Letters to Weitenkampf, mainly from artists and collectors concerning examples of their works in the library's collection.
Among the correspondents are: John Taylor Arms, Samuel Putnam Avery, John W. Beatty, George Bellows, Frank W. Benson, George Biddle, James Britton, George Elmer Browne, Mary Cassatt, Royal Cortissoz, Frederick K. Detwiller, Olin Dows, Kerr Eby, Daniel C. French, Arnold Genthe, George O. Hart, Malvina Hoffman, Edward Hopper, Daniel Huntington, Rockwell Kent, Frederick Keppel, Richard Lahey, Will H. Low, Louis Lozowick, H. Siddons Mowbray, Frank A. Nankivell, Thomas W. Nason, Joseph Pennell, Preston Powers, Henry Ward Ranger, William T. Richards, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Lessing J. Rosenwald,Peter F. Rothermel, William Sartain, George H. Smillie, James D. Smillie, Harry Sternberg, Albert Sterner, Lorado Taft, Abbott H. Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, Douglas Volk, Olin L. Warner, John F. Weir, Julian A. Weir, Harry Wickey, Irving R. Wiles, Thomas W. Wood, Charles H. Woodbury, George H. Yewell, Mahonri M. Young, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Curator; New York City. Chief of the Prints Division, New York Public Library.
Provenance:
Microfilmed 1956 by the Archives of American Art with other art-related papers in the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library. Included in the microfilming project were selected papers of the Art Division and the Prints Division.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Photographs of and letters from artists, and a sales catalog.
REEL D10: A letter from Ann Arbor, Michigan painter Carlos Lopez answering Burroughs's request for information about a painting.
REEL 1817: Six toned silver gelatin photographs taken by Frank Scott Clark, 1915, of artists Alexis Jean Fournier, Gari Melchers, Ivan Olinsky, William Ritschel, Julius Rolshoven and Paul Troubetzkoy, each inscribed to Burroughs by the artist, 1915 and 1916. [Arranged alphabetically on microfilm with other unrelated photographs in Photographs of Artists Collection Two.]
REEL 2787: Letters from artist friends and acquaintances, including a letter from sculptor, Arthur C. Morgan, about a bust he is working on; a letter from Henry Boller Pancoast, 1925, "in receipt of your kind invitation to send my picture to Detroit for your annual exhibition," written on a card with a reproduction of a painting by Pancoast; photocopies of 11 letters received by Burroughs from Frank W. Benson, DeWitt Parshall, and William Sergeant Kendall, all regarding the exhibition of their works at the Detroit Museum of Art; and an annotated catalog of the sale of oil paintings, etchings, watercolors, and drawings belonging to Clyde Burroughs.
REEL 3482: A letter to Burroughs from Betsy Graves Reyneau, undated and one from Isaac Rader, 1927, each giving biographical information.
Biographical / Historical:
Clyde Burroughs (1882-1973) was an art administrator, director, and historian from Detroit, Mich. Director of the Detroit Museum of Art which became the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Provenance:
Donated possibly by Burroughs.
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.
Occupation:
Art museum directors -- Michigan -- Detroit Search this
Thirty-one letters, 1907-1944, received by Young, from Frank W. Benson, E. Irving Couse, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Hobart Nichols and Frederick Church, regarding the disposition of paintings and their activities as artists.
Biographical / Historical:
Art dealer; Chicago, Illinois.
Provenance:
Donated 1965 by Leroy Ireland, an art historian.
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.
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
Correspondence, photographs and printed materials documenting the career of Gertrude Fiske and the Boston Society of Etchers, of which Fiske was a founding member.
Letters from friends, colleagues, and museums include a small number of letters from Frank Benson, Harry Leith-Ross, Charles Hopkinson, and H. Dudley Murphy. A notebook on the Boston Society of Etchers contains a list of members, minutes of the founding meeting (1917), notes on expenses, lists of works exhibited (includes a sketch of works on exhibition), announcements, catalogs, and letters from members including Philip Little, Ignaz Gaugengigl and others. Other materials consist of biographical notes, two sketches, one possibly of Fiske, a sales receipt, a scrapbook of clippings and catalogs, and photographs of Fiske and friends, works, and exhibitions.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter. Fiske studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, under such luminaries as Tarbell, Benson and Hale, and later with Charles Woodbury in Ogunquit, Maine. A woman of means and socially well-connected, Miss Fiske was a co-founder of the Guild of Boston Artists (1914), the Boston Society of Etchers (1917), and the Ogunquit Art Association (1928).
Provenance:
Harold B. (Bus) Willis, the owner of the collection, is the nephew of Gertrude Fiske.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Biographical materials, letters and correspondence, photographs, diary, subject files, and printed ephemera.
