The papers or curator and arts administrator Jan Van der Marck measure 9.0 linear feet and 5.36 gigabytes and date from 1944 to 2010. His career is documented through biographical material, files on artists and art historians, museum administration records, and other professional records. Also found are papers concerning Van der Marck's personal interest and research on modern bookbinding.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of curator and arts administrator Jan Van der Marck measure 9.0 linear feet and 5.36 gigabytes and date from 1944 to 2010. His career is documented through biographical material, files on artists and art historians, museum administration records, and other professional records. Also found are papers concerning Van der Marck's personal interest and research on modern bookbinding.
Biographical material includes records of Van der Marck's personal collection of artwork, books, and photographs; early records consisting primarily of school documents, writings, and photographs; and one journal. Additionally there are copies of published interviews, one file of letters from friends, and several photographs of Van der Marck. Files on artists and art historians may include correspondence, photographs, slides, news clippings, exhibition catalogs, lists of artworks, exhibition planning documents, as well as articles or other writings by Van der Marck about the artist. Of note are files on Arman, Robert Indiana, Christo, Jacques Lipchitz, George Segal, Beverly Pepper, and Brian O'Doherty.
Museum Administration records document Van der Marck's activities as director or curator at various museums. Files may include museum exhibition planning records, administrative records, printed material, correspondence, and photographs. Also found are records of Van der Marck's other professional activities, such as his participation as guest curator of exhibitions, committee participant, and exhibition juror, as well as lecture files containing invitations, press materials, and drafts of his lectures. Additionally there are a few research files and copies of his published articles.
Papers concerning bookbinding document Van der Marck's research and personal collection of contemporary bookbinding and book arts. Included are files on bookbinders, slides and photographs of bindings, correspondence with libraries, and records of his purchase or donation of these works.
Biographical / Historical:
Jan Van der Marck (1929-2010) was a curator and museum administrator in Detroit, Mich., Chicago, Ill., and Miami, Fla.
Van der Marck was born in Roermond, the Netherlands, in 1929. His family owned a printing and publishing business. He studied art history at the University of Nijmegen and earned his doctorate in 1956 with a dissertation on 19th-century Belgian book illustration. In 1957 he came to the United States on a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to research the relationship between museums and their audiences and studied briefly at Columbia University. In 1962 he was assistant director of fine arts exhibitions at the Seattle World's Fair. Van der Marck became curator at the Walker Art Center in 1963 and became the founding director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1967. While in Chicago he invited Christo and Jeanne-Claude to wrap the museum building in canvas. He later served as project manager for their "Valley Curtain" project in 1971 and 1972.
After leaving the Museum of Contemporary Art, Van der Marck worked briefly at the University of Washington in Seattle, and then served as director of the Dartmouth College Galleries and Collections from 1974 to 1980. At Dartmouth he continued to support non-traditional artworks and oversaw the installation of the lawn sculpture "X-Delta" by Mark di Suvero, despite negative campus reactions. In 1980 he became the director of the new Center for the Fine Arts in Miami. After a disagreement with trustees he left the Center and became chief curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1986. In 1995 he lost his job at the Detroit Institute when it was ruled that he violated a city residential requirement.
