Correspondence; notes and writings by Woods and his students; printed material; photographs of Woods and his work; 4 sketches and drawings by his students, undated; 1 certificate from San Francisco Art Institute, undated, various subject files, 1948-1981.
Included are: correspondence with Grace McCann Morley, Jock Reynolds, Richard Hayton, Sean Elwood and others, 1960-1987; notes and writings by Woods and his students; student drawings by Joan Brown and others, and original Christmas cards received; clippings, 1955-1978; files on the San Francisco Art Festival, 1950-1951, San Francisco Art Association, the San Francisco Art Commission, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and other events and topics; gallery announcements, posters and exhibition catalogs;
writings by Woods including commencement addresses, lectures, proposals and one manuscript "New Prospects in Design Education"; proposals for long range development of the visual arts program at the University of California at Santa Cruz (1970-1979); and photographs and slides of Woods and his artwork.
ADDITION: One b&w photograph of Louis Siegriest and his son Lundy; one b&w photograph of Jay DeFeo, ca. 1960; and two exhibition catalogs on the Siegriests, 1980 and 1986; newspaper review of Woods' 1993 exhibit.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor and art instructor; San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California.
Provenance:
Material donated 1991 and 1992 by Gurdon Woods.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- California -- Santa Cruz Search this
The papers of New York artist Philip Pearlstein measure 31.8 linear feet and 16.68 GB and date from circa 1940 to 2008. The collection is comprised of biographical material, correspondence, interviews and transcripts, writing projects and lectures, personal business records, printed material, three scrapbooks, photographs and moving images, documentary production material, digital records, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film that documents Pearlstein's career as a painter and educator.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York artist Philip Pearlstein measure 31.8 linear feet and 16.68 GB and date from circa 1940 to 2008. The collection is comprised of biographical material, correspondence, interviews and transcripts, writing projects and lectures, personal business records, printed material, three scrapbooks, photographs and moving images, documentary production material, digital records, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film that documents Pearlstein's career as a painter and educator.
Biographical material includes appointment books, several awards, annotated calendars, a catalogue raisonné working list, identification card, membership files, resumes, and one sound recording. Correspondence is with Will Barnet, Chuck Close, Rackstraw Downes, Richard Haas, Jack Levine, Robert Storr, John Updike, Leland Wallin, Jerome Witkin, family, galleries and museums, students, colleagues, artists, arts organizations, and includes a digital recording.
Also found are sound recordings and transcripts of interviews with Pearlstein by Vivian Tsao, Michael Blaine, Sanford Sivitz Shaman, David McCarthy, and broadcast stations WRFM and WBAI. Writing projects and lectures by Pearlstein consist of student work, numerous articles and essays, sound and video recordings of lectures and speeches, letters, memorials, miscellaneous manuscripts and notes, and a U.S. and U.S.S.R. Workshop Exchange project proposal. Writings by others about Pearlstein are by W.J. Kelly, Alexander Dückers, Richard Field, John Ward, Jerome Viola, Robert Storr, and David Yezzi.
Personal business records contain agreements, consignment and loan documents, donations, financial material, exhibition files, insurance and inventories, recommendations written by Pearlstein, reproduction permissions, digital recordings, and teaching files for various institutions. Art reproductions, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for exhibitions of artwork by Pearlstein and others, magazines and journals, newsletters, postcards, and publicity files that include one digital recording are in printed materials.
Two scrapbooks are of Egyptian and Roman architecture and objects accompanied by notes and a small amount of sketches, and one scrapbook is printed material regarding Pearlstein's work and exhibitions. Artwork is by Jean Hampleman, Fernando Tamburini, and unidentified artists. Photographs and moving images that include video recordings and motion picture film of Pearlstein in the studio, portraits, and candids; personal photographs of family, travel, and classmates including Andy Warhol and Dorothy Cantor; artist's models; events and exhibitions; and works of art.
Completed and unedited video and sound recordings, computer graphics footage, soundtrack material, and administrative records for the 1985 documentary video production Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artist's Model are also in this collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1964-2008 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 1, 36, OV42)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1955-2008 (8.5 linear Feet; Boxes 1-10, OVs 42-43, 0.168 GB; ER01)
Series 3: Interviews and Transcripts, 1957-2003 (0.5 linear Feet; Box 10)
Series 4: Writing Projects and Lectures, circa 1945-2008 (2.5 linear Feet; Boxes 10-13, 37-38, 8.26 GB: ER02-ER13)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1955-2007 (1 linear Feet; Boxes 13-14, 3.77 GB: ER14-ER15)
Series 6: Printed Materials, 1946-2008 (3.0 linear Feet; Boxes 14-21, 36, OVs 42-43)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, circa 1953-1970s (0.4 linear Feet; Box 22)
Series 8: Artwork, undated, 1967-2004 (0.2 linear Feet; Box 22, OV 42)
Series 9: Photographs and Moving Images, 1940s-2008 (3.3 linear Feet; Boxes 22, 37, 39-41, 4.18 GB; ER16-ER18)
Series 10: Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artist's Model, Documentary Production Material, 1983-1991 (8.5 linear Feet; Boxes 23-30, SAV 31-35)
Biographical / Historical:
Philip Pearlstein (1924- ) is a painter and educator based in New York, N.Y.
Pearlstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he attended classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art as a child. While still in high school, his paintings were reproduced in Life magazine after winning Scholastic magazine's high school art competition. After graduating from high school Pearlstein enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology's (CIT) art school, but left after a year to serve in the Army during World War II. He gained knowledge of printing, drafting, and sign painting while stationed in Florida and Italy. After the war he returned to CIT as a student and became art editor of the engineering school's Carnegie Technical magazine. During this time Pearlstein met his wife, Dorothy Cantor, and became close friends with Andy Warhol, both classmates at CIT. Pearlstein moved to New York City with Warhol after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1949. In 1955, he completed his thesis on Francis Picabia and received a Master of Arts in art history from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.
As Pearlstein's career evolved, he became known for his realistic nudes and landscapes. Many of Pearlstein's paintings were inspired by his travels to the western United States, Peru, Egypt, and to Italy as a 1958 Fulbright Grant recipient. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, and he has worked closely with the Tanager and Alan Frumkin Galleries in New York. In addition to his painting career, Pearlstein was an instructor at Pratt Institute from 1959 to 1963 and at Brooklyn College from 1963 to 1988. He is also a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, serving as president from 2003 to 2006.
Pearlstein continues to work and live in New York, N.Y.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Philip Pearlstein conducted by Paul Cumming, June 8 to August 10, 1972.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in multiple installments by Philip Pearlstein from 1975 to 2009.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Rights:
Audio visual material "Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artists' Model": Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposese of publication requires written permission from Pearlstein or his heirs. 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.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Wellcome, Henry S., Sir (Henry Solomon), 1853-1936 Search this
Wiggins, Guy C. (Guy Carleton), 1883-1962 Search this
Extent:
8.5 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Diaries
Sketches
Photographs
Poetry
Writings
Date:
1904-1990
bulk 1904-1957
Summary:
The papers of painter and illustrator W. Langdon Kihn measure approximately 8.5 linear feet and date from 1904-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1904-1957. Papers document Kihn's career and travels associated with his interests in documenting the native American tribal nations of the United States and Canada in portraiture and writings. Found here are biographical materials, voluminous correspondence, memoirs and writings, one travel diary, printed material, financial records, three sketchbooks, sketches, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and illustrator W. Langdon Kihn measure approximately 8.5 linear feet and date from 1904-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1904-1957. Papers document Kihn's career and travels associated with his interests in documenting the native American tribal nations of the United States and Canada in portraiture and writings. Found here are biographical material, voluminous correspondence, memoirs and writings, one travel diary, printed material, financial records, three sketchbooks, sketches, and photographs.
Biographical materials include address books, membership cards, exhibition and price lists, legal and travel documents, as well as biographical notes. Additional biographical sketches are found in the Writings and Notes series.
Correspondence is the largest series in the collection, almost half of the papers. In addition to letters to W. Langdon Kihn, this series include both originals and drafts of his outgoing letters; letters to his wife Helen from friends; third party business correspondence between his father, Alfred Kihn, and various parties undertaken on his son's behalf; and third party correspondence addressed to his friend and colleague, the Canadian ethnographer, Marius Barbeau. In addition to Barbeau, significant correspondents include Constance Lindsay Skinner, Chester and Maud Dale, Sir Henry Wellcome, Pierre and Marie "May" Lecompte du Noüy, and Reginald and Gladys Laubin. Although there is little correspondence with other artists, those represented with cards and letters in this collection include Boris Artzybasheff, Maynard Dixon, Olin Dows, Thornton Oakley, and Kihn's summer art school partner, Gus Wiggins. Correspondence with Franklin L. Fisher, Chief of National Geographic Magazine's Illustrated Division and Matthew W. Striling, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution dominate the period spanning from 1935 - 1952, the years of Kihn's close association with the National Geographic Society.
Writings and notes includes manuscripts and typescripts of articles, poems, lectures, memoirs, and other writings by Kihn and others. There is one travel diary dated circa 1924-1925, and numerous writings about Kihn's travels and documentation of native American Indians.
Printed materials include exhibition catalogs, travel brochures, and magazine and newspaper clippings. Also found here are copies of Kihn's illustrations for books by other authors, including Beaver, Kings and Cabins, by Constance Lindsay Skinner, as well as proofs from the National Geographic series on American Indians arranged by geographic location. Financial records consist of invoices and receipts related to Kihn's artwork, traveling, and exhibitions.
Three sketchbooks and loose sketches include illustrated field notes and other drawings that document Kihn's travels and of native Americans. Photographs are of Kihn, and of Kihn at work. There are also photographs of Kihn's artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1916-1957 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1904-1959 (Boxes 1-5; 4.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1920-1990 (Box 5-6; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1920-1957 (Boxes 6-8, OV 10; 2.2 linear feet)
Series 5: Financial Records, 1920-1955 (Box 8; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Sketchbooks and Sketches, circa 1922-1955 (Boxes 8-9, OV 10; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1920-1955 (Box 9; 5 folders)
Biographical Note:
Born in Brooklyn, New York, W. (Wilfred) Langdon Kihn (1898-1959) is best known for his portraits of American Indians and illustrations of their history, culture and rapidly disappearing way of life. In 1919, Kihn joined his art teacher Winold Reiss on a trip to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana where he completed his first series of portraits. This marked the beginning of his lifelong career of documenting the tribal nations of the United States and Canada. Through commissions from Canadian and American Railroad companies, Kihn spent much of the 1920s traversing both the United States and Northwest Canada where he had the opportunity to record the members and lives of various tribes. During this period, his paintings also traveled the country in a one man exhibition of his American Indian portraits, which was arranged by the Brooklyn Museum, and traveled to about 40 institutions in the United States. However his largest and best known commission was a project to research and paint North American Indians for serial publication in National Geographic. Kihn received the commission in 1935 and his association with the organization spanned two decades, culminating in the 1955 exhibition of his work at the National Geographic Museum, Washington, D.C, and the publication Indians of the Americas, with copius illustrations derived from Kihn's paintings and drawings.
