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Untitled (Brown Pig)

Artist:: Bill Traylor, born near Pleasant Hill, AL ca. 1853-died Montgomery, AL 1949 Search this

Medium:: opaque watercolor and pencil on paperboard

Dimensions:: 10 × 23 in. (25.4 × 58.4 cm)

Type:: Painting; Folk Art

Date:: April 1940

Topic:: Animal\pig Search this

Credit Line:: Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson

Copyright:: © 1994, Bill Traylor Family Trust

Object number:: 2016.38.70

Restrictions & Rights:: Usage conditions apply

See more items in:: Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department:: Graphic Arts

Data Source:: Smithsonian American Art Museum

GUID:: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk72f68b8d7-6deb-4a89-b3b8-7a7be2b5ebec

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:saam_2016.38.70

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The Civil War: A Visual History

Editor:: Barber, James Search this

Object Type:: Smithsonian staff publication

Year:: 2011

Citation:: Barber, James, editor. 2011. The Civil War: A Visual History. DK.

Identifier:: 152346

ISBN:: 1465429573

Data source:: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:slasro_152346

Dale-Patterson Family collection

Creator:: Dale, Dianne Search this; Polk, P. H., 1898-1985 Search this

Names:: Barry, Marion, 1936-2014 Search this; Dale, Almore M., 1911-1984 Search this; Dale, Dianne Search this; Dale, John Henry, Jr., 1888-1973 Search this; Dale, Lucille Emma Patterson, 1889-1973 Search this; Dale, Marie Howard, 1914-2011 Search this; Dale, Norman Edward, 1908-1991 Search this; Garner, Araminta Dale, 1913-1987 Search this; Patterson, Frederick D. (Frederick Douglass), 1901-1988 Search this; Patterson, Wilhelmina Bessie, 1888-1962 Search this

Extent:: 6 Linear feet (9 boxes)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Photographs; Programs; Clippings; Correspondence; Ephemera; Postcards

Place:: Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)

Date:: 1866 - 1990.

Summary:: The Dale-Patterson family papers, which date from 1866 to 2010 and measure 6 linear feet, document the personal and professional lives of the Dale-Patterson family who came to live in Hillsdale, Anacostia, area of Washington, D.C., in 1892.

Scope and Contents note:: The Dale-Patterson family papers, which date from 1866 to 1990 and measure 6 linear feet, document the personal and professional lives of the Dale-Patterson family who came to live in Hillsdale, Anacostia, area of Washington, D.C., in 1892. The collection is comprised of correspondence, photographs, clippings, and ephemera.

Arrangement note:: The collection is arranged in four series:

Series 1: Dale-Patterson Family papers Series 2: Charles Qualls papers Series 3: Community Organizations Series 4: Subject Files

Biographical/Historical note:: The Dale family came to Washington, DC in 1886 when John Henry Dale, Sr., a gifted self-taught man, obtained a position as clerk in the newly contracted Pension Bureau building at 5th and G Streets, NW. First they lived near 13th Street and Florida Avenue, NW, then moved to Howard Road in Anacostia. Dale built a house at 2619 Nichols Avenue, now Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, drawing the plans and supervising the construction. The Dales and only one other family lived in this solidly built house for 100 years before it was sold to a church group and demolished.

General Note:: Finding Aid Note: This finding aid is associated with a MARC collection-level record.361883

Provenance:: The Dale-Patterson Family collection was donated to the Anacostia Community Museum on April 07, 2013.

Restrictions:: Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.

Rights:: The Dale-Patterson Family collection is the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.

Topic:: African Americans Search this; African American families Search this

Genre/Form:: Photographs; Programs; Clippings; Correspondence; Ephemera; Postcards

Citation:: Dale-Patterson Family collection, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Dianne Dale.

