Biographical material, extensive diaries, correspondence, notes, writings, business records, sketchbooks and drawings, project files, scrapbooks, printed materials, photographs and slides, motion picture film, and videotape relating to Weem's education and career as a sculptor. Also included are ca. 1 foot of papers of Weems' aunt, watercolorist Katharine Ward Lane (1862-1893), including letters, diaries, sketchbooks and photographs.
REEL 724: Biographical sketch, 1974; letters from Frederic Bartlett, George Demetrios, Walker Hancock, Leon Kroll, Lee Lawrie, Moissaye Marans, Adolph Alexander Weinman, and others; four sketchbooks, 1954-1965, containing pencil drawings of animals; a scrapbook of clippings, 1924-1941; and printed material.
UNMICROFILMED: Biographical material includes sketches and documents, and biographical information on Weems grandfather, Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, and father, Gardiner Lane. Diaries (74 v.), 1906-1983, contain entries relating to art studies and her development as a sculptor; some include clippings and photographs. Correspondence, 1898-1989, includes letters from Gifford Beal, Margaret French Cresson, Charles Grafly, John Gregory, Walker Hancock, Malvina Hoffman, Anna Hyatt-Huntington, Paul Manship, Brenda Putnam, Gurdon Tarbox, and Adolph Weinman, discussing Weems' work and participation in various sculpture organizations. There are four notebooks on art history; recipes for clay and plaster; notes on patinas for bronze; lecture notes; lists of Weems' works and exhibitions; an exhibition guest book, 1931-1957; poems, 1933-1981; invoices and receipts, 1919-1981; copyright records, 1928-1978; and art work, including 15 v. of sketchbooks, 1913-1964, drawings and tracings of animal figures. and a copper printing plate mounted on a wood block.
Fourteen project files contain letters, drawings, photographs, and printed material on: an enlarging machine, the Saltus Medal for Merit, the frieze and Rhinoceros sculpture for the Biological Laboratories at Harvard, 1930-1942, including 7 reels of 16mm motion picture film (with script transferred to VHS), the Lotta Fountain, 1939-1974, Legion of Merit Medal, 1949-1952, War Department project, 1946, Goodwin Medal, 1949-1952, Wallace Goodrich Plaque, 1954, Hospital Teaching Clinic, 1955, Boston Museum of Science, 1964-1965, "Dolphins by the Sea" for the New England Aquarium, 1969-1979, Heredities Limited, 1971-1974, and the Museum School, 1977.
Included are two scrapbooks, one of clippings about the work of other artists and one containing poems, clippings of landscapes, animals, works by others, and autographed photographs of actresses Katharine Cornell and Anna May Wong and sculptor Brenda Putnam. Printed material includes clippings, 1911-1989; exhibition announcements and catalogs, 1922-1981; bulletins, programs, brochures on artists, organizations, Brookgreen Gardens, and supplies; reproductions of art works, and the books, Odds Were Against Me (1985, Weems autobiography, and Enrique Monjo (1955), inscribed by Mongo.
Photographs and slides, 1902-1988, are of Weems, family members, artists Charles Grafly, Walker Hancock, and Anna Hyatt-Huntington, Weems' house "The Chimneys," her studio, gardens, animals, works of art by Weems and others, exhibit installations, and views of New York City, Washington, D.C., Monticello, the University of Virginia, and Brookgreen Gardens. Nine albums, 1920-1980, contain photographs of an art class, Weems in her studio, her home, her friends, scenic views, and works of art. Videos and film include a videotape (5 min., U-matic) of an interview of Weems; a film, "From Clay to Bronze," showing the creation of Weems' sculpture "Dark Warrier" (transferred to VHS); motion picture film of the making of the sculpture "Rhinoceros" (transferred to digital betacam, VHS and DVD), and a home movie of a day at the beach, circa 1935.
The papers' of Weems' aunt, Katharine "Kitty" Ward Lane (d. 1893), include Lane's letters, 1898-1893, to her brother (Weems' father) and to other family members; a travel diary from Germany, 1886; notes; financial records, 1891-1892; 10 sketchbooks; printed material; and photographs, 1865-1893, of Lane, early views of Saranac Lake, and 9 views of the Columbia Exposition, 1893.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; Boston, Mass. Died 1989. Specialized in animal sculpture. Studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston under Charles Grafly, Anna Hyatt-Huntington, George Demetrios, and Brenda Putnam. She married F. Carrington Weems in 1947. Named after her aunt, watercolor painter Katharine Ward Lane, who died in 1893.
