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 References 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:
Beverly Hallam Papers, 1899-2013. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Brumbaugh, Thomas B. (Thomas Brendle), 1921- Search this
Extent:
14 Items (Letters, written in ink, ball point, graphite, typewritter)
Type:
Archival materials
Lithographs
Correspondence
Place:
New York (N.Y.)
Date:
1779-1981
Scope and Contents:
This folder is an amalgamation of letters written and recieved by prominent figures in 19th and 20th century American art. Included in the folder are letters by Ambrose Andrews, Edward Bates, Gifford Beal, Aaron Bohrod, Carroll Clear, Samuel Colman, Josephine Daskam, Daniel Denison Rogers, William Elliot, George de Forest Brush, and Chester Harding. The letters' subjects cover a wide range of topics, including the buying and selling of art, invitations to dinner, and general correspondence.
Arrangement:
Organized alphabetically by author.
Biographical / Historical:
Ambrose Andrews was a portrait, miniature, and landscape portrait who worked throughout New England and the United States. He was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 1801 and studied at the National Academy of Design. He exhibited paintings at many different institutions, including his portraits of Henry Clay and Sam Houston. Andrews's work is now in the New York Historical Society.
Edward Bates was a representative for Missouri in the mid-1800s. He served in the War of 1812 as a sergeant in a volunteer brigade, studied and practiced law, attended the state constitutional convention, was district attorney from 1821 to 1826, and was a member of the state senate. He declined to serve as Secretary of War for President Fillmore, but was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Lincoln, and served from March 5, 1861 to September 1864. Bates died on March 25, 1869.
Admiral Charles Henry Davis was born on January 16, 1807, and served as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation between 1862 and 1865. He then served as Superintendent of the Naval Observatory. He had three ships named after him.
Forbes Watson was an art critic, lecturer, and administrator in New York City in the early 20th century. He served as art critic for the New York Evening Post. In 1933 he was appointed Technical Director of the first New Deal art program, the Public Works of Art Project, which provided work for artists in the decoration of non-federal buildings. He later worked at the Treasury Department of Painting and Sculpture, which administered funding for decorating federal buildings. Watson finally served in the Treasury Department's War Finance Division, where he organized exhibitions and posters by combat artists to promote the sale of war bonds. Forbes Watson's papers are held in the Archives of American Art.
Gifford Beal was an American artist who worked with many organizations for the advancements of the arts, finding inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including holiday scenes, every-day life, and landscapes. Beal loved spontaneity and was influenced by French Impressionists. He was commissioned by the government to paint two murals: one on the post office in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and one in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C. Beal's papers are held in the Archives of American Art.
Aaron Bohrod was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 21, 1907, where he studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked for a while in the advertising art department at the Fair Department Store in Chicago, but eventually moved to New York City, where he joined the Art Students League. He died on April 3, 1992. During World War II, Bohrod worked as an artist for the United States Army Corps of Engineer and Life magazine in Europe.
Carroll Cloar was an American realist and surrealist who lived from 1913 to 1993. He grew up in Arkansas, but later moved to Tennessee, travelled Europe, and joined the Art Students League in New York City. During World War II, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, and although he did complete some artwork during this period, none of it survives. Cloar then settled in Memphis. One of his paintings was chosen to commemorate President Clinton's inauguration in 1993. Cloar died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 10, 1993, after a long battle with cancer.
Samuel Colman was an American painter who belonged to the Hudson River School, and is most well-remembered for his landscapes. He was born in Portland, Maine, in 1832, and began exhibiting at the young age of 18. At 27 he was elected an associate of the National Academy, and later studied abroad in Paris and Spain. He was made a full Academician upon his return to the United States, and both founded and served as the first president of the American Water-color Society. He continued to both study in Europe and exhibit artwork, moving from New York to Rhode Island. Colman is represented in the metropolitan Museum, Chicago Art Institute, and many other collections. He died in New York City in 1920.
Josephine Daskam Bacon was an American writer known for writing about "women's issues" and using female protagonists. She wrote a series of juvenile mysteries and helped pioneer the Girl Scouts movement, writing a guidebook for the organization.
Daniel Denison Rogers is perhaps most widely remembered for the painting that John Singleton Copley completed of his wife, Abigail Bromfield.
Ithiel Town was an American architect and civil engineer who lived from October 3, 1784 to June 13, 1844. He worked in the Federal and revivalist Greek and Gothic styles, and was widely copied. He was born in Connecticut, and built both Center Church and Trinity Church in New Haven. Town patented a wooden lattice truss bridge, which made him quite wealthy. He formed a professional architecture firm with Alexander Jackson Davis. One of Town's most amazing feats was the construction of the Potomac Aqueduct in Washington, D.C., which allowed fully loaded canal boats to cross the Potomac River.
William Parker Elliot designed the old U.S. Patent Office, a very important Greek Revival building, with Ithiel Town.
George de Forest Brush was an American painter who grew up in Connecticut and is typified by his paintings and drawings of Native Americans. Even after moving from Wyoming, where he met the Native Americans, back to the East, Brush still occasionally enjoyed living in a teepee. Brush's artistic style later developed into Renaissance-inspired portraits. He was friends with Abbott H. Thayer, and along with Brush's wife, Mary, and son, Gerome, they all contributed to early camouflage designs. Brush died in New Hampshire in 1941.
Chester Harding was an American portrait painter born in Massachusetts in 1792. He worked in many different professions, finally becoming a self-taught itinerant portrait painter. Harding settled in Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, in a building that now houses the Boston Bar Association (the Chester Harding House, a Historic National Landmark). He studied at the Philadelphia School of Design, later setting up a studio in London, where he befriended and painted for royalty and nobility. Harding finally returned to Boston, where he died in 1866.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2009.06 4
Other Archival Materials:
Thomas B. Brumbaugh research material on Abbott Handerson Thayer and other artists, 1876-1994 (bulk 1960s-1994); Also located at Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Brumbaugh, Thomas B. (Thomas Brendle), 1921- Search this
Extent:
10 Items (Letters, written in ink)
Type:
Archival materials
Correspondence
Date:
1891-1915
Scope and Contents:
This folder is an amalgamation of letters written by Abbott H. Thayer to various people, mostly relatives. The recipients include Moses Beach, Ella Beach, Violet Beach, Maria Oakey Dewing, Gertrude Bloede, and Dr. Samuel T. King.