Identifier:: ACMA.06-074

See more items in:: Dale-Patterson Family collection

Archival Repository:: Anacostia Community Museum Archives

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa7c29572e9-2bd6-4b2a-8982-b527693b7885

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-acma-06-074

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William Henry Jackson photograph albums based on his Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians

Creator:: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942 Search this

Photographer:: Geological Survey (U.S.) Search this; J. Gurney & Son Search this; Savage & Ottinger Search this; Bell, C. M. (Charles Milton), approximately 1849-1893 Search this; Carter, C. W., 1832-1918 Search this; Chamberlain, W. G. (William Gunnison) Search this; Easterly, Thomas M. (Thomas Martin), 1809-1882 Search this; Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882 Search this; Hillers, John K., 1843-1925 Search this; M'Clees, Jas. E. (James E.) Search this; Shindler, A. Zeno (Antonio Zeno), 1823-1899 Search this; Ulke, Henry, 1821-1910 Search this; Vannerson, Julian, 1827- Search this; Westmann, Orloff R. Search this; Whitney, Joel E. (Joel Emmons), 1822-1886 Search this

Names:: Geological Survey of the Territories (U.S.) (1862-1872) (Hayden Survey) Search this; Powell-Thompson Survey Search this

Extent:: 9 Albums (circa 4000 prints, albumen (some copies))

Culture:: White Mountain Apache Search this; Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache (New Mexico) Search this; Wahpetonwan Dakota (Wahpeton Sioux) Search this; Waco Indians Search this; White River Ute (Yampa) Search this; Wyandot Search this; Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Search this; Wichita Search this; Tewa Pueblos Search this; Taos Indians Search this; Stockbridge Indians Search this; Sisitonwan Dakota (Sisseton Sioux) Search this; Ute Search this; Uintah Ute Search this; Tonkawa Search this; Pueblo Search this; Tohono O'odham (Papago) Search this; Akimel O'odham (Pima) Search this; A:shiwi (Zuni) Search this; Yanktonnai Nakota (Yankton Sioux) Search this; Montauk Search this; Bannock Search this; Diné (Navajo) Search this; Brotherton Indians Search this; Modoc Search this; Inunaina (Arapaho) Search this; Mojave (Mohave) Search this; Sahnish (Arikara) Search this; Minneconjou Lakota (Minniconjou Sioux) Search this; Missouria (Missouri) Search this; Apache Search this; Numakiki (Mandan) Search this; Chiricahua Apache Search this; Miami Search this; Oto Search this; Kitchai Wichita Search this; Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee) Search this; Kiowa Search this; Osage Search this; Chickasaw Search this; Odawa (Ottawa) Search this; Jicarilla Apache Search this; Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa) Search this; Cherokee Search this; Omaha Search this; Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne) Search this; Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) Search this; Sicangu Lakota (Brulé Sioux) Search this; Oglala Lakota (Oglala Sioux) Search this; Caddo Search this; Hunkpapa Lakota (Hunkpapa Sioux) Search this; Iowa Search this; Sauk Search this; Seminole Search this; Dakota (Eastern Sioux) Search this; Shawnee Search this; Potawatomi Search this; Shoshone Search this; Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this; Sihasapa Lakota (Blackfoot Sioux) Search this; Choctaw Search this; Cochiti Pueblo Search this; Niuam (Comanche) Search this; Muskogee (Creek) Search this; Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) Search this; Sioux Search this; Lenape (Delaware) Search this; Fox Search this; Hopi Pueblo Search this; Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this; Seneca Search this; Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this; Indians of North America -- Plateau Search this; Indians of North America -- Great Basin Search this

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Albums; Photographs

Date:: circa 1877

Scope and Contents note:: Albums probably assembled by William Henry Jackson, mostly containing portraits of Native American delegates in Washington, D.C. and photographs made on US Geological Surveys (including the Hayden and Powell surveys). Photographs from the field include John K. Hillers' photographs of the Southwest, photographs of Fort Laramie (possibly by Alexander Gardner), Orloff R. Westmann's photographs of Taos Pueblo, and Jackson's photographs of Crow, Shoshoni, Pawnee, and Nez Perce Tribes and related sites. Most of the photographs were made circa 1860s-1870s.

The albums were probably by Jackson while working under Ferdinand V. Hayden for the United States Geological Survey of the Territories. The reason for their creation is uncertain, though it may have been a project set up by Hayden or a continuation of William Henry Blackmore's tradition of publishing albums. Some of the albums include captions pasted from Jackson's Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians (1877) while others have handwritten captions.