REEL 2527: Biographical sketches; sculpture contracts; lists of Pratt's work compiled by his son, Dudley Pratt; a pencil sketch; photographs of Pratt at work in his studio; portraits of him; 172 photographs of his sculpture and a memorial exhibition installation; photographs of Frank Weston Benson and Alexander Phimister Proctor; clippings; and printed material.
REELS 3995-3998: An award from Yale School of Fine Arts; admission tickets; marriage certificate; identification card for his wife, Helen, from the Societe des Artistes Francais for the 1897 Salon; a 25-page diary of Helen, 1896-1898, describing the Pratts' wedding and their experiences in Italy and France; notices of Pratt's appointment to the Visiting Committee of Classical Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; biographical sketches; an anecdote by a nephew; and a letter of reminiscence by his son Dudley, 1941. Also included are letters from Pratt to his mother, Sarah Victoria Whittlesey Pratt, describing his activities, his contemporaries and his work; correspondence with friends, family, students, and associates and letters of condolence to Mrs. Pratt; subject files, arranged alphabetically by correspondent, containing letters, photographs and clippings from and about Pratt's friends and colleagues, including Frank Weston Benson, Bryson and Edith Woodman Burroughs, Daniel Chester French, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who gives Pratt advice and critiques two of his busts.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, teacher; Boston, Mass.; b. 1867; d. 1917 Studied at Yale, Art Students League, and with Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Kenyon Cox, and William Merritt Chase, and others.
Provenance:
Material on reel 2527 lent for microfilming 1982 by Thomas Leavitt, a descendant of Pratt. Material on reels 3995-3998 lent 1987 by Cynthia Kennedy Sam, Pratt's granddaughter.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Letters to Brauner, mainly from artists invited to participate in exhibitions arranged by Brauner at Cornell University. Prominent correspondents include: Giffford Beal, George Bellows, Frank Benson, Karl Bitter, Edith Burroughs, Emil Carlson, John Carlson, Charles Caffin, Arthur Crisp, Randall Davey, Paul Dougherty, Daniel Garber, Lillian Genth, William Glackens, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Charles Hopkinson, Henry Hubbell, John Johansen, William Sargent Kendall; Leon Kroll, Jonas Lie, William Macbeth, William Mason, Gari Melchers, Willard Metcalf, Leonard Ochtman, Bela Lyon Pratt, Maurice Prendergast, A. Phimister Proctor, Edward Redfield, William Ritschel, Walter Sargent, Eugene Speicher, Robert Spencer, D. W. Tryon, C. Howard Walker, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Judd Waugh, and others.
Arrangement:
Arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical:
Olaf Brauner (1869-1947) was a portrait painter, occasional sculptor, and first professor of art at Cornell University.
Provenance:
The donor, Erling Brauner, is Olaf Brauner's son.
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.
Correspondence, including letters from Doll and Richards gallery and Frank W. Benson; two poems; an album containing photographs of Plummer's woodcarving and two sketches; two photographs of Plummer including one of him in his studio, in New Bedford, Mass, ca. 1906, and one of him outside his country home, Potomska Point, Dartmouth, Mass, ca. 1910; clippings and two oil sketches of Plummer, one by Frank Benson, and one by Joseph Lindon Smith.
Biographical / Historical:
Woodcarver; Lyme, New Hampshire.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by Marianna and Anna Plummer, the daughters of Leander Plummer.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
An interview of Elizabeth Saltonstall conducted 1981 November 18, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Saltonstall discusses her experiences with art as a child in Boston (mentioning Frank Weston Benson as an influence) and her subsequent art education at the Winsor School, the art school of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and independent study in Paris. She remembers the various teaching styles of the Museum School faculty (Frederick A. Bosley, Henry Hunt Clark, Anson K. Cross, Philip Leslie Hale, Alexander James, and Leslie P. Thompson), especially as they contrasted with French teaching methods. She also speaks of her teachers in France and on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket (including Frank Swift Chase), and recalls some of her co-students (including Josef Presser). Particular mention is made of a lithography workshop taught by Stow Wengenroth, and of George C. Miller, who printed her lithography stones. Her cousin, Nathaniel Saltonstall, is discussed as a patron of the arts, especially his contributions to the establishment of the Institute of Modern Art [Institute of Contemporary Art] in Boston. She touches also on her own teaching career at Winsor School and Milton Academy, and her involvement with the Boston Society of Independent Artists and the Grace Horn Gallery.
Biographical / Historical:
Elizabeth Saltonstall (1900-1990) was a painter, printmaker, and instructor of Chestnut Hill, Mass.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 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 teachers -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
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.