Arrangement:
Organized alphabetically by recipient.
Biographical / Historical:
Abbott Handerson Thayer was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 12, 1849 to a distinguished family. He moved from Boston to Brooklyn during his childhood, where he attended the National Academy of Design. Thayer often used his wife, Kate Bloede Thayer, her sister Gertrude, and his three children Mary, Gerald and Gladys as models. He also used Clara A. May as a model. His subjects included ethereal angels, landscapes, women, children, and flowers. When Kate died, Thayer's entire outlook on art and life changed. It had been Kate's family that introduced Thayer to the sense of idealism that comes from a German family who had immigrated to the United States. He had learned about the romanticism surrounding art and literature from the Bloedes, all of which encouraged the artist to paint perfectly beautiful figures. Later in life, Thayer established a permanent household in Dublin, New Hampshire, with his new wife, Emma Beach. He loved to paint the surrounding mountains and birds. Interestingly, Charles Lang Freer was one of Thayer's patrons.
Kate Bloede (1846-1890) was Abbott Thayer's first wife, who tragically died following a long battle with depression. Abbott used Kate as a model during his painting career. The couple lived in Paris, where their first two children were born. Upon their return to New York, the Thayers had three more children. In May 1888, Kate developed "melancholia," or depression, following the death of her father, Gustav Bloede. She was admitted to Bloomingdale Hospital, where she was treated for six months. Although her family visited her often, she did not respond well. Abbott transferred Kate to McLean Asylum in the winter of 1888, and then to a sanitorium in 1890. Pulmonary complications developed and Kate died on May 3, 1891. Animosities between Abbott and the Bloede family developed soon after Kate's death.
Emma Beach was Abbott Thayer's second wife, whom he married four months to the day after Kate Bloede's death. She met the couple during the summer of 1881, when they were vacationing in Nantucket. Beach was the daughter of Moses Beach, the former owner of the New York Sun. She was an art student, and over the next few years she visited the Thayers often, developing a close relationship with the children. Emma actually helped Thayer transfer Kate to the McLean Asylum. On July 27, 1891, Abbott wrote to Emma, imploring her to move in permanently with the family for the sake of the children. Her family was quite against this proposal, but the two were married in Nantucket on September 3, 1891. This caused problems between Abbott and the Bloedes, particularly offending Gertrude Bloede and Indie Bloede King, Kate's sisters.
Violet and Ella Beach were Emma Beach's sisters.
Dr. Samuel T. King was Abbott's brother-in-law, the husband of Indie Bloede. Thayer was quite close with King, and therefore it was King to whom he wrote in an attempt to patch things over with the Bloede family, especially Gertrude Bloede. This relationship later deteriorated, with King supporting his wife as opposed to Thayer.
Gertrude Bloede was Kate's sister and was married to Dr. King. It was Gertrude who was most offended when Thayer quickly remarried after Kate's death, and it was Gertrude whom Abbott attempted to reach out to after she refused to speak to him. Gertrude lived a double life as a poet. She published several pieces under the name "Stuart Sterne" in the 19th century.
William Endicott was an American politician from Massachusetts who served as Secretary of War and was influential on the Board on Fortification. Following his retirement, he returned to Boston, was overseer of Harvard College (his Alma mater) and president of the Peabody Academy of Science and Peabody Education Fund. It appears that Thayer's letter responds to a request from Endicott that Abbott participate in a mural in Massachusetts.
Maria Oakey Dewing was the wife of Thomas Wilmer Dewing, an American painter at the turn of the century. Maria herself was an artist who painted mostly flowers, although she began by painting figures. She studied art at the Cooper Union in New York City.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2009.06 1
Other Archival Materials:
Thomas B. Brumbaugh research material on Abbott Handerson Thayer and other artists, 1876-1994 (bulk 1960s-1994); Also located at Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Correspondence includes letters written by Peggy Bacon, her husband, Alexander Brook, her parents, and various other family members, friends, and associates. Peggy Bacon's letters from 1913 and earlier are mostly correspondence with schoolmates, parents, and other family. Beginning around 1914, Bacon wrote regular, detailed letters to her mother about her life as an art student and artist at Port Jefferson, Long Island (1914), at the Art Student's League in New York City (1915-1920), summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts (1915-1917), and the Woodstock artists' colony (1919-1927). Letters also describe her time living in England and France (1920-1921), and her early years in New York City (1920s-1930s). Letters received by Bacon include letters from the artist Lucia Fairbanks Fuller (1903-1909) her teacher Jonas Lie (circa 1915), and her friends and fellow artists Catherine Wiley, Dorothy Varian, Katherine Schmidt, Anne Rector, and others (circa 1914-1919). Letters are occasionally illustrated.
Alexander Brook's letters to his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Bacon, span the early years of his relationship with Peggy Bacon, recounting family and career matters during their Woodstock years, their travel abroad, and their early years in New York City.
Letters written to Bacon's father, Charles Roswell Bacon, include letters from the artists Jules Adler, Rudolph Bunner, Ira Remsen, and Charles Downing Lay. The rest of the correspondence series consists mainly of family correspondence and Elizabeth Bacon's personal and business correspondence.
This series is arranged by correspondent and/or recipient. Undated correspondence is filed either by approximate date derived from the content of the letters, or at the end of the folder series. Under folder headings with multiple correspondents, undated letters are alphabetized by their authors.
Additional correspondence can be found with Personal Business Records.
Collection 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.
