon, Connecticut. Lisle is originally from Providence, Rhode Island and attended college at Ohio Wesleyan University. After college she held positions at The Providence Journal and Newsweek magazine. She has published five books covering the topics of art history, education, sociology, and her own life. Lisle is married to painter and printmaker Robert Kipniss.
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconson in 1887. She was an artist who is mostly known for painting flowers, New York Skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe began high school at Sacred Heart Academy in Madison, Wisconsin, but ultimately graduated from Chatham Episcopal Institute in Virginia after her family moved to Williamsburg, Virginia in 1902. O'Keeffe went on to study at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Art Students League, Teachers College of Columbia University, and taught art at high schools in Texas and at Chatham Episcopal Insitute, Columbia College, and became the chair of the art department at West Texas State Normal College. O'Keeffe's art was ultimately promoted by Alfred Stieglitz who, although eventually marrying O'Keeffe in 1924, first exhibited her artwork at his esteemed 291 gallery in New York City. O'Keeffe's fame as an artist took off from there. O'Keeffe was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters; she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the National Medal of Arts in 1985; and in 1993 was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) was born in Kiev, Russia in 1899. Her parents, Isaac and Minna Berliawsky, and their children emigrated to America in 1905 and settled in Rockland, Maine. She decided upon a career in art at an early age and took some drawing classes in high school, before graduating in 1918. Two years later, she married Charles Nevelson, a wealthy businessman, and moved to New York. She proceeded to study painting, drawing, singing, acting, and eventually dancing. In 1922, Nevelson gave birth to a son, Myron (later called Mike). Beginning in 1929, Nevelson began to study art full-time at the Art Students League, where she took classes with Kenneth Hayes Miller and Kimon Nicolaides. In 1931, she went to Europe and studied with Hans Hofmann in Munich before traveling to Italy and France. Over the years, she received honorary degrees from Rutgers University and Harvard University, among other schools, as well as numerous awards, including the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in Sculpture and the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture in 1971, the gold medal for sculpture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1983, and the National Medal of the Arts in 1985.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also houses the Louise Nevelson papers, circa 1903-1979.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Laurie Lisle in two separate installments. The material on Georgia O'Keeffe was donated in 1991, and the material on Louise Nevelson was donated in 2004.
Restrictions:
The Georgia O'Keeffe portion of this collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment, and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
All Louise Nevelson related interviews in this collection are access restricted; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information. Access, with permission, to original papers and audiovisual material 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 reponsibility 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.
Laurie Lisle research material on Georgia O'Keeffe and Louise Nevelson, 1902-1990. 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.
Jules David Prown research material on artists measures 11.8 linear feet and 0.004 GB and dates from 1935 to 2010, with the bulk of the material dating from 1958 to 1975. Prown, an art historian and educator, is an authority on the work of artist John Singleton Copley, and these papers contain related notes, subject files, correspondence, portrait and attribution files, and photographs and digital photographs of artwork. Also found are Prown's research files on other artists, including Benjamin West, typescripts of his lectures, and copies of his published writings.
Scope and Contents:
Jules David Prown research material on artists measures 11.8 linear feet and 0.004 GB and dates from 1935 to 2010, with the bulk of the material dating from 1958 to 1975. Prown, an art historian and educator, is an authority on the work of artist John Singleton Copley, and these papers contain related notes, subject files, correspondence, portrait and attribution files, and photographs and digital photographs of artwork. Also found are Prown's research files on other artists, including Benjamin West, typescripts of his lectures, and copies of his published writings.
The bulk of the collection consists of Prown's research material on the work of John Singleton Copley, including notes and correspondence he compiled while working on his dissertation and later two-volume work John Singleton Copley. Of interest are a set of notes regarding the computer analysis of sitters of John Singleton Copley. Included are detailed biographical forms for each sitter and lists of codes and cross references used for Prown's computer analysis. Topics of his notes and subject files include biographical information on Copley, technique and materials, specific works of art such as Watson and the Shark, and painting themes. Correspondence found throughout his research files usually discuss dates of paintings, attribution, and provenance. Photographs and related printed material are often included with correspondence.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series. The original order of the donor was maintained.
Series 1: Research Material on John Singleton Copley, 1935-2010 (8.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-9, 0.004 GB; ER01)
Series 2: Research Material on Benjamin West, 1965-1990s (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 9-10, 12-14)
Series 3: Research Material on Other Artists, 1950s-2008 (0.4 linear feet; Box 9)
Series 4: Lectures, 1960s-2010 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 10-11)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1960-2000 (0.3 linear feet; Box 11)
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian Jules David Prown (1930- ) is a Paul Mellon Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. He is an authority on American art and material culture. Prown is a graduate of Lafayette College and the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1961 with a dissertation on John Singleton Copley. That year he joined the faculty of the Department of the History of Art at Yale University where he was also Curator of American Art at the University Art Gallery and the founding Director of the Yale Center for British Art. In 1966 he published the two-volume John Singleton Copley. While working on the publication he conducted an in-depth computer analysis of Copley's 240 American sitters. Prown retired from Yale in 1999.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Jules David Prown in 2003, 2010, 2014, and 2015.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Jules David Prown research material on artists are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