In addition to his travels and work in North America, Kihn enjoyed a brief stint between 1929-1932 painting in France and Spain. Upon his return he focused upon obtaining commercial work and enjoyed success as an illustrator, whose work was featured in Beaver, Kings and Cabins (1933) and Flat Tail (1935), among other books. Kihn also wrote articles about his travels; amateur painters, whom he specialized in teaching; and American Indian legends and tribal cultures. Between 1948-1951 he was a partner in the Guy Wiggins-W. Langdon Kihn Art School in Essex, Connecticut. He married Helen Butler in 1920 and in between their travels the couple eventually settled in East Haddam, Connecticut. W. Langdon Kihn died in 1957.
Provenance:
Helen Kihn, W. Langdon Kihn's widow, donated the bulk of the collection in 1959. In 1994 Phyllis Kihn, the artist's daughter, donated pages 1-8 of Kihn's original manuscript of his memoirs and a transcript of the complete memoirs.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of painter and teacher Brian Kazlov measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1959 to 1991. Included are letters written by Kazlov and his wife Louise to his parents, Gertrude and Peter, and other relatives. In his letters he wrote about his art education, his process of painting, the books he read, his relationships, and his emotional ups and downs as an artist. Also found are a few biographical documents, exhibition catalogs, and news clippings.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter and teacher Brian Kazlov measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1959 to 1991. Included are letters written by Kazlov and his wife Louise to his parents, Gertrude and Peter, and other relatives. In his letters he wrote about his art education, his process of painting, the books he read, his relationships, and his emotional ups and downs as an artist. Also found are a few biographical documents, exhibition catalogs, and news clippings.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection, the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Brian Kazlov (1944-1991) was a painter and teacher in New York City and Yachats, Oregon. Kazlov received his MFA from Yale University and later taught at Western University and the University of Oregon. In 1964 he helped found the New York Studio School, and unaccredited art school in Soho.
Provenance:
Donated in 1992 by Gerturde Kazlov, Brian Kazlov's mother.
Restrictions:
Use of original paper requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
2.32 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 3 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1939-1983
Scope and Contents:
REEL N70-16: A typescript (42 p.) address delivered at the Corcoran Museum of Art, 1967, by Yunkers describing his student years in Russia, and later years in Germany, France, and Mexico, ca. 1917-1928, and relating political, social, and cultural events to the development of modern art. He describes Russia before and during the Revolution and Germany during the Weimar Republic. Also included are a resume; a critical bibliography of Yunkers work; typescripts of 2 articles; and clippings.
REEL D251: Printed material, 1941-1965, including newspaper clippings, magazine articles, reviews, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and press releases.
REEL 1023: "Prints in the Desert: New Mexico," 1950, a limited edition book of prints and poetry produced by a collaboration of artists under the leadership of Yunkers.
UNMICROFILMED: Biographical material, including naturalization papers and a passport; files of letters from Mikael Bjornstjerna (1977-1983), Cheryl Bowers (1978-1983), Morton and Chris Grossman (1979-1982), Donna Haley (1982-1983), Denis Wood (1978-1983), Yunker's daughters, including Nina (1979-1983); business and personal correspondence, 1960-1983; files on galleries handling Yunkers' work, including Smith Andersen Gallery (Palo Alto, Calif.), Alice Simsar Gallery (Ann Arbor, Mich.), and Impressions Gallery (Boston, Mass.) containing correspondence, price lists and receipts; a few sketches and a collage; 2 portfolios, "Creation" (1941) and "Ars: Tidskrift for Konst Litterature Och Veteskap" (1942) containing original prints and collages by Yunkers; 2 appointment books, 1980-1983; notes and writings; photographs of Yunkers, Yunkers at work, his family, friends, studio, and art work; photograph albums, including 2 of Yunkers' studios in Stockholm, Sweden, New Mexico, and New York City (1942-1980) and one of exhibition installations, undated; photographs by Denis Hare of the making of Octavio Paz's book BLANCO, illustrated by Yunkers, and slides of prints included in BLANCO; and printed material, including exhibition announcements, clippings and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Abstract painter and printmaker, collagist, and art instructor; New York, N.Y. Died 1983. Born in Riga, Latvia. Studied in Leningrad, Paris, Berlin, and London. He moved to the United States in 1947. Faculty member of the New School for Social Research, 1947-1956; Cooper Union, 1956-1967.
Related Materials:
Adja Yunker papers also at Syracuse University.
