The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
Scope and Contents note:
The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
Artists' files include biographical material; artists' statements; correspondence; sales and expense reports; lists and notes; guest lists; writings by others; receipts, invoices, and statements; printed material, including press releases, exhibition announcements, brochures, catalogues, clippings; and photographs of artwork and artists. Included are extensive files on Afro Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Robert Broderson, Anselmo Franesconi, Joseph Glasco, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Luciano Minguzzi, Ennio Morlotti, Bernard Perlin, Daniel Rice, and Bernard Rosenthal. There are also files on Jan Cox, Kay Sage, and Kazuo Wakabayashi.
Correspondence comprises the largest series in the collection and consists of general correspondence; correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States; and correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad. Letters focus on routine business matters, e.g., appraisals and sales, acquisitions, and organizing exhibitions at the Catherine Viviano Gallery and other venues.
General correspondence includes letters between Catherine Viviano and artists and their family members. Among the correspondents are: Mary Callery, Bernard Chaet, Piero and Virginia Dorazio, Jean Dubuffet, Dallas Ernst, Karl Fortress, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Sage Goodwin, Morris Graves, José Guerrero, Earle Ludgin, Joan Miro, Alfonso Ossorio, Dorothea Tanning, Stuyvesant Van Veen, Adja Yunkers and his wife, Dore Ashton, among others. Also found is Viviano's correspondence with clients, many of whom were prominent collectors, e.g., Richard Brown Baker, Carl and Joan Fisher, Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman, Joseph Hirschhorn, Marc Moyens, Vincent Price, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, Stanley Seeger, and Frederick and Dorothy Zimmerman. Of interest, are letters from Elizabeth Bishop inquiring about the purchase of a work of art from the gallery. Included are letters from art historians, museum directors, curators, representatives at other art-related institutions, and publishers including Walter Bareiss, Walter Barker, Dominque De Menil, Valentine Dudensing, William Eisendrath, S. Lane Faison, Emily Genauer, Bertram Goodhue, Erhard and Barbara Göpel, James Laughlin, Porter McCray, Abram Lerner, Doris Meltzer, Stephen Robson Miller, John Bernard Myers, Perry Rathbone, Belle Krasne Ribicoff, Meyer Shapiro, George Stout, and Curt Valentin.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States contains letters between Viviano and museum directors, curators, dealers, artists, and collectors pertaining to loans, shipping and delivery of artwork, appraisals and sales, and acquisitions. Files include substantive correspondence with the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Federation of the Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, the Barnes Foundation, Bristol Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Bundy Art Gallery, Carnegie Institute, City Art Museum of St. Louis, Cleveland Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Denver Art Museum, Des Moines Art Center, Detroit Institute of Arts, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Museum of Modern Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Wadsworth Atheneum, Walker Art Center, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Atkins Museum of the Fine Arts, World House Gallery, and Yale University Art Library.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad primarily concerns the lending of artwork for exhibitions, acquisition and sales; also included are letters requesting biographical information on artists. Letters between Catherine Viviano and representatives of Max Beckmann Gesellschaft Archiv and Galerie Gunther Franke contain provenance-related information on Beckmann's work.
Business records document the routine business operations of the gallery. Printed material includes an incomplete run of Catherine Viviano Gallery exhibition catalogues; invitations and announcements from other galleries and institutions; and miscellaneous printed material.
Photographs include three images of miscellaneous artwork used for art reference.
Arrangement note:
Records are generally arranged by material type and in chronological order thereafter. Artists' files and correspondence files are arranged in alphabetical order and materials within the folders are arranged chronologically
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Artists' Files, 1945-1986 (Boxes 1-3; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1985 (Boxes 3-6; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Business Records, 1949-1972 (Boxes 10-11; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1930-1990 (Boxes 11-13; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographs (1948-1954), undated (Box 14; 1 folder)
Biographical/Historical note:
Catherine Viviano (1889-1992) opened her gallery in 1949 on 42 East 57th Street in New York City. Specializing in contemporary American paintings and sculpture, the gallery featured younger American and European artists, e.g., Robert Broderson, Carlyle Brown, Jan Cox, Joseph Glasco, Peter Lanyon, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Bernard Perlin, Joseph Rollo, Bernard Rosenthal, and Kay Sage, among others. The gallery was also notable for introducing the work of Italian artists, who had been cut off from the American art scene during World War II, including Afro Basaldella and his brother Mirko Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Leonardo Cremonini, and Luciano Minguzzi.
Born in Italy in 1899 and raised in Chicago, Catherine Viviano came to New York in the early 1930's to work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, where she remained for sixteen years before founding the Catherine Viviano Gallery.
In 1970, Catherine Viviano closed the gallery, though she continued to work from her home as an art dealer and consultant. She died of a stroke at the age of ninety-two in 1992.
Related Archival Materials note:
Among the other resources relating to Catherine Viviano Gallery in the Archives of American Art are the Kay Sage papers, 1925-circa 1985, bulk 1950-1965.
Provenance:
The Catherine Viviano Gallery records were donated in 2003 on behalf of Margaret Viviano, Catherine Viviano's sister, by her grandnephew, Peter C. Salerno, who had Power of Attorney for Margaret Viviano.
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.
The Zorach family papers measure 4.4 linear feet and consist of materials relating to the lives and careers of sculptor and painter William Zorach, his wife painter and weaver Marguerite, and their children, painter and multi-media artist Dahlov Ipcar and collector and art dealer Tessim Zorach. The bulk of the papers consists of letters to Tessim regarding his parent's artwork. Additional materials include scattered letters to William Zorach; writings and notes by William, Marguerite, and Tessim; a sketchbook and drawings by William; prints by Marguerite; Marguerite's scrapbook; printed materials; and photographs of the Zorach family and of William Zorach in his studio and at work.
Scope and Content Note:
The Zorach family papers measure 4.4 linear feet and consist of materials relating to the lives and careers of sculptor and painter William Zorach, his wife painter and weaver Marguerite, and their children, painter and multi-media artist Dahlov Ipcar and collector and art dealer Tessim Zorach. The bulk of the papers consists of letters to Tessim regarding his parent's artwork. Additional materials include scattered letters to William Zorach; writings and notes by William, Marguerite, and Tessim; a sketchbook and drawings by William; prints by Marguerite; Marguerite's scrapbook; printed materials; and photographs of the Zorach family and of William Zorach in his studio and at work.
The majority of correspondence is between Tessim Zorach and various museums and galleries concerning exhibitions and donations of his parents' works of art. There are scattered letters to William Zorach among the correspondence. Business records consist of materials relating to the Collection of the Zorach Children, including lists of works of art by the Zorach's, a file relating to an exhibition of Zorach artwork at the Brooklyn Museum, and photographs of works of art considered for donation.
Writings and Notes include a typescript of an article written by Marguerite Zorach, writings by William Zorach, a typescript of Young Poems by William and Marguerite, as well as articles written by others about the Zorachs. Artwork by Marguerite Zorach includes two prints and a tracing. Also found is one sketchbook, and additional drawings by William Zorach. There is one unsigned lithograph.
The majority of exhibition announcements, catalogs, and clippings concern William and Marguerite Zorach although there are two announcements for Dahlov Ipcar. There is one scrapbook of clippings about Marguerite.