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:
Peggy Bacon papers, 1893-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Project and professional files include documentation of a wide variety of printing and publishing projects, professional activities, as well as a few administrative and business activities. Material relating to book projects and printmaking activities include correspondence, agreements, inventories, writings, and mock-ups. Several files relate to the establishment and administration of the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. Barnet's professional activities in numerous organizations and institutions including the Academy of Arts and Letters, Art Students League, Century Association, College Art Association, Lotos Club, National Academy, and National Arts Club are documented through correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, and other administrative records. Correspondence pertaining to Barnet's participation in panels, lectures, and appearances are also among the professional files. The administrative and business activities documented include copyright, reproduction requests, recommendations, and donations. Information regarding various teaching positions can be found in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Vermont College, and Teaching Files folders. Born digital material includes a book for new members of the Century Association, as well as documents and photographs pertaining to the National Academy Gala. One item, a book about the history of Barnet's birth place, Beverly, Massachusetts, dates from 1897.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
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:
Will Barnet papers, 1897, 1929-2016. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the preservation and transfer of motion picture film was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
There are photographs of Andrew Dasburg and his family, friends, colleagues, homes, and artwork. Photographs of Dasburg include portraits and candid photographs. A few particularly noteworthy photographs depict Dasburg painting on Monhegan Island, Maine, in 1913; outside of Mabel Dodge Luhan's cottage in Provincetown, Massachusetts; outside of Luhan's home in Taos, New Mexico; and painting in his studio in Taos. Photographs of Dasburg with friends and family include him with his mother and son, Alfred; in a group photograph of Birge Harrison's Art Students' League summer class in Woodstock, New York, in 1907 along with his future wife, Grace Mott Johnson; in his studio at 115 rue Notre Dame des Champs with friends in 1910; with Konrad Cramer and John Reed in 1914; with artist Charles Kassler in Colorado; and with other unidentified groups of people, probably in Woodstock, NY. Also found are photographs of his son Alfred as a child and with his wife and children; photographs of friend and fellow artist Lila Wheelock Howard; and photographs of the Wister children, including Dasburg's third wife, Marina Wister. Notable among the photographs of family and friends include snapshots of Florence Lucius, Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer, Frieda and D. H. Lawrence, and Mabel Dodge Luhan.
The papers also include several photographs taken at Taos, New Mexico, including two photographs of Andrew and Alfred Dasburg with Tony Luhan and a photograph of Alfred with Mary Foote, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Tony Luhan en route to a snake dance. Additional photographs of Taos include Native American events, landscapes, and architecture. Photographs of places include Dasburg's house in Woodstock, New York, his mother's house in Wurtsboro, New York, Monhegan Island, Nova Scotia, and other unidentified places. Also found are photographs and slides of artwork by Dasburg and a few photographs of artwork by others. Folders are arranged by subject and chronologically within each folder.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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:
Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson papers, 1833-1980 (bulk 1900-1980). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Goldwater's correspondence is with academic colleagues, art museums, arts organizations, publishers, and former students. There is also scattered correspondence with artists and with family. Subjects include: requests to write book reviews and employment references, and to critique others' writings and provide research advice; Magazine of Art and Museum of Primitive Art business; awards and memberships; details about publishing texts by Goldwater and others; and congratulatory letters, comments, and questions about his writings. A small number of letters include comments about the personal lives of the correspondents, usually routine news of family and friends; a few letters are of a purely social nature. There are three letters addressed to Louise Bourgeois: two from Erick Hawkins and one from Ronnie Elliott.
Also found here are condolence letters received upon the deaths of Goldwater's mother and father in 1942 and 1958 respectively, and a small number of letters from his parents. Family letters include a few addressed to Clara A. Goldwater (Mrs. S. S. Goldwater).
Small amounts of additional correspondence can be found in Series 2: Subject Files and Series 3: Teaching Records.
See Appendix for a list of correspondents from Series 1.
Appendix: Correspondents from Series 1:
What follows is a complete list of correspondents (and the years of correspondence) in this series.
Abramson, Jerry, 1969
Albright Art Gallery, 1947, 1954-1955
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1953
Allen, Harold, 1953
Allert de Lange Verlag, 1952-1954
American Association of University Professors, 1946
American Council of Learned Societies, 1967-1968
American Federation of Arts, 1953
American Studies Association of Metropolitan New York, 1955
Anderson, Wayne V., 1964
Andiron Club of New York City, 1945-1946
Argent Galleries, 1947
Arnason, H. Harvard, 1948
Arnheim, Rudolf, 1945
Art Bulletin, 1940-1945, 1955
Art Forum, 1967
Art Gallery of Ontario, 1970
Art Gallery of Toronto, 1972
Art In America, 1941-1947, 1955
Art Institute of Chicago, 1940
Art News, 1946-1947
Art Students League of New York, 1940, 1943
Arts Magazine, 1964, 1967
Atlantic Transports, 1952
Auchincloss, James C., 1953
Authors Guild, 1947
Baltimore Museum of Art, 1946, 1954
Baltrusaitis, Mr., 1952, 1973
Barnard College, 1954
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1938-1939, 1949, 1951-1952
Becker, Marion R., 1945, 1949
Bellew, Peter, 1951
Bennington College, 1950
Benz, Helen, 1946
Bernheimer, Richard, 1955
Bernier, Rosamond, 1955
Besson, Mr., 1946
Black Mountain College, 1948
Board of Higher Education, City of New York, , 1944
Booth, Cameron, 1942
Boston Art Festival, 1954
British Council, 1951
British Museum, 1934
Brooklyn College, 1946
Brown University, 1964, 1968
Burlington Magazine, 1954
Busa, Peter, 1946
California Arts and Architecture, 1944
California School of Fine Arts, 1949
California State College, 1969
Carnegie Corporation, 1942-1943
Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1942
Chanticleer Press, Inc., 1955
Chapman, Ed, 1946
Choate, Mabel, 1946
Church, Howard, 1947
Cincinnati Modern Art Society, 1946-1946
Cleveland Institute of Art, 1952
Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952-1953