Provenance:
Materials on reels D251, N70-16, and 1023 donated by Adja Yunkers, 1966-1970, and transferred to NMAA-NPG Library vertical files after microfilming, except "Prints in the Desert: New Mexico" (REEL 1023). Unmicrofilmed material donated 1984 by Marina and Alexandra Yunkers, Yunkers' daughters.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm.
Unmicrofilmed: ACCESS RESTRICTED; written permission required.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of painter and teacher Douglas Volk (1856-1935) and his father, sculptor Leonard Wells Volk (1828-1895), measure 12.4 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1965, 2008, with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1870-1935. Douglas Volk's papers document his life and career through biographical material, family and professional correspondence, writings and notes, diaries and journals, financial records, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographs of the artist, his family, friends, and artwork. The papers also provide documentation of the formation and operations of the Sabatos Handicraft Society established with Marion Volk from the Volk's summer home, Hewnoaks, in Center Lovell, Maine. Scattered documentation of the life and work of Leonard Wells Volk, is found in biographical material, land records, letters, memoirs, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter and teacher Douglas Volk (1856-1935) and his father, sculptor Leonard Wells Volk (1828-1895), measure 12.4 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1965, 2008, with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1870-1935. Douglas Volk's papers document his life and career through biographical material, family and professional correspondence, writings and notes, diaries and journals, financial records, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographs of the artist, his family, friends, and artwork. The papers also provide documentation of the formation and operations of the Sabatos Handicraft Society established with Marion Volk from the Volk's summer home, Hewnoaks, in Center Lovell, Maine. Scattered documentation of the life and work of Leonard Wells Volk, is found in biographical material, land records, letters, memoirs, and photographs.
Douglas Volk's papers form the bulk of the collection and document all stages of his life from his first visits to Europe during his teenage years, until his death. Biographical material includes address books, biographical notes, genealogical records of Volk's family, and a warranty deed for land purchased by Marion Volk in Center Lovell, Maine, in 1904.
Family correspondence is primarily between Douglas and Marion throughout their courtship and marriage, but also includes letters from other family members including daughter Marion Volk Bridge and sons Wendell and Gerome Volk. General correspondence is with colleagues, art galleries, societies, institutions and museums, schools and colleges, government agencies, and others. Also found are letters from artists including George de Forest Brush, Elliott Daingerfield, Cass Gilbert, Philip Leslie Hale, Swedish woodcarver Karl von Rydingsvard, and J. Alden Weir; and friends Felix Adler and Percival Chubb.
Douglas Volk's writings and notes are on art, art instruction for children, and the significance and influence of his father's work, particularly Leonard Volk's Lincoln life mask, and include drafts of his monograph "Art Instruction in Public Schools."
Diaries and journals record details of Volk's early art education in Europe, including his friendships with Eugene Benson and George de Forest Brush and others, his time spent studying under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux Arts, his appointment by the National Art Committee to paint portraits of World War I era politicians and military figures, and his Lincoln portrait painted just prior to Volk's death.
Financial records document day-to-day routine expense, as well as sales of artwork and other art-related transactions.
Printed material and a scrapbook of clippings and letters include press coverage of Douglas Volk's career from the early 1900s to 1918. An additional scrapbook provides documentation of the Sabatos Handicraft Society, including a copy of one of only three known editions of the society's publication The Fire Fly. Artwork includes sketches, two small oil paintings, and fifteen sketchbooks of Douglas Volk.
Photographs include portraits taken at various stages of Volk's career, family photographs, photographs of the main house at Hewnoaks and additional buildings, photographs of several artists including William Merritt Chase and Karl von Rydinsgsvard, photographs of world leaders including David Lloyd George, King Albert of Belgium, and General John J. Pershing, and photographs of artwork.
The papers of Leonard Wells Volk include seven volumes of his hand-written memoirs which document his relationship with Stephen A. Douglas, his first meeting with Lincoln, and his involvement with the Chicago Academy of Design. Also found are three letters including one written to Douglas Volk in 1887, and a memorandum related to the value of Leonard Wells Volk's Lincoln and Douglas statues at the Illinois State House. Photographs include three of Leonard Wells Volk, photographs of other family members including his wife Emily, photos of houses and woodland scenes, and photos of artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 2 series.
Series 1: Douglas Volk Papers, circa 1870-1965, 2008 (11.85 linear feet; Boxes 1-12, 15-16, OVs 13-14)
Series 2: Leonard Wells Volk Papers, circa 1858-circa 1930 (0.45 linear feet; Boxes 11-12)
Biographical / Historical:
Chicago sculptor Leonard Wells Volk (1828-1895) created one of only two life masks of Abraham Lincoln. His son, painter and teacher Douglas Volk (1856-1935), was known for his figure and portrait paintings. Douglas Volk and his wife Marion Larrabee Volk established the Sabatos Handicraft Society, producing homespun woolen rugs and textiles from their summer home in Center Lovell, Maine.
