Gross's personal and professional correspondence constitutes a rich and substantive record of all aspects of his career and is with family members; friends and colleagues including many artists, architects, writers, and scholars; galleries, museums and other art institutions; synagogues and multiple Jewish philanthropic organizations; publishers; and educational institutions. The correspondence is primarily incoming with scattered outgoing letters from Gross and occasionally Renee Gross. There is often overlap between professional and personal correspondence as relationships with colleagues span many years and often developed a personal tone. Renee Gross's work with philanthropic organizations is also documented to some extent.
Correspondence with family includes five letters from Renee to Chaim Gross, a folder of letters from daughter Mimi Gross and Red Grooms, including eight illustrated letters written while traveling in Italy, Macedonia, Greece, and Yugoslavia in the 1960s, and letters from extended family members.
The series contains a significant amount of correspondence with artists including: twelve letters and cards from Eliot Elisofon containing accounts of his travels in Africa in 1972-1973; letters from Richard and Laurie Graham, recording their impressions of Italy and discussing Graham's success; and four letters from Milton and Cecille Hebald written from Italy, discussing Milton Hebald's work and Gross's work being cast at the Nicci Foundry. Letters and postcards from filmmaker Lewis Jacobs relate to the printing of Tree Trunk to Head and The Sculptor Speaks. Letters from photographer Arnold Newman include two from Florida in the early 1940s where Newman was establishing a portrait studio. Letters from Elias Newman and Moses Soyer include descriptions of their experiences as young students at the Educational Alliance Art School.
In addition to correspondence from artists in the named files, general correspondence files for each letter also house many social replies, postcards, and scattered business and personal letters from artists including: Philip Evergood, Eugenie Gershoy, Harry Glassgold, Louis Held, Edward and Jo Hopper, Mervin Jules, Maurice Kallis, Jacob Kainen's wife Ruth Kainen, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Robert Laurent, Michael Lawrence, Legh Myers, George Nobe, Elliot Offner, Abraham Rattner and Esther Gentle, Girolamo Piccoli, Charles Salerno, Satyajit Shergil, Mia Solow, May Stevens, Paul Suttman, Hans Va de Bovenkamp, Egon Weiner, Warren Wheelock, Jean Woodham, Hale Woodruff, Herbert and Laura Ziegler, and Marguerite and William Zorach.
Correspondence with architects, writers, and scholars include letters from Chaim Potok in his capacity as editor with the Jewish Publication Society of America, referencing the publication of The Book of Isaiah; letters from Jack C. Rich related to his published writings on sculpture; letters from Yiddish writer and poet Shea Tenenbaum; and a folder of letters from art historian Roberta K. Tarbell, who wrote the essay for Gross's 1977 retrospective at the Jewish Museum.
Correspondence with publishers documents the publication of books about Gross or featuring his work. Letters from Beechurst Press, Inc., include the contract for Fantasy Drawings in 1956; related correspondence with Indiana University includes letters from Alfred Kinsey and the Institute for Sex Research referencing Gross's drawings included in the book and used in research at the institute. Correspondence with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., documents the publication of Chaim Gross by Frank Getlein (1974) and Chaim Gross: Watercolors and Drawings by Alfred Werner (1979).
Correspondence with noted book designer Abe Lerner, relates to design work Lerner did for publications containing artwork by Gross, primarily for the Jewish Publication Society of America, including The Book of Isaiah and a book on Gross's Ten Commandments. Correspondence with printer Marcel Salinas documents Salinas's assistance in the production of Gross's suite of lithographs for The Jewish Holidays in 1969.
Gross's work for the Works Progress Administration is documented through correspondence, contracts, payment vouchers, and related documentation. The Federal Art Project correspondence includes a copy of Gross's Government Services Administration transcript of employment up to September 1940 and letters relating to Gross's winning entry for the competition to execute artwork for the Post Office in Irwin, Pennsylvania. The Treasury Relief Art Project files document Gross's commissions for the Post Office Department building and the Apex Building in Washington, D. C. The files include scattered personal letters from Ed Rowan and Forbes Watson. The New York World's Fair (1939) folder contains a contract for Gross's work for the France Overseas and Finnish Buildings, and related correspondence and financial records. Also documented are Gross's participation in juries for national competitions and his work as a consultant for the selection of sculptors to execute work on federal buildings.
Correspondence with museums and galleries provides documentation of commissions and sales of Gross's artwork, many solo and group exhibitions in which he was represented, and multiple loans and gifts to various museums. These include Gross's 1977 retrospective at the Jewish Museum, exhibitions at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Correspondence with Bella Fishko and Forum Gallery documents Forum Gallery's representation of Gross's artwork from 1961 through the early 1980s and indicates the lucrative nature of Gross's exhibitions during that period. Letters include account statements, appraisals, records of sales and gifts of Gross's work, and copies of correspondence relating to loans of work for exhibitions at other galleries and museums.