Colorado College, 1952
Columbia University Press, 1948
Columbia University, 1940, 1953-1955, 1962, 1965
Comité des Arts du Congres pour la Liberté de la Culture, 1964
Cook, Walter W. S., 1942-1943, 1945-1946, 1949-1950, 1955
Criterion Books, Inc., 1955
Critique, 1946
Crosby, Sumner McK., 1942
Dartmouth College, 1942
Davis, Stuart, 1943, 1945
Dersky, Morris, 1966
Dictionary of the Arts, 1941
Direction Départmentale de la Population de la Giornde, 1948
Dodd, Mead & Company, 1945
Duke University, 1946-1948, 1950
Edman, Irwin, 1942
Elliott, Ronnie, 1950*
Elsen, Al, 1969
Engel, Eugene W., 1946-1947
Exhibition Momentum, 1953, 1956
Falkenstein, Claire, 1951
Farwell, Beatrice, 1968-1969
Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Inc., 1946, 1950
Fitzsimmon, Jim, 1953
Florida State University, 1953
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1945-1947, 1949, 1954, 1956, 1971
Ford Foundation, 1969
Fox, Milton, 1958
[Frankenthaler?], Helen, 1950-1951
Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1969
Frick Collection, 1941
Fried, Richard N., 1950
Friedensohn, Elias, 1956
Fund for the Republic, Inc., 1956
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1956
Gallatin, A. E., 1944
Goldwater, Barry, 1966
Goodrich, Lloyd, 1945
Goucher College, 1967
Greene, Balcomb, 1942, 1947, 1951-1953
Guggenheim Foundation, 1945-1946, 1953-1955
Hallmark Art Award, 1949
Hammacher, Mr., 1952
Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., 1945
Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., 1952
Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1939-1942
Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, 1953, 1955, 1957
Harvard University, 1949-1951, 1968
Hawkins, Erick, 1950*
Herbert, Robert L., 1954
Hollins College, 1950
Hope, Henry R., 1943-1944, 1947, 1955
Horizon, 1949
Hunter College, 1967
Hunter, Sam, 1955
Indiana University, 1966
Ingram Merrill Foundation, 1966-1967
Institute for Advanced Study, 1964, 1966
Institute for Sex Research, Inc, Indiana University, 1966
Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1951
Institute of Design, 1947
Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Association, 1954
Institute of Fine Arts, 1969
Institute of International Education, 1953-1955
Intercultural Publications, Inc., 1953
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 1954
Janson, H. W., 1952-1954
Johns Hopkins Press, 1966-1967
Joslin, Andrew, 1972
Kamer, Henri A., 1964
Karl, Aline, 1953
Kenyon Review, 1945-1947, 1954
Kerns Foundation, Theosophical Society in America, 1968
Keyserling, Leon H., 1948
Kimball, Fiske, 1945, 1949
Knowles, Edwin B., Jr., 1945
Koch, Bob, 1954
Komroff, Manuel, 1944, 1946
[Krautheimer], Richard, 1944
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 1944
Lee, Rensselaer W., 1942, 1944
Levy, Adele R., 1956
Levy, Julien, 1944
Leylan, Robert M., 1941
Library of Congress, 1944-1947, 1952-1953
Loran, Erle, 1941
Loshak, David, 1946
Lougee and Company, 1952
M. I. T. Press, 1967
MacAgy, Douglas, 1948
Magazine of Art, 1944-1945, 1948, 1950-1951
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1967
Masson, Rose, 1944
Mayhew, Edgar deN., 1944
McGraw, Patricia, 1953
McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950, 1965
Mellquist, Jerome, 1951
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1940, 1954
Miller, Peter, 1944
Mitchell, Eleanor, 1945
Moffett, Charles, 1969
Museum of Modern Art, 1942, 1946-1947, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1969
Museum Purchase Fund, 1952
National Arts Club, 1946
Nelson, Kathleen L., 1945
New School Associates, 1953
New School for Social Research, 1949
New School, 1953, 1955
New York Times, 1946
New York University, 1934, 1937-1941, 1945, 1947, 1954, 1956-1959, 1963, 1966, 1970
New York University Press, 1970
Newark Museum, 1944
Okun, Henry, 1967-1968
Old Dominion Foundation, 1969
Ozenfant, [Amédée], 1949
Pantheon Books, Inc., 1944-1946, 1953-1954
Partisan Review, 1946, 1961-1962
Perry, William, 1941
Perspectives U.S.A., 1952
Phillips, Duncan, 1952
Photo Berard, 1951
Pietrantoni, M. L., 1955
Plass, Margo, 1962
Porter, James A., 1942
Prendergast, Charles, 1945
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1950
Princeton University, 1943, 1949
Princeton University Press, 1947-1949, 1954-1955, 1959
Prior, Harris, 1946
Quadrum, 1956
Queens College, 1938-1957, 1972, undated
Rand School of Social Science, 1945
Random House, 1964
[Rattner], Abe, 1945
Redon, Ari, 1951
Rewald, John, 1941-1942, 1946
Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, 1946
Rice Institute, 1954
Rice, Philip, 1952
Richter, H., 1952, 1954
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller-Otterlo, 1957
Robb, David M., 1946-1947
Robinson, Cortland A., 1945
Rockefeller Foundation, 1946, 1951, 1954, 1956
Rockefeller, Nelson A., 1957-1958, 1965
Roditi, Edouard, 1951
Rodman, Selden, 1946
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, 1967-1968
Ruksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, 1952
Sachs, Mrs. H. F., 1941
Samuel Kress Foundation, 1968
San Francisco Museum of Art, 1953
Sandström, Sven, 1954
Sarah Lawrence College, 1949-1950
Saturday Review, 1951, 1954
Schaefer-Sinnevenm 1945
Scheeffner, Denise Pauline, 1964
Schmalenbach, Fritz, 1951-1952, 1954
Seeman, Hugh, 1953
Seligman, Germain, 1947
Seuphor, Michel, 1951-1953, 1955
[Schapiro?], Meyer, 1941, 1943, 1952, 1960
Sihara, Laxmi P., 1968
Sloane, Joe, 1941
Smyth, Craig Hugh, 1952-1954, 1956
Soby, James Thrall, 1946-1947, 1950, 1955-1956
Société des Africanistes, 1936
Sokol, David M., 1969
Solomon, Alan, undated
State University of New York, Buffalo, 1969
State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1969
Stix, Hugh, 1952
Stokowski, Gloria (Mrs. Leopold), 1952
Sweeney, James Johnson, 1953, 1956
Sypher, Wylie, 1954
Time, 1945
Times Book Club, 1945
Tobé-Coburn School for Fashion Careers, 1947, 1950
[Trilling], Lionel, 1945-1946
Twin Editions, 1944
United States Educational Commission for France, 1951
United States Information Agency, 1959
University Club of Jamaica, New York, 1941
University of Birmingham, 1969
University of Birmingham, 1970
University of California, 1968-1969
University of California, Berkeley, 1948
University of Connecticut, 1950
University of Guelph, 1970-1971
University of Illinois, 1967
University of Iowa, 1968-1969
University of Massachusetts, 1966-1967, 1972
University of New Mexico, 1967
University of North Carolina, 1953
University of Texas, 1947
University of Washington Press, 1967
Valentin, Curt, 1953
Venturi, [illegible], 1941
Viking Press, Inc., 1944, 1968
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1953
Visson, Assia R., 1942-1943, 1947, 1950
Vytlacil, Vaclav, 1942
Walker Art Center, 1954
Walker, Hudson D., 1948
Wardwell, Allen, II, undated
Webster J. Carson, 1945, 1955
Webster, J. Carson, 1955
Weller, Allen S., 1958
Werner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, 1970
This material is ACCESS RESTRICTED; permission; written permission is required. 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:
Robert John Goldwater papers, 1902-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Caption: "Boston, Mass-- Girl art students of the Veker George School, as a part of their art course are taught how to make masks. They are shown here wih a trio of masks weird and fantastic. Left to right a Russian Peasant Mask; Queen Guenivere and a fantastic mask shown by students of the school."