Aside from his work as an arts administrator, Van der Marck wrote and published many catalog essays, articles, and monographs on artists, lectured on contemporary art, and participated in arts organizations. He also maintained an interest in contemporary bookbinding.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 2011 by Sheila Van der Marck, Jan Van der Marck's widow.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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 arts administrator, museum director, collector, dealer, and editor Charles M. Kurtz (1855-1909), measure 27.74 linear feet and date from 1843-1990 (bulk dates 1884-1909). The bulk of the collection consists of detailed chronological correspondence between Kurtz and his wife and family, friends, colleagues, and business associates that documents many notable exhibitions, galleries, museums, private collections, as well as cities, people, and events of the period. Also found in the collection are Kurtz's diaries, scrapbooks, printed materials, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The Charles M. Kurtz papers measure 27.74 linear feet and date from 1843 to 1990 with the bulk of the material dating from 1884 to 1909. The bulk of the collection consists of chronological correspondence between Kurtz and his family, most notably his wife, friends, colleagues, and business associates. Kurtz's letters are amazingly detailed and document many notable exhibitions, galleries, museums, private collections, as well as cities, people, and events of the period. The letters between Kurtz and his wife are most interesting for their descriptive commentary on late 19th century life and offer a complete picture of Kurtz's activities. Many of Kurtz's letters to Halsey C. Ives can be found in the Halsey C. Ives Papers. Some of the letters in the collection are illustrated. Also found in the collection are Kurtz's diaries, scrapbooks, printed materials, and photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into twelve series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Information, 1885-1931, undated
Series 2: Correspondence, 1843-1940, undated
Series 3: Circulars/Requests for Submissions of Works of Art, 1886-1905
Series 4: Legal Records, 1881-1928
Series 5: Financial Records, 1870-1989, undated
Series 6: Diaries, 1894-1901
Series 7: Notes and Writings, 1872-1980, undated
Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1878-1909
Series 9: Printed Material, 1873-1990, undated
Series 10: Photographs, 1898-1990
Series 11: Photographs of Works of Art, undated
Series 12: Miscellany, undated
Biographical Note:
Charles M. Kurtz's name is known to many scholars and students of American art history. To some he is important for his critical writings, others are interested in his management of exhibitions for the Art Union and the American Art Association. Many are aware of him because of his publication of National Academy Notes, which continued for nine years. Still others are familiar with Kurtz in his role as an art administrator for late 19th century art exhibitions like those at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the St. Louis Fair, or for his accomplishments as the first director of the Albright Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Sometimes researchers have become familiar with his name through the sale catalogue for his considerable collection, which was sold at auction after his death in 1909. His career, which encompassed the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, touched on virtually every aspect of art in America during that period.
Born in 1853 to Davis Brook Kurtz (1826-1906), an attorney, and Julia Wilder, Charles Kurtz enjoyed a genteel upbringing. The Kurtz family originated in Darmstadt, Germany, and migrated to America in the eighteenth century. D.B. Kurtz, a leading member of the Lawrence County bar, was also a vice-president of the National Bank of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. As a local representative of many important railroad and business interests, he accumulated assets estimated at one million dollars by the time of his death, just three years before that of his son, Charles, the eldest of his five children. Unlike his brothers Louis, who also became an attorney, and Edward, a professor at Columbia University, Charles eschewed a professional career to enter the art world, as did his sisters Emily, an artist, and Catherine, a musician.
After his graduation from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, Kurtz visited the Centennial Exposition, held in 1876 in Philadelphia, before coming to New York to study art at the National Academy of Design. These two activities foreshadowed the direction that his career would eventually take. As the chronology indicates, his early efforts revolve around writing for a variety of publications, most notably, his own National Academy Notes. In 1881 he took what was to be the first of many trips abroad to survey the art scene in Europe. Later in his career, his fascination with foreign art and his own entrepeneurial interests led him to become an outspoken opponent of tariffs on imported art.
Kurtz's personal life changed significantly in 1884 when he met Julia Stephenson, a physician's daughter and fledging art student from Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Throughout their courtship and after their marriage the couple was frequently separated. Consequently, they wrote lengthy letters which document not only their personal relationship but also Kurtz's aspirations and activities in the art world.
With his appointment as one of Halsey C. Ives's (1847-1911) chief assistants of the Fine Arts Department of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1891, Charles Kurtz's career achieved international stature. Among the most notable European artists he introduced into this country through circulating exhibitions were the Glasgow School, the Danish School, the Hungarian artist, Mihaly Munkacsy, and the subject of his final exhibition, the Spanish artist, Sorolla.
Throughout his life, Kurtz was plagued by health problems and, in 1899, illness forced him to resign as Assistant Director of Fine Arts for the United States for the Paris Exposition of 1900. Throughout the following decade, his work was increasingly interrupted by ill health. His death in 1909 at the age of 54, while sudden, was not entirely unexpected. However it most certainly cut short a cosmopolitan career that encompassed virtually every aspect of the art world and the pertinent issues of the day.
