Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ira Spanierman, 2007 June 6-12. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The records of Owen Gallery measure 9.4 linear feet and 0.093 GB and date from 1929-2010, bulk 1980-2010. The gallery, which operated from 1986 to 2009 in New York, specialized in late nineteenth and early twentieth century American art with an emphasis on The Eight, Ashcan, and early American modernism. Michael Owen and James Yost owned and directed the gallery. Found within the records are exhibition files; inventory and sales records; printed and digital material; and records regarding painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Material dating from before 1986 when the gallery was established is research related to an artwork's provenance.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Owen Gallery measure 9.4 linear feet and 0.093 GB and date from 1929-2010, bulk 1980-2010. The gallery, which operated from 1986 to 2009 in New York, specialized in late nineteenth and early twentieth century American art with an emphasis on The Eight, Ashcan, and early American modernism. Artists represented include Thomas Hart Benton, Arthur B. Davies, William Glackens, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, and others. Michael Owen and James Yost owned and directed the gallery. Found within the records are exhibitions files; inventory and sales records; printed and digital material; and records regarding painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Material dating from before 1986 when the gallery was established is research related to an artwork's provenance.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as four series
Missing Title
Series 1: Exhibition Files, 1989-2010 (2.1 linear feet; Box 1-3, 0.001 GB; ER01)
Series 2: Inventory and Sales Records, 1929-2010, bulk 1980-2010 (5.7 linear feet; Box 3-8, 0.092 GB; ER02-ER04)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1994-2008 (0.4 linear feet; Box 8-9)
Series 4: Records Regarding Yasuo Kuniyoshi, circa 1955-2000 (1.2 linear feet; Box 9-10)
Biographical / Historical:
Owen Gallery, a New York gallery specializing in late nineteenth and early twentieth century American art, operated from 1986 to 2009 and was owned and directed by Michael Owen and James Yost. The gallery represented many artists associated with The Eight, Ashcan, and American modernism. Although exhibitions and the retail gallery have closed, the business remains in operation.
Provenance:
The Owen Gallery records were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2015 and 2016 by Michael Owen and James Yost.
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.
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.
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.
29 photographs acquired by Charles Lang Freer, likely in india in 1895 during his first travel in Asia. Twenty of the photographs depicting Udaipur were presented to Freer by Prince Fateh Lal Mehta of that city.
Arrangement:
Organized by subject.
Biographical / Historical:
Mohan Lal and his brother Shiva Lal were hereditary painters at the court of the Maharana of Udaipur.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
The papers of art historian, art critic, author, librarian and educator Ellen Hulda Johnson measure 61.5 linear feet and date from 1872-2018, with the bulk of the material dating from 1921-1992. The papers include biographical materials; personal and family files; personal, professional, and business correspondence; extensive research and writing files; teaching files; subject files; professional and curatorial files; and artists' files. Johnson's papers reflect the full range of her career, interests, and close relationships with many artists. There is a 0.2 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2021 that includes letters to Ellen Johnson from others, letters from Johnson to Carl Gerber, and a sketch by Johnson. Materials date from circa 1956-1991.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian, art critic, author, librarian and educator Ellen Hulda Johnson measure 61.5 linear feet and date from 1872-2018, with the bulk of the material dating from 1921-1992. The papers include biographical materials; personal and family files; personal, professional, and business correspondence; extensive research and writing files; teaching files; subject files; professional and curatorial files; and artists' files. Johnson's papers reflect the full range of her career, interests, and close relationships with many artists. There is a 0.2 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2021 that includes letters to Ellen Johnson from others, letters from Johnson to Carl Gerber, and a sketch by Johnson. Materials date from circa 1956-1991.
Personal papers consist of biographical materials and personal and family files, including "memorabilia" files compiled by Johnson. Correspondence is a mix of personal, business, and professional correspondence. Significant correspondents include David Saunders (who painted a portrait of Johnson), Claes Oldenburg, Jack Tworkov, Robert Venturi, the American Scandinavian Foundation. A folder of correspondence compiled for the Archives includes letters from Alfred Stieglitz, Wendell Wilkie, Carl Milles, Jim Dine, and Alexander Archipenko.
Extensive and comprehensive writing and research project files include articles, lectures, presentations, manuscripts, notes and notebooks, including her class notebooks from courses she attended in Paris in 1935, and additional notes and notebooks on a wide variety of subjects. The numerous articles, lectures, papers, and drafts were written primarily by Johnson for the College Art Association, the Allen Memorial Art Museum bulletin, and numerous additional publications and presentations; but there are also writings by others included in the research files. Major writing projects and related research files cover Scandinavian art, the Ossabaw Island artist's colony, Cezanne, Eva Hesse, John Frederick Kensett, Claes Oldenburg, Picasso, David Saunders, Athena Tacha, Pop Art, and many other topics. Johnson's research files, manuscripts, correspondence, and photographs for major exhibitions, including one on Eva Hesse (1982) and for her published books including American Artists on Art from 1940-1980 (1982), Claes Oldenburg (1971), Fragments Recalled at 80: The Art Memoirs of Ellen H. Johnson (1993), and Modern Art and Object (1976) are arranged with the writing project files. Johnson's bibliographic index cards are found here as well.
The collection contains extensive teaching files for courses taught by Johnson at Oberlin and as a visiting professor at other institutions; professional and curatorial files reflecting her curatorial career at Allen Memorial Art Museum, as a consultant, jury member, and continuing education courses she later attended, including the Baldwin Lecture Series; and 18 linear feet of artist's files assembled by Johnson.
Arrangement:
The Ellen Hulda Johnson papers are arranged into seven series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Personal Papers, circa 1905-2009 (5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 56-59)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1927-2009 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 3-7, 60)
Series 3: Writing and Research Projects, 1872, 1932-1994 (15.5 linear feet; Boxes 7-20, 56, 61-62)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1930-1993 (5 linear feet; Boxes 21-25, 62)
Series 5: Teaching Files, 1928-1989 (6 linear feet; Boxes 26-31, 62)
Series 6: Professional and Curatorial Files, 1936-1991 (6 linear feet; Boxes 32-37, 56)
Series 7: Artists Files, 1935-1992 (18.3 linear feet; Boxes 37-55, 62)
Series 8: Unprocessed Addition, 1956-1991 (0.2 linear feet; Box 63)
Biographical / Historical:
Ellen Hulda Johnson (1910-1992) was an art historian, critic, and professor who worked and taught at Oberlin College in Ohio for most of her career.
Ellen Hulda Johnson was born in 1910 in Warren, Pennsylvania. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in art history at Oberlin in 1933 and 1935. She worked briefly at the Toledo Museum of Art before returning to Oberlin as the art librarian. In 1940 she started Oberlin's art rental program, the first of its kind in the country. She was appointed to the faculty in 1948 and taught nineteenth and twentieth century art, American art from colonial times to the present, contemporary art, and Scandinavian art. She was a member of the Allen Memorial Art Museum's acquisition committee and was appointed honorary curator of modern art in 1973. She remained at Oberlin her entire career, retiring from teaching in 1977.