The papers include photographs of Marguerite and William Zorach, their parents, baby photos of Tessim and Dahlov, family pictures of the Zorachs, and of Marguerite and William in their studios. There are several folders of William Zorach working in his studios and additional photos of him carving a relief sculpture and a sculpture for the Southwest Bank. Most of these photographs contain detailed annotations written by William Zorach about the work. There is one folder of photographs of William in France in 1910-1911, including one of Zorach in Roi Partridge's studio. There is one photograph of Zorach taken by Ansel Adams in Yosemite, a photo of Zorach working by Arnold Newman, and several taken by Imogen Cunnigham.
Other photographs are of works of art, most of which depict William's works.
Artifacts include Marguerite's batik tools and approximately fifty commercially made printing blocks.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 9 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Information, circa 1907-1969 (Box 1, 6; 3 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-1982 (Box 1-2; 1.75 linear feet)
Series 3: Business Records, 1967-1971, circa 1960s-1970s (Box 2-3; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1930s-1973, 1987 (Box 3; 8 folders)
Series 5: Artworks, 1900-circa 1920s (Box 3, 6; 12 folders)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1922-1953 (Box 3; 1 folder)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1912-1982 (Box 3; 0.25 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1908-1966 (Box 3-5; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 9: Artifacts, circa 1910s, circa 1950s (Box 4; 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
William Zorach (1887-1966) was a modernist painter and sculptor working primarily in New York city, along with his wife Marguerite (1887-1968) who worked as a fauvist painter, printmaker, and textile artist. Their children were painter Dahlov Ipcar (1917-) and art collector Tessim Zorach (1915-1995.)
Born in Lithuania, William Zorach immigrated to the United States where his family settled in Cleveland, Ohio. An early interest in art led to a printmaking apprenticeship. He then moved to New York City and enrolled in the National Academy of Design where he studied painting and drawing. In 1910, Zorach traveled to Paris to study and where he met his wife Marguerite Thompson at the La Palette art school. Marguerite grew up in Fresno, California and studied art at Stanford University. Both artists were heavily influenced by the fauvist and cubist art movements.
Returning to America, Marguerite and William married and both continued to create and experiment with varied media. Their paintings were featured in the 1913 New York City Armory Show and they are credited with being among the first artists to introduce European modernist styles to American modernism. The Zorachs were very close both as a couple and as working active artists.
In the 1920s, Marguerite began to experiment with textiles and created large, fine art tapestries and hooked rugs. Also, she used batik dying techniques on fabrics. William also expanded his genre by creating direct sculpture in 1918, which would become his primary medium.
In 1915, William and Marguerite started a family with their son, Tessim. Two years later, their daughter Dahlov was born. The Zorachs divided the year and lived in New York City, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. In 1923, the family bought a farm on Georgetown Island, Maine where they lived, worked, and entertained friends.
Dahlov and Tessim were exposed to art from an early age. Dahlov showed artistic promise as a child and her parents supported her creativity by allowing her to express herself without formal training. Dahlov pursued painting and later became an illustrator for children's books. Additionally, she wrote fantasy novels and short stories. Dahlov married Adolf Ipcar in 1936. Like the rest of his family, Tessim Zorach developed an interest of art and along with his wife Peggy, he amassed a large private collection of ancient to modern art.
William and Marguerite continued to sculpt and paint until their deaths in 1966 and 1968, respectively.
Together, Dahlov and Tessim established the Collection of the Zorach Children which coordinated donations of their parents' art to many museums throughout the United States and the world. The artwork of both artists is found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Delaware Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Farnsworth Art Museum, Portland Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Philips Collection, and educational institutions such as Colby College, University of Vermont, Williams College, Bowdoin College, and the University of Virginia. In addition William has works associated with many public buildings, among them: Radio City Music Hall, New York City Municipal Court, the U.S. Post Office in Washington D.C. as well as Farleigh Dickinson University.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art holds the Dahlov Ipcar papers, 1906-1997. Also found is one oral history interview with William Zorach conducted by by John D. Morse on April 2, 1959 and an oral history interview with Dahlov Ipcar conducted by Robert F. Brown on November 13, 1979.
The bulk of William Zorach's papers are held by the Library of Congress.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming on reels NY59-1-NY59-4 and NY59-19. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are now held by the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division. This material is not described in the collection container inventory or finding aid.
Provenance:
William Zorach lent papers for microfilming to the Archives of American Art in 1959. Tessim Zorach donated materials between 1976-1987.
Restrictions:
Use of originals 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.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of art historian, collector, educator, and museum administrator John Davis Hatch measure 24.9 linear feet and date from 1790-1995. Within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence; personal business and legal documents; diaries; research, organization, and teaching files; writings; printed materials; photographs; and works of art (mostly sketches) by American artists. Research files regarding artists and specific subjects comprise the bulk of this collection.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of art historian, collector, educator, and museum administrator John Davis Hatch measure 24.9 linear feet and date from 1790-1995. Within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence; personal business and legal documents; diaries; research, organization and teaching files; writings; printed materials; photographs; and works of art (mostly sketches) by American artists. Research files regarding artists and specific subjects comprise the bulk of this collection.
Scattered biographical materials include an invitation to the Hatch's anniversary party in 1964, short biographical sketches and resumes, certificates, report cards, a silhouette of the Hatch Family circa 1904, and a typecript of a diary written by Olivia Hatch as a child.
Correspondence includes professional correspondence between Hatch and colleagues; letters from family and friends; and some materials regarding exhibitions from the Hatch Collection. The bulk of correspondence spans Hatch's professional career although there are scattered letters from 1915-1943 from Hatch to his parents. Also found are letters addressed to an unidentified "Henry." Correspondence is also found in the research files.
Personal business and financial records consist of inventories, bills, receipts, and other records for artworks purchased, loaned, or donated by Hatch. Also found are records from the J. D. Hatch Associates Cultural Consultants, a draft of Hatch's will, stock and tax materials, and travel papers and passports.
Scattered diaries and journal fragments and a transcript date from 1925-1965. Thirteen "Daily Reflection Journals" date from 1975-1987.
Research files on artists and subjects are extensive, comprising one-half of the collection. Files are varied and may include primary research materials, correspondence, printed materials, notes, and writings. Some of the artists' letters and other materials dated from 1790-early 1800s may have been purchased by Hatch. Among many other items, there is an illustrated letter written by Oscar Bluemner and photographs of Bluemner; primary research materials dating from the early 1800s on John Vanderlyn including a will, receipts, and correspondence; a letter from Rembrandt Peale dated 1830, and an autograph letter from John Trumbull dated 1790. Also found is an index card file.
Organization files contain files and records related to Hatch's affiliations with many cultural organizations. A small amount of teaching and education files consist of Hatch's notes and lectures from the University of Oregon and the University of Massachusetts, and from his continuing education courses he took at St. John's College. Writings and notes include short essays by Hatch, mostly concerning art, exhibitions and museum administration; book reviews; general notes, lists, and reports.
Printed Materials are comprised of exhibition catalogs and announcements, including those from the American Drawing Annual in the 1940s-1950s; printed articles annotated by Hatch; clippings; pricelists; and published works.