Biographical/Historical note:: William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) was an American painter, photographer and explorer. Born in New York, he sold drawings and retouched photographs from an early age. After serving in the Civil War, he opened a photography studio in Omaha, Nebraska, with his brother Edward. As photographer for the US Geological and Geographical Surveys (1870-1878), he documented the American west and published the first photographs of Yellowstone. When the surveys lost funding in 1879, Jackson opened a studio in Denver, Colorado, and also worked for various railroad companies. Many of Jackson's photographs were displayed at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (1893), for which he was the official photographer.

Local Call Number(s):: NAA Photo Lot 4420

Location of Other Archival Materials:: Original negatives for many of the photographs in this collection can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the BAE historical negatives.; The National Museum of the American Indian Archives holds William Henry Jackson photographs and negatives.; Additional Jackson photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4605, MS 4801, Photo Lot 14, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 29, Photo Lot 37, Photo Lot 40, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 93, Photo lot 143, Photo Lot 87-2P, Photo Lot 87-20, and Photo Lot 90-1.; Correspondence from Jackson held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4517, MS 4881, MS 4821, and collections of personal papers.

Restrictions:: The collection is open for research.

Access to the collection requires an appointment.

Rights:: Contact the repository for terms of use.

Topic:: Indians of North America -- Northeast Search this; Pueblos Search this

Genre/Form:: Photographs

Citation:: Photo Lot 4420, William Henry Jackson photograph albums based on his Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:: NAA.PhotoLot.4420

See more items in:: William Henry Jackson photograph albums based on his Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians

Archival Repository:: National Anthropological Archives

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3579a455e-5931-4e6e-9659-42bb7718b6fd

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-naa-photolot-4420

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MS 2372 Garrick Mallery Collection on Sign Language and Pictography

Creator:: Mallery, Garrick, 1831-1894 Search this

Extent:: 41.29 Linear feet (22 boxes, 29 folders, 3 mounted drawings, and 3 rolled items)

Note:: Some materials, especially in series 3, are stored in the NAA artwork collection.

Culture:: Arctic peoples Search this; Indians of North America Search this

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Pictographs

Place:: Oceania

Date:: 1849-1902; bulk 1870-1895

Summary:: Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) was an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology who focused primarily on Native American sign language and pictography. This collection reflects Mallery's research interests and methods. Much of the collection is comprised of correspondence and notes relating to sign language and pictography and is organized chiefly by either the cultural or geographic region to which the material belongs. Bound volumes of several of his publications are included, along with annotated draft copies from collaborators. In the case of Mallery's work on pictography, the collection includes several oversize items including original works and reproductions.

Scope and Contents:: This collection contains Garrick Mallery's research and writings as a BAE ethnologist and is largely comprised of correspondence and preparatory materials for publications on Native American sign language and pictography. The geographic scope of the material is chiefly the present-day United States and Canada, though other areas of the world are represented less comprehensively. Correspondence and research notes include verbal descriptions of signs, sometimes with illustrations included. Bound volumes of Mallery's publications are included, along with annotations from collaborators. In addition, this collection includes notecards, drawings, illustrations, photographs, articles, and art objects. Art objects (mostly oversize) deal chiefly with Dakota winter counts and other artifacts.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Arrangement:: This collection is arranged into 3 series: 1) Research Notes, undated; 2) Materials on Sign Language, 1843-1849, 1873-1894; 3) Materials on Pictographs and Petroglyphs, 1849-1902, undated

Biographical Note:: Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and practiced law in Philadelphia from 1853 until the outbreak of the American Civil War. While serving in the army, he became interested in Native American sign language and pictography, perhaps while performing his duties in frontier areas. After retiring from the military in 1879, Mallery was appointed to the newly created Bureau of American Ethnology as one of its first ethnologists. In his work with the Bureau, Mallery pioneered the study of sign language and pictographs, examining them as a universal human phenomenon with a direct link to spoken language.