Local Numbers:
RSN 18564
Video number 17876
General:
Company catalog card included.
U&U caption in file box: 2023-A204.
Currently stored in box 3.1.71 [227B].
Collection Restrictions:
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.
The Jack Tworkov papers measure 9.7 linear feet and are dated 1926-1993. Tworkov's work as a painter and influential teacher, as well as his personal life, are documented by extensive journals and substantive correspondence that record his ideas about art and teaching, and illuminate his relationships with friends, colleagues, and students. Many sketchbooks, writings, interviews, photographs, and moving images are also included.
Scope and Content Note:
The Jack Tworkov papers measure 9.7 linear feet and are dated 1926-1993, with the bulk from the period 1931-1982. Tworkov's work as a painter and influential teacher, as well as his personal life, are documented by extensive journals and substantive correspondence that record his ideas about art and teaching, and illuminate his relationships with friends, colleagues, and students. Many sketchbooks, writings, interviews, photographs, and moving images are also included.
Biographical material includes Tworkov's citizenship certificate, awards, diplomas, a copy of Jack Tworkov: Video Portrait, produced by Electronic Arts Intermix, and a motion picture film, USA Artists: Jack Tworkov, produced by National Education Television.
Correspondence consists largely of incoming letters. It is both professional and personal in nature and often combines both spheres. Correspondents include artists Jennifer Bartlett, William H. Calfee, Giorgio Cavallon and Linda Lindeberg, Grace Hartigan, Helene Herzbrun (also named Helene McKinsey), Karl Knaths, Joe Summerford, Joan Thorne, and Adja Yunkers; cartoonist Robert C. Osborn; collectors Donald M. Blinken and David A. Praeger (who was also Tworkov's lawyer); illustrator Roger Dovoisin; critics Dore Ashton and Andrew Forge; critic and poet John Ashbury; galleries that represented Tworkov: Egan Gallery, Leo Castelli, Nancy Hoffman Gallery, Poindexter Gallery, Stable Gallery and Zabriskie Gallery; and many museums, arts organizations, colleges and universities.
Interviews with Tworkov include one with Ricky Demarco videotaped in 1979 and two conducted on video by Twokov's daughter Helen in 1975. The remaining interviews are sound recordings, one conducted by Grace Alexander for the show Artists in New York in 1967, one conducted by Michael Newman in 1980, and the remainder by unidentified interviewers. None have transcripts.
All writings are by Tworkov and include poems, an artist's statement, and documentation for two children's books by Tworkov illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. Two additional notebooks contain miscellaneous notes, teaching notes, and some specific to identified courses. Lectures exist as untranscribed sound recordings.
Tworkov's journals (33 volumes) span a period of 35 years, from 1947 until 1982, with the final entry dated a few weeks before his death. They record his reflections on painting, his challenges as a painter, aesthetics, the role of the artist in society, Jewish identity, painters he admired (especially Cézanne and Edwin Dickinson), politics, and teaching. They also recount everyday life: the comings and goings of friends and family members, social engagements, professional activities, illness, and travel.
The lone subject file concerns Mark Rothko and includes a photograph of Rothko and the guest list for the dedication of the Rothko Chapel in Houston.
Artwork consists of a small number of sketches by Tworkov in pencil and ink. Tworkov's sketchbooks (28 volumes) contain sketches and some finished drawings. Most are in pencil, but scattered throughout are a few pencil sketches embellished with colored marker or pastel, and a small number in ink.
Photographs are of people, places and events. Most photographs are of Tworkov alone and with others including Giogio Cavallon, though most friends and students are unidentified. Of note are views of Tworkov producing a series of prints at Tamarind Institute. Also found is an informal portrait of Wally Tworkov. Events recorded include the jurying of "Exhibition Momentum" in Chicago, 1956. Among the places shown are Tworkov's studios at Black Mountain College and in Provincetown. When known, photographers are noted; among them are Paul Katz, Herbert Matter, Arnold Newman, Renate Ponsold, Theo Westenberger, Dennis Wheeler, and Howard Wise.
A separate series of audiovisual recordings was established for those recordings that could not be readily identified to be arranged in other series. They consist of three videocassettes (2 VHS and 1 miniDV).
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1933-1981 (Boxes 1, 9, 11, FC 13; 0.7 linear ft.)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1926-1993 (Boxes 1-5; 3.8 linear ft.)
Series 3: Interviews, 1978-1982 (Boxes 5, 9-10; 1 linear ft.)