A small number of photographs are of Hatch, some by Dorothy Frazer; of his family and friends; and of artists. The bulk of the photographs are of works of art including those owned by Hatch.
Artwork includes two sketchbooks - one by Kenneth Callahan and another by Lloyd McNeill; and additional drawings and sketches by Julian Scott, Henry Kirke Browne, Kenneth Callahan, Ezra Clark, John Cranch, Jasper Francis Crospey, F. O. C. Darley, C. H. Granger, Seymour J. Guy, George Harvey, Edward Lamson Henry, Henry Inman, as well as unsigned or illegible names.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Information, circa 1900-1980s (Box 1; 8 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1903-1990s (Box 1-3; 2 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business and Legal Records, Date (Box 3; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Diaries and Journals, 1925-1987 (Box 3, 23; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 5: Research Files, 1790-1992 (Box 3-13, 20-21, 24; 12.7 linear feet)
Series 6: Organization Files, 1930s-1990s (Box 13-14; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 7: Teaching and Education Files, 1930s-1993 (Box 14-15; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 8: Writings and Notes, 1936-1990s (Box 15; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1870s-1990s (Box 15-19, 22, 25-26, OV1; 5.9 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1900-1990s (Box 22; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 11: Artwork, 1851-1973 (Box 22; 0.3 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Art historian, collector, educator, and museum administrator John Davis Hatch (1907-1996) worked in the Boston and New England area, as well as the Pacific Northwest, and New York state. Hatch served as director of the Art Institute of Seattle, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Albany Institute of Art and History, and the Norfolk Museum of Art and Sciences.
John Davis Hatch was born in San Francisco, California in 1907. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were architects and Hatch studied landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as an apprentice to Lockwood de Forest. After abandoning landscape architecture, he accepted a position as director of the Seattle Fine Arts Society (1928-1931) at the age of twenty-one and taught art history courses at the University of Washington.
In 1932, Hatch accepted the position of assistant director of the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. He also directed the federal Public Works of Art Project in New England. Additionally, Hatch served from 1940-1948 as director of the Albany Institute of Art and History and from 1950-1959 of the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. Hatch worked as an art advisor for exhibitions at five historically African-American colleges in Atlanta and in San Simeon in California. He founded the American Drawing Annual exhibition.
Hatch conducted extensive research on artists Oscar Bluemner and John Vanderlyn, American silverwork, and American drawing. In addition, Hatch collected American drawings and later donated many of works of art from his personal collection to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Aside from his early teaching in Washington state, Hatch taught at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Oregon. He was a member of numerous professional arts-related organizations.
In 1939, Hatch married Olivia Stokes with whom he had four children: Sarah, John, Daniel and James. He died in 1996.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art holds two oral history interviews with John Davis Hatch: June 8, 1964 conducted by H. Wade White and 1979-1980 conducted by Robert F. Brown. Also found is a separately cataloged photograph of Hatch and Henry Francis Taylor from 1933.
Additional research materials complied by Hatch are located in the Albany Institute of History and Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the library of the National Gallery of Art, and the Senate House, Kingston, New York.
Hatch donated two hundred and seventy American drawings to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Separated Material:
Four books annotated by Bluemner, a letter from Bluemner, a letter from A. Stieglitz to Bluemner, photographs of works of art, and exhibition materials were removed from the papers and merged with the Oscar Bluemner papers at the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
John Davis Hatch and the John Davis Hatch estate donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in several installments between 1960-1996. Many of the primary materials relating to John Vanderlyn were acquired by Hatch from a photographer in Kingston, New York, who received them from a niece of Vanderlyn. Robert Graham of James Graham and Sons gave Vanderlyn's will to Hatch.
Restrictions:
Use of originals 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.
The papers of Betty Carpenter measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1867-1971, with the bulk from 1927-1963. The papers document Betty Carpenter's extensive research of John Orne Johnson (J.O.J) Frost and George E. Lothrop, the primitive style painters whose work she collected. Included are: drafts, notes and manuscripts of Carpenter's unpublished book on Frost; primary source material including letters from Frost to his grandchildren, copies of articles by Frost; photographs of Frost, his family and paintings; scrapbooks compiled by Carpenter and Frost, respectively; exhibition catalogs; printed material such as newspaper clippings on Frost and his hometown Marblehead, Massachusetts; notes on George E. Lothrop and photographs of his paintings.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Betty Carpenter measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1867-1971, with the bulk from 1927-1963. The papers document Betty Carpenter's extensive research of John Orne Johnson Frost and George E. Lothrop, the primitive style painters whose work she collected. Materials included are correspondence related to Carpenter as well as the Frost Family. Betty Carpenter's letters are with museums, historical societies, publishers, and writers regarding the selling, loaning, book planning and exhibitioning of art work by J.O.J Frost and George Lothrop. There are also letters from the Frost family to Carpenter discussing both J.O.J Frost's life as well as matters of Carpenter's personal friendship with the family. The Frost Family correspondence is comprised of letters from J.O.J Frost to his granddaughters Ethelyn Frost Flagg and Irena Frost Greatorex as well as letters from J.O.J Frost's son Frank A. Frost to his daughter Ethelyn; and miscellaneous letters to J.O.J Frost. Writings primarily consist of manscripts and notes related to catalogs and an unpublished biography on Frost that Carpenter was working on. Additional writings include essays and notes by J.O.J Frost, biographical notes on George Lothrop and notes on American folk art. Also found are exhibition files; personal business records such as expense receipts and documenation of a probate court trial related to the ownership of some of Frost's work; scrapbooks respectively complied by Carpenter and Frost. Printed material such as newspaper clippings and exhibition ephemera, photographs and negatives of Frost, his home and artwork as well as photographs and negatives of Lothrop's paintings. Additionally, there is an artwork series which contains 35 figurative pencil sketches signed "IL Prado", an unidenfied pen and ink sketch and a pen sketch sent to Carpenter on an unsigned postcard.
Arrangement:
The Collection is arranged as eight series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1912-1968 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 2: Writings, circa 1868-1966 (1.1 Linear feet: Box 1-2)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1948-1949 (1 Folder: Box 2)
Series 4: Personal Business, 1943-1964 (6 Folders: Box 2)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1902-1971 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 2)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, circa 1868-1954 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 3)
Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1852-1965 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 3-4, MGP4)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1939-1950 (2 Folders: Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
John Orne Johnson Frost (1852-1928), also known and self referred to as J.O.J Frost, was a self taught artist from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Originally a fisherman and restaurant owner, Frost only began to paint and sculpt at after his first wife Annie Frost's death in 1919. His naive style paintings depict scenes from his youth at sea, and the history of Marblehead and how it developed from its early wilderness beginnings through the American Revolution and the Civil War. George Lothrop (1967-1939), was from Dighton, Massachusetts and also began painting later in life. Lothrop was highly interested in poetry and theater, but by trade worked as a wood carpenter at a piano factory where he would carve frames for many of his paintings. He held a second job as a night security guard at the Howard Watch Company, which is where he did most of his painting. Many of his works are of fanciful or mythical scenes in oil.
Betty Carpenter, was an art historian, biographer and collector from Massachusetts. Her collection comprised the work of Massachusetts folk artists John Orne Johnson and George E. Lothrop. In 1943 Carpenter and her husband began collecting Frost's work from his son Frank Frost. From there Mrs. Carpenter developed friendships with Frost's family and in 1948 she helped arrange an exhibition of Frost's work (along with George Lothrop's) at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
Provenance:
Donated 1972 by Peter Carpenter.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. 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.