Leonard Wells Volk was raised in New York State and Massachusetts, before moving to St. Louis to learn modeling and drawing. Around 1852 he married Emily Clarissa King Barlow, a cousin of Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas took an interest in Volk's career and helped finance his trip to Rome and Florence between 1855 and 1857, where Volk studied art. On returning from Europe Volk settled in Chicago, opening a studio there and establishing himself as a leader in art circles and a founder of the Chicago Academy of Design. He served as president of the Academy (later the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) for eight years. Volk recorded his first meeting with Lincoln during the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, and the subsequent 1860 sittings with Lincoln for the life mask, hands, and bust, in his memoirs. The mask served as a model for many sculptors who made later portraits of Lincoln. Volk's other important works include the Rock Island County Soldier's Monument in Rochester, New York (1869), statues of Lincoln and Douglas for the Illinois Statehouse (1876), a bust of Douglas, and the Douglas Tomb monument (1881) in Chicago.
Douglas Volk was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1856. His artistic education began in his teens when he traveled to Europe with his family. In the early 1870s he lived in Rome and Venice, spending time with his friends George de Forest Brush and J. Alden Weir. He moved to Paris in 1873 where he studied at the École des Beaux Arts with Jean-Léon Gérôme, and exhibited his first picture, In Brittany, at the 1875 Paris Salon.
In 1879 Volk returned to the United States and accepted a teaching position at Cooper Union. He was elected to the Society of American Artists in 1880 and married Marion Larrabee in 1881. In 1883 Volk became a founder of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts and was appointed the first president of the subsequent Minneapolis School of Fine Arts in 1886, a position he held until 1893. During his time in Minneapolis, Volk purchased a summer studio and retreat in Osceola, Wisconsin, and he and Marion had four children: Leonard (1882-1891), Wendell (1884-1953), Marion (1888-1973) and Gerome (1890-1959).
In 1893 Volk returned to New York and accepted a position at the Art Students League, where he taught from 1893-1898, and also resumed his post at Cooper Union. He became interested in innovative ways to teach art and art history to children, and in 1895 the National Academy of Design printed his essay "A Plea for Art in the Public Schools," in its annual exhibition catalog. He was elected an associate of the Academy in 1898, becoming a full academician in 1899.
In 1898, looking to provide the family with a summer retreat, Marion Volk purchased property with a friend in Center Lovell, Maine, an area already enjoyed by the couple's friends, George de Forest Brush and Percival Chubb. The property was divided in 1901 and Marion added to her half creating a lot of approximately twenty-five acres. The Volks renovated the house, which they named Hewnoaks, and eventually built four more cottages and a studio for Douglas Volk on the property. During this period Marion Volk was working with handwoven wool on traditional area looms using fruit and vegetable hand-dyes and designs based on motifs from Native American art. In 1902 the Volks held the founding meeting of the Sabatos Handicraft Society at Hewnoaks, and the property became the hub of a Center Lovell community effort to produce rugs, textiles, and other handicrafts using traditional methods. Daughter Marion worked with her mother, and son Wendell, a printmaker and woodcaver, operated the Hewn Beam Press, printing pamphlets and a newsletter entitled the Fire Fly: A Periodical of Fearless Endeavour. Swedish-born wood carver Karl von Rydingsvard offered classes on wood carving at Hewnoaks, assisted by Wendell Volk.
Douglas Volk worked to make the Hewnoaks handicraft movement a success, but focused primarily on his own painting. The Maine woods provided endless inspiration and the setting for many of his paintings and murals, which primarily depicted romanticized historical subjects in Colonial America and reflected his traditional academic training. One of his best known works, The Boy with the Arrow (1903), a portrait of his son Leonard "Leo" Volk who died at the age of eight, is now in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Volk taught at the National Academy of Design from 1910-1917. He served as recording secretary and then on the council for the organization from 1910-1919. His acclaimed intimate portraits of friends and acquaintances, including Felix Adler (1914) and William Macbeth (1917), were painted during this period. In 1919 Volk was one of a group of artists commissioned by the National Art Committee to paint major figures from World War I. He subsequently painted portraits of King Albert of Belgium, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and General John J. Pershing, and recorded his meetings and sittings with the three men in his journals.
For the last fifteen years of his life Volk, using his father's life mask, painted a series of portraits of Abraham Lincoln, one of which hangs in the Lincoln Bedroom at The White House.
At least fifteen years prior to her death in 1925, Marion Volk's involvement in handicrafts at Hewnoaks declined, while Douglas Volk continued to focus on his own work. Wendell Volk's career in civil engineering took precedence over his interest in weaving and woodcarving and both he and his brother Gerome moved West in 1909. Following Douglas Volk's death in Fryeburg, Maine in 1935, Wendell Volk and his wife Jessie, also an artist, ultimately took possession of Hewnoaks. Wendell died in 1953, but the property was eventually bequeathed by Jessie Volk to the University of Maine and now operates as an artist colony.
Separated Materials:
Volumes 1, 3, 6-7, 9, and 10 of Leonard Volk's memoirs form part of the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana in the Library of Congress.