Johnson was a scholar of Cézanne, Claes Oldenburg, Eva Hesse, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, John F. Kensett and other modern masters, as well as Scandinavian art. In 1962 she wrote the first important article on Claes Oldenburg and, in 1970, assisted curator Athena Tacha commission his first permanent large sculpture (3-Way Plug) for the grounds of the Allen Memorial Art Museum. She was the first to show the black-striped paintings that established Frank Stella's reputation. Her efforts in promoting acquisitions of young contemporary artists helped make the Allen Memorial Art Museum a leading institution in contemporary art. Her Oberlin lectures on modern art became so popular that they had to be held in the college's largest auditorium and influenced generations of students, many of whom went on to signficant positions in the field. A new wing of the museum designed by Robert Venturi opened in 1977 and was named in honor of Johnson.
Johnson was the author of numerous articles, books, and exhibition catalogs including Cezanne (Penquin, 1967); Claes Oldenburg (Penquin, 1971); American Artists on Art from 1940-1980 (Harper and Row, 1982); and Modern Art and the Object (Thames and Hudson, 1976).
In 1968, Johnson purchased the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Weltzheimer house in Oberlin, and spent a considerable part of her time and money restoring the building where she lived the rest of her life. She bequethed the house and her significant art collection to Oberlin upon her death in 1992.
Related Materials:
Papers of Ellen H. Johnson, 1933-1992, are also located at Oberlin College Archives.
Separated Materials:
Shortly after aquisition, the Archives transferred Ellen Hulda Johnson's vertical file (16 linear feet) of clippings, press releases, and exhibition announcements to the library of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.
Provenance:
The Ellen Hulda Johnson papers were donated in 1994, 1998, 2019 and 2021 by the estate of Ellen Hulda Johnson via exectutor Athena Tacha.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington D.C. Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. 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.
Ellen Hulda Johnson papers, 1872-2018, bulk 1921-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The records of Milch Gallery measure 42.5 linear feet and date from 1911-1995. Edward Milch (1865-1953) opened the Edward Milch Gallery in New York City. In 1916, he formed a partnership with his brother Albert Milch (1881-1951), a gilder and framer, creating E. & A. Milch, Inc., a gallery specializing in American art. Harold C. Milch (1904-1981), Albert's son, was appointed a partner in 1944 and continued the business until his death. Business records of Milch Gallery, 1911-1968, include correspondence, sales records, inventories, financial records, printed matter, photographs, and legal documents. Later additions to the records date from 1922-1995 and include correspondence; artists' files; financial, sales, and stock records; printed material; and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of Milch Gallery document the business transactions of the corporation and the professional and personal relationships of the Milch brothers with the artists they represented, as well as with the larger community of artists and art dealers between 1911 and 1995. Unfortunately, early correspondence is sparse. In a letter responding to a 1951 request for historical information, Milch replied: "Several years ago [1947] we had to give up our gallery at 108 West 57th Street, and move to smaller quarters here. Since we had no room for old records, we had to destroy most of them."
Alphabetical files are comprised mainly of incoming correspondence from 1911 to 1962. Correspondence concerns arrangements for exhibitions, sales and consignments, advice to collectors and executors of estates, and routine business matters. A number of the artists represented in these files were friends of the Milch brothers and some of their letters mention their personal lives as well as their formal business with the Gallery. Collectors who routinely dealt with Milch Galleries included John Gellatly, Mary Blair, Hersey Egginton, Carlton Palmer, and Edward Coykendell; a three volume manuscript catalogue of Coykendell's collection is included. Among the estates handled by Milch were Willard Metcalf, John Twachtman, Abbott H. Thayer, Maurice Fromkes, and Thomas Moran.
Also found are sales records and other financial records such as general ledgers, sales and purchase records, and tax information.
Printed matter consists of gallery exhibition catalogs, checklists, invitations, announcements, publications, and scrapbooks. Many catalogs and checklists are annotated with prices and other information. A complete run of Milch Galleries Art Notes, issued intermittently from 1918-1928/29 is preserved with the gallery records. as is a scrapbook relating to early exhibitions held at the Edward Milch Galleries and E. & A. Milch, Inc., and artists represented by them.
Photographs included with the records are less voluminous than might be expected, and pictures of works of art predominate. There are also a very small number of exterior and interior photographs of Milch Gallery, photographs of people including artists, Edward and Albert Milch, and photographs of groups such as Ten American Artists and the Associated Dealers in American Paintings.
The 1995 and 2014 additions measure 3 linear feet and date from 1922-1995. Milch Gallery activities are documented through correspondence; artists' files; financial, sales, and stock records; printed material; and photographs.
See Appendix for a list of Milch Gallery exhibitions and checklists
Arrangement:
Records of the Milch Gallery are organized into seven series. With the exception of the alphabetical files, records are arranged by record type and then chronologically. Photographs are categorized by subject, with pictures of individuals arranged alphabetically by name, and works of art arranged alphabetically by artist.
Missing Title
Series 1: Alphabetical Files, 1911-1962
Series 2: Sales Records and Inventories, 1911-1969, undated
Series 3: Financial Records, 1914-1980, undated
Series 4: Printed Matter, 1996, 1910-1967, undated
Series 5: Photographs, 1903-circa 1944, undated
Series 6: Miscellaneous, 1916-1970, undated
Series 7: Addition to the Milch Gallery Records, 1922-1995 (Boxes 60-65, 3 linear feet)
Historical Note:
Between 1911 and 1916, prior to the establishment of the Milch Galleries, Austrian immigrant Edward Milch (1865-1953) operated the Edward Milch Galleries at 939 Madison Avenue 1911, mainly handling prints and providing framing services.
Albert Milch (1881-1951) was employed by a gilder and later a picture framer before becoming the business partner of his older brother. In 1916 they incorporated as E. & A. Milch (with Edward as President and Albert as Secretary of the corporation) and opened the Milch Galleries at 108 West 57th Street, New York City. During their partnership, Edward served as President and Albert as Secretary of the corporation. According to Joseph Gotlieb, a long-time employee, during this period Montross Gallery became inclined toward modern French art and the American artists associated with them began searching for galleries more sympathetic to their interests. "As Albert Milch was a framemaker to several of them, and as he was opening a new gallery in 1916 to specialize in American Art, some artists decided to let the Milch Galleries, and others, handle their work. It turned out to be a good arrangement for both sides, and a successful one" (letter from Joseph S. Gotleib to Susan Hobbs [National Museum of American Art], December 30, 1977).
From the beginning, Milch Galleries dealt in American art almost exclusively, representing living artists, handling the estates of recently deceased artists; in addition they acquired nineteenth century works for resale and accepted pieces on commission. Although framing and restoration services continued to be offered to customers, this aspect of the business soon diminished in importance.