Betty Carpenter Papers, 1867-1971. 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.
Photographs of Charles Lang Freer taken by Alvin Langdon Coburn, February 1909. They depict Freer in a variety of poses, such as leaning against a desk, examining some artwork, or simply facing the camera. One print was sent to the Freer Gallery in 1955 by a relative of Freer's business partner Frank Hecker. Two autochromes and 14 platinum prints.
Arrangement:
Organized by country.
Biographical / Historical:
Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a middle class British family. Coburn began exploring photography after receiving a camera for his eighth birthday. However, it was not until a few years later that he began exploring photography seriously. Coburn opened his first studio in New York City in 1902 to exhibit his prints, and became part of a crowd that wanted to establish photography as art. He moved to London in 1904 to take portraits of celebrities, including an iconic one of George Bernard Shaw posed nude as Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker." Coburn not only shot portraits, but also unique street scenes of New York City. He was quite interested in creating the fractured affects of cubism and futurism through use of photography, as demonstrated in his "vortographs." He experimented with perspective and abstract patterns. Later in his life, Coburn became disinterested in photography as his interest in mysticism grew. He resumed photography in the 1950s before his death in 1966.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 12.01.2
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
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 painter James Fitzgerald measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1992. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and business correspondence, including fifty-one letters from Rockwell Kent; personal business records; writings; artwork consisting of drawings and 21 sketchbooks; printed material, including a scrapbook of clippings and catalogs; and photographs of Fitzgerald, his family and friends, and his work.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter James Fitzgerald measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1992. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and business correspondence, including fifty-one letters from Rockwell Kent; personal business records; writings; artwork consisting of drawings and 21 sketchbooks; printed material, including a scrapbook of clippings and catalogs; and photographs of Fitzgerald, his family and friends, and his work.
Biographical materials include certificates, military records, and identification cards and passports. Correspondence is with collectors and friends, including Monhegan residents Anne and Edgar Hubert, Grace Sullivan, and Rockwell Kent. Personal business records include banking, tax, and estate records. Writings consist of Fitzgerald's notebook and notes, essays and recollections of Fitzgerald by friends, and Calvin Hennig's notes on a 1984 posthumous exhibition catalog.
There are loose drawings and 21 sketchbooks of Fitzgerald's artwork. Printed material includes clippings, a clippings scrapbook, exhibition catalogs, and a five-minute video recording describing the holdings of Anne and Edgar Hubert's Fitzgerald art collection. Photographs are of Fitzgerald, his friends and family, residents, travel snapshots, and photographs and slides of his artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1918-1971 (2 folders; Boxes 1, 5)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1934-1987 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1948-1972 (0.5 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 4: Writings, 1955-1988 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 2-3, 5)
Series 5: Artwork, 1930-1969 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 4-6)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1923-1989 (0.2 linear feet; Box 4)
Series 7: Photographic Material, 1905-1992 (0.3 linear feet; Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
Painter James Fitzgerald (1899-1971) lived and worked in Monterey, California and Monhegan, Maine and is known for his watercolors of seascapes, animals, and nature.
Born in Milton, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald studied from 1919 to 1923 at the Massachusetts School of Art and from 1923 to 1924 at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School with Philip Hale, Leslie P. Thompson, and Edmund C. Tarbell. From 1923 to 1928, Fitzgerald took a break from his art studies to travel, sailing and crewing on fishing ships and freighters on the coasts of northern America. During a trip along the West coast in 1928, his travels brought him to Monterey, California where he established a studio and met and became associated with a group including John Cage, Martha Graham, E. F. Ricketts, and John Steinbeck.
From 1936 to 1942, Fitzgerald taught painting in California, then sold his studio the following year to settle in the artists' colony at Monhegan, Maine, which he had first visited in 1923. From 1944 to 1971, Fitzgerald made annual trips to Mt. Katahdin and also formed friendships with other Monhegan residents, including Rockwell Kent and Anne and Edgar Hubert. Fitzgerald died suddenly on the Irish island of Arranmore Ireland, where he had traveled to paint in 1971.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 1991 by Fitzgerald's literary executors, Anne and Edgar Hubert. Two additional sketchbooks were donated in 2014 by the chairman of the James Fitzgerald Legacy, Robert L. Stahl.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research 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.
Occupation:
Marine painters -- California -- Monterey Search this
The papers of art critic, editor, and gallery director Sidney Woodward date from 1823 to 1963, bulk 1915-1932, and measure 3.5 linear feet. The majority of the collection consists of personal and professional correspondence and collected letters that pertain to Woodward's relationships with various artists, galleries, and arts organizations. Also included in this collection are two biographical documents; lecture notes and collected writings; printed material including books relating to the topic of art, exhibition catalogs, and newspaper clippings; a few personal photographs and reference photographs of paintings; and scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, art reproductions, and printed material from the Casson Galleries.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art critic, editor, and gallery director Sidney Woodward date from 1823 to 1963, bulk 1915-1932, and measure 3.5 linear feet. The majority of the collection consists of personal and professional correspondence and collected letters that pertain to Woodward's relationships with various artists, galleries, and arts organizations. Also included in this collection are two biographical documents; lecture notes and collected writings; printed material including books relating to the topic of art, exhibition catalogs, and newspaper clippings; a few personal photographs and reference photographs of paintings; and scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, art reproductions, and printed material from the Casson Galleries.
Artists that Woodward corresponded with and collected letters from include Ernest L. Blumenschein, Harrison Cady, Robert Henri, C. Lewis Hind, Rockwell Kent, John La Farge, Hermann Dudley Murphy, Violet Oakley, Water Pach, Elizabeth Robins Pennell, and Chauncey Foster Ryder, among many others. A significant number of letters in this collection were sent by his brother, marine painter Stanley, during his service in both World Wars.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence and Collected Letters, 1823-1963 (2.2 linear feet; Box 1-3)
Series 2: Biographical Material, 1918 (1 folder; Box 3)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1880-1940 (0.1 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1880-1963 (0.4 linear feet; Box 3-4)
Series 5: Photographs, 1910s-1940s (4 folders; Box 4)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, circa 1920-1940 (0.7 linear feet; Box 5, BV 6-7)
Biographical / Historical:
Sidney C. Woodward (1890-1963) was an art critic and editor in Boston, MA. Woodward collected letters and autographs from notable artists, as well as manuscripts relating to art and theater.
Woodward was born on December 11, 1890, in Malden, Massachusetts, son of Alice E. (Colesworthy) and Frank E. Woodward. He was one of eight children and a twin of Stanley, marine painter and illustrator. Woodward was an art critic and editor for the Boston Post, Boston Herald, and Christian Science Monitor; and gallery director of Casson Galleries, and Irving & Casson's art gallery in Boston, MA.
Provenance:
A portion of the collection was purchased by the Archives of American Art from Sidney Woodward in 1963. Additional material was donated in 1975 by Mrs. Sidney C. Woodward.
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.