Correspondence with Warren Robbins documents Robbins's efforts to engage the involvement of artists in establishing the Museum of African Art. Purchases of Gross's work in the early 1940s by museums as prominent as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, are also documented here, as are Gross's gifts and loans to both museums, his involvement with the Museum of Modern Art's education committee, and his loans from his personal collection to the National Gallery of Art's first exhibition of African art in 1970.
References to many commissions and projects appear throughout the series, including Gross's six bronze panels entitled Six Days of Creation for Temple Sharray Tefila in New York City, and his Ten Commandments for the sanctuary of the International Synagogue at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. Correspondence with Harold and Kitty Ruttenberg relates to commissions for Temple Sinai in Pittsburgh and others and is notable also in that it includes relatively frequent replies from Renee and Chaim Gross which provide details about events in their lives and Gross's career. Correspondence with the United Nations documents Gross's commissions for watercolors and serigraph prints reproduced in three first day covers and stamps issued for the United Nations.
Correspondence also documents Gross's work as an educator with the Educational Alliance, and with the New School for Social Research where Gross acted in various capacities, including as a teacher, donor, and jury member, and worked to support the school's plan to establish an expanded art center program with residential facilities to serve as a resource for the whole of New York City.
Gross's involvement in many societies and associations is also documented, including his donations to, and service on the board of trustees of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and the Provincetown Art Association; his election to associate and academician of the National Academy of Design; and his membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Correspondence with the Sculptor's Guild Inc., and with Fimi Samour, documents the guild's activities during the 1950s-early 1980s, including exhibitions, memberships, and financial status. Sculptors Guild correspondence includes letters from artist Renata Schwebel.
Arrangement:
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically. Individuals and organizations represented in five or more items are arranged in named files; others are arranged alphabetically in general files for each letter. Files for correspondents with no given surname, or whose names are illegible or unidentified, are arranged toward the end of the series, followed by condolence letters written to Renee Gross on the death of Chaim Gross.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Chaim Gross papers, 1920-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The Chaim Gross papers were processed with funding from the Shirley Gorelick Foundation.
The papers of photographer and art historian Nina Howell Starr measure 21.2 linear feet and date from circa 1933 to 1996. The papers contain research files about various art historical topics, museums and galleries, photography, and artists. There are extensive files documenting Starr's relationship as researcher, dealer, and friend of folk painter Minnie Evans. Additionally, the papers include biographical materials, writings, speeches, project files, printed material collected or authored by Starr, and hundreds of artistic and documentary photographs and negatives created by Starr depicting her travels, Minnie Evans' paintings, roadside folk art, and other topics.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of photographer and art historian Nina Howell Starr measure 21.2 linear feet and date from circa 1933 to 1996. The papers contain research files about various art historical topics, museums and galleries, photography, and artists. There are extensive files documenting Starr's relationship as researcher, dealer, and friend of folk painter Minnie Evans. Additionally, the papers include biographical materials, writings, speeches, project files, printed material collected or authored by Starr, and hundreds of artistic and documentary photographs and negatives created by Starr depicting her travels, Minnie Evans' paintings, roadside folk art, and other topics.
Biographical materials are scattered and include grant and publication applications, curriculum vitae, lists of artwork, and miscellany.
Starr's lectures, writings, and project files are arranged into one series. They include Starr's student writings, a notebook about Civil Rights, files documenting her work on a Florida public housing project, the Southern Regional Council, and the League of Women Voters. A few files of general writings and lectures mostly concern folk artist Minnie Evans and the exhibition Women Photograph Men, held at the International Women's Arts Festival in 1976.
Subject files on artists, art history topics, photographers and photography (including Starr's work), and on folk artist and friend Minne Evans comprise the bulk of the collection. The files are a mix of collated materials and primary sources created by Starr and others and many contain correspondence, notes, photographs, and a few sketches and orginal prints. Also included are materials related to professional and organizational groups in which Starr was involved, including the Professional Women's Photographers, Inc., the Photographic Historical Society of New York, and the Museum of American Folk Art; files on several of Starr's exhibitions; and files on artists that contain printed materials, correspondence, and photographs. The file on Ruth Starr Rose contains prints and drawings. There are also photographs taken by Stephanie Cohen. Particularly rich files are found for Stephanie Cohen; Van Deren Coke, Director of the George Eastman Company; Evelyn Daitz, Director of the Witkin Gallery; Henry DiSpirito; Walker Evans; the Fotofolio printing company; curator Henri Ghent; photographer Consuelo Kanaga and husband Wallace Putnam; Margot Starr Kernan; Lucy Lippard; Stanton Mac-Donald Wright; Sharon Arts Center; photographer Paul Strand; curator John Szarwarski; and photographer Jerry Uelsman.