Missing Title
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 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.
Correspondence with Augustus Tack and Frank W. Benson.
REEL 2786: Four letters to Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Schirmer; three from Benson regarding the portrait of their daughter, Gertrude Schirmer, painted by Benson in 1899; and one from Grace Schirmer to her husband Gustave.[microfilm title: Frank W. Benson]
REEL 3471: Four letters: three from Schirmer to her sister, Evelyn Benedict, relating personal matters and thoughts about her portrait by Augustus Vincent Tack; and a fourth letter from Tack to Schirmer on her 80th birthday recalling the portrait and reminiscing about Schirmer's husband, Gustave.
Biographical / Historical:
Sitter for portrait by Augustus V. Tack; Brooklyn, New York.
Other Title:
Frank W. Benson papers [microfilm title, reel 2786]
Provenance:
Donated by Gertrude Helen Fay, Schirmer's daughter, 1974.
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.
The papers of Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney measure 3.3 linear feet and date from circa 1883-1944, with twenty slides of a family album dated circa 1993. The bulk of the material dates from circa 1883 to the 1920s. The collection includes scattered personal papers including pencil and pen sketches by Blaney and his brother Henry Blaney; three of Blaney's notebooks on art history; printed material including exhibition catalogs for Blaney and others; a scrapbook of news clippings about John Singer Sargent and photographs of artwork by Sargent; photographs including images of Blaney and his home, John Breck and his studio, and a portrait of John Singer Sargent; and one hundred and ninety-nine glass plate negatives, primarily of Blaney's artwork and interiors of his homes. Also found are three glass plate negatives of paintings by John Singer Sargent, and one glass plate of Sargent seated on Blaney's boat painting Blaney, who is painting on the shore.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney measure 3.3 linear feet and date from circa 1883-1944, with twenty slides of a family album dated circa 1993. The bulk of the material dates from circa 1883 to the 1920s. The collection includes scattered personal papers including pencil and pen sketches by Blaney and his brother Henry Blaney; three of Blaney's notebooks on art history; printed material including exhibition catalogs for Blaney and others; a scrapbook of news clippings about John Singer Sargent and photographs of artwork by Sargent; photographs including images of Blaney and his home, John Breck and his studio, and a portrait of John Singer Sargent; and one hundred and ninety-nine glass plate negatives, primarily of Blaney's artwork and interiors of his homes. Also found are three glass plate negatives of paintings by John Singer Sargent, and one glass plate of Sargent seated on Blaney's boat painting Blaney, who is painting on the shore.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as five series.
Series 1: Personal Papers, circa 1883-circa 1920s (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, OV 4)
Series 2: Notebooks, circa 1920s (0.4 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1883-1927, 1944 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Scrapbook on John Singer Sargent, 1920s (0.2 linear feet; BV 5)
Series 5: Photographic Material, circa 1880s-1920s, circa 1993 (Boxes 3, 6-10)
Biographical / Historical:
Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney (1865-1944), studied at the Boston Art School from 1886 to 1888, and in 1891 traveled to Europe where he met his future wife, Edith Hill, and spent two years sketching and working as a tour guide. Blaney married Hill on his return to the United States and the couple settled in Boston, but also had a home on Ironbound Island in Maine's Frenchman Bay. Over time the family acquired the entire island and John Singer Sargent and other painters came to visit and paint there in the summer months.
Blaney was known for his Impressionist paintings in oil and watercolor, including landscapes, snow scenes, genre, and city views. He often visited Bermuda and was artistically inspired by the houses and the landscape there. Blaney was also an art collector and owned one of Monet's Haystacks series, in addition to being an active member of the Walpole Society which collected Americana. Blaney filled his homes with antique furniture, silver, pewter, and other decorative objects.
John Singer Sargent was a guest of the Blaneys on Ironbound Island in the early 1920s, and painted Blaney in The Artist Sketching (1922). He also painted Woods in Maine on the island the same year.
In addition to painting and collecting, Blaney was a malacologist with a serious interest in documenting marine mollusk species.
Separated Materials:
Benjamin Blaney loaned materials for microfilming in 1990. Originals of loaned material, including letters from artists such as John Singer Sargent and Frank Benson, twenty one volumes of sketchbooks, a notebook, a journal, and a scrapbook, were returned to Blaney after microfilming and were not subsequently donated. Loaned material is available on reels 4405-4407 but is not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Benjamin Blaney, Blaney's grandson, in 1990. In 1993, slides from a family photo album depicting the Blaney family on a trip to Bermuda were donated by Jeffrey Brown, who purchased the original album from the David Blaney estate.
Restrictions:
Use of 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.