Occupation:
Art critics -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
Gallery directors -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
An interview with Clifford Schorer conducted 2018 June 6-7, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art and the Center for the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Reference Library of The Frick Collection, at the offices of the Archives of American Art in New York, New York.
Schorer discusses growing up in Massachusetts and Long Island, New York; his family and his Dutch and German heritage, and his grandparents' collecting endeavors, especially in the field of philately; his reluctance to complete a formal high school education and his subsequent enrollment in the University Professors Program at Boston University; his work as a self-taught computer programmer beginning at the age of 16; his first businesses as an entrepreneur; the beginnings of his collection of Chinese export and Imperial ceramics and his self-study in the field; his experiences at a young age at art auctions in the New England area; his travels to Montreal and Europe, especially to Eastern Europe, Paris, and London, and his interest in world history; his decision to exit the world of collecting Chinese porcelain and his subsequent interest in Old Master paintings, especially Italian Baroque. Schorer also describes his discovery of the Worcester Art Museum and his subsequent work there on the Museum's board and as president; his interest in paleontology and his current house by Walter Gropius in Provincetown, MA; his involvement with the purchase and support of Agnew's Gallery based in London, UK, and his work with its director, Anthony Crichton-Stuart; his thoughts on marketing at art shows and adapting Agnew's to the changing market for the collecting of Old Masters; the differences between galleries and auction houses in the art market today; and his expectations for his collection in the future. Schorer also recalls Anna Cunningham; George Abrams; Sydney Lewis; Chris Apostle; Nancy Ward Neilson; Jim Welu, as well as Rita Albertson; Tanya Paul; Maryan Ainsworth; Thomas Leysen; Johnny Van Haeften; Otto Naumann; and Konrad Bernheimer, among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Clifford Schorer (1966- ) is an art collector in Boston, Massachusetts and London, England. Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is former executive director of iCI in New York, New York.
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:
The transcript and recording are open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by Barbara Fleischman.
An interview of Charles Childs conducted 1972 April 18-May 12, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art. Childs speaks of his childhood and the development of his interest in art; his first involvement with printmaking; studying at Normal Art School; working at Goodspeed's Print Shop; the art scene in Boston in the 1920s and 1930s; his theories and approaches to art collecting; the development of the Boston Arts Festival; and his involvement with the Institute of Contemporary Art. He recalls John Taylor Arms, Samuel Chamberlain, Maxim Karolik, and George Wales.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Childs is an art dealer and collector from Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 35 min.
Parts 3 & 4 of Childs interview is under Walter Feldman on tape 2.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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 others.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Art dealers -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Correspondence, exhibition material, photographs, invoices, insurance records, and printed materials relating to the Wasserman's contemporary art collection and building at 180 Beacon St., Boston, Mass., and to the Wasserman family art collection. Reflected to a lesser degree are associations and financial contributions of the Wassermans to Boston area cultural institutions such as Brandeis University, the Fogg Art Museum, and MIT; and Max Wasserman's service on the MIT Art Committee which acquired major outdoor sculptures for the campus.
Among the nearly 140 artists represented in the 180 Beacon St. Collection are: Hannes Beckmann, Jim Dine, Friedel Dzubas, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Gyorgy Kepes, Kenneth Noland, Otto Piene, Larry Rivers, Varujan Boghosian, Louise Nevelson, George Rickey, Al Held, Lucas Samaras, Christo, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collectors; Boston, Mass. Jeanne (1915- ) was a curator; Max (1913-1986), a businessman. The 180 Beacon St. Collection of Contemporary Art was assembled in the 1960s by the Wassermans, with the advice of a committee consisting of Dorothy Miller of the Museum of Modern Art, H. Harvard Arnason of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, curator Sam Hunter, and Jeanne Wasserman, for the 17-storey apartment building built by the Wasserman Development Corporation. The committee's selections were primarily works by living artists done from the late fifties; slightly more than half were American. In 1975, the Development Corp. went bankrupt and the approximately 160 art objects were dispersed, chiefly at auctions. The Wasserman's personal art collection consisted of work by many of the same artists and included as well large-scale outdoor sculpture.
Provenance:
Donated 1995-1998 by Jeanne L. Wasserman. Additions are expected.
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.
Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955)
Date:
1905-1983
bulk 1920-1976
Summary:
The papers of art historian and museum curator W.G. (William George) Constable measure 25.7 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1981, with the bulk of the material from 1920 to 1976. The papers include biographical material; professional and personal correspondence; extensive lectures, writings, and notes; exhibition and book research files; printed materials; and photographs, glass plate negatives, and slides. There is substantive correspondence related to Constable's participation in the American Defense Harvard Group and about the formation of the Roberts Commission, including correspondence with Ralph Perry, Hugh Hencken, Paul Sachs and George L. Stout. There are numerous official reports prepared by Constable after World War II for the U. S. Office of Military Government for Germany.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian and museum curator W.G. (William George) Constable measure 25.7 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1981, with the bulk of the material from 1920 to 1976. The papers include biographical material; professional and personal correspondence; extensive lectures, writings, and notes; exhibition and book research files; printed materials; and photographs, glass plate negatives, and slides. There is substantive correspondence related to Constable's participation in the American Defense Harvard Group and about the formation of the Roberts Commission, including correspondence with Ralph Perry, Hugh Hencken, Paul Sachs and George L. Stout. There are numerous official reports prepared by Constable after World War II for the U. S. Office of Military Government for Germany.
Biographical material includes W.G. Constable's curriculum vitae; club memberships; personal, educational, and military records; three memorial essays and obituaries; five address books; appointment books dating from 1930-1968; and financial records related to personal business travels.
Correspondence is mostly professional and arranged into General, Committee, Condolences, and J.G. Links. General correspondence is with friends, business associates, auction houses, galleries, and museums. The letters cover a wide variety of professional work, such as research projects, letters of inquiry and recommendation, and work done for Christie's and the Internal Revenue Service. Correspondents include Mortimer Brandt, Helen Frick, Helen Gluck, William Ivins, Duncan Phillips, Paul Sachs, and Rudolph Vasalle, among many others.
Committee related correspondence includes letters, memoranda, and reports related to ongoing committee objectives, projects, and routine activities. There is correspondence related to Constable's advisory work with the Art Gallery of Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Watts Gallery, among other projects. Condolences consists of letters and cards received by Constable's wife, Olivia, after Constable's death. Correspondence with J.G. Links is primarily about the second edition revision of Constable's book Canaletto.
There are over 170 drafts of Constable's notes and outlines for lectures. Topics range from 13th-20th century European and American art to museum conservation, ethics, art education, and art collecting. The series also includes lecture notes from organized touring trips to Canada, Northern Europe, Scandanavia, and Poland.
Writings consist of Constable's published and unpublished articles, articles submitted for the Encyclopedia of World Art, essays, notes, exhibition catalogs, translations, and drafts and research material related to Art Collecting in the United States, Art History and Connoisseurship, and The Painter's Workshop.
Files specifically documenting Constable's advisory role in the World War II American Defense Harvard Group drafting and organizing lists of men with curatorial, museum conservation, or library/archives backgrounds to aid in the protection European most valued cultural artifacts, artwork, and architecture. There are letters documenting the formation of the Harvard Group and its goals and objections. The files also include many of the original lists that were forwarded to the Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in Europe, also known as the Roberts Commission, eventually leading to the formation of the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives division. The series also includes the Harvard Group's manual Safeguarding and Conserving Cultural Materials in the Field, committee minutes, and clippings related to their work. Correspondents include Ralph Perry, Paul Sachs, George L. Stout, and Hugh Hencken.