Kurtz is remembered for his editorial work with the National Academy of Design; as Art Director for the Southern Exposition, 1883-1886, and the St. Louis Exposition, 1894-1899 (where he introduced the Glasgow School of Painting); and as Assistant Chief/Director for the World's Columbian Exposition, the 1900 Paris Exposition, and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He was also director of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy.
Missing Title
1855 -- Charles McMeen Kurtz born
1876 -- receives B.S. degree from Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania
1876-78 -- studies at the National Academy of Design, N.Y. with Lemuel Wilmarth and William Morgan; writes a column, "New York Letters," for The Courant published in New Castle, Pennsylvania
1878 -- edits a small daily paper published during a "National Camp Meeting for the promotion of Holiness" held that summer in New Castle, Pa.; its critical stance resulted in his public denouncement and earned him a reputation as a journalist in western Pennsylvania; receives M.A. from Washington and Jefferson College
1878-79 -- becomes the local editor of The Guardian of New Castle
1879 -- publishes The Daily Reporter, a financial success
1881 -- publishes the first issue of National Academy Notes; travels in Europe, spending time in England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France (Paris)
1881-82 -- prepares Illustrated Notes for Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition
1882 -- writes "Art Notes" in The New York Tribune and resigns Dec. 23rd
1882-83 -- accepts position to write for Music and Drama, a new daily paper
1883 -- becomes the general manager of the American Art Union; exhibits a large collection of Art Union paintings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Louisville, Ky., where they became part of the Southern Exposition's first great art display
1883-86 -- accepts offer to become Director of the Art Department, Southern Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky
1884 -- edits Art Union magazine until December; applies for position to head the Art Department of the New Orleans World's Fair in September
1884-86 -- accepts a position offered by the American Art Association; terminates uncongenial relationship in March, 1886
1885 -- writes catalogues for the sale of the George Seney Collection and for the Watts exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; October 1, marries Julia Stephenson (1861-1931), daughter of Dr. A. T. Stephenson of Harrodsburg, Kentucky; they had two daughters who survived them: Julia Wilder Kurtz (1889-1977), and Isabella Starkweather Kurtz (1901-1991); another daughter, Elizabeth Stephenson Kurtz (1886-1897), predeceased them
1886 -- terminates employment with the Art Association; daughter, Elizabeth Stephenson Kurtz, born
1886-87 -- manages the circulation of Mihaly Munkacsy's Christ Before Pilot for Charles Sedelmeyer to American venues: New York, Boston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Nashville, Phildelphia, Indianapolis; tour generates $90,000 in ticket receipts
1889-91 -- February 24, appointed art critic ("Art Notes") and book reviewer for New York Daily Star; later literary and art editor of the Sunday Star
1890 -- writes for the Sunday edition The Press, a New York paper
1891 -- writes for The World; art editor for The New York Recorder; contributes to the New York Truth
1891-93 -- contributes to Chicago Evening Post ; writes artist biographies for The Chicago Graphic, a regional magazine; appointed Assistant Chief of the Department of Fine Arts of the World's Columbian Exposition
1894 -- contributes column, "Art at the Exposition" to St. Louis Life
1895 -- tours Denmark, Scotland, and France during the summer on behalf of the St. Louis Exposition
1894-99 -- appointed Director of the Art Department of the St. Louis Annual Exposition
1896 -- elected member of The Japan Society, London
1897 -- daughter, Elizabeth (Daisy), dies
1898 -- receives a diploma and medal "in recognition of valuable services in connection with the Fine Arts Exhibit" from the directors of the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition, Omaha
1899 -- appointed Assistant Director of Fine Arts for the United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900; resigned in July due to ill health
1901-04 -- appointed Assistant Chief of the Department of Art of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, August
1901 -- daughter, Isabella Starkweather Kurtz, born
1902 -- receives honorary Ph.D from Washington and Jefferson College "in recognition of distinguished ability and services as an art critic and writer"
1905 -- receives the cross of the Order of Merit from Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria; appointed Director, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, in January; exhibits Glasgow paintings at Albright Art Gallery from November until the following April
1906 -- writes Academy Notes, a bulletin pubished by the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and the Albright Art Gallery; father, D.B. Kurtz, dies in Newcastle, Pennsylvania
1907 -- accused of importing German pictures free of duty for exhibition purposes and then selling some for profit
1908 -- Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree conferred by Washington and Jefferson College
1909 -- Charles M. Kurtz dies in Buffalo, New York on March 21
1910 -- Sale of the private collection of Charles M. Kurtz at auction, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, February 24-25
1931 -- Widow, Julia Stephenson Kurtz dies October 30
1977 -- Daughter, Julia Wilder Kurtz, dies
1991 -- Daughter, Isabel Starkweather Kurtz, dies in Buffalo, N.Y.; remaining Charles M. Kurtz Papers bequeathed to the Archives of American Art and the National Academy of Design, New York
Related Material:
The St. Louis Exposition/Halsey C. Ives papers in the Archives of American Art contain material relating to Charles M. Kurtz.
