6.9 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 13 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1830-1960
Scope and Contents:
The Mary Bartlett Cowdrey papers measure 6.9 linear feet and date from 1830-1960. Included is material relating to her involvement with the National Academy of Design
Letters, invoices, and clippings relate to the National Academy Design's exhibitions and exhibition records, 1952-1954. Among the correspondents are Eliot Clark, Charles Downing Lay, Vernon Porter, R.W.G. Vail, and Lawrence Grant White; and Cowdrey's collection of ca. 200 photographs and other reproductions of Gilbert Stuart portraits and the publication Essays on American Art and Artists, Eastern Art League, 1896, signed by Cowdrey. Also included are notes, correspondence, photographs, publications, and clippings collected by Cowdrey for a biography of William Sidney Mount, ca. 1830-1957 microfilmed on reels D362-D363, and a letter from Jerome Mellquist, an art historian and specialist on French modern art, regarding his interests and his work , December 14, 1956. The letter has been microfilmed on reel D9.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary Bartlett Cowdrey (1830-1960) was an art historian in Passaic, New Jersey. Bartlett was author of "National Academy of Design Exhibition Record, 1826-1860," 2 v., 1944 a co-author: "William Sidney Mount, 1807-1868, An American Painter," 1944. Cowdrey was also a collector for Archives of American Art in the late 1950s.
Other Title:
Reel D9: Microfilm title: Jerome Mellquist
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives are papers lent for microfilming on reels N60-11, NY59-5, NY59-11, NY59-18-NY59-19, NY59-29 including files on 19th century American artists compiled by Cowdrey, containing notes, reproductions, clippings, biographical material, and publications; and material microfilmed on reels D75- D78 including alphabetical indexes of artists who exhibited at the National Academy of Design, 1861-1890, including their dates, exhibition dates, their works and prices, and their address at the time of the exhibit, plus notes and correspondence relating to this compilation. This work was intended to be a continuation of Cowdrey's book NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN EXHIBITION RECORD, 1826-1860 (The New York Historical Society, New York, 1943.)
Papers of Mary Bartlett Cowdrey, 1834-1963, are also located at the University of Delaware Library's Special Collections.
Provenance:
Material on reels D362-D363, D9 and unfilmed material donated 1956 and 1966 by Mary Bartlett Cowdrey. In 2001, Paul D. Schweitzer, Cowdrey's friend and Director and Chief Curator of the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, N.Y, donated 0.2 ft. of Cowdrey's files relating to her work on the National Academy of Design. All other papers were lent for microfilming 1956-1966 by Cowdrey.
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.
An interview of Charles Sheeler conducted by Mary Bartlett Cowdrey on 1958 December 9 for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Sheeler (1883-1965) was a painter from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 41 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' 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.
An interview of Abraham Walkowitz conducted by Abram Lerner and Mary Bartlett Cowdrey for the Archives of American Art.
Walkowitz discusses his childhood and schooling; travelling abroad; influence of Claude Monet exhibit; his book, "Artists of Walkowitz: 100 Portraits"; Paul Cezanne's death; meeting artists in Europe; his 1908 exhibition of modern art at the Julius Haas Gallery, New York; getting Max Weber a show at the Haas Gallery; Steiglitz and his "291" Gallery; the Armory Show, especially the roles of Arthur B. Davies, Walt Kuhn, and Walter Pach; reactions to Nude Descending a Staircase; the Society of Independent Artists; thoughts on criticism of his work; his relationship with the critic Peyton Boswell; the importance in his work of dancer Isadora Duncan; opinions on American art, modern art, art schools, students and patrons; good art versus bad art; and the role of critics. Among others he recalls are Lizzie Bliss, William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, The Eight, Jacob Epstein, Childe Hassam, and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Biographical / Historical:
Abraham Walkowitz (1880-1965) was a painter in New York, New York.
General:
Sound has been lost on tape reels; reels discarded.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' 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.
Correspondence and research material. Among the subjects researched are New Orleans artists; 19th century South Carolina newspaper articles on artists; the Delphian Club in Baltimore; the Tuesday Club in Annapolis, Maryland; collector William Henry Philip; the Thomas B. Clarke Collection; William John Coffee; Robert Gilmor; and Hiram Powers. Also included are exhibition catalogs of Maryland artists, a bibliography of the writings of Mary Bartlett Cowdrey, and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian; Charleston, S.C.
Provenance:
Donated 1961 by Anna Wells Rutledge.
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.
American Academy of Fine Arts and American Art-Union, 1816-1852. With a history of the American Academy by Theodore Sizer and a foreword by James Thomas Flexner
Portraits of Americans by Americans; exhibition, National Association of Portrait Painters. April 1-May 5, 1945 ... Under the auspices of the New-York Historical Society
Author:
National Association of Portrait Painters Search this