Constable's work after the war for the U.S. Office of Military Government for Germany is documented through numerous reports, memoranda, letters, and other official documents from the U. S. Army to Constable about surveying the state of German and Italian art institutions after World War II. The series also includes Constable's notebook "Visits in Germany" (1949), and a copy of his report Art and Reorientation: Status and Future of Museums and the Teaching of Art in Western Germany.
Exhibition files contain correspondence, notes, lists, research material, and reports related to exhibitions that Constable organized prior to his employment by and after his retirement from the Boston Museum of Art.
Research files contain materials relevant to Constable's interests and include notes, lists, correspondence, and printed and photographic reference material. These subject areas cover artists, including extensive files on Canaletto and other vedute painters, museum conservation, museums and galleries, private and public art collections, and schools of art.
Printed materials include clippings, programs, book excerpts and other miscellaneous printed materials.
Photographic materials include prints of Constable with friends and family, as well as prints, glass negatives and slides of artwork. There are also prints of the Fogg Art Museum's interiors and exterior and interior shots of Tennessee Valley Authority dam projects.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1905-1983 (1.2 linear feet; Box 1-2, OV 28)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1906-1981 (6.2 linear feet; Box 2-8, OV 28-29)
Series 3: Lectures, 1909-1963 (4.6 linear feet; Box 8-12)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, 1910-1974 (2 linear feet; Box 13-14)
Series 5: American Defense Harvard Group, 1942-1946 (0.6 linear feet; Box 15)
Series 6: Office of Military Government for Germany, 1947-1952 (0.3 linear feet; Box 15)
Series 7: Exhibition Files, 1930-1969 (1 linear foot; Box 15-16, OV 29)
Series 8: Research Files, 1922-1976 (7.5 linear feet; Box 16-24, OV 28-29)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1921-1977 (0.5 linear feet; Box 24)
Series 10: Photographic Materials, circa 1940-1960 (1.4 linear feet; Box 24-27, OV 28-29)
Biographical / Historical:
W. G. (William George) Constable (1887-1976) was a museum curator and art historian who worked in England and Boston.
Born in Derby, England, Constable studied for the bar at Cambridge University, but was encouraged to pursue art over law by the Lord Chancellor who told him that law would be too strenuous after a two year convalescence from gassing during World War I. For three years, he studied at the Slade School and the Bartlett School of Architecture. In 1923, he joined the National Gallery of London where he became the Assistant Director in 1929. In 1930, he accepted the first Director's position at the newly formed Courtauld Institute, where he worked to develop one of the first programs on art history. In 1938, Constable became Curator of Paintings at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and worked there until his retirement in 1957.
Throughout his career as an arts administrator, Constable remained an accomplished lecturer and held appointments as the Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge (1933-1936), Ryerson Lecturer at Yale University (1940), and the Lowell Lecturer at the Lowell Insitute (1958). As a researcher and art historian, he published a steady stream of essays on European and American art connoisseurship, and authored over ten scholarly books, including The Painter's Workshop (1953), Richard Wilson (1953), and Canaletto (1962), the definitive work on the Venetian master.
Constable was a trusted arts advisor and, in this capacity, worked for the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1943-1945.
He also worked closely with Lord Beaverbrook to establish the National Gallery of Canada and later consulted for Sotheby's and the U. S. Internal Revenue Service.
In the years leading to World War II, Constable served as an advisor to the American Defense Harvard Group and was later appointed to the Commission for the Protection of Artistic and Historic Monuments in Europe (the Roberts Commission) by President Roosevelt. The Roberts Commission was responsible for the establishment of the U. S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section. After the war, Constable served the U.S. government as a member of a commission responsible for the recovery of looted art work and the evaluation of the state of the arts in Germany and Italy.
After his retirement from the Boston Museum, Constable continued to research and write, and also served as president of the International Institute of Conservation (1958-1960) and the Renaissance Society of America (1959-1961). From 1957 to 1966, he worked on behalf of Christie's auction house, where he met with prospective clients and provided preliminary valuations of private art works and collections.
On February 4, 1976, Constable died in Cambridge, Massachusetts from natural causes.
Related Materials:
The Archives also holds additional materials related to W.G. Constable, including an oral history interview with Constable conducted by Robert Brown in 1972-1973, and a photograph and clipping of Constable donated by Eleanor Barton in 1982.
Additional W.G. Constable papers are located at archival materials are also located at St. Johns College in Cambridge,England; the Warburg Institute in London, England; the National Gallery in London, England; and the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning in London, England. Photographs of works art collected by Constable are found at the British Studies Center at Yale University. Records relating to his tenure at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston are housed there.
Provenance:
The papers of W.G. Constable were donated in multiple gifts from 1978 to 1979 and in 1987 to 1988 by his son Giles Constable. Additional material regarding Constable's research on Canaletto was donated by researcher J.G. Links in 1985.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and not served 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.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war Search this
Citation:
W.G. Constable papers, 1905-1983, bulk 1920-1976. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Digitization of this collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
The Winslow Homer collection measures 0.2 linear feet with material from 1863 and 1877 to 1945. The collection documents Homer's career as a painter and lithographer through letters, printed material, family records, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The Winslow Homer collection measures 0.2 linear feet with material that dates from 1863 and 1877 to 1945. The collection documents Homer's career as a painter and lithographer through letters, printed material, family records, and photographs.
Letters in the collection primarily document Homer's later career between 1890 and 1909. Included are an illustrated letter to the art collector George G. Briggs concerning frames, and twenty-six letters to art collector and friend, Thomas B. Clarke, discussing Homer's artwork, exhibitions, sale of his work, and his family. Many of the Clarke letters are transcribed. Also found are twelve letters to Louis Prang, a friend and successful chromolithographer, concerning Homer's drawing techniques and making drawings for Prang's use. Miscellaneous letters include a letter to cellist Emil Salinger, art editor Florence Fuller, and others, discussing his artwork. Marie "Midie" W. Blanchard was Homer's cousin and the folder of her letters includes a letter from Homer to her, and two letters from her to others about Homer.
This collection also contains photograph copies of four pages from the "Family Record" in the Homer family Bible, which records births, deaths, marriages, and locations of family members. The "Century Loan Exhibition" catalog is annotated throughout with notes regarding the exhibition and contains an introduction by Booth Tarkington. Also found is a newspaper clipping about Homer's artwork. Photographs include twenty albumen and cyanotype photographs, on two pages from a photo album, of Winslow Homer and family in various activities.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection, items are categorized into one series consisting of twelve folders. Items are arranged chronologically within each folder.