Additional Charles Kurtz papers, 1870-1910, including 340 letters which discuss exhibitions, sales of art, patronage, atelier visits, and submissions to publications, and letters to his parents in which he discsses the art market and art world new; as well as manuscripts, notebooks, a diary, and printed ephemera relating to exhibitions and publications, are available at the Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Los Angeles, California.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 4912) including Charles Kurtz's Glasgow painting diary. The loaned diary was returned to the lender and can now be found at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
For many years, the Kurtz Papers were thought to have been destroyed in a fire. Isabel Kurtz, a school teacher who lived with her older sister in Buffalo, New York, was vague when initially approached about her father's papers by Archives Regional Director, Robert Brown in the mid-1980s. However upon her death in 1991, her will revealed that the papers were indeed in her house in Buffalo and the bulk of them were bequeathed to the Archives of American Art. Paintings and a diary relating to the Glasgow School were given to the Yale Center for British Art. That diary has subsequently been duplicated on microfilm and is now also available in the Archives. Scorch marks on some of the papers and also on the paintings given to Yale suggest that there was indeed a fire. The material that was not bequeathed to the Archives included duplicates of printed documents along with books from the Kurtz library and a coin collection, all of which were dispersed in an estate auction that was held in Buffalo in 1991.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Rights:
Glasgow painting diary, Microfilm reel 4912: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Yale Center for British Art. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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 painter, printmaker, educator and administrator Ed Colker are dated 1944-2020 and measure 3.4 linear feet. Colker's painting, printmaking, and Haybarn Press, as well as his career as an art teacher and university administrator, are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is a 0.2 linear ft. addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes lists of works of art, exhibition information, letters to Colker, talks and lecutres by Colker, printed material and miscellany.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, printmaker, educator and administrator Ed Colker are dated 1944-2020 and measure 3.4 linear feet. Colker's painting, printmaking, and Haybarn Press, as well as his career as an art teacher and university administrator, are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is a 0.2 linear ft. addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes lists of works of art, exhibition information, letters to Colker, talks and lecutres by Colker, printed material and miscellany.
Biographical materials include official letters regarding Colker's performance in the Army, caricatures of him, diplomas, resume, awards, and certificates.
Correspondence, mainly professional in nature with a few scattered personal letters, concerns Colker's academic and artistic work, Haybarn Editions, exhibitions, projects, and various interests. Poet correspondents are J. Curtis Johnson, Kathleen Norris, Deborah Pease, and Jeanne Walker; translators include Melvin Konner and others.
Interviews with Ed Colker, conducted between 1982 and 2008 for various purposes, are preserved as 1 sound cassette and published transcripts. Also found are 1 sound cassette, 1 videocassette, and a published transcript of interviews Colker conducted with Will Barnet and Toshiko Takaezu in 1981 and 1994 respectively.