Harold C. Milch (1904-1981), Albert's son, was affiliated with the business, and upon his father's retirement was appointed partner; after Albert died in 1951, Harold was sole proprietor, serving as both President and Secretary.
Milch Galleries moved to smaller quarters at 55 East 57th Street in 1947, and ten years later to 21 East 67th Street. In 1967, the name was changed to Milch Gallery and the business relocated to 1014 Madison Avenue. The gallery dissolved upon the death of Harold Milch. A third brother, David C. Milch, was also an art dealer, but was not associated with Milch Gallery.
Missing Title
1911 -- Edward Milch Galleries opens at 939 Madison Ave.
1912 -- First exhibition at Edward Milch Galleries
1916 -- Incorporation of E. & A. Milch; Edward Milch, President, and Albert Milch, Secretary; change of name to Milch Galleries and relocation to 108 West 57th St.
1918 -- Milch Galleries Art Notes begins publication
1944 -- Edward Milch retires; Albert Milch President, and Harold C. Milch [son of Albert], Secretary
1947 -- Milch Galleries moves to 55 East 57th St.
1951 -- Death of Albert Milch (1881-1951); Harold C. Milch, President and Secretary
1953 -- Death of Edward Milch (1865-1953)
1957 -- Milch Galleries moves to 21 East 67th St.
1966 -- Archives of American Art begins acquiring records of the Milch Galleries (gifts and loans from Milch Galleries)
1967 -- Relocation to 1014 Madison Ave., and name change to Milch Gallery
1981 -- Death of Harold C. Milch (1904-1981)
1986 -- Archives of American Art receives the bulk of Milch Gallery records (gift of Salander-O'Reilly Galleries)
Appendix: List of Milch Gallery Exhibitions and Checklists:
Items marked with an asterisk (*) are contained in the scrapbook rather than with the Milch Gallery exhibition catalogs.
Missing Title
Nov. 16-Dec. 7, 1912* -- Exhibition of 300 Original Sketches in Oil by 100 Well Known American Artists
Feb. 15-March 8, 1913* -- Glimpses of Nature We Love to See, Feast, and Dwell On
April 28-May 7, 1913* -- Portraits of Children and Grown-Ups by Miss Susan Ricker Knox
Oct. 18-Nov. 1, 1913* -- Small Paintings and Bronzes
Oct. 18-Nov. 1, 1913* -- Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures by Noted American Artists
Feb. 9-21, 1914* -- Paintings by W. Herbert Dunton of The Old West
Oct. 17-31, 1914* -- Portraits in Oil, Miniatures, and Sculpture
Feb. 20-March 7, 1915* -- Paintings and Etchings by Gordon Mallet McCouch
April 26-May 8, 1915* -- Paintings by Frew W. Kost, N.A.
Nov. 7-19, 1915 -- Paintings and Sculpture by Matilda Browne
Nov. 15-30, 1915* -- Views of the Panama California Exposition and Landscapes of Southern California
Jan. 31-Feb. 12, 1916 -- Paintings by Garber, Pearson, Lathrop, and Spencer
Feb. 14-26, 1916* -- Landscapes by Walter Clark, N.A.
Feb. 14-26, 1916* -- Paintings by Guy Wiggins
Nov. 4-18, 1916* -- Opening Exhibition
Nov. 25-Dec. 9, 1916* -- Works by the Late Louis Loeb
Jan. 15-27, 1917* -- Paintings by Helen M. Turner
Jan. 30-Feb. 10, 1917* -- Paintings by Leonard Ochtman, N.A.
Feb. 14-24, 1917* -- Recent Paintings by William V. Schevill
March 6-24, 1917 -- Ten American Painters
March 13-24, 1917* -- George Bellows
March 14-24, 1917* -- Paintings by Frederick J. Waugh
March 26-April 7, 1917* -- Paintings by Howard Russell Butler, N.A.
April 10-21, 1917 -- Paintings by Harry F. Waltman and Howard Giles, and Sculptures by Willard D. Paddock
April 15-27, 1917* -- Paintings by Valentino Molina
April 24-May 5, 1917* -- Paintings by Thalia Millet
Oct. 27-Nov. 17, 1917* -- William Jean Beauley
Jan. 15-Feb. 15, 1918* -- Etchings, Dry-Point and Lithographs by Ernest Haskell
Jan. 28-Feb. 4, 1918 -- Sketches and Paintings by the "Nova Scotia Group"
Feb. 25-March 16, 1918* -- Paintings by Robert Henri
March 13-24, 1918 -- George Bellows
March 22-April 4, 1918* -- Paintings by H. Gabrielle Levey
April 8-, 1918* -- Etchings by Allen Lewis
Nov. 25-Dec. 16, 1918* -- Paintings by Edward H. Potthast, N.A.
Dec. 18-Jan. 16, 1918 -- Annual Holiday Exhibition of Selected Paintings of Limited Size by American Artists
Dec. 23-Jan. 10, 1919* -- Etchings and Dry-Points by Ernest Haskell
Jan. 13-25, 1919* -- Paintings by Mary Prindeville
Jan. 27-Feb. 13, 1919* -- With the A.E.F., Paintings and Drawings Made at the Front by S. J. Woolf
Feb. 14-26 [1919?]* -- Paintings by Arthur C. Goodwin
Feb. 18-March 1, 1919* -- Paintings by Jerome Myers
March 3-16, 1919* -- Recent Paintings of California by William Ritschel, N.A.
March 17-29, 1919 -- Recent Paintings by Lillian Genth, A.N.A.
March 28-April 9, 1919* -- Drawings of New York City by Peter Marcus
April 8-30*, 1919 -- Paintings by Leading American Artists
April 19-May 1*, 1919 -- Paintings by Valentino Molina
May 3-22, 1919 -- Recent American Sculpture
May 5-17*, 1919 -- Recent American Sculpture in Bronze, Wood, and Terra Cotta for the Town and Country House, the Grounds, and Garden
May 20-, 1919 -- Flag Pictures and Street Scenes by Childe Hassam
Nov. 16-Dec. 6, 1919 -- Childe Hassam
Nov. 17-Dec. 6, 1919 -- Exhibition of Works in the Various Mediums by Childe Hassam
Dec. 18-Jan. 16, 1920 -- Annual Holiday Exhibition of Selected Paintings of Limited Size by American Artists
Dec. 29-Jan. 15, 1920* -- Portraits and Other Paintings by Royston Nave
Feb. 2-14, 1920 -- George Biddle
Feb. 2-14, 1920* -- Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels, Monotypes, Silver-Points and Etchings by George Biddle
Feb. 16-28, 1920* -- Paintings by Ossip L. Linde
March 1-12, 1920 -- Bruce Crane
March 1-13, 1920 -- Bruce Crane, A.N.A.