Series 4: Writings, Notes, and Lectures, 1955-1982 (Boxes 5, 9; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 5: Journals, 1947-1982 (Boxes 5-7; 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 6: Subject File, 1961-1977 (Box 7; 1 folder)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1952-1981 (Box 7, OV 12; 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1950s-1960s (Box 7: 3 folders)
Series 9: Sketchbooks, circa 1950s-1960s (Boxes 7-8, 11; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 10: Photographic Materials, 1941-1981 (Boxes 8-9; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 11: Audiovisual Recordings, 1961-1975 (Box 9; 0.1 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
New York School painter Jack Tworkov (1900-1982), best known for his Abstract Expressionist paintings and as a highly regarded teacher, lived and worked in New York City and Provincetown, MA.
At age 13, Tworkov (born Yakov Tworkovsky) emigrated from Poland with his mother and sister to join his father already in the United States. In America, they chose to use the name of distant relatives, the Bernsteins, who were their sponsors. Eventually, Jack and his sister, Janice, reclaimed and shortened their name to Tworkov; later, she adopted the name of their hometown in Poland and became the painter Janice Biala.
As a high school student in New York City, Tworkov attended drawing classes. After graduating from Columbia University, where he had been an English major and considered becoming a writer, Tworkov instead turned to art. He studied with Ivan Olinsky at the National Academy of Design between 1923 and 1925, and from 1925 to 1926 attended painting classes taught by Guy Péne Du Bois and Boardman Robinson at the Art Students League. During his college years, Tworkov began visiting museums and became a great admirer of Cézanne. Tworkov's early paintings - still life, landscapes, and portraits - showed the influence of European modernism and Cézanne.
Tworkov spent his first summer in Provincetown while still a student and subsequently returned to study with Ross Moffet. In Provincetown he met and was greatly influenced by Karl Knaths and developed a lifelong friendship with Edwin Dickinson. By 1929, Tworkov was painting there year round. Over the years, Tworkov and his family continued to return for long stretches, and in 1958 he purchased a house in Provincetown.
During the Great Depression, Tworkov participated in the Treasury Department's Public Works of Art Project until 1934, and then moved to the easel division of the WPA Federal Art Project. He felt uncomfortable with the growing ideological and political influences on art and found it depressing to paint for the WPA rather than for himself, so he left the WPA in 1941. Tworkov, who had studied mechanical drawing while in high school, spent most of the War years employed as a tool designer and draftsman at an engineering firm with government contracts.
By the 1940s, Tworkov was painting in the Abstract Expressionist style. Between 1948 and 1953, he leased a studio on Fourth Avenue that adjoined that of his friend Willem de Kooning. During this time, they mutually influenced each other as they developed into mature Abstract Expressionists. At Yale in the 1960s, Tworkov became close friends with fellow student Josef Albers. Alber's influence on Tworkov resulted in a turn to geometric compositions of small, systematic, and repetitive strokes defined by a grid. He experimented with diagonal compositions, and later geometric work that featured large areas of color and soft texture.
Tworkov's first teaching experience was during 1930-1931 when he served as a part-time painting instructor at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. His teaching career began in earnest when he joined the faculties of Queens College, 1948-1955, and Pratt Institute, 1955-1958. During the summers he taught at various schools, most notably Black Mountain College's 1952 summer session. Tworkov was a visiting artist at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture, 1961-1963, and became chairman of its Art Department from 1963 until his retirement in 1969. In retirement he lived in Provincetown and was a visiting artist for both short and extended periods at various universities and art schools.
An avid reader of literature and poetry, Tworkov also wrote poems and essays. He published essays in It Is, Art Digest, and Art In America; his most notable piece, "The Wandering Soutine," appeared in Art News, November 1950. Tworkov also kept a journal for 35 years (1947-1982) that recorded his thoughts on a wide range of subjects concerning professional, personal, and philosophical issues, as well as details of everyday life.
Tworkov was among the founders of the Artists' Club or The Club in 1949, and for a decade actively participated in the stimulating discussions for which the group was known. In 1968 he helped to establish the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Its residency program enabled younger artists and writers to advance their careers and kept Provincetown's historic artists' colony active year round.
He was the recipient of the William A. Clark Award and Corcoran Gold Medal from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1963; Skowhegan School of Art's Painter of the Year Award, 1974; and Distinguished Teaching of Art Award from College Art Association, 1976. Tworkov was appointed to serve on the Massachusetts Art Commission, 1970-1971, and in 1981 was named a Fellow of The Cleveland Museum of Art and of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Following his second divorce in 1935, Rachel (Wally) Wolodarsky became Tworkov's third wife and their marriage endured. They had two daughters. Hermine Ford (b. 1939) is an artist married to fellow painter Robert Moskowitz. Helen Tworkov (b. 1943) is the founder of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and the author of a book about yoga.
Tworkov remained physically and intellectually active after a diagnosis of bone cancer around 1980, and continued to paint until shortly before his death in Provincetown on September 4, 1982.
Related Material:
Among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Jack Tworkov, one conducted by Dorothy Seckler, Aug. 17, 1962, and another by Gerald Silk, May 22, 1981. There is also a small collection of three letters written by Jack Tworkov to friend Troy-Jjohn Bramberger.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel N70-38 and 62) including writings by Tworkov, notebooks, notes for teaching and talks, notes on art and miscellaneous subjects, poems, artist's statements, biographical data, the transcript of a 1970 interview with Tworkov conducted by Phyllis Tuchman, and a few letters and drafts of letters, 1950-1963. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Jack Tworkov lent the Archives of American Art papers for microfilming in 1970-1971. Jack Tworkov's daughters, Hermine Ford and Helen Tworkov, donated the rest of the collection in 2009, which included some of the material from the original loan.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
Reels N70-38 and 62: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Helen Tworkov or Hermine Ford. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Biographical materials, correspondence, business records, writings, art works, photographs, and printed material.