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 4280) including correspondence of Leonard Volk and photographs of his artwork. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The George Arents Research Library, Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York first lent material for microfilming in 1989. Most of the material was then donated in 2004–2005 by Jessie J. Volk, the daughter-in-law of Douglas Volk, who also bequeathed the Volk estate including additional Volk papers to the University of Maine. In 2006, University officials arranged for an auction of much of the property of the estate including the remaining family papers. The Volk Family estate auction was conducted by Cyr Auction Co., in Gray, Maine, on July 19, 2006. Several individuals purchased parts of the papers at that auction and subsequently donated them to the Archives. Those donors are: David Wright, who acquired the 1875 journal and Brush letters and donated them to the Archives in 2006; Dr. Christine Isabelle Oaklander, who purchased the account book, 1873–1875, and donated it to the Archives in honor of Judith Ellen Throm in 2007, and also donated additional letters and a photograph in 2008; and Mary K. and John F. McGuigan Jr., who purchased correspondence (1120 letters), speeches, lectures, articles, checks, check stubs and miscellaneous items and donated them to the Archives in 2015. In 2007, the University of Maine Foundation via Amos Orcutt donated the 1934 journal and 60 photographs.
John F. McGuigan Jr. and Mary K. McGuigan have purchased and donated additional archival materials to the Archives, including the Mary K. McGuigan and John F. McGuigan Jr. artists' letters collection, and 69 letters now among the Sylvester Rosa Koehler papers.
In 2007, the University of Maine Foundation via Amos Orcutt donated the 1934 journal and 60 photographs that were part of the Volk Family estate, but not included in the June 19, 2006 auction.
In 2019 Dr. Christine Isabelle Oaklander donated additional material purchased at auction, primarily photographs and some printed material.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of painter, printmaker, educator and administrator Ed Colker are dated 1944-2020 and measure 3.4 linear feet. Colker's painting, printmaking, and Haybarn Press, as well as his career as an art teacher and university administrator, are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is a 0.2 linear ft. addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes lists of works of art, exhibition information, letters to Colker, talks and lecutres by Colker, printed material and miscellany.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, printmaker, educator and administrator Ed Colker are dated 1944-2020 and measure 3.4 linear feet. Colker's painting, printmaking, and Haybarn Press, as well as his career as an art teacher and university administrator, are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is a 0.2 linear ft. addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes lists of works of art, exhibition information, letters to Colker, talks and lecutres by Colker, printed material and miscellany.
Biographical materials include official letters regarding Colker's performance in the Army, caricatures of him, diplomas, resume, awards, and certificates.
Correspondence, mainly professional in nature with a few scattered personal letters, concerns Colker's academic and artistic work, Haybarn Editions, exhibitions, projects, and various interests. Poet correspondents are J. Curtis Johnson, Kathleen Norris, Deborah Pease, and Jeanne Walker; translators include Melvin Konner and others.
Interviews with Ed Colker, conducted between 1982 and 2008 for various purposes, are preserved as 1 sound cassette and published transcripts. Also found are 1 sound cassette, 1 videocassette, and a published transcript of interviews Colker conducted with Will Barnet and Toshiko Takaezu in 1981 and 1994 respectively.
Among Colker's writings are the published versions of several articles and the manuscript of an unpublished one; two proposed books for students of design and typography; lectures delivered to students (3 videocassettes), miscellaneous writings, notes, and 1 videocassete of readings by artists from one of Colker's Haybarn Press poetry portfolios.
Subject files document many of Colker's professional interests, activities, projects, and relationships. Also of note are files about Haybarn Press.
The bulk of the printed material consists of exhibition catalogs, announcements, and school catalogs. Almost all is about or mentions Colker, or features reproductions of his work. Of note is the first and only issue of Re-Art: A Reflection of Current Ideas on the Arts (1954), published by Colker and Gene Feldman.
Photographs are of Colker and his family; Colker at events related to his artistic, academic, and publishing activities; artwork by Colker, and his work as reproduced in Haybarn Editions. Also found are an exterior view of the barn studio and one of printers working at Desjobert Press.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1946-circa 2011 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Correspondence,1954-2011 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Interviews, 1981-2008 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1961-1990s (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Subject files, 1952-2013 (Boxes 2-3; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material,1944-2011 (Box 3; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1960s-2010 (Box 4; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 8: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1963-2020 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Ed Colker (b. 1927) is a painter, printmaker, educator, and administrator who has worked in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City. Colker founded the not-for-profit fine art publisher Haybarn Press. He is married to artist Elaine Galen and resides in Mt. Kisco, NY.
After high school, Colker was awarded a scholarship and began his art education at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts. He interrupted his studies to serve in the U.S. Army (1944-1946). He graduated in 1949, by which time the school had become the Philadelphia Museum School of Art; today it is the University of the Arts. He taught art in the Philadelphia area before moving to New York City in 1956. Later, Colker earned degrees from New York University (B.S. Ed, 1964; M.A., 1985).
Colker taught art and design courses at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, and Philadelphia College of Art. By the 1980s, he had become an administrator as well as a professor. Throughout his academic career, Colker published and lectured widely, served as a visiting artist, acted as a consultant, and participated in professional organizations. He occasionally organized exhibitions and served on exhibition juries.
Since 1960, under the imprints Editions du Grenier, Haybarn Editions, and Haybarn Press, Colker has published limited edition books, portfolios, broadsides, individual pages, and folders of poetry. Most are accompanied by Colker's etchings and lithographs inspired by the texts. Haybarn Press, under the Ambor Edition imprint, also produced four portfolios with text and drawings by Elaine Galen, 1996-2008. From its inception, the work of Haybarn Press has been featured in many exhibitions of book arts. Colker also participated in group shows throughout the United States and enjoyed solo exhibitions of his paintings and prints. Haybarn Press productions and Colker's prints and paintings are in the permanent collections of Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, University of Arizona Museum of Art, and others.
