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
Stribling, T. S. (Thomas Sigismund), 1881-1965 (Birthright) Search this
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 (Man that corrupted Hadleyburg) Search this
Extent:
1.7 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Sketches
Illustrated letters
Christmas cards
Photographs
Awards
Place:
Spain -- description and travel
Date:
1891-1986
bulk 1891-1922
Summary:
The papers of painter and illustrator F. Luis Mora measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1891 to 1986, with the bulk of material dating from 1891 to 1922. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, 242 monthy pocket diaries by Mora, and printed and photographic materials.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of painter and illustrator F. Luis Mora measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1891 to 1986, with the bulk of material dating from 1891 to 1922. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, 242 small monthly pocket diaries by Mora, and printed and photographic materials.
Biographical material includes one folder containing Mora's Rothschild Prize certificate.
The correspondence is primarily with galleries regarding sales, the value of artwork, and Mora's murals for the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. There is also correspondence with Mora's family and friends regarding his personal life and a family vacation in Cadiz, Spain. The collection also includes two Christmas cards, several illustrated letters and two invitations to Mora's solo art shows. Some of the correspondence is to and from Mora's first wife, Sophia Compton.
The majority of the writings consists of 242 monthly pocket diaries, which contain brief daily entries and some sketches. Mora writes about his work, memberships in the Salmagundi Club and the National Academy of Design, and teaching at the Art Student League. He also discusses his ideas about painting and his observations of the art scene, including his visit to the 1913 Armory Show. Also included is a handwritten "Editorial" by Mora, probably for election to the Lotos Club.
Printed material includes clippings, brochures, programs, advertisements, exhibition catalogs, books, and magazines. Two books, The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Essays and Stories, by Mark Twain (1917), and Birthright, by T.S. Stribling (1922), both illustrated by Mora, are included, along with over a dozen magazines containing illustrations by Mora.
Photographs include black and white photographs and glass plate negatives of Mora, family and friends, students, and artwork. Black and white pictures of Mora's artwork include his "Thine is Glory" mural (1919), the "National Academy Jury of 1907" painting (1907) and an etching of his daughter, Rosemary. Glass plate negatives are of his first wife, Sophia Compton, her mother Emma, Mora's father Domingo, the painting "Dance of Salome" (1893), Mora's brother-in-law Alfred Compton, his Boston Museum and Chase School of Art classes, and the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company, where Mora's father worked.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged as 5 series. Records are generally arranged alphabetically by subject. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa early 1900s (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1900-1969 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 3: Writings, 1899-1922 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1895-1986 (Boxes 1-2 and OV 3; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographic Materials, 1891-1941 (Box 2, MGP 1, MGP 2; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Francis Luis Mora (1974-1940) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. In 1877, he and his family moved to Catalonia, Spain and in 1880, they moved again to the United States where they eventually settled in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Both his father, Domingo, and his brother, Joseph, were also noted sculptors.
Mora studied at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and at the Art Students League of New York. He was a muralist, oil and watercolor portrait painter, and etcher, though he is best known for his illustrations in magazines such as Century, Harper's, and Ladies' Home Journal. He was a member of the Salmagundi Club and the National Academy of Design and taught at the Art Students League of New York and the Chase School of Art. He and his wife, Sophia ("Sonia") Compton, had a daughter, Rosemary, in 1918. After his wife's death, Mora married May Gosman Safford in 1932. Mora died at the age of 64 in 1940.
Related Archival Materials note:
Among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are the F. Luis Mora Art Works and Photographs (available on microfilm reel 5053) and a F. Luis Mora Letter to William John Wittemore (available on microfilm reel D30, frame 534.)
Provenance:
The F. Luis Mora papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Cornelia Colton, the daughter of Mora's second wife, May Safford, in 1975. Additional papers were donated in 2008 by Gwen Compton, Mora's niece.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
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.
Menu printed on board with 24 signatures in pencil on verso and a sketch of a man smoking a pipe. Signatures are: William T. Evans; J.W.; Frank R. Lawrence; Charles [?] H. Lennox; George H. Bogert; Louis Paul Dessar; G.E. Schanck; Chester D. Lord; J.A. Prenderford [?]; H.W. Watsons [?]; U. Armstrong [?]; David B. Sickels; Geo. H. Daniels; Homer Lee; Chas. Hollister [?]; Henry B. Wilson; Andrew Little; Horatio N. Fraser; Wm. Henry White; C.R. Whitehead [?]; John Elderkin; [Illegible] Bomer; [Illegible]; William Cain. Printed at top of menu (partially obscured): Dinner to William T. Eva[ns Es]q.; [Cha]irman of the Art Commit[tee] ... of the Lotos Club interested in American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
The Lotos Club is a literary club in New York City, founded in 1870.
Provenance:
Provenance unknown.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Voyage of His Majesty's ship Alceste, along the coast of Corea, to the island of Lewchew : with an account of her subsequent shipwreck / by John M'Leod, surgeon, of the Alceste