Provenance:
Material on reel 724 lent for microfilming by Weems, 1974. The four sketchbooks on reel 724 were subsequently donated in 1989. Unmicrofilmed papers were donated 1975 and 1982 by Weems, and in 1989 by her estate. Eighteen diaries (1961-1965, 1967-1976 [1969 not included], 1978, and 1981-1983) and an apppointment book for 1966 donated by the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, 1991.
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:
Animal sculptors -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
The Robert Henri papers date from 1880 to 1954. included are 26 diaries, dating from 1880 to 1928. The collection also includes writings, scrapbooks, printed material, and miscellany.
Reels 885-887: 25 diaries kept by Robert Henri, August 15, 1881 to October 20, 1928 (some entries with illustrations). Henri writes about his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and in Paris; his instructors Thomas Anshutz, Thomas Hovenden, and Adolphe Bouguereau, and fellow students Alexander Stirling Calder, Edward Redfield, Charles Grafly, and others; his opposition to the National Academy of Design and academic painting between 1902 and 1912; the exhibition of The Eight in 1908; the 1910 Exhibition of Independent Artists; the MacDowell Club; the founding of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors; and other topics. Also included are typescripts of 4 plays; scrapbooks of clippings, 1888-1954 and loose clippings; 82 photographs of Henri, including a group photo of Henri, Elmer MacRae, Maxfield Parrish, and four unidentified women, classes, and models; a letter and receipt from John Sloan; clippings regarding The Eight; and a copy of Memoirs of My Dead Life, by George Moore, annotated by Henri.
Reel 1654: Robert Henri diary, May to November 1880. Henri writes about his daily activities as a 15-year-old boy growing up on the Platte River, including entries on family events, playing with his brothers and friends, fishing, celebrating July 4th, bailing hay for his father, a dance and fair, and houses in Cozad, Nebraska (122 pages).
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Henri (1865-1929) was a painter and instructor in New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material on reels 885-887 was lent by Mrs. Janet LeClair, the widow of John LeClair, nephew of Henri's sister-in-law, Violet Organ. Organ inherited these papers and planned on using them in a biography of Henri which was never written. The papers passed to John LeClair upon Organ's death in 1959 and subsequently donated to Yale University. Organ donated other Henri papers, including correspondence, notes, notebooks, photographs and other manuscript material to Yale University's Beinecke Library in the 1960s. The diary on reel 1654 was lent by Dr. Robert Gatewood, a cousin of Robert Henri, who reported that he had at one time possessed several of Henri's illustrated boyhood stories and other diaries which were all destroyed in a fire.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
0.3 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 6 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Sketchbooks
Date:
1915-1977
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, correspondence (1920-1977), diaries, notes and writings, art works, subject files (1939-1968), printed material (1919-1971), and photographs (1919-1929) document Geissbuhler's artistic activities in Paris and New England.
Reels 1267-1268: Many letters (1920-1971), written by Geissbuhler to his wife Elisabeth Chase Geissbuhler, are illustrated. Other correspondents include Adelyn Breeskin, Margaret Browne, Edward W. Forbes, and A. Conger Goodyear. Art works consist of 26 sketchbooks (1915-1962), annotated in French and English, and over 600 figure studies (1922-1970). Printed material includes a Sculptors' Guild brochure, art course announcements (1958), and clippings (1924-1971). Other materials consist of 2 autobiographical accounts, an award from the Cambridge Centennial Exhibition (1946), an address book and calling cards.
Reel 1271: Printed material includes reproductions of Geissbuhler's work, an advertisement for the Academie Julian (1919), an exhibition announcement (1921), and a clipping (1925). Photographs (1919-1922) and a photograph album (1921-1929) contain images of Geissbuhler in his studio, his works, his family, and friends including Otto Banninger, Antoine Bourdelle, Alberto Giacometti, his father Giovanni Giacometti, and Germaine Richier. Sixteen photographs show art classes, primarily Bourdelle's classes (1919-1922), and Charles Graffley's studio (1921). Other materials consist of biographical notes, an award certificate and 4 sketches (1918).
Reel 1331: Correspondence consists of letters received from Antoine and Rhoda Bourdelle (1921-1977) and general correspondence concerning art business matters (1927-1971). A diary in 8 volumes (1921-1922) contains some illustrated entries. Printed material (1934-1971) consists of 40 exhibition catalogs, 8 clippings, and a school brochure. Four loose sketches are undated. Seven subject files concerning Geissbuhler's sculpture projects contain letters, business records, notes, and clippings.
Reel 1813: Photographs of Geissbuhler's work and one of his house, ca. 1924-1933.
