Wellcome, Henry S., Sir (Henry Solomon), 1853-1936 Search this
Wiggins, Guy C. (Guy Carleton), 1883-1962 Search this
Extent:
8.5 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Diaries
Sketches
Photographs
Poetry
Writings
Date:
1904-1990
bulk 1904-1957
Summary:
The papers of painter and illustrator W. Langdon Kihn measure approximately 8.5 linear feet and date from 1904-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1904-1957. Papers document Kihn's career and travels associated with his interests in documenting the native American tribal nations of the United States and Canada in portraiture and writings. Found here are biographical materials, voluminous correspondence, memoirs and writings, one travel diary, printed material, financial records, three sketchbooks, sketches, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and illustrator W. Langdon Kihn measure approximately 8.5 linear feet and date from 1904-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1904-1957. Papers document Kihn's career and travels associated with his interests in documenting the native American tribal nations of the United States and Canada in portraiture and writings. Found here are biographical material, voluminous correspondence, memoirs and writings, one travel diary, printed material, financial records, three sketchbooks, sketches, and photographs.
Biographical materials include address books, membership cards, exhibition and price lists, legal and travel documents, as well as biographical notes. Additional biographical sketches are found in the Writings and Notes series.
Correspondence is the largest series in the collection, almost half of the papers. In addition to letters to W. Langdon Kihn, this series include both originals and drafts of his outgoing letters; letters to his wife Helen from friends; third party business correspondence between his father, Alfred Kihn, and various parties undertaken on his son's behalf; and third party correspondence addressed to his friend and colleague, the Canadian ethnographer, Marius Barbeau. In addition to Barbeau, significant correspondents include Constance Lindsay Skinner, Chester and Maud Dale, Sir Henry Wellcome, Pierre and Marie "May" Lecompte du Noüy, and Reginald and Gladys Laubin. Although there is little correspondence with other artists, those represented with cards and letters in this collection include Boris Artzybasheff, Maynard Dixon, Olin Dows, Thornton Oakley, and Kihn's summer art school partner, Gus Wiggins. Correspondence with Franklin L. Fisher, Chief of National Geographic Magazine's Illustrated Division and Matthew W. Striling, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution dominate the period spanning from 1935 - 1952, the years of Kihn's close association with the National Geographic Society.
Writings and notes includes manuscripts and typescripts of articles, poems, lectures, memoirs, and other writings by Kihn and others. There is one travel diary dated circa 1924-1925, and numerous writings about Kihn's travels and documentation of native American Indians.
Printed materials include exhibition catalogs, travel brochures, and magazine and newspaper clippings. Also found here are copies of Kihn's illustrations for books by other authors, including Beaver, Kings and Cabins, by Constance Lindsay Skinner, as well as proofs from the National Geographic series on American Indians arranged by geographic location. Financial records consist of invoices and receipts related to Kihn's artwork, traveling, and exhibitions.
Three sketchbooks and loose sketches include illustrated field notes and other drawings that document Kihn's travels and of native Americans. Photographs are of Kihn, and of Kihn at work. There are also photographs of Kihn's artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1916-1957 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1904-1959 (Boxes 1-5; 4.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1920-1990 (Box 5-6; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1920-1957 (Boxes 6-8, OV 10; 2.2 linear feet)
Series 5: Financial Records, 1920-1955 (Box 8; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Sketchbooks and Sketches, circa 1922-1955 (Boxes 8-9, OV 10; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1920-1955 (Box 9; 5 folders)
Biographical Note:
Born in Brooklyn, New York, W. (Wilfred) Langdon Kihn (1898-1959) is best known for his portraits of American Indians and illustrations of their history, culture and rapidly disappearing way of life. In 1919, Kihn joined his art teacher Winold Reiss on a trip to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana where he completed his first series of portraits. This marked the beginning of his lifelong career of documenting the tribal nations of the United States and Canada. Through commissions from Canadian and American Railroad companies, Kihn spent much of the 1920s traversing both the United States and Northwest Canada where he had the opportunity to record the members and lives of various tribes. During this period, his paintings also traveled the country in a one man exhibition of his American Indian portraits, which was arranged by the Brooklyn Museum, and traveled to about 40 institutions in the United States. However his largest and best known commission was a project to research and paint North American Indians for serial publication in National Geographic. Kihn received the commission in 1935 and his association with the organization spanned two decades, culminating in the 1955 exhibition of his work at the National Geographic Museum, Washington, D.C, and the publication Indians of the Americas, with copius illustrations derived from Kihn's paintings and drawings.
In addition to his travels and work in North America, Kihn enjoyed a brief stint between 1929-1932 painting in France and Spain. Upon his return he focused upon obtaining commercial work and enjoyed success as an illustrator, whose work was featured in Beaver, Kings and Cabins (1933) and Flat Tail (1935), among other books. Kihn also wrote articles about his travels; amateur painters, whom he specialized in teaching; and American Indian legends and tribal cultures. Between 1948-1951 he was a partner in the Guy Wiggins-W. Langdon Kihn Art School in Essex, Connecticut. He married Helen Butler in 1920 and in between their travels the couple eventually settled in East Haddam, Connecticut. W. Langdon Kihn died in 1957.
Provenance:
Helen Kihn, W. Langdon Kihn's widow, donated the bulk of the collection in 1959. In 1994 Phyllis Kihn, the artist's daughter, donated pages 1-8 of Kihn's original manuscript of his memoirs and a transcript of the complete memoirs.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
Letters to Bowdoin while he was art critic of the New York Evening World, most of which are brief expressions of appreciation for reviews which Bowdoin has written.
Correspondents include: Walter M. Aikman, C. E. Althouse, J. M.Andreini, Joseph H. Appel, A. Archibald, Richard F. Bach, J. Stewart Barney, William J. Beauley, Martin Birnbaum, Gustav Brock, Margaret F. Browne, Aline Caro-Delvaille, J. H. Chapin, S. Jay Chapman, W. A. Clark, Thomas B. Clarke,William Clifford, Robert G. Cooke, Mrs. Henry E. Coe, Esther A. Coster, Bertram Cox, E. J. Craine, Winifred M. Crawford, Charles H. Davis, H. C. Denslow, Joel R. Detwiller, Olive Earle, Henry S. Eddy, Harold L. Ehrich, Leon Fleischman, Carlton C. Fowler, William H. Fox, the Gorham Co., Beryl M. Greene.
Also, Frances Hall, John W. Harrington, Richard B. Harte, Rachel I. Hartley, T. F. Hatfield, Edward Heine, Claude R. Hirst, Harry L. Hoffman, A. A. Hopkins, Alex Hudnut, Susan A. Hutchinson, Katherine Inness, T. Seton Jevons, Henry W. Kent, William Knable & Co., Robert C.Lafferty, Mme. Andree Lenigue De Franceville, Robert W. Macbeth, Edith Magonigle, Elizabeth Marbury, Eric C. Maunsbach, Herbert Meyer, D. Roy Miller, Percy F. Montgomery, G. Laurence Nelson, Sydney P. Noe, David Owens, Ralph M. Pearson, Walter S. Perry, George A. Plimpton, Rabinovitch, Edward Robinson, A. S. W. Rosenbach, James Scott, James G. Shepherd, John M. Siddall, Robert Spencer, Edward F. Stevens, Marion Swinton, Floyd Vail, Willis A. Voorhees, John Wanamaker, Bertrand H. Wentworth, Clarence H. White, Guy Wiggins, Max Williams, and E. C. Zabriskie.
Biographical / Historical:
Art critic; New York City.
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.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