Among Colker's writings are the published versions of several articles and the manuscript of an unpublished one; two proposed books for students of design and typography; lectures delivered to students (3 videocassettes), miscellaneous writings, notes, and 1 videocassete of readings by artists from one of Colker's Haybarn Press poetry portfolios.
Subject files document many of Colker's professional interests, activities, projects, and relationships. Also of note are files about Haybarn Press.
The bulk of the printed material consists of exhibition catalogs, announcements, and school catalogs. Almost all is about or mentions Colker, or features reproductions of his work. Of note is the first and only issue of Re-Art: A Reflection of Current Ideas on the Arts (1954), published by Colker and Gene Feldman.
Photographs are of Colker and his family; Colker at events related to his artistic, academic, and publishing activities; artwork by Colker, and his work as reproduced in Haybarn Editions. Also found are an exterior view of the barn studio and one of printers working at Desjobert Press.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1946-circa 2011 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Correspondence,1954-2011 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Interviews, 1981-2008 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1961-1990s (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Subject files, 1952-2013 (Boxes 2-3; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material,1944-2011 (Box 3; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1960s-2010 (Box 4; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 8: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1963-2020 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Ed Colker (b. 1927) is a painter, printmaker, educator, and administrator who has worked in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City. Colker founded the not-for-profit fine art publisher Haybarn Press. He is married to artist Elaine Galen and resides in Mt. Kisco, NY.
After high school, Colker was awarded a scholarship and began his art education at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts. He interrupted his studies to serve in the U.S. Army (1944-1946). He graduated in 1949, by which time the school had become the Philadelphia Museum School of Art; today it is the University of the Arts. He taught art in the Philadelphia area before moving to New York City in 1956. Later, Colker earned degrees from New York University (B.S. Ed, 1964; M.A., 1985).
Colker taught art and design courses at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, and Philadelphia College of Art. By the 1980s, he had become an administrator as well as a professor. Throughout his academic career, Colker published and lectured widely, served as a visiting artist, acted as a consultant, and participated in professional organizations. He occasionally organized exhibitions and served on exhibition juries.
Since 1960, under the imprints Editions du Grenier, Haybarn Editions, and Haybarn Press, Colker has published limited edition books, portfolios, broadsides, individual pages, and folders of poetry. Most are accompanied by Colker's etchings and lithographs inspired by the texts. Haybarn Press, under the Ambor Edition imprint, also produced four portfolios with text and drawings by Elaine Galen, 1996-2008. From its inception, the work of Haybarn Press has been featured in many exhibitions of book arts. Colker also participated in group shows throughout the United States and enjoyed solo exhibitions of his paintings and prints. Haybarn Press productions and Colker's prints and paintings are in the permanent collections of Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, University of Arizona Museum of Art, and others.
Now retired from university administration and teaching, Colker continues to operate Haybarn Press and occasionally serves as an exhibition juror and visiting artist.
Provenance:
Donated by Ed Colker in 1991, 2013 and 2020.
Restrictions:
Use of original material requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
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.
An interview of Charles C. Bergman conducted 2010 July 15, 21, and 22, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, in New York, New York.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles C. Bergman (1933- ) is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York, New York. James McElhinney (1952-) is an artist, writer, and educator in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 memory cards. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 26 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.
Walker Art Galleries (Minneapolis, Minn.) Search this
Extent:
8 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1965 August 21
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Hudson D. Walker conducted by Dorothy Seckler on 1965 August 21 for the Archives of American Art.
Interview conducted in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Biographical / Historical:
Hudson Dean Walker (1907-1976) was an art administrator and collector in both Provincetown, Massachusetts and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 33 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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 available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- United States -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Samuel Hershey conducted 1981 Nov.18-1984 Mar. 15, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Samuel F. Hershey (1904-1987) was a designer and instructor of design at Harvard University during the 1940s, an administrator at the Rhode Island School of Design during the 1950s and 1960s, and the Acting Chairman of the Department of Design in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, during the 1970s.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- United States -- Interviews Search this