Unfilmed: Letters (1937-1941) concern Geissbuhler's work for the WPA, Treasury Department, and the Federal Works Agency, primarily the Medford project and the Foxboro, Massachusetts, post office project. Other material consists of 3 forms, 2 exhibition catalogs, a press release concerning government projects, 2 rolled charcoal drawings and 2 photographs of the sculptural relief "Straw Cutting and Weaving" from the Foxboro, Massachusetts post office project, and notes.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; Dennis, Mass. Born in Delemont, Switzerland. In 1914, Geissbuhler traveled to Zurich to become a sculptor's apprentice in the studio of Otto Munch. He attended the Kunst Gewerbe School and worked as Munch's assistant until 1919. In that year, Geissbuhler went to Paris to study with Antoine Bourdelle at the Academie Julian. He maintained a studio in Paris until 1927, when he travelled to the United States and married Elisabeth Chase, a Boston sculptor whom he met in Bourdelle's class. They moved to New England in 1933, and in 1937 he became an art instructor at Wellesley College.
Provenance:
Material on reels 1267-1268, 1271, 1331 and 1813 lent for microfilming 1977-1978; unmicrofilmed material donated 1984 all by Arnold Geissbuhler.
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.
Wharton, Anne Hollingsworth, 1845-1928 Search this
Williams, Frederick Ballard, 1871-1956 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (partial microfilm reel)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1885-1936
Scope and Contents:
Letters received, mainly from artists, Sept. 27, 1885-June 3, 1936, and undated, about works of art, invitations, exhibitions, art, travels and other art related subjects.
The letters are from: F.R.S. Balfour, Belfer?, Salvatore F. Bilotti, Carle Joan Blenner, Adolphe Borie, Frederick Andrew Bosley, Lewis D. Brandeis, Hugh Henry Breckenridge, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, Walter Clark, William Anderson Coffin, Timothy Cole, Morgan Colt, Thomas H. Grattan Esmonds, William Bailey Faxon, D. Newlin Fell, John S.H. Fogg, Paul Leicester Ford, Charles Allan Grafly, Simon Gratz (13 letters), Sadakichi Hartmann, Jean A.A.J. Jusserand, Burton Alva Konkle, Hermann Dudley Murphy, New York Etching Club, William Ordway Partidge, William McGregor Paxton, Samuel Pennypacker (22 letters), M. Elizabeth Price, Edward Willis Redfield, Fred T. Richards, Henry R. Rittenberg, Alexander Charles Robinson, S. M. Rosenbach,
Chauncey Foster Ryder, Leopold G. Seyffert, John Simon, William H. Staake, Abby Weld Stevens, Mayer Sulzberger (14 letters), Henry Ossawa Tanner, Bernhard Uhle, Devitt Welsh, Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, and Frederick Ballard Williams. Also included are a letter from Rosenthal to S.T. Lowrie, a letter from J.W. Dunsmore to H.B. Snell, regarding hanging Rosenthal's portrait of Snell at the Salmagundi Club, and a notice of a sale of etchings by Robert Morris, 1899.
Arrangement:
Arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, portrait painter, lithographer, art collector; New Hope, Pa.
Provenance:
Microfilmed by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for the Archives of American Art, 1955.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Photographs of Charles Grafly's plaster cast collection at the Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kan.; family photographs; photographs of the Grafly home in Philadelphia; and photographs of Grafly's studio in Gloucester, Mass.
Provenance:
Microfilmed in 1986 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. Lent by Charles Drummond, widower of Dorothy Grafly Drummond and son-in-law of Charles Grafly. Dorothy G. Drummond gave the plaster cast collection and most of her father's papers to Wichita State University, Wichita, Kan. Charles Drummond will give any remaining papers and photographs to the university upon his death.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Biographical material, correspondence, business records, notes, printed material and photographs document the career of landscape painter Walter Elmer Schofield.
REEL D71: Letters, 1923-1961, are from museums concerning the exhibition or collection of Schofield's work, from his son to the Archives of American Art concerning the acquisition of Schofield's papers, and a letter and biographical sketch from British sculptor Helen Stuart Weir. Photographs, ca. 1890-1937, are of Schofield, including one at a silvermine in Mexico, and 4 with the Royal Artillery and Royal Fusiliers. One shows Schofield with fellow artists John White Alexander, William Merritt Chase, and Sir Alfred East. There are also photographs of Schofield's residence in Suffolk, England, gallery installations, and art works. Business records, 1888-1921, include discharge papers from the San Antonio Rifles, and 3 leases. Printed material, 1902-1945, includes clippings, an exhibition catalog, a membership list for the National Academy of Design, 1902, and a program for a memorial service for Schofield.