March 15-April 3, 1920 -- Willard L. Metcalf
April 5-20, 1920 -- Paintings
April 8-30 [1920] -- Exhibition of Paintings by Leading American Artists
April 15-May 1, 1920 -- Valentino Molina
Oct. 18-30 [1920?]* -- Paintings of New England and Drawings of the Devastated Towns of Flanders by George Wharton Edwards
Nov. 1-13, 1920 -- Six American Painters [Clark, Potthast, Snell, Nichols, Olinsky, and Volkert
Nov. 1-15, 1920 -- Paintings by Theresa F. Bernstein
Nov. 15-27, 1920 -- Childe Hassam
Nov. 21-Dec. 3, 1920* -- Sculpture by Gleb Derujinsky
Dec., 1920* -- Exhibition by George Biddle
Dec. 1-21, 1920 -- Etchings and Color Etchings by William Meyerowitz
Dec. 27-Jan. 28, 1921 -- Albert Delbert Smith
circa 1920 -- Ossip L. Linde
circa 1920 -- William Meyrowitz
circa 1920 -- Exhibition
Jan. 10-29, 1921 -- Exhibition of Paintings by Brush, Crane, Dewing, Metcalf, Hassam, and Murphy
Jan. 31-Feb. 12, 1921 -- American Art
Feb. 14-26, 1921 -- Guy Wiggins
Feb. 14-26, 1921 -- Arthur G. Goodwin
Feb. 28-March 12, 1921 -- Paintings by Robert Henri
March 14-April 9, 1921 -- Paintings by Gari Melchers
March 28-April 9, 1921 -- Peter Marcus
April 11-23, 1921* -- Portraits and Figure Paintings by Edith Catlin Phelps
April 11-30, 1921 -- Paintings by Willard Metcalf
May 2-30, 1921 -- American Sculpture for the Town and Country House, the Garden, and the Grounds
Oct. 18-30 [1921?]* -- Paintings and Drawings by George Wharton Edwards
Oct. 24-Nov. 5, 1921 -- Portraits and Paintings of Old New Orleans by Wayman Adams
Nov. 7-19, 1921 -- Flower Paintings and Sculpture by Mathilde Browne
Nov. 7-19, 1921 -- Paintings in Oil and Water Color by George H. Clements
Nov. 19-Dec. 3, 1921 -- Sculpture-Gleb Derujinsky
Dec. 5-31, 1921 -- Works by Abbott H. Thayer, Including Important Paintings, Water Colors, and Drawings
circa 1921 -- Exhibition
Jan. 9-21, 1922 -- Paintings by Katherine Langhorne Adams
Jan. 9-21, 1922 -- Paintings of California by Douglass Ewell Parshall
Feb. 13-March 4, 1922 -- Paintings of Cape Ann by Harry A. Vincent, A.N.A.
March 6-25, 1922* -- Pastels of the Cascapedia River, Canada, by Arthur C. Goodwin
March 6-25, 1922 -- Connecticut Landscape Paintings by Wilson Irvine
March 27-April 15, 1922* -- Moonlight Motifs: Garden of the Gods, Colorado and Other Paintings by Robert Reid, N.A.
Dec. 26-Jan. 13, 1923 -- Paintings and Pastels by Henry C. White
Jan. 15-27, 1923* -- Paintings of Spain by William J. Potter
Jan. 29-Feb. 10, 1923 -- Water Colors of the South Sea Islands by William Ritschel, N.A.
Feb. 12-March 3, 1923 -- Paintings by Willard L. Metcalf
March 5-31, 1923 -- Paintings of the Far East by Leon Gaspard
March 19-31, 1923* -- Landscape Paintings by Guy Wiggins, A.N.A.
April 2-21, 1923* -- Portrait Drawings by Ercole Cartotto
April 19-May 6, 1923 -- Paintings by Leading American Artists
Oct. 1-20, 1923 -- Paintings by Sidney E. Dickinson, A.N.A.
Oct. 22- Nov. 3, 1923 -- Paintings and Sculpture by Mathilda Brown (Mrs. Frederick Van Wyck)
Nov. 5-17, 1923 -- Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by William Gedney Bunce
Dec. 11-23, 1923* -- Water Colors by James Montgomery Flagg
Jan. 14-26, 1924 -- Exhibition of Nudes, Portraits, Landscapes and Genre by Eugene Paul Ullman
Feb. 18-March 8, 1924 -- Paintings by Willard L. Metcalf
March 27-April 5, 1924 -- Connecticut Landscapes by Guy Wiggins, A.N.A.
Dec. 1-27, 1924 -- Maurice Fromkes
Jan. 5-17, 1925 -- Paintings of the Pacific Coast by Armin Hansen
Jan. 19-31, 1925 -- Martha Walter
Feb. 16-March 7, 1925 -- Willard L. Metcalf
March 9-21, 1925 -- John Noble
March 23-April 11, 1925 -- Bruce Crane
May 4-16, 1925 -- Brynjulf Strandenaes Exhibition of Portraits
May 18-30, 1925 -- Paintings by Robert Brackman
Dec. 7-31, 1925 -- Paintings by the Late Willard Metcalf
Dec. 7-21, 1925 -- Sketches by Dorothea A. Dreier,
Jan. 11-23, 1926 -- Recent Landscape Paintings by Frank V. Du Mond
Jan. 25-Feb. 13, 1926 -- Smaller Paintings by Max Bohm
Feb. 15-March 6, 1926 -- Paintings of the Sea by William Ritschel
April 13-May 2, 1926 -- Jonas Lie
April 26-May 15, 1926 -- Landscapes and Street Scenes by William Jean Beauley
Nov. 15-27, 1926 -- California Marine Paintings and Water Colors by Armin Hansen
Nov. 29-Dec. 18, 1926 -- Water Colors by Frank W. Benson
Nov. 29-Dec. 18, 1926 -- Silver-Point Drawings by Ercole Cartotto
Jan. 10-22, 1927 -- Portraits by Millie Bruhl Frederick (Mrs. Leopold Fredrick)
Jan. 24-Feb. 12, 1927 -- Paintings of Cornwall and Devonshire by W. Elmer Schofield
Jan. 24-Feb. 12, 1927 -- Etchings by Teresa Cerutti Simmons, Watercolors by Will Simmons
Feb. 14-March 5, 1927 -- Sculpture by Heinz Warneke
March 28-April 16, 1927 -- Paintings by Henry Golden Dearth
April 18-30, 1927 -- Decorative Flower Paintings by Olin Howland
April 18-30, 1927 -- Recent Water Colors by John Whorf of Boston
Oct. 10-28, 1927 -- Decorative Embroideries by Georgiana Brown Harbeson
Nov. 14-26, 1927 -- Pastels and Etchings of Cambodia and China by Lucille Douglass
Nov. 28-Dec. 24, 1927 -- Works by Gari Melchers
Nov. 28-Dec. 24, 1927 -- Sculpture by Max Kalish
Dec. 26-Jan. 14, 1928 -- Water Color Exhibition of West African Native Types by Erick Berry; Also a Group of West African Pottery and Brass Figures Made by the Natives of Nigeria
Dec. 29-Jan. 14, 1928 -- Paintings by Joacb Dooyewaard
Jan. 14-26, 1928 -- Decorative Paintings by Jane Peterson
Feb. 7-April 29, 1928 -- Alfred Hutty
Feb. 13-25, 1928 -- Water Colors by Alice Judson
March 12-24, 1928 -- Etchings of Ancient Dances by Teresa Cerutti-Simmons and Wild Life by Will Simmons
March 12-24, 1928 -- An Important Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman
March 12-24, 1928 -- Sculpture by Heinz Warnecke
March 26-April 14, 1928 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
April, 1928 -- Water Colors by William Ritschel, N.A.