The collection also documents the friendship between painter Minnie Evans and Starr, and Starr's business dealings on Evans' behalf. There is correspondence about and with Evans, several sound recordings of interviews conducted by Starr and others with Evans, many with transcripts, financial documents, publications about Evans including exhibition catalogs, clippings, journal articles and monographs, two posters, a scrapbook, and one sketch by Evans.
Printed material includes published articles, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and clippings about Starr.
Photographic materials are extensive and include photographs and slides taken by Starr of friends, family, artwork by Minnie Evans, events, exhibition openings, world travels, and folk art, especially roadside. Prominent artists and art historians photographed include: photographers Maggie Sherwood, Naomi Savage, Barbara Morgan, Linda Connor, Aaron Siskind, Consuelo Kanaga, Faith Ringgold, and Walker Evans; sculptors Louise Kruger and Helene Brandt; feminist and art historian Pat Mainardi; and curators Henri Ghent and John Szarkowski. Starr's artistic photographic work is also represented, and includes two silver gelatin prints of Minnie Evans, and subject studies on hands, people, and nature, among others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical material, 1954-circa 1990 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Writings, Speeches and Projects, 1933-1995 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Subject Files, circa 1939-1996 (8.3 linear feet; Boxes 2-10)
Series 4: Minnie Evans, 1962-1996 (3.7 linear feet; Boxes 10-13, 23, OV 24)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1936-1995 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 13-16, 23)
Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1939-1993 (5.4 linear feet; Boxes 16-23, OV 24)
Biographical / Historical:
Nina Howell Starr (1903-2000) was a photographer, art dealer, and art historian who worked primarily in New York City. Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1903 as Cornelia Margaret Howell, Starr attended Wellesley College and graduated from Barnard in 1926. Also in 1926, she married Nathan Comfort Starr, an English professor, and, over the years the couple lived in Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, and New York City.
In 1963, at the age of 60, Starr received the first M.F.A. in photography granted by the University of Florida. Starr exhibited widely in both solo and group exhibitions, including Magic Lantern (Photographer's Gallery, London, 1976), and the Strength of Women (Witken Gallery, 1991), and numerous shows featuring photographs of outsider art. Her "New Yorker" project became an exhibition in 2016. Her work is owned by several prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography.
As art historian, self-proclaimed critic, and civil rights and feminist advocate, Starr lectured widely, wrote articles and letters to editors, and corresponded with many notable art world figures. She became especially interested in outsider and folk art. Starr met outsider artist Minnie Evans in 1962 and became Evans' lifelong friend, advocate, and representative dealer. She wrote about Evans and introduced Evans' works to galleries and other exhibition spaces in New York, including the Whitney Museum, where she guest-curated an exhibition of Evans' work in 1975.
Starr was an active member of professional organizations including the Photographic Historical Society of New York, Professional Women's Photographers, Inc., and the Museum of American Folk Art where she served on the Advisory Committee.
Nina Howell Starr died in 2000 in Connecticut at the age of 97.
Provenance:
The Nina Howell Starr papers were donated by Nina Howell Starr in 1996.
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:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
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.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Nina Howell Starr papers, circa 1933-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
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.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Nina Howell Starr papers, circa 1933-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
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.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Nina Howell Starr papers, circa 1933-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
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.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Nina Howell Starr papers, circa 1933-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
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.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Nina Howell Starr papers, circa 1933-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
Interview of Elayne Varian, conducted by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art, at the Finch College Museum of Art, New York, NY, on May 2, 1975 and May 9, 1975.
Varian speaks of her education at the University of Chicago and the Chicago Bauhaus/IIT Institute of Design; working at Duveen's as an art dealer; teaching courses at Finch on museology; ways she found funding for the Finch College Museum of Art; and the exhibitions she organized at Finch, including Art and Process, Destruction Art, Art and Jewelry, Italian Visual Poetry, Art Nouveau, Documention, and Troubles in Ireland . Varian also recalls Edward Fowles; Brian O'Doherty; Robert Indiana; Robert Smithson; George Kuchar; Sol LeWitt; Ralph Ortiz; Walter Gutman; Les Levine, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Elayne H. Varian (1913-1987) was an art administrator and art historian from Orlando, Florida.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 5 min.
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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- Florida -- Orlando -- Interviews Search this
Arts administrators -- Florida -- Orlando Search this