REEL 5043: Biographical material, 1904-1945, includes a biographical sketch, an award certificate from the Carnegie Institute, and a death certificate. Correspondence, 1892-1974, consists primarily of letters between Schofield and his wife during his sojourns in America. Schofield's letters describe his activities including participation in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and on Carnegie Institute juries, and mention his colleagues including Thomas Anshutz, Alexander Stirling Calder, Henry Caro-Delvaille, Paul Dougherty, Charles Grafly, Robert Henri, William Lathrop, Julius Olsson, Edward Redfield, John Singer Sargent, Charles Shannon, John Sloan, Gardner Symons, Henry Fitch Taylor, John Trask, and Charles Morris Young. There are also one to three letters each from Hugh Henry Breckenridge, Stanhope Forbes, Hayley Lever, and Karl Oberteuffer.
Business records, 1903-1937, include receipts for art supplies, the shipment of household goods, financial records for the sale of Reen Cottage,and for an exhibition at Stendahl Art Galleries, and a contract of ownership for the Delph Spinning Company. Notes consist of lecture notes "Art Noon Club Objectives" and a stanza from "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold. Printed material, 1901-1945, consists of clippings, 2 exhibition catalogs, and a reproduction of a wood-engraving of Otley Church. Photographs, 1887-1940, are of Schofield, his wife and sons, members of Schofield's class at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, classes taught by Schofield, members of his military units, his residences in Suffolk and Cornwall, England, gallery installations, and works of art.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter. Born Philadelphia, Pa., Schofield studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and, in 1890, at the Academie Julian. After marrying Murielle Redmayne in 1897, he established his residence in England, making frequent trips to the United States to conduct his art-related business. He was primarily known as a landscape and marine painter.
Provenance:
Material on reel D71 donated 1961 by Sydney Schofield, Walter Schofield's son. Material on reel 5043 donated by Mrs. S.E. Schofield through the Brandywine River Museum, 1986.
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.
1.2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 1 reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1897-1971
Scope and Contents:
Letters, photographs, sketches, printed material and miscellany.
REEL 74: Photocopies of letters received commenting on specific sculptures and discussing such matters as exhibitions of his work and the theft of several of his sculptures from an art gallery. Includes letters from James Earle Fraser and his wife, Laura G. Fraser, David French of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as Mrs. Albert Laessle's correspondence with the National Collection of Fine Arts. Also included are copies of sketches, biographical data, D. Roy Miller's article about Laessle entitled "A Sculptor of Animal Life," and clippings.
UNMICROFILMED: Correspondence from colleagues, patrons and students; photographs of Laessle's work as a student and sculptor, clippings, and articles. Among the photos are one of him with a penguin sculpture taken by Vivian Chappel, 1917, and a group photo of Laessle, Charles Grafly, E. Boutier, and Victor Hugo Zoll in front of a sculpture, 1904. [Copyprints of these 2 photographs were microfilmed on reel 1817 with AAA's Photographs of Artists-Collection II].
Biographical / Historical:
Animal sculptor; Miami, Fla.
Provenance:
Donated 1971-1972 by Laessle's widow.
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.
A manuscript by Dorothy Grafly concerning her father, Charles Grafly.
Biographical / Historical:
Art critic, author; Philadelphia, Penn. Died 1980. Dorothy Grafly's father, Charles Grafly, was an art instructor and sculptor, trained in Philadelphia. He taught at the Pennsylvania Academy, Drexel Institute, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Other Title:
Charles Grafly papers (microfilm title)
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1985 by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Sculptors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
An interview of Walker Hancock conducted 1977 July 22-August 25, by Robert Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Hancock discusses his early education and studying with Charles Grafly at the American Academy in Rome; studying at the Pennsylvania Academy and later teaching there; early work with Lorado Taft; fellow sculptors; and sculptural commissions vs. freelance work.
Biographical / Historical:
Walker Kirtland Hancock (1901-1998) was a sculptor from Gloucester, Massachusettes. Hancock was born in 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied at Washington University for one year before moving on to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied under Charles Grafly. He taught at PAFA from 1929 to 1967.
General:
Originally recorded 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 5 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Sculptors -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester -- Interviews Search this
Charles Grafly. Charles Grafly, Philadelphia, Pa. letter to Charles Henry Hart, New York, N.Y., 1894 January 29. Charles Henry Hart autograph collection, 1731-1918. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