April 15-May 5, 1928 -- Portrait Drawings in Pastel by Jessie Voss Lewis
Oct. 22-Nov. 3, 1928 -- Water Colors of France and Italy, and Etchings by Louis Wolchonok
Oct. 22-Nov. 3, 1928 -- Poetic Landscapes with Figures by Henry M. Rosenberg of Nova Scotia
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, 1928 -- Water Colors by Frank W. Benson
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, 1928 -- Water Colors of Architectural Subjects in France, Also Landscape and Figures by William de Leftwick Dodge
Dec. 1-28, 1928 -- Alfred Hutty
Dec. 3-24, 1928 -- Important Exhibition of Early and Recent Works by Childe Hassam of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Dec. 3-24, 1928 -- Still Life Paintings by Ruth Payne Burgess
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, 1929 -- Drawings by Frank di Gioia
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, 1929 -- Memorial Exhibition, Water Color Sketches by Thomas Moran, N.A.
Dec. 27-Jan. 14, 1929 -- Erick Berry
Dec. 27-Jan. 14, 1929 -- Helen K. McCarthy Memorial Exhibition
Dec. 29-Jan. 14, 1929 -- Paintings by Jacob Dooyewaard
circa 1928 -- Indian and Animal Pictures and Bronzes by Edwin Willard Deming
Jan. 28-Feb. 9, 1929 -- Painitings of Western Life by F. Tenney Johnson
Jan. 28-Feb. 9, 1929 -- Paintings and Water Colors by Alice Judson
Feb. 11-23, 1929 -- Paintings and Drawings by Max Bohm
Feb. 11-23, 1929 -- Landscapes and Marines by Jay Connaway
Feb. 25-March 9, 1929 -- Water-Colors by Harold Putnam Browne
Feb. 25-March 9, 1929 -- Paintings by Truman Fassett
March 11-23, 1929 -- Recent Water Colors by C.E. Polowetski
March 11-23, 1929 -- Louis Ritman
March 25-April 6, 1929 -- Landscapes by Frank Vincent Du Mond
March 25-April 6, 1929 -- Water Colors by Armin Hansen of California
March 25-April 6, 1929 -- Sculptures by Roy Sheldon
April 8-20, 1929 -- Water Colors by John Whorf, Distinguished Young Boston Artist
Oct. 21-Nov. 2, 1929 -- Corners in Spain, An Exhibition of Paintings by Wells M. Sawyer
Nov. 4-17, 1929 -- Recent Sculpture by Heinz Warnecke
Nov. 4-16, 1929 -- Paintings of Ireland and Other Scenes by Power O'Malley
Nov. 18-30, 1929 -- Group of Recent Paintings by Hayley Lever
Nov. 18-30, 1929 -- Recent Water Colors and Etchings by Louis Wolchonok
Dec. 2-21, 1929 -- Paintings by Maurice Fromkes
Jan. 30-Feb. 11 [192?] -- Water Colors of Greek Temples in Sicily by Wm. De Leftwich Dodge
Feb. 2-15 [192?] -- Figure Paintings by Murray Bewley
March 15-April 3 [192?] -- Paintings by Willard L. Metcalf
March 28-April 16 [192?] -- Paintings by Henry Golden Dearth
April 2-21 [192?] -- Landscape Paintings by Bruce Crane, N.A
Oct. 17-29 [192?] -- Water Colors of the Rivera by Ferris Connah
Oct. 18-30 -- Paintings and Drawings by George Wharton Edwards
Oct. 25-Nov. 13 [192?] -- Recent Landscapes by John F. Carlson, N.A.
Oct. 25-Nov. 13 [192?] -- John F. Carlson
[192?] -- Indian and Animal Pictures and Bronzes by Edwin Willard Deming
Nov. 19-Dec. 1 [192?] -- Water Colors of Architectural Subjects in France, also Landscape and Figures by William De Leftwich Dodge
Jan. 20-Feb 1, 1930 -- West African Water Colors by Erick Berry
Jan. 20-Feb. 1, 1930 -- Paintings by Nelson C. White
Feb., 1930 -- Thelma Wood
Feb. 3-15, 1930 -- Paintings by Horace Brown
Feb. 17-March 1, 1930 -- Paintings by Francis Speight
Feb. 17-March 1, 1930 -- Paintings by Ruth Payne Burgess
March 3-15, 1930 -- Paintings by John Noble
March 17-29, 1930 -- Russian Paintings by Irwin D. Hoffman, Also a Group of Recent Watercolors
March 17-29, 1930 -- Alexander Warshawsky
March 31-April 12, 1930 -- Memorial Exhibition, Paintings and Watercolors of Sigurd Skou
March 31-April 12, 1930 -- Emmanuel Andrew Cavacos
April 14-26, 1930 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
Oct. 20-Nov. 1, 1930 -- Recent Paintings of Lake Como by Charles Warren Eaton
Nov. 3-15, 1930 -- Pastels and Etchings of Angkor and the Far East by Lucille Douglass
Nov. 17-29, 1930 -- Joseph Szekely
Nov. 17-29, 1930 -- Important Exhibiton of Paintings by a "Group of Americans"
Dec. 1-13, 1930 -- Diana Thorne and Canine Portraiture
Dec. 1-13, 1930 -- Recent Paintings of Ireland by Power O'Malley
Dec. 1-13, 1930 -- Paintings by Charles M. Cox of Boston
Jan. 19-31, 1931 -- Portraits by Jere R. Wickwire
Jan. 20-Feb. 1, 1931 -- Nelson C. White
Jan. 24-Feb. 7, 1931 -- Pastels and Etchings of Angkor and the Far East by Lucille Douglass
Feb. 2-24, 1931 -- Recent Paintings by Lillian Gentle
Feb. 2-24, 1931 -- Impressions of India and Palestine by Ruth Coleman
Feb. 16-28, 1931 -- Watercolors of Vermont Scenes and Other Views by Ruth Payne Burgess
Feb. 16-28, 1931 -- Martha Walter Recent Work in Oil and Watercolor
March 2-14, 1931 -- Recent Paintings by Alice Judson
March 2-28, 1931 -- Paintings & Drawings by Gari Melchers
March 16-28, 1931 -- Recent Watercolors by Harold Putnam Brown
March 30-April 11, 1931 -- Paintings by Louis Kronberg
March 30-April 11, 1931 -- Watercolors by John Whorf
April 13-25, 1931 -- Americans by American Artists, Exhibition of Portraits
April 13-25, 1931 -- Louis Kronberg
April 13-25, 1931 -- Portraits and Crayon Heads by Ferris Connah
April 13-May 2, 1931 -- Abbott H. Thayer
Sept. 22-Oct. 6, 1931 -- Water Colors by Gladys Brannigan, Alice Judson, Margery Ryerson
Oct. 19-30, 1931 -- Portraits by William Steene
Nov. 2-7, 1931 -- Portraits and Sketches by Maria Kammerer under the Patronage of Countess Laszlo Szechenyi
Nov. 9-21, 1931 -- Paintings by Bessie Lasky
Nov. 23-Dec. 5, 1931 -- Recent Oils, Water Colors and Etchings by Joseph Margulies
Dec. 7-21, 1931 -- Recent Paintings by George Wharton Edwards
Dec. 7-19, 1931 -- Paintings and Etchings of African and American Big Game by Major A. Radclyffe Dugmore
Dec. 7-19, 1931 -- Watercolors of Yucatan, "Land of the Mayas" by William de Leftwich Dodge
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, 1932 -- Water Colors of the Yellowstone and Mexican Series by Thomas Moran, N.A.