In his work, Mallery collected and examined sign language vocabulary from Native American groups throughout the U.S. and Canada and regularly solicited contributions from collaborators. He also related his findings to examples from the wider world, comparing the formation of Native American signs to those in other areas by hearing individuals and by the deaf. Mallery completed several publications on the topic throughout the 1880s, notably Introduction to the Study of Sign language Among the North American Indians (1880), A Collection of Gesture- Signs and Signals of the North American Indians (1880), and "Sign-language among North American Indians Compared with that Among other People and Deaf-mutes," which appeared in the BAE 1st Annual Report (1881).

While most widely known for his work with sign language, Mallery also undertook extensive research into Native American pictography. Like his work with sign language, he both conducted original research and solicited assistance from collaborators. He was especially interested in the representational images in Dakota winter counts and petroglyphs in the United States and throughout the world.

Sources Consulted

Fletcher, Robert. "Garrick Mallery, President of the Philosophical Society of Washington, in 1888." In Brief Memoirs of Colonel Garrick Mallery, U.S.A., Who Died October 24, 1894, 3-8. Washington: Judd & Detweiler, 1895.

Fletcher, Robert. "Colonel Garrick Mallery, U.S.A." American Anthropologist 8, no. 2 (1895): 79-80.

Chronology

1831 -- Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on April 25

1850 -- Graduates Yale College

1853 -- Earns LL. B. from the University of Pennsylvania Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar

1853-1861 -- Practices law in Philadelphia

1861 -- Enters the volunteer army of the United States

1862 -- Severely wounded in the battle of Peach Orchard, Virginia Captured and held prisoner at Libby prison in Richmond, Virginia

1866 -- Completes service with volunteer army of the United States Accepts commission in regular army of the United States

1870 -- Marries Helen W. Wyckoff

1879 -- Retires from the United States army due to disability Appointed to the Bureau of American Ethnology

1880 -- Publishes Introduction to the Study of Sign-Language Among the North American Indians as Illustrating the Gesture-Speech of Mankind and A Collection of Gesture-Signs and Signals of the North American Indians With Some Comparisons

1881 -- Publishes "Sign Language Among North American Indians, Compared with that Among Other Peoples and Deaf-Mutes"

1894 -- Dies after a short illness in Washington, D.C., on October 24

Related Materials:: See MS 2322 A collection of gesture-signs and signals of the North American Indians for more of Garrick Mallery's work on sign language.

Provenance:: MS 2372 was transferred from the Bureau of Ethnology Archives to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives with the merger of the BAE and the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History in 1965. The Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives was renamed the National Anthropological Archives in 1968.

Restrictions:: Manuscript 2372 is open for research.

Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.

Rights:: Contact the repository for terms of use.

Topic:: Language and languages -- Documentation Search this; Sign language Search this; Picture-writing Search this; Ethnology Search this; Anthropology Search this

Genre/Form:: Pictographs

Citation:: Manuscript 2372, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:: NAA.MS2372

See more items in:: MS 2372 Garrick Mallery Collection on Sign Language and Pictography

Archival Repository:: National Anthropological Archives

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw367638eb8-dce6-4d4e-bea5-2204e49134ef

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-naa-ms2372

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The Indian in America by Wilcomb E. Washburn

Author:: Washburn, Wilcomb E Search this

Physical description:: xix, 296 pages illustrations 22 cm

Type:: Books

Place:: Amérique du Nord; United States; USA; Indianer

Date:: 1975

Topic:: Indiens d'Amérique Search this; Indians of North America Search this; Indianer Search this; Indianen Search this; Native races Search this

Call number:: E77 .W385 1975X; E77.W385 1975X

Data Source:: Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:siris_sil_43988

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The American Indian : prehistory to the present / Arrell Morgan Gibson

Author:: Gibson, Arrell Morgan Search this

Physical description:: 618 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Type:: Texts; History

Date:: 1980

Topic:: History Search this

Data Source:: Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:siris_sil_732727