Biographical Note:
Winslow Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1836. He was raised in Cambridge, where he developed a love of art and the outdoors. At the age of 19 he began his career as an illustrator, apprenticing at the J.H. Bufford lithographic firm in Boston. He then decided to become a freelance illustrator. In 1859 Homer moved to New York to work for Harper's Weekly, serving as artist-correspondent for the magazine during the Civil War. After taking some art classes at the National Academy of Design, he decided to focus on oil painting. He quickly gained international recognition as a painter, and in 1866 made his first trip to Europe. In 1873 he decided to work in watercolor and found great success in his experimentation with light and color in this medium. In the mid-1880s Homer moved permanently to Prout's Neck, Maine, an isolated area where he built a studio and focused his paintings on man's struggle with nature. Also during the 1880s he worked on a series of etchings based on his paintings. Homer continued to paint for the next twenty years, vacationing summers in places such as the Adirondacks and the Bahamas to capture varied landscapes, until his death in 1910.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Winslow Homer letters to M. Knoedler & Company, 1900-1904.
Provenance:
Items in this collection are gifts of various donors. The exhibition catalog was donated by Lawrence Fleischman in 1954, the photographs donated by Dorothy Adlow in 1961, and the Marie Blanchard letters and news clipping donated by Carlotta Claflin in 1976. Other letters were donated by Charles Feinberg in 1959, Joyce Tyler in 1979, Lawrence Fleischman in 1959, Jean Meissner and William T. Campbell in 1966, Katherine H. Coudon in 1989, and Edgar Salinger in 1961. The bible pages were a 1977 anonymous donation. Items were microfilmed shortly after receipt.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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 papers of Massachusetts art patron, art collector and engineer Desmond Fitzgerald measure 1 linear foot and date from 1868 to 1927. The papers consist of 28 diaries, one account book, one exhibition catalog, and a photograph of Desmond Fitzgerald.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Massachusetts art patron, art collector and engineer Desmond Fitzgerald measure 1 linear foot and date from 1868 to 1927. The papers consist of 28 diaries, one account book, one exhibition catalog, and a photograph of Desmond Fitzgerald.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Desmond Fitzgerald (1846-1926) was an art patron, art collector, and engineer based in Brookline, Massachusetts. He served on the boards of the Boston Public Library and the Copley Society. In 1913, Fitzgerald arranged to have the Armory Show come to Boston. His collection of mainly French and American impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, Dodge Macknight, and others became a kind of semi-public museum. Upon his death, the collection was sold at auction.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel D177, including letters from Macknight to Desmond Fitzgerald, Boston critic, collector, dealer, and biographer of Dodge Macknight; press clippings concerning Macknight exhibitions; and letters to Fitzgerald from Isabella Gardner, Claude Monet, and John Henry Twachtman, mostly relating to Macknight. The original loaned materials on reel D177 were returned to the donor Andrew Oliver after microfilming and are not described in the container inventory.
Provenance:
Material on reel D177 was lent for microfilming in 1965 by Andrew Oliver, then returned to him. Material on reels 2774-2775 (the diaries, auction book, and exhibition catalog) was purchased in 1979 from an auction in New Hampshire by the dealers R. & D. Emerson of Falls Village, Connecticut. The Archives of American Art arranged to purchase them through a grant from the Hope Foundation of Providence, Rhode Island, a philanthropic organization founded by the Brown family. Fitzgerald was a cousin of John Nicholas Brown.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to 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 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:
Collectors -- Massachusetts -- Brookline Search this
Art patrons -- Massachusetts -- Brookline Search this
An interview of wife and husband Dale and Doug Anderson conducted 2005 July 21-22, by Tina Oldknow, for the Archives of American Art, in their home.
The Andersons discuss their respective childhoods and growing up in Manhattan; their education and early experiences with art; their early collection of Native American art; their first art purchases, including a Richard Marquis Patchwork teapot, a Lowell Nesbitt painting, and a Carolyn Brady painting; their initial involvement with the American Craft Museum's Collector's Circle, as well as other craft organizations including Creative Glass Center of America, Millville, New Jersey, The Metropolitan Glass Group, Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, and the Friends of Contemporary Ceramics, among others; their involvement with, and support of, various museums, including the Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, the Seattle Art Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York; their involvement with, and support of, various art schools, including the Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine; their independent commissioning of works by various artists, including Dale Chihuly, Ginny Ruffner, Sandy Skoglund, Tom Patti, Paul Marioni and Ann Troutner, and Silas Kopf; their involvement in various large-scale glass exhibitions and expositions, including the annual Sculptural Objects and Functional Art expositions, "Glass Today by American Studio Artists," August 13, 1997-January 11, 1998, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and palmbeach3, West Palm Beach, Florida, among others; their participation in, and support of, the publishing of various books on glass, including Martha Drexler Lynn's "Sculpture, Glass, and American Museums," Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005, and Tina Oldknow's "Pilchuck: A Glass School", Seattle: Pilchuck Glass School, in association with the University of Washington Press, 1996; their dealings with various galleries across the country, including Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, Michigan, Heller Gallery, New York, New York, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, New York, Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, New York, browngrotta arts, Wilton, Connecticut, and Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, Massachusetts, among others.
The Andersons recall Christina Orr-Cahall, George and Dorothy Saxe, Ronald and Anita Wornick, Susan Steinhauser and Dan Greenberg, Jack and Rebecca Benaroya, Weston Naef, Daphne Farago, Dale Chihuly, Thomas and Marilyn Patti, Catherine Chalmers, Jeremy Flick, Zhuan Huang, William Warmus, Akio Takamori, Linda Schlenger, Bruce Pepich and Lisa Englander, Pike Powers, Parks Anderson, Sonny and Gloria Kamm, Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, Davira Taragin, Bill Morris, Sam and Eleanor Rosenfeld, Daganeet Schokauer, Albert Paley, John McQueen, Jeff Mermelstein, Jane Adlin, Henrietta Brunner, Mark Lyman, Charles and Andrea Bronfman, Norman and Elizabeth Sandler, Ferdinand Hampson, Dafna Kaffeman, Paul Stankard, Toots Zynsky, Marjorie Levy, Gregory Grenon, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Dale (1944- ) and Doug (1943- ) Anderson are glass collectors from New York, New York Tina Oldknow is a curator at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 19 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 6 minutes.
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.
Occupation:
Collectors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
A photocopied statement for insurers document, describing the "Kathmandu" necklace created by Miye Matsukata and owned by Chandler; and a photocopy of a letter, from Matsukata to Chandler, conveying the intended design, and the travels that provided the inspiration for the design of the necklace.
Biographical / Historical:
Jane England Chandler was a collector in Alexandria, Virginia.
Miye Matsukata was a Japanese born American jewelry designer based in Boxton, Massachusettes.
Provenance:
Photocopies donated by Jane England Chandler, 1984. Photocopies subsequently discarded after microfilming, 1994.
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.
20 feet, chiefly gallery records and some personal papers of gallery owner, Giovanni (John) Castano, including correspondence, legal material, subject files, notes, writings, financial material, photographs, a scrapbook, and printed material.
Included are biographical information about Castano, business correspondence with dealers, museums, clients, collectors, artists, art historians, and others, and some personal correspondence, including a letter from Rome, 1876, from an unidentified writer to an unidentified woman containing a detailed description of a painting in the Barberini, and correspondence related to Castano's work as a scenic artist, 1924-1931. Subject files contain mainly correspondence and lists of work, and relate to Italian Renaissance exhibition, 1938, the Heeramaneck Collection of Persian and Indian Art, a Boldini exhibition, Arthur C. Goodwin, 1945-1952, and a Mancini-Sargent exhibition, 1951.