Jan. 11-23, 1932 -- Paintings, Watercolors and Etchings of Animals by Sybilla Mittell Weber
Jan. 25-Feb. 6, 1932 -- Paintings by George Oberteuffer, Member of the Salon d'Automne, Paris
Feb. 8-March 5, 1932 -- Important 19th and 20th Century American Painters
March 7-19, 1932 -- Paintings by Mrs. B. King Couper
March 7-19, 1932 -- Drawings by Maurice Sterne, Ernest Fiene, Alexander Brook, yasuo Kuniyoski, Bernard Karfiol, Peggy Bacon, and Leon Kroll
March 28-April 9, 1932 -- Watercolors by John Whorf
April 11-30, 1932 -- Forty Years of American Art
Oct. 3-15, 1932 -- New Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 19-Nov. 5, 1932 -- Paintings by Stephen Etnier
Nov. 7-30, 1932 -- Paintings by Edward Bruce
circa 1932 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etnier
Jan.30-Feb. 25, 1933 -- Important Exhibition of Paintings by Thomas Eakins
March 6-25, 1933 -- 19th and 20th Century Watercolors
March 27-April 14, 1933 -- Paintings by Francis Speight
April 17-May 6, 1933 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
May 15-31, 1933 -- 19th Century American Landscape Artists
Nov. 27-Dec., 1933 -- Water Colors by Emil Holzhaur
Feb. 26-March 17, 1934 -- Paintings by Stephen Etnier
March 19-April 7, 1934 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
April 16-May 5, 1934 -- Bali Studies by Maurice Sterne
June-Aug., 1934 -- Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1934 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 15-Nov. 3, 1934 -- New and Recent Paintings by American Artists
Nov. 5-21, 1934 -- Paintings by Sidney Laufman
Nov. 26-Dec., 1934 -- Recent Vermont Landscapes by Edward Bruce
circa 1934 -- American Figure Paintings of the 19th and 20th Century
Jan. 7-26, 1935 -- Paintings and Watercolors from the Samuel Halpert Estate
Feb. 4-28, 1935 -- Small Paintings by 19th and 20th Century American Artists
March 4-22, 1935 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etneir
March 25-April 13, 1935 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
April 22-May 11, 1935 -- Figure and Landscape Studies by Leon Kroll
May 20-June, 1935 -- Group Exibhition of Paintings
Summer, 1935 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 1-26, 1935 -- Paintings by Childe Hassam
Oct. 28-Nov. 16, 1935 -- Watercolors by Millard Sheets
through Dec., 1935 -- Paintings by Americans
Jan. 1936 -- Paintings by Americans
Feb. 3-29, 1936 -- Important Exhibition of 19th and 20th Century American Painters
March 2-21, 1936 -- Stephen Etnier
March 30-April 19, 1936 -- Watercolors by John Whorf
May 18-June, 1936 -- Paintings by American Artists
Summer, 1936 -- Paintings by American Artists
September, 1936 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 12-31, 1936 -- Contemportary Viewpoint
through Nov. 30, 1936 -- 19th and 20th Century American Figure Paintings
circa 1936 -- Landscapes--Contemporary Viewpoint
Jan. 11-30, 1937 -- Selected Landscapes
Feb., 1937 -- Contemporary American Sculpture
March 15-April 3, 1937 -- Watercolors by Millard Sheets
April 12-30, 1937 -- John Whorf
April 27-May 16, 1937 -- Maurice Sterne
May, 1937 -- Paintings by American Artists
Summer, 1937 -- Paintings
Oct. 1-15, 1937 -- Recent Watercolors
Oct. 18-Nov. 6, 1937 -- Paintings by Lucille Blanche
Nov. 8-30, 1937 -- Paintings by American Artists
Dec. 6-24, 1937 -- Watercolors by Lester Field
Jan. 3-22, 1938 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etnier
Jan. 24-Feb. 5, 1938 -- Paintings by Margaret Cooper
Feb. 7-26, 1938 -- Colonial Portraits
March 7-26, 1938 -- Recent Oils and Watercolors by Millard Sheet
April 4-23, 1938 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
Summer, 1938 -- Paintings by American Artists
through Oct., 1938 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 24-Nov. 12, 1938 -- Recent Watercolors by Karl Oberteuffer
Nov. 21-Dec. 17, 1938 -- Paintings for the Home by American Artists
Jan. 16-Feb. 4, 1939 -- Recent Paintings by Floyd Clymer
Feb. 6-25, 1939 -- Harry Hering
March 6-31, 1939 -- Figure Paintings by American Artists
April 3-22, 1939 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
May 15-June 3, 1939 -- Recent Watercolors by Millard Sheets
Summer, 1939 -- Selected Group of Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1939 -- Paintings and Watercolors by American Artists
through Oct. 13, 1939 -- Recent Paintings by a Group of American Artists
Oct. 16-Nov. 4, 1939 -- Recent Paintings by Saul Schary
Nov. 13-Dec. 2, 1939 -- Toreros and Dancers of Spain and Mexico by Carlos Ruano Llopis
Dec., 1939 -- Paintings for the Home
Nov. 5-17 [193?] -- Table Portraits by Eulabee Dix
[193?] -- Paintings by American Artists
Jan. 2-27, 1940 -- Stephen Etnier
Feb. 12-March 2, 1940 -- Recent Watercolors by Robert Carson
March 11-30, 1940 -- Daniel Serra Paintings
April 8-27, 1940 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
April 28-May 18, 1940 -- Rubin Recent Paintings
through June 29, 1940 -- Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
through Sept. 28, 1940 -- Summer Exhibition of Paintings by a Selected Group of Early and Contemporary American Artists
Oct. 1-19, 1940 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Oct. 21-Nov. 9, 1940 -- Recent Watercolors by Allen Ingles Palmer
Nov. 18-Dec. 7, 1940 -- Helen Sawyer
Dec., 1940 -- Selected Paintings for the Home, and A Group of Original Studies in Color by Maurice Sterne
Jan. 13-Feb. 8, 1941 -- Watercolors by American Artists
Feb. 17-March 15, 1941 -- Paintings by Stephen Etnier, Sidney Laufman, and Francis Speight
April 7-26, 1941 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