Macbeth Gallery records

Creator:: Macbeth Gallery Search this

Names:: Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943 Search this; Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910 Search this; Macbeth, Robert W. (Robert Walker), 1884-1940 Search this; Macbeth, William, 1851-1917 Search this; McIntyre, Robert G. (Robert George), b. 1885 Search this; Stuart, Gilbert, 1755-1828 Search this; Weir, Robert Walter, 1803-1889 Search this

Extent:: 131.6 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Daguerreotypes; Photographs; Scrapbooks

Date:: 1947-1948; 1838-1968; bulk 1892-1953

Summary:: The Macbeth Gallery records provide almost complete coverage of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1892 to its closing in 1953. Through extensive correspondence files, financial and inventory records, printed material, scrapbooks, reference and research material, and photographs of artists and works of art, the records document all aspects of the gallery's activities, charting William Macbeth's initial intention to lease his store "for the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures" through over sixty years of success as a major New York firm devoted to American art. The collection measures 131.6 linear feet and dates from 1838 to 1968 with the bulk of the material dating from 1892 to 1953.

Scope and Content Note:: The Macbeth Gallery records provide almost complete coverage of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1892 to its closing in 1953. The records document all aspects of the gallery's activities, charting William Macbeth's initial intention to lease his store "for the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures" through over sixty years of success as a major New York firm devoted to American art. The collection measures 131.6 linear feet and dates from 1838 to 1968 with the bulk of the material dating from 1892 to 1953.

The gallery's correspondence files form the core of the collection and illuminate most aspects of American art history: the creation and sale of works of art, the development of reputations, the rise of museums and art societies, change and resistance to change in the art market, and the evolution of taste. Ninety-five feet of correspondence house substantial and informative letters from dozens of important American painters and sculptors, including older artists and younger contemporaries of the gallery in its later years. There are also letters from collectors, curators, other galleries, and critics.

The financial files found in the collection offer insight into the changing economic climate in which the gallery operated. They include information ranging from the details of individual sales and the market for individual artists, to consignment activities and artist commissions, to overviews of annual sales. This information is augmented by the firm's inventory records and the photographs of artwork with their accompanying records of paintings sold. The inventory records provide details of all works of art handled by the gallery, both sold and unsold, and the buyers who purchased them; the photographs of artwork include images of artwork sold with accompanying sales information.

The highlight of the gallery's printed material is the publication Art Notes. Although published only until 1930, Art Notes provides an excellent and detailed view of the gallery's exhibition schedule and the relationship of the gallery owners with many of the artists whose work they handled. It was a house organ that also provided a running commentary on events in the art world. The gallery's 19 fragile scrapbooks, maintained throughout the firm's history, provide further coverage of activities through exhibition catalogs and related news clippings. Printed material from other sources provides a frame of reference for activities in the art world from the mid-19th to the mid-20th-centuries and includes an almost complete run of the rare and important pre-Civil War art publication The Crayon.

Reference files record the interest which the gallery owners took in the work of early portrait painters and in later artists such as George Inness and Winslow Homer. Together with the immense volume of correspondence with buyers and sellers of paintings by the great portraitists and the Hudson River School found in the gallery's correspondence files, these records are still useful sources of information today and underscore the deep interest that the Macbeths and Robert McIntyre took in 18th and 19th-century American art.

The photographs of artists found here are a treasure trove of images of some of the major figures of the 19th and 20th-centuries. There are photographs of artists such as Chester Beach, Emil Carlsen, Charles Melville Dewey, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, George Inness, Maurice Prendergast, and Julian Alden Weir, many of them original prints and the majority of them autographed.