Now retired from university administration and teaching, Colker continues to operate Haybarn Press and occasionally serves as an exhibition juror and visiting artist.
Provenance:
Donated by Ed Colker in 1991, 2013 and 2020.
Restrictions:
Use of original material 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.
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.
Biographical material; correspondence; writings; photographs of Smith, friends and associates, classes at Woodstock, N.Y., and of Smith's works and the works of other artists; printed material, including clippings, exhibition catalogs, a few flyers and publications of Woodstock organizations; and miscellany. Among the correspondents are Louis Bouche, John F. Carlson, Anne Colman, Andrew Dasburg, Richard Diebenkorn, F. Valentine Dudensing, Jimmy Ernst, Ernest Fiene, Joseph W. Gies, Juliana Force, Frederic C. Knight, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Henry Lee McFee, Pierre Montminy, Ad Reinhardt, Charles Rosen, Bradley Walker Tomlin, and Warren Wheelock.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Woodstock, N.Y. Director of Woodstock School of Painting.
Provenance:
Donated by Mary D. Smith and Mrs. Thomas Mount, daughters of Judson Smith, 1976.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Molly Saltman "Art and Artists" interviews measure 2.4 linear feet and contain 62 sound recording interviews and lectures with art collectors, teachers, actors, and artists. The interviews were conducted by Molly Saltman from 1966-1967 as part of the "Art and Artists" radio series broadcast on the KPAL radio station in Palm Springs, California. Additional recordings of KPAL content and nonbroadcast content were discovered upon digitization, including a Los Angeles Art Association anniversary event and a Charles White slide lecture.
Scope and Contents:
The Molly Saltman "Art and Artists" interviews measure 2.4 linear feet and contain 62 sound recording interviews and lectures with art collectors, teachers, actors, and artists. The interviews were conducted by Molly Saltman from 1966-1967 as part of the "Art and Artists" radio series broadcast on the KPAL radio station in Palm Springs, California. Additional recordings of KPAL content and nonbroadcast content were discovered upon digitization, including a Los Angeles Art Association anniversary event and a Charles White slide lecture.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the sound recordings are arranged as one series.
Series 1: Interviews and other recordings, circa 1963-1968 (Box 1-3, 2.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The Molly Saltman "Art and Artists" radio program was broadcast on KPAL radio station in Palm Springs, California from November 2, 1966 to March 4, 1967 on Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:30AM. Molly Saltman (1915-2010), the producer and interviewer for this broadcast, was a well-known Palm Springs artist during this time. Specializing in abstract watercolors, her work was featured in a number of local art shows as well as exhibited in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Palm Springs Desert Museum, and the Hartfield Gallery in Los Angeles. She was also closely involved with the Desert Mental Health Association and served as Chairwoman of the Jewish Family Service in Palm Springs, California.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Molly Saltman in 1986.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Rights:
Researchers must obtain copyright clearance from interviewees prior to publication or airing.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The Buehr family papers date from 1880-1984 and measure 0.7 linear feet. The collection documents the lives and careers of a prominent Chicago family of artists, which included Karl Albert Buehr, his wife Mary Hess Buehr, their children Kathleen Buehr Granger and George F. Buehr, and Karl Buehr's brother-in-law, Will Hess. Found among the papers are biographical accounts, family histories, Karl Buehr's personal and professional correspondence, love letters between Karl and Mary Hess, writing by various family members, printed materials, artwork in the form of drawings by Kathleen Buehr Granger, and family and travel photographs, including two photo albums.
Scope and Content Note:
The Buehr family papers date from 1880-1984 and measure 0.7 linear feet. The collection documents the lives and careers of a prominent Chicago family of artists, which included Karl Albert Buehr, his wife Mary Hess Buehr, their children Kathleen Buehr Granger and George F. Buehr, and Karl Buehr's brother-in-law, Will Hess. Found among the papers are biographical accounts, family histories, Karl Buehr's personal and professional correspondence, love letters between Karl and Mary Hess, writing by various family members, printed materials, artwork in the form of drawings by Kathleen Buehr Granger, and family and travel photographs, including two photo albums.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as six series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1880-1976 (5 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1898-1980 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1915-1970 (4 folders; Box 1)
Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1899-1984 (12 folders; Box 1-2, OV 3)
Series 5: Artwork, circa 1940-circa 1975 (6 folders; Box 2)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1886-1947 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2)
Biographical Note:
The Buehr family was a prominent Chicago family of artists, which included Karl Albert Buehr, his wife Mary Hess Buehr, their children Kathleen Buehr Granger and George F. Buehr, and Karl Buehr's brother-in-law, Will Hess.
Born in 1866 in Germany, Karl Albert Buehr was a painter of genre scenes, portraits, and Impressionist landscapes. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Julian Academy in France and the London School of Art. From 1899 to 1902 he lived in Holland, and then spent the first decade of the twentieth century at Giverny, France. A member of the Giverny artists, Buehr exhibited widely in Europe. Buehr became a U.S. citizen and served in the U.S. Cavalry during the Spanish-American War. In Chicago he became a highly respected teacher at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and one of the city's most popular painters. Buehr died in Chicago in 1952.