April 28-May 17, 1941 -- Remembrances of South America and British West Indies by Manicol
May 19-June 30, 1941 -- Group of Paintings by Selected Contemporary American Artists
Summer, 1941 -- Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1941 -- A Selected Group of Paintings by Americna Artists
Oct. 6-25, 1941 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Oct. 27-Nov. 15, 1941 -- Eliot O'Hara Watercolors
Nov. 17-Dec. 5, 1941 -- Recent Paintings by Jay Connaway
Nov. 17-Dec. 6, 1941 -- Recent Watercolors by Richard A. Kimball
Dec. 8-27, 1941 -- Edith Blum Paintings
Jan. 5-24, 1942 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etnier
through Feb. 28, 1942 -- Selected Paintings by a Group of Contemporary American Artists
March 9-28, 1942 -- New Talents Presented by the Gloucester Society of Artists
April 6-25, 1942 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
May, 1942 -- Selected Paintings by Contemporary American Artists
June 2-13, 1942 -- Yun Gee
Summer, 1942 -- Selected Paintings by Early and Contemporary American Artists
Summer, 1942 -- Paintings by Selected American Artists
Oct. 5-31, 1942 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Nov. 9-30, 1942 -- Watercolors by American Artists
Jan. 18-Feb. 6, 1943 -- Paintings by Yovan Radenkovitch
April 4-24, 1943 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
April 26-May 15, 1943 -- Paintings and Watercolors by Childe Hassam
May 25-June 5, 1943 -- Exhibition by Gladys Irene Cook
June, 1943 -- Selected Paintings by American Artists
Summer, 1943 -- Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1943 -- Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Oct. 4-23, 1943 -- Paintings by Yun Gee
Nov., 1943 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Jan. 24-Feb. 12, 1944 -- Recent Watercolors by James Fitzgerald
Feb. 14-March 4, 1944 -- Paintings by Sidney Laufman
March 6-25, 1944 -- Paintings by Jessie Ansbacher
April 3-22, 1944 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
May, 1944 -- Paintings by Important American Artists
Summer, 1944 -- Exhibition of Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Summer, 1944 -- Exhibition of Selected Paintings by a Group of American Artists
Oct. 2-21, 1944 -- Recent Paintings by Jay Connaway
Oct. 23-Nov. 11, 1944 -- Harry Hering
Nov. 13-Dec. 2, 1944 -- Paintings by Hobson Pittman
Dec., 1944 -- Paintings for the Home by American Artists
Jan. 3-13, 1945 -- Paintings by Therese Steinhardt
Jan. 22-Feb. 10, 1945 -- Louis Ritman
Feb. 18-, 1945 -- Memorial Exhibition, Paintings and Pastels by William Henry Singer, Jr., N.A.
Nov. 19-Dec. 7, 1963 -- New Paintings by Aaron Bohrod
April, 1964 -- Watercolors and Pastels
April 21-May 9, 1964 -- Grigory Gluckmann
May 13-29, 1964 -- Frank di Gioia Recent Paintings
Oct., 1964 -- Group Exhibition
Nov. 3-21, 1964 -- Stephen Etnier
Nov. 24-Dec. 12, 1964 -- Thomas Blagden
Jan., 1965 -- Comtemporary American Artists
Feb. 2-14, 1965 -- Figure Paintings by Murray Bewley
Feb. 2-14, 1965 -- Exhibition by George Biddle
Feb. 11-23, 1965 -- Paintings and Drawings by Max Bohm
Feb. 14-26, 1965 -- Paintings by Arthur C. Goodwin
Feb. 16-28, 1965 -- Water Colors by Matilda Browne
Feb. 16-March 6, 1965 -- Water Colors by Adolf Dehn
March, 1965 -- 19th and 20th Century American Artists
March 1-13, 1965 -- Bruce Crane, N.A.
March 6-25, 1965 -- Pastels of the Cascapedia River, Canada, by Arthur C. Goodwin
March 26-April 7, 1965 -- Paintings by Howard Russell Butler, N.A.
March 23-April 10, 1965 -- Paintings by Dan Lutz
March 28-April 16, 1965 -- Paintings by Henry Golden Dearth
April 2-21, 1965 -- Landscape Paintings by Bruce Crane, N.A.
April 13-May 1, 1965 -- Paintings by Louis Bosa
April 16-28, 1965 -- Water Colors and Etchings by Adolphe W. Blondheim
May, 1965 -- Gallery Contemporaries
Oct. 25-Nov. 13, 1965 -- Recent Landscapes by John F. Carlson, N.A.
Oct. 26-Nov. 13, 1965 -- Twenty-Four New Paintings by Aaron Bohrod, Artist in Residence, University of Wisconsin
Nov. 2-14, 1965 -- Paintings by Ann Crane
Nov. 5-17, 1965 -- Memorial Exhibition of Paintings of Venice by Wm. Gedney Bunce, N.A.
Nov. 7-19, 1965 -- Paintings and Sculpture by Matilda Browne
Nov. 16-Dec. 4, 1965 -- Electra Bostwick
Dec. 7-30, 1965 -- Recent Drawings and Watercolors of European Countries and North Africa by Frank di Gioia
Jan. 11-29, 1966 -- Georges Schreiber Watercolors: 1963-1965
Jan.-Feb., 1966 -- 19th and 20th Century American Artists
Feb.-March, 1966 -- Group Exhibition
June, 1966 -- Group Exhibition
Oct. 11-29, 1966 -- Thomas Blagden
Nov. 1-19, 1966 -- Stephen Etnier
Nov. 22-Dec. 10, 1966 -- Pleissner
Jan. 24-Feb. 11, 1967 -- Xavier Gonzalez
April, 1967 -- Group Exhibition
April 18-May 6, 1967 -- Grigory Gluckmann
July, 1967 -- Group Exhibition
undated -- Etchings and Color-Etchings
undated -- Etchings of China and Cambodia by Lucille Douglass
undated -- Thomas Jefferson Bust in Bronze by Robert Aitken, N.A.
undated -- Paintings by Ossip L. Linde
undated -- Etchings by William Meyerowitz
undated -- Recent Screens and Panels by Roy Mac Nicol
undated -- Summer Exhibition of Paintings and Watercolors by 19th and 20th Century American Artists
undated -- Paintings by Clement
undated -- Important Works in Paintings and Sculpture by Leading American Artists
Jan. 3-14, undated -- Armin Hansen
Jan. 8-27, undated* -- Recent Etchings by William Meyerowitz
Jan. 8-31, undated -- Group of American Figure Paintings, 19th and 20th Century
Jan. 9-21, undated -- Paintings by Katherine Langhorne Adams
Jan. 16-28, undated -- Paintings by Dewitt Parshall, N.A., and Douglass Parshall, N.A.
