The Blum Helman and Joseph Helman Gallery records measure 125 linear feet and date from circa 1969-2003. The collection includes records from Joseph Helman Gallery in St. Louis, Blum Helman Gallery locations in New York and Los Angeles, and the Joseph Helman Gallery in New York. Material includes extensive artist files; client files; exhibition files; registrar records (including loan and shipping records); diaries and phone logs; correspondence; inventory cards; other business records; and photographs of artworks. Artists represented include Joe Andoe, John Duff, Bryan Hunt, Richard Serra, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Moskowitz, Donald Judd, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Tuttle, William Baziotes, Donald Sultan, Dennis Oppenheim, Edda Renouf, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Blum Helman Gallery and Joseph Helman Gallery were art galleries in New York, New York, St. Louis, Missouri and Los Angeles, California. From 1968-1972, Joseph Helman owned and operated the Joseph Helman Gallery in St. Louis. Helman subsequently sold the Gallery to Ron Greenberg. In 1974 Helman opened the Blum Helman gallery in New York and Los Angeles with Peter Blum. In 1995, Blum retired, and the Gallery became Joseph Helman until it close in 2002.
Provenance:
Donated in 2023 by Joseph and Urusla Helman.
Restrictions:
Client files (boxes 1-25) and financial ledgers and bank statment (boxes 41-42) are access restricted; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings and born-digital records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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.
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
Art galleries -- California
Art galleries, Commercial -- Missouri -- Saint Louis
The bulk of the papers consist of Nagel's files on his various positions and projects (ca. 3.3 ft), containing a variety of materials, including correspondence, writings, notes, art works, clippings, photographs and printed material. Also included are files pertaining to Nagel's father, lawyer and statesman Charles Nagel, and to his mother, Anne; and papers of and relating to Nagel's friend and associate, architect Victor Proetz (0.6 ft).
Nagel's files on positions and projects are arranged chronologically, and relate to: design projects while a student at Yale University, ca. 1926-1928; his struggle with career choices (mostly typescripts of letters to his father), ca. 1927-1931; his appointment to the Yale University Gallery of Fine Arts; commissions during his partnership in Nagel & Dunn (includes photographs of Fred Dunn, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and other designs); organizing the exhibit "Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today, 1950-1951," his publication American Furniture, 1650-1850, and other activities while director of the Brooklyn Museum, 1946-1955; his position as juror and secretary for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition and working with other jurors Fiske Kimball and William Wurster, and design winner, Eero Saarinen; the Independence National Historical Park Project, Philadelphia, Pa.; positions at the City Art Museum, St. Louis, Mo.; establishment of the National Portrait Gallery (includes photographs of staff, the building, exhibitions, and opening celebrations, 1964-1969, notably Chief Justice Earl Warren, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, and artist Peter Hurd); his emigration to Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mex.; and alterations and additions to St. Michael and All Angels Church in Cuernavaca, 1983. Included in several files are photographs of Nagel, his residences, and colleagues, and architectural drawings.
Files on his father contain honorary degrees and awards, photographs and printed material relating to the naming of a post office in his honor, St. Louis, Mo., and other events honoring him.
The papers of Victor Proetz, ca. 1928-1966 (ca. 0.6 ft), include obituaries; correspondence; a Last Will and Testament; a list of Proetz's commissions, 1934-1943; writings by Proetz and others; Proetz's "The Astonishment of Words," 1971, posthumously published; a scrapbook; exhibition announcements and catalogs; printed material; and photographs of Proetz and his designs for interiors and furniture.
Biographical / Historical:
Museum director; architect. Nagel was born in St. Louis, Mo. He attended Yale University, earning a B.A. in 1923, a B.A. in architecture in 1926 and M.F.A. in architecture in 1928. Upon graduation, he was employed at the firms of Jamieson & Spearl, and Hall & Proetz, St. Louis, and with Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, Abbott in Boston.
He taught art history at Yale, and served as curator of Decorative Arts at Yale's Gallery of Fine Arts, 1930-1936, returning to architecture with the firm Nagel & Dunn, St. Louis, from 1936-1942. His positions as museum director include the City Art Museum in St. Louis, 1942-1946 (acting) and 1955-1964; the Brooklyn Museum, 1946-1955; and the National Portrait Gallery, 1964-1969.
Provenance:
Donated 1992 and 1994 by Lucie O. Nagel, widow of Charles Nagel. According to Mrs. Nagel, the material relating to Victor Proetz was given to Nagel by Proetz, who was a close friend and associate, and by the Proetz estate following his death in 1966.
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.
Occupation:
Museum directors -- Missouri -- St. Louis Search this
Museum directors -- New York (State) -- Brooklyn Search this
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.
Collection Citation:
Leo Castelli Gallery records, circa 1880-2000, bulk 1957-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the partial digitization of this collection was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
Zim, Larry (Larry Zimmerman), 1931-1987 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (3-5/8 x 5-1/2 in.)
Type:
Archival materials
Postcards
Souvenir mailing cards
Place:
Saint Louis (Mo.) -- 1900-1910
Missouri -- 1900-1910
Date:
1904
Scope and Contents:
Booklet of bound mailing cards. Includes: History of Louisiana Purchase essay. Images include: Napoleon Bridge, Illinois State Building, Chinese Pavilion, Palace of Electricity, Palace of Art, Looking East on Lagoon, United States Government Building, English Pavilion, Palace of Transportation, Palace of Horticulture, Tyrolean Alps (2), Palace of Varied Industries, Missouri State Building. Front depicts cover with images of Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, William McKinley and D.R. Francis. Verso contains text and handwritten cataloging number.
Local Numbers:
AC0060.0000010.tif (AC Scan, Front)
AC0060.0000015.tif (AC Scan, Verso)
General:
The scanned image of the souvenir mailing cards comes from Larry Zim World's Fair Collection (AC0519), Box 87, although the item originally exhibited was fron the Warshaw Collection (AC0060).
Exhibitions Note:
Shown in Archives Center display, "Meet Me in St. Louis"--A Year Late: Remembering the Louisiana Purchase at the 1904 World's Fair," 2003.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but two oversize folders are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Zim, Larry (Larry Zimmerman), 1931-1987 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (3-3/8 x 6-7/8 in.)
Type:
Archival materials
Stereographs
Place:
Saint Louis (Mo.) -- 1900-1910
Missouri -- 1900-1910
Date:
1904
Scope and Contents:
Text on back.
Local Numbers:
AC0519.0000025.tif (AC Scan)
Exhibitions Note:
Shown in Archives Center display, "Meet Me in St. Louis"--A Year Late: Remembering the Louisiana Purchase at the 1904 World's Fair," 2003.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but two oversize folders are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