Financial material includes records of expenses and income; account books; employees' weekly wage book; records of purchases and sales of art work, including part of a bill for a painting by Diaz paid by Knoedler and Co., 1890; appraisals done for individuals, estates and institutions, including the Gorham Corporation, Harvard University murals, the Mrs. T. Morris Murray estate, furnishings of William M. Paxton's studio, ca. 1941, and paintings by Edmund Tarbell, and others; consignments; priced auction catalogs of the Henry F. Sears estate, the Mary A.H. Traiser estate, and miscellaneous price lists.
Also included are a card file on paintings; lists of paintings; inventories; client cards; address and appointment books; mailing lists; gallery journals, 1936-1927; descriptions and notes on paintings and authentications; biographies of artists; writings by and about Castano; and notes by Churchill Wyman on Philip Hale's anatomy lectures.
Photographs are of Castano, his work, artists at work, and various works of art. Original art work consists of sketches for a logo designed by Suzanne Chapman. Included in the exhibition related material is a catalog for Castano's posthumous exhibition.
Also included is a scrapbook containing announcements, clippings on the gallery and Castano, exhibition catalogs, and biographical material compiled by Castano's longtime secretary.
Among the correspondents are: Philip Beam, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Gibson Danes, Franz Denghasusen, Lloyd Goodrich (Whitney Museum of American Art), Isabella Grandin, Lilian W. Hale, Philip Hofer (Fogg Art Museum), Perry T. Rathbone (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Edgar P. Richardson (Detroit Institute of Arts), Paul J. Sachs (Fogg), and Lionello Venturi.
Biographical / Historical:
Art gallery, Boston, Mass. Founded in 1931 by Giovanni Castano, also known as John Castano. Castano attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he was an assistant to Philip Hale. He was a scenic artist for the Boston Opera Company and for the Grand Opera in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the Depression, he returned to Boston where he opened a gallery on Newbury Street specializing in European and American paintings, acted as an agent for Wildenstein and Co., and restored paintings. The gallery had numerous exhibitions of the "Boston School," including A.C. Goodwin, Winslow Homer, Philip Hale, Edmund C. Tarbell, William Paxton and others. The gallery occupied several Newbury St. locations. From 1975 until his death, Castano operated it from his home in Needham.
Other Title:
Giovanni Castano Galleries records, 1907-1983.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by Elvira Castano Palmerio, Castano's daughter, 1988.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
An oral history interview with Peter and Paula Lunder conducted 2017 October 19-20, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art and the Center for the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Reference Library of The Frick Collection, at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
Mr. and Ms. Lunder discuss their time living in Waterville and Dexter, Maine and Mr. Lunder's work as a partner at the Dexter Shoe Company; their exposures to art and culture while growing up in Boston and Chicago; their initial interests in art collecting and the shift of their focus from European art to American art; their associations with Hugh Gourley and other directors and curators at the Colby College Museum of Art; the relationships they made with fellow art collectors, museum curators, art dealers and gallery owners while growing their collection and when working on finding a home for their collection; their relationship with the former director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Betsy Broun; Mr. Lunder's initial interest in Southwestern art and the development of their collection to include a wide range of American art; and Mr. Lunder's partial ownership of the Boston Red Sox beginning in 1977. Mr. and Ms. Lunder also describe living part-time in Florida and their patronage of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach; their desire to endow their collection to a Northeast regional museum in Maine; their belief in the importance of art conservation and their focus on having the collection be used for teaching; Ms. Lunder's work as a volunteer docent at the Colby Art Museum; and their work with the Clark Art Institute to support a place for art conservation in the region. Mr. and Ms. Lunder also recall Max Stern; Jere Abbott; Bro Adams; Thomas Colville; Margaret MacDonald; Sharon Corwin; Ann and Gil Maurer; Alice Walton as well as Jay Cantor; Seelye Bixler; Michael Greenbaum; George Gurney; Cy Twombly; Stephen Hannock; Doug Baxter; Christa Gaehde; and Michael Conforti, among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Peter Lunder (1933-) and Paula Lunder (1934- ) are art collectors and philanthropists in Boston, Massachusetts. James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator of New York, New York.
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:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Philanthropists -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Interview of Jeanne L. Wasserman, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Cambridge, MA from January 28, 1993-July 19, 1994.
Wasserman speaks of her parents' cultural interests; first becoming interested in sculpture after visiting a Rodin exhibition in Paris with her family; visiting art galleries and studying painting in New York City as a young woman; her education at Fieldston and Radcliffe; trying to get a job in New York after college; working in advertising; meeting her husband, Max, and building a business with him; beginning to collect art; putting together a collection for the condominium project, 180 Beacon; the opening of 180 Beacon; working on a condominium project in the Virgin Islands; curating sculpture exhibitions at the Fogg Museum and at Wellesley; writing the catalogue for a Daumier exhibition at the Fogg; serving on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; organizing forums on contemporary art with the Council of the Arts at MIT; becoming involved with Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement; and notable purchases of work by Daumier, Rodin, Degas, Giacometti, de Chirico, Nicolas Schöffer, Henry Moore, and others. Wasserman also recalls Alfred Stieglitz, Peppino Mangravite, Elie Nadelman, Hyman Swetzoff, Joseph Hirshhorn, Erica Brausen, René and Charles Gimpel, Louise Nevelson, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, Denise René, Yaacov Agam, George Rickey, George Segal, David Ross, Milena Kalinovska, Jacques de Caso, Yulla Lipchitz, Vera List, Jim Cuno, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Jeanne L. Wasserman, (1915-2006) was a museum curator and art collector from Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 12 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.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art museums -- Massachusetts
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Letters, business records, diary, and photographs.
REEL 380-413: Primarily correspondence, mostly Gardner's own, but including family correspondence and Gardner Museum correspondence.
REELS 631-632: Personal papers of Gardner and some records of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum including dealers' files containing invoices, notes, cancelled checks, and letters; a record book, "Prices Paid for Paintings," 1917; a record book, "Prices Paid for Works of Art"; 118 installation photographs of the museum as arranged by Gardner, 1924; a diary kept in Egypt, 1874, with sketches; a diary kept in Shanghai and India, 1883-1884; "Directions for my funeral," 1912; and "Suggestions for Running a Museum," 1913.
REELS 696-698: Letters from Bernard Berenson to Gardner, 1887-1924. Letters contain references to literary topics, Berenson's impressions of Europe, various paintings and artists, advice to Gardner on the purchase of paintings and information on their sale.
REEL 846: Checklist of Gardner's letters to Bernard and Mary Berenson, 1894-1924; typescripts of personal and official correspondence (originals found on AAA microfilm reels 696-698), 1887-1924.
Biographical / Historical:
Isabella Stewart Gardner was an art patron, collector, and museum founder in Boston, Mass. Immediately after graduation from Harvard, Bernard Berenson was hired by Gardner to travel throughout Italy collecting Italian Renaissance art for her recreated Venetian palazzo in Boston. She established her palazzo as a museum of fine European art with stipulations that after her death none of the exhibited works was to be moved or rearranged, but left as she had designed during her lifetime.
Provenance:
Microfilm lent by Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for duplicating, 1972-1975.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Art patrons -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
Art, Renaissance -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