Biographical material includes ID cards and an autobiographical statement. Correspondence, 1935-1964, includes letters sent to Nickelsen as Supervisor for the WPA Massachusetts Federal Art Project; correspondents include Beaumont Newhall and muralist Elizabeth Tracy. Project files regard mural and stained glass commissions, among them the East Boston murals; Nebraska capitol murals; Springfield, Mass. Museum of Fine Arts library murals; Worcester, Mass. Parcel Post Building murals; and stained glass commissions, ca.1938-1942. Files contain correspondence, art work, including large mural cartoons, reference photographs, photographs of works of art, and printed material. Also included are a list of mural ingredients and notes; business records, 1927-1937; photocopies of articles and writings, 1930-1967; art work by Nickelsen including stained glass rendering and mural drawings by Elizabeth Tracy Montminy; exhibition catalogs, clippings, photographs of Nickelsen and his art work, including one of him painting a window for St. Patricks Church, N.Y. in the Charles Connick Studio, Boston, 1950; and of Montminy and her murals.
Biographical / Historical:
Stained glass artist; mural painter; Boston, Mass. Born in Hamburg, Germany. Initially studied at the stained-glass studio of his father, John R. Nickelsen, and later went to the State Art School, Hamburg. He came to the United States in 1922 and attended the Art Students' League, N.Y. and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Participated as an artist and as a supervisor on the WPA Art Project in Boston, and was associated with the stained-glass design firm of Charles J. Connick Associates for many years.
Provenance:
Donated 1991-1999 by Nickelsen's widow, Ingeborg R. Nickelsen.
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.
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 References 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:
Senga Nengudi papers, 1947, circa 1962-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
An interview of Robert Winokur conducted 2011 July 23 and 24, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Winokur's home and studio, in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
Robert speaks of his mother earning an award for her artwork; his father and other family members being Communists and having to distance himself in being identified with them; his mother making ceramic jewelry while his father was working as a welder at Cramps Shipyard in Philadelphia during World War II; feeling like he had an attention deficit disorder of some kind, which prevented him from doing well in school, so he took ceramics classes in high school to bring his grades up; starting in painting at the Tyler School of Art, finishing in sculpture, clay, and ceramics; appreciating the Abstract Expressionist work of Franz Kline; of the opinion that one learns art by doing and that the teachers are there to direct you only; feeling that he did not have the freedom to experiment with clay as he wished at Alfred University, School of Art and Design for fear of being compared to Peter Voulkos; his first job teaching at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas; teaching in Peoria, Illinois for a year; beginning Cape Street Pottery in Ashfield, Massachusetts; when he began salt firing and working more in sculptural forms; his work influenced by Abstract Expressionism, Paul Klee, Willem de Kooning, Ignazio Giacometti, Zen master calligraphers, Peter Voulkos, and others; feeling that the computer cannot, as of yet, produce the quality of art that humans can through repetition; that the process of creating is more important than the subject; starting his 30-year teaching career at Tyler School of Art in 1966; that students today are approaching ceramics conceptually and academically rather than through a relationship with the material; the beginning of NCECA [National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts]; and how he enjoys making what he wants to, now that he is retired. Robert also recalls Rudolf Staffel, John Wood, Ted Randall, Daniel Rhodes, Shoji Hamada, Marguerite Wildenhain, Ken Ferguson, Norm Schulman, Victor Babu, Myrna Minter, Don Reitz, Helen Drutt English, Richard Notkin, Dick Hay, Marge Levy, and Ken Vavrek.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Winokur (1933- ) is a ceramist in Horsham, Pennsylvania. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded as 7 sound files. Duration is 5 hr., 35 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.
This collection measures 7.7 linear feet, dates from circa 1870 to 1992, and documents the life and career of painter Ross Moffett and, to a lesser extent, the life and career of his wife, painter, lithographer, etcher, and illustrator, Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, artwork including sketchbooks, and printed material including published writings, newspaper clippings, press releases, and exhibition catalogs.
Scope and Content Note:
The Ross and Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett papers measure 7.7 linear feet and date from circa 1870 to 1992. Because Dorothy Moffett's papers were received separately they are filed together in Series 13. Series 1-12 deal primarily with the life and career of Ross Moffett. The collection documents Ross Moffett's participation in the Provincetown community as an artist and resident through correspondence, photographs, sketchbooks and printed material, including published writings, news clippings, press releases, and exhibition catalogs. The papers of Dorothy Moffett include family letters, photographs, a journal and original artwork providing scattered documentation of her life and career as an a printmaker and illustrator.
General correspondence primarily focuses on news and financial affairs of the Moffett family farm in Iowa. Also included are letters from Provincetown artist, Edwin Dickinson, and a small amount of correspondence with other artists, collectors and dealers.
Files documenting specific projects that Ross Moffett was involved with are arranged separately and include correspondence, printed material and photographs. Project files have been established for the following projects: the publication of Art in Narrow Streets, the Eisenhower mural, the Cape Cod National Seashore Park and the renovation of the Center Methodist Church.
The series of printed material, 1918-1992, relates to Ross Moffett's career as an artist and his general interest in art. Photographs primarily focus on scenes of Provincetown and include photographs of works of art by Provincetown artists. Also included are photographs of artwork by Moffett arranged chronologically, Moffett's studio in Provincetown, and installations at the Provincetown Art Association Galleries.
Artwork found in Series 10 and 11 includes drawings by Ross Moffett and 85 annotated sketchbooks, including four by Dorothy Moffett.
The collection also houses research notes and files written by Josephine Couch Del Deo in preparation of a biography of Ross Moffett. These annotations provide useful additional information about Moffett's life.
Papers of Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett include Gregory family letters, Dorothy's correspondence with her father, and letters from other family and friends. Also found are drawings, lithographs and etchings by Dorothy and photographs of her family and friends.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into thirteen series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1888-1965 (box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1915-1972 (box 1; 0.6 linear ft)
Series 3: Financial Material, 1933-1971 (box 1; 2 folders)
Series 4: Notebook/Notes, undated (box 1; 2 folders)
Series 5: Projects, 1880-1969, undated (boxes 1-2; 1.2 linear ft.)
Series 6: Subject File, 1960-1968 (box 2; 1 folder)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1916-1992, undated (boxes 2-4, 7; 1.5 linear ft.)
Series 8: Photographs, circa 1900-1975, undated (box 4; 15 folders)
Series 9: Slides of Art Association, Iowa Farmland and the Chrysler Museum, circa 1960, undated (box 4; 1 folder)
Series 10: Drawings, circa 1929-1934 (box 5; 1 folder)
Series 11: Sketchbooks, 1913-1969 (boxes 5-8; 2.5 linear ft.)