With the exception of the "The Eight" and a few of their contemporaries, an important aspect of art history, the modernist movement, is generally represented in the Macbeth Gallery records only in a negative form as the three successive proprietors of the gallery showed very little interest in this area. Nevertheless, the collection is a highly significant source of information on many of the major and minor figures in American art in the period after 1890.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into eight series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Correspondence, 1838-1968 (Box 1-95, 163-164, OV 165; 96.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Financial and Shipping Records, 1892-1956 (Box 96-110; 11.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Inventory Records, 1892-circa 1957 (Box 111-113; 3.0 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1838-1963 (Box 114-119, 162; 5.0 linear feet)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1892-1952 (Box 120-130; 3.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Reference Files, 1839-1959 (Box 131-132; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 7: Miscellaneous Files, 1912-1956 (Box 133-134; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1880-circa 1968 (Box 135-161; 12.1 linear feet)

Historical Note:: The Macbeth Gallery was established in 1892 by William Macbeth, a Scotch-Irish immigrant who had spent ten years with the print dealer Frederick Keppel before he opened his doors to the art-buying public at 237 Fifth Avenue in New York. Despite the prevailing interest in foreign art at that time, particularly in that of the Barbizon and Dutch schools, Macbeth was determined to dedicate his gallery to "the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures, both in oil and water colors."

Although some of the gallery's earliest exhibitions were of work by European artists, the business soon became the only gallery in continuous operation that kept American art permanently on display. In the January 1917 issue of Art Notes, Macbeth recounts those early days remembering that "The opening of my gallery......was a rash venture under the existing conditions, and disaster was freely predicted." Nevertheless, he struggled through the financial crisis of 1893 and persisted with his devotion to American art; slowly the market for his pictures grew more amenable.

Macbeth moved to more spacious quarters at 450 Fifth Avenue in 1906 and two years later undertook what was to become the major event in the gallery's early history: the 1908 exhibition of "The Eight," featuring work by Arthur B. Davies, Willam J. Glackens, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan. "The Eight" were an unlikely combination of social realists, visionaries and impressionists eager to challenge the dominating influence of the National Academy. The exhibition received an immense amount of publicity and instantly entered into art history as a successful assault on tradition.

Despite the splash that the exhibition made and its implications for the future of American art, nothing that the gallery did subsequently indicated that Macbeth intended to capitalize on its significance. It is true that Macbeth supported many artists later considered leaders in American art when the public would pay no attention to them because of their modernist tendencies; Arthur B. Davies, Paul Dougherty, Maurice Prendergast, Theodore Robinson, and F. Ballard Williams all held their first exhibitions at his gallery. Nevertheless, neither Macbeth nor the gallery's two successive proprietors, Robert G. McIntyre (William's nephew) and Robert Macbeth (William's son), who joined the gallery in 1903 and 1906 respectively, ever developed a true interest in modern art. The November 1930 issue of Art Notes summarizes their collective disdain for modernism, stating: "We believe that, by and large, modern art is amusing. We are heretical enough to believe that much of it was started for the amusement of its creators and that no one was more surprised than they when it was taken seriously by a certain audience to whom the bizarre and the unintelligible always makes an appeal." So while the Macbeths and McIntyre cetainly championed American artists and insisted they deserved as much recognition as the Europeans, their deepest and most abiding interest was undoubtedly the established artists of the 18th and 19th-centuries and those of the early 20th-century who continued in a more conservative style. Artists such as Emil Carlsen, Charles Harold Davis, Frederick C. Frieseke, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Chauncey F. Ryder, Abbot Handerson Thayer, J. Francis Murphy, A. H. Wyant were the gallery's bread and butter.

When William Macbeth died in 1917 Robert Macbeth took up the reins with the assistance of Robert G. McIntyre . Although they incorporated the business as William Macbeth, Inc., in 1918 the gallery continued to be known, as it always would be, simply as Macbeth Gallery. Macbeth and McIntyre continued to show work in the same vein as the elder Macbeth. They concentrated primarily on oil paintings at this time, having found by the 1920s that "oils are all that our gallery owners will buy," though they also exhibited an occasional group of watercolors and pastels in addition to bronzes and other sculpture by contemporary American artists such as Chester Beach and Janet Scudder.

Of the early American painters the Macbeths and McIntyre were particularly interested in colonial portraits and miniatures, especially those painted by prominent artists in the latter part of the eighteenth century such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully and John Trumbull. In its early years the gallery also handled the work of a few prominent American etchers including Frank W. Benson, Emil Fuchs, Daniel Garber, Childe Hassam and Chauncey F. Ryder. The print department was generally discontinued, however, in the late 1930s although the gallery continued to show prints by contemporaries such as Stow Wengenroth.