Karl's wife, Mary Hess Buehr, was born in Chicago in 1871. She was a painter who studied in Holland and France, and held three exhibitions at the Paris Salon. Mary specialized in miniatures and decorative paintings. She was also a lithographer, lecturer, and teacher active in Chicago. She died in Orwell, Vermont, in 1962.
Their children, Kathleen and George F. Buehr, were both artists as well. George, known for his watercolors and collages, was director of museum education and a lecturer at the Art Institute of Chicago. He died in Chicago in 1983 at age 78. Kathleen was born in Chicago in 1902. A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kathleen was painter and author. Several of her articles are found in the papers, including "My Most Unforgettable Character," published in 1969 in The Reader's Digest.
Provenance:
George Buehr's wife, Margo Hoff, donated the family papers in April, 1986, as part of the Archives' Chicago survey project. George Granger, son of Kathleen Buehr Granger, donated the remaining material in June, 1986.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Sweet, Frederick A. (Frederick Arnold), 1903-1984 Search this
Extent:
2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 6 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Date:
1928-1981
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, printed material, photographs, sketches, writings, financial material and interviews.
REEL N69-54: Scrapbooks; exhibition catalogs, articles and clippings from the London Eagle; biographical data; and writings, including THE ARTS AND THE UNIVERSITY: A SYMPOSIUM.
REEL N69-66: Correspondence, Christmas cards and telegrams; exhibition catalogs and publications; photographs of art work and projects; and references to Roszak in Whitney Museum publications.
REEL N69-81: Correspondence; talks and taped interviews; notes; press releases and statements.
REEL 2134-2136: Correspondence with museums, art organizations and Alfred Barr, Lloyd Goodrich, Pierre Matisse, Eero and Aline Saarinen, David Smith and Frederick Sweet; subject files containing correspondence, printed material, sketches, blueprints (not microfilmed) and financial material for the U.S. Embassy in London and the J. F. Kennedy memorial grave; biographical material; writings, speeches and interviews; exhibition catalogs, announcements and clippings; and photographs of Roszak and his sculpture.
UNMICROFILMED: An exhibition catalog of Roszak's drawings, 1981; 16 photographs and negatives of works by Alexander Calder, Julio Gonzalez, Richard Lippold, Ezio Martinelli, and David Smith; and a negative of David Smith's studio.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, painter, designer, decorator, lithographer, teacher, craftsperson; New York City. Born in Poland. Died in 1981. Studied at the National Academy of Design. Member of American Artists Congress. Teacher at Laboratory School of Industrial Design, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material on reels N69-54, N69-66 & N69-81 lent for microfilming by Theodore Roszak, 1969. Material on reels 2134-2136 donated by Roszak, 1980. Unmicrofilmed material donated by Sara Jane Roszak, Theodore's daughter, 1983.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Biographical material, correspondence, legal and financial material, notes and writings, art work, scrapbooks, sketchbooks, printed material, subject files and photographs.
REEL 4154: Five scrapbooks containing clippings, exhibition brochures, photographs of Pittman and of his works (1934-1969); and two sketchbooks containing European views of landscape and architecture (1927-1956).
REELS 4468-4472: Biographical material; correspondence, 1920-1900, with family, colleagues, students, and patrons, including Ivan Albright, Walter H. Annenberg, John Canaday, Blanchard Gummo, Edward Hopper, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Southern, and others; Pittman's will and estate papers; receipts, 1921-1980; 2 address books; school notebooks; writings by and about Pittman, including his "Drift of Consciousness" manuscript; 4 scrapbooks of drawings, 70 unbound drawings, and 2 prints; a menu decorated with sketches of acrobats and annotated "to H. Pittman from R. Marsh" and "E. Hopper"; files containing letters, printed material, and photographs on topics including Clare Boothe Luce (1946-1972), Margaret Sanger (1947-1974), greeting cards designed by Pittman (1960-1965), Pittman residences (1945-1974), Woodstock artists (1972-1975) and Guggenheim fellowships (1938-1956-contains a travel journal about Italy); a scrapbook of clippings (1938-1971) and clippings (1931-1985); exhibition announcements and catalogs (1930-1989), and other printed material; and photographs of Pittman, his family, friends, art classes (1945-1971), and works of art.
ADDITION: Preliminary works of art by Pittman consisting of 1,538 sketches in watercolor, ink and graphite.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, art instructor; Philadelphia, Pa. Born in Epworth, North Carolina, Pittman moved permanently to Pennsylvania in 1918.
Related Materials:
Letters from Pittman to his cousin Lucy Cherry Crisp located in Collection no. 154, East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
Provenance:
Material on reel 4154 lent for microfilming 1988 by Bryn Mawr College as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. Papers on reels 4468-4472 were lent by the Edgecombe County Cultural Arts Council, 1990, who received it from Pittman's niece, Alyce Weeks Gordon.The sketches were donated in 1997 from the North Carolina Museum of Art, which had received it from the Hobson Pittman estate.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
The papers of New York painters and teachers Josef Presser and Presser's wife Agnes Hart measure 4.3 linear feet and date from 1913 to 1980, with the bulk of the material from 1940 to 1980. The collection documents their personal and professional lives as artists and educators and consists of biographical material, business and personal correspondence, teaching files