Jan. 23-Feb. 11, undated -- Paintings by Bruce Crane, Elliott Daingerfield, Granville Smith, and F. Ballard Williams
Jan. 27-Feb. 11, undated -- Willam de Leftwick Dodge
Jan. 28-Feb. 16, undated -- Paintings by Gari Melchers
Jan. 29-Feb. 10, undated -- Paintings of the California Coast by Armin Hansen
Jan. 30-Feb. 11, undated -- Sigrud Skou
Feb. 13-25, undated -- Water Colors by Alice Judson
Feb. 13-25, undated -- Paintings by Guy Wiggins, N.A.
Feb. 13-March 11, undated -- Paintings by H.T. Keasbey
Feb. 15-March 5, undated -- Frederic James
Feb. 17-March 1, undated -- Silver Point Drawings by Thelma E. Wood
Feb. 18-March 6, undated -- Landcapes, Nature Moods Expressed in Terms of Light by Julie Mathilde Morrow
Feb. 18-March 8, undated -- Paintings of Venice, Rome and French Landscape, also Pastel Drawings of the Battle Sectors of the 26th Division, A.E.F. by J. Alden Twachtman
Feb. 27-March 10, undated -- Portrait Busts and Drawings by Alexander Portnoff
March 5-17, undated* -- Pastels of the Hudson River by Arthur C. Goodwin
March 7-16, undated -- Paintings of Africa and Spain by Lillian Genth
March 7-26, undated -- Sigurd Skou
March 8-20, undated -- Paintings by Sigurd Skou
March 10-22, undated -- MacDowell Club of New York City Annual Exhibition of Paintings
March 22-April 10, undated -- Paintings of the Cathedrals of France by Pieter Van Veen
March 26-April 12, undated -- Paintings by E. Martin Hennings
March 26-April 14, undated -- Recent Etchings by Elias M. Grossman
March 28-April 16, undated -- Martha Walter Water Colors of Spain and North Africa
April 5-17, undated -- Paintings by Ernest L. Blumenschein, Victor Huggins, Walter Ufer
April 7-19, undated -- Figure Paintings by Louis Ritman
April 12-23, undated -- Portraits and Figure Paintings by Edith Catlin Phelps
April 12-24, undated -- Paintings of American Gardens by Abbott Graves
April 16-28, undated -- Portrait Drawings in Pastel by Jessie Voss Lewis (Mrs. H.L. Daingerfield Lewis)
April 19-May 1, undated -- Paintings by Valentino Molina
April 21-May 3, undated -- Paintings of Tahiti and California by William Ritschel, N.A.
April 21-May 3, undated -- Leonard Lopp, Glacier Park Artist
April 22-May 15, undated -- Sculpture for House, Garden & Grounds by Leading American Artists, and Pottery by Clara L. Poillon
April 24-May 5, undated -- Paintings by Thalia Millett
April 26-May 15, undated -- Dan Lutz, Mighican Summer and Mexican Sojourn
April 26-May 15, undated -- William H. Singer
April 27-May 16, undated -- Recent Paintings by Gluckmann
May 3-28, undated -- Exhibition of Sculpture for Garden and Grounds by Leading Sculptors
May 5-17, undated -- Recent American Sculpture in Bronze, Wood and Terra Cotta for the Town and Country House, Grounds and Garden
Oct. 11-23, undated -- Paintings by Anna Heyward Taylor
Oct. 25-Nov. 13, undated -- Water Colors by Alice Judson
Oct. 27-Nov. 15, undated -- Paintings and Etchings by William Auerbach-Levy
Oct. 30-Nov. 11, undated* -- Connecticut Landscape Paintings by Robert Nisbet, A.N.A.
Oct. 31-Nov. 12, undated -- Paintings of China and Tibet by Alice Job
Oct. 31-Nov. 14, undated -- Drawings by James Wilkie
Nov. 5-17, undated -- Paintings of Venice
Nov. 15-27, undated* -- Water Colors by Childe Hassam
Nov. 16-Dec. 5, undated -- Recent Etchings by Alfred Hutty
Nov. 16-Dec. 5, undated -- Paintings by W. Elmer Schofield
Nov. 17-29, undated -- Paintings and Etchings by Power O'Malley
Nov. 18-30, undated -- Recent Work in Water Color and Etching by Louis Wolchonok
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, undated -- Winter Landscapes in Water Color by Walter Launt Palmer, N.A.
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, undated -- Painter Friends, Robert H. Nisbet, Guy C, Wiggins, Edward C. Volkert, Wilson Irvine, George M. Bruestle, and Carl J. Nordell
Nov. 23-, undated -- Landscapes by Ault, Brook, Coleman, Karfiol, Ritman, Speight, Sterne, and Weber
Nov. 23-Dec. 6, undated -- Portraits of America's Most Distinguished Women by Leon Gordon
Nov. 24-Dec. 3, undated -- Sculpture by Gleb Derujinsky
Nov. 26-Dec., undated -- Exhibition of Recent Vermont Landscapes by Edward Bruce
Nov. 26-Dec. 5, undated -- Alfred Hutty
Nov. 27-Dec. 9, undated -- Paintings by Sigure Schou
Dec. 1-27, undated -- Works Painted in Spain by Maurice Fromkes
Dec. 1-25, undated -- Annual Holiday Exhibition of Selected Paintings of Limited Size
Dec. 3-29, undated -- Recent Paintings, Water Colors, and Etchings by Hilde Hassam, N.A., of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Dec. 6-30, undated -- Selected Paintings for the Home by American Artists
Dec. 14-Jan. 2, undated -- Recent Paintings by George Shillard
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, undated -- Selected Small Paintings for the Home
Dec. 27-Jan. 12, undated -- Helen K. McCarthy Memorial Exhibition
Dec. 30-Jan. 18, undated -- Paintings by Stewart McDermot
Dec. 31-Jan. 12, undated -- Second Annual Exhibition in Pure Water Color by The Aquarellists
Provenance:
Milch Gallery gave the Archives of American Art a small selection of correspondence, photographs, and printed matter, and loaned a few other items in 1966-1967; these records were microfilmed on reels D285, N730, and NM1-NM2. Records of the Milch Gallery were purchased from the estate of Harold C. Milch by Elliott Galleries of New York City, and subsequently acquired by Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, which donated them to the Archives in 1986. With the exception of the scrapbook about Thomas Moran (reel N730; present location of the original is unknown), prior loans and gifts from Milch Gallery were incorporated and refilmed with the 1986 gift.
Stuart Feld of Hirschl & Adler Galleries donated an additional .8 linear feet of records in 1995. Zachary Ross of Hirschl & Adler Galleries donated 2.2 linear feet in 2014.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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.