In 1924 relative prosperity allowed the gallery to move uptown to 15 East Fifty-seventh Street. When the 1930s brought new financial hardship for the gallery Macbeth and McIntyre took a variety of approaches to boosting sales. In 1930 they decided to hold only group exhibitions throughout the season to the exclusion of one-man shows, and also held some special exhibitions of paintings priced at a hundred dollars each in the hope that they could tempt those "willing to take advantage of a rare chance to secure representative examples of good art at a most attractive price." A move to smaller quarters at 15 East Fifty-seventh Street in 1935 was made with the intention of concentrating their efforts on the work of fewer contemporary artists, while continuing to handle the work of the older Americans they had long supported.

When Macbeth died suddenly and unexpectedly in August 1940 following an operation for appendicitis, McIntyre continued to run the gallery with the assistance of Hazel Lewis. During the 1940s McIntyre and Lewis showed primarily contemporary art in a wide range of media including oil, watercolor, pastel, drawing and sculpture, while continuing, as always, to show the occasional group of 19th-century Americans. The great success of the gallery's later years was undeniably Andrew Wyeth whose first exhibition, held at Macbeth Gallery in 1937, resulted in the sale of all twenty-two paintings cataloged.

Although subsequent Wyeth exhibitions were also successful, McIntyre struggled financially throughout the 1940s and periodically considered liquidating the company. Although "vitally interested" in contemporary art by people such as Robert Brackman, Jay Connaway, Carl Gaertner, James Lechay, Herbert Meyer and Ogden M. Pleissner he found that, for the most part, it did not pay. McIntyre continued operations until 1953 when he decided that doing so for profit was not only a financial burden but also ran contrary to his desire to spend more time devoted to his first love, early American art. When the lease expired on 11 East Fifty-seventh Street in April 1953 McIntyre did not renew it. After closing the gallery's doors he sold art from his New York apartment and from his home in Dorset, Vermont. He officially dissolved William Macbeth, Inc., in 1957.

The history of the Macbeth Gallery is a long and distinguished one with each successive proprietor making a significant contribution to art in America. William Macbeth helped establish an audience and a market for American art when few were willing to give it serious consideration. Robert Macbeth continued to cement the gallery's reputation as one of the leading firms in New York and was instrumental in organizing the American Art Dealers Association. Robert G. McIntyre claimed in a letter to Lloyd Goodrich, dated 22 June 1945, that the thing of which he was most proud was "the share I have had in the formation of the collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art, at Andover, Massacusetts." McIntyre was widely respected in the art community as a dealer, as an adviser to curators, and as a scholar whose research and book on Martin Johnson Heade helped "rediscover" an important American artist. One of his most significant and lasting contributions to the history of art in America, however, was undoubtedly his gift of the gallery's historical records to the Archives of American Art.

Related Material:: Among the holdings of the Archives of American are a small collection of scattered Robert McIntyre's papers and 9 items of William Macbeth's papers. Macbeth Gallery exhibition catalogs are also available in the American Art Exhibition Catalog collection and the Brooklyn Museum Records, both loaned and microfilmed collections.

An extensive collection of Macbeth Gallery exhibition catalogs are also held by the Frick Art Reference Library and the Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Provenance:: The bulk of the Macbeth Gallery records were donated and microfilmed in several installments between 1955 and 1966 by Robert G. McIntyre and Estate. Additional Macbeth Gallery printed material was donated by Phoebe C. and William Macbeth II, grandchildren of William Macbeth, in 1974.

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.

Topic:: Eight (Group of American artists) Search this; Artists -- United States Search this; Art -- Collectors and collecting Search this; Art, American Search this

Function:: Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)

Genre/Form:: Daguerreotypes; Photographs; Scrapbooks

Citation:: Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk 1892 to 1953. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Grant Program. Digitization of the scrapbooks was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee. Correspondence, financial and shipping records, inventory records, and printed material were digitized with funding provided by the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Walton Family Foundation.