Series 12: Annotations/Item Descriptions by Josephine Couch Del Deo, undated (box 6; 2 folders)
Series 13: Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett Papers, circa 1870-1975 (boxes 9-11; 0.7 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
Ross Moffett (1888-1971) was an important figure in the development of modernism in American Art after World War I. His paintings primarily depict the life and landscapes of the Provincetown, Massachusetts area. Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett is perhaps best known as a printmaker and illustrator of children's books and magazines.
Born in Iowa in 1888, Moffett trained at the Art Institute in Chicago and studied with Charles Hawthorne during the summer of 1913, in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Moffett then studied at the Art Students League and returned to Provincetown in 1915, to establish himself as an artist. He was one of the founders of the Provincetown Art Association and a leading figure in the art colony for many years. In 1920, Moffett married artist Dorothy Lake Gregory in Brooklyn, New York. Dorothy studied at the Pratt Institute and with Robert Henri and George Bellows in New York, and then went to Provincetown to study with Hawthorne as well.
During the 1920's and 1930's, Ross Moffett's success increased steadily and he had his first one-man show at the Frank Rehn Gallery in New York and also at The Art Institute of Chicago in 1928. He served on several exhibition juries around the country during this time. Between 1936 and 1938, Moffett painted four murals in two Massachusetts post offices for the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). Moffett received full membership to the National Academy of Design in 1942.
While Moffett's painting slowed somewhat during World War II he continued his involvement in the arts by maintaining the Provincetown Art Association. He taught briefly at the University of Miami in Ohio from 1932 to 1933, and returned to Provincetown to pursue painting full-time. In the 1950's, Moffett became interested in archaeology and even delivered a few lectures on the subject. During this time he continued to paint and his art reflected his preoccupation with the science of archaeology. In 1954, Moffett was one of two artists selected by the National Academy of Design to paint murals depicting President Dwight D. Eisenhower's life for the Eisenhower Memorial Museum in Abilene, Kansas. Moffett was chosen to portray Eisenhower's civilian life.
In 1960, Moffett became active in the movement to establish the 1400 acres known as the Province Lands as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore Park. After the park was established Moffett wrote and published a history of the first thirty-three years of the Provincetown Art Association in a book titled Art in Narrow Streets, 1964. He continued to serve as a juror for the Provincetown Art Association and was artist-in-residence for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center in 1970.
Dorothy Moffett also pursued a successful career in art, and publishers such as Rand McNally used her illustrations for youth magazines and childrens books, such as the classic Green Fairy Book. Her work was exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum, the National Academy, and the Brooklyn Museum, and her Alice in Wonderland series of lithographs was purchased for the permanent collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Though best known as a printmaker, Moffett also worked in oil.
Ross Moffett died of cancer on March 13, 1971.
Related Material:
Related resources in the Archives of American Art include a sound recording of a transcribed interview with Ross Moffett by Dorothy Seckler, August 27, 1962; and a sound recording of an untranscribed interview with Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett by Robert F. Brown, September 22, 1972.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel D80) including 150 letters relating to art organizations, museums, and government art projects, news clippings, records of the Provincetown Art Association, and the Emergency Committee for the Protection of Province Lands, and miscellaneous publications. Lent materials were returned to Ross Moffett and are now housed at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Ross Moffett initally lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming in 1962. The remainder of the collection was donated in 1974 by his widow, Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett (died 1975), via Ross Moffett's biographer, Josephine Del Deo, who turned the papers over in installments. Archaeological material and artifacts received with the papers were donated to the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown Search this
Landscape painters -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown Search this
This series contains family letters and Dorothy Moffett's correspondence including letters written by her grandfather, John Milton Gregory (first president of the University of Illinois) to her father, Grant Gregory. There is correspondence with her father which was written from Woodstock, New York (where Dorothy was studying art), New Hope, Pennsylvania, and Provincetown, Massachusetts. The letters discuss her finances, classes, instructors, fellow students, materials, and critiques. Also found are miscellaneous letters from fellow students, letters relating to business affairs, and letters of condolence prior to and upon the death of Ross Moffett.
Also found is original artwork including pencil drawings, lithographs, and etchings, as well as photographs of Dorothy and her family and friends, including one of Robert Henri's Art Students League Class for 1914-1915.
The series contains a file on Moffett's aunt, Julia Gregory, containing correspondence and a will; an illustrated journal on a European trip; material relating to Moffett family history, and information regarding sales and other financial records from 1945-1954.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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:
Ross and Dorothy Lake Gregory Moffett papers, circa 1870-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Seong Moy conducted 1971 Jan. 18-28, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Moy speaks of his childhood in Canton, China; his immigration to Minnesota; the art scene in Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the 1930s; his education; the influence of his teachers, including Cameron Booth, Hans Hofmann, and Vaclav Vytlacil; the influence of Stanley William Hayter; being introduced to printmaking by the WPA art project in Minnesota; his service as a photographer in World War II; his teaching philosophy; and the art scene in Provincetown in the 1970s.
Biographical / Historical:
Seong Moy (1921-2013) was a Chinese American painter and printmaker based in New York City, New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts. Moy was born in Canton, China. He studied at the St. Paul School of Art, Hans Hofmann School of Art and the Art Students League. He was also the director of the Seong Moy School of Painting and Graphics, Provincetown, Massachusetts in the summer.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 19 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' 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 available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Interview of Peggy Bacon conducted 1973 May 8, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art, in Cape Porpoise, Maine. Bacon speaks of her family and educational background; summer art classes in Provincetown, Massachusetts and Woodstock, New York; the Art Students League; the Provincetown Players; working in black and white; her drawings, drypoints, etchings, and caricatures; her illustrated books including, "Off With Their Heards"; cats as subjects; and her husband Alexander Brook. She recalls George Bellows, Andrew Dasburg, Edith Gregor Halpert, Charles Webster Hawthorne, Jonas Lie, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Peggy Bacon (1895-1987) was a printmaker from Cape Porpoise, Maine.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 9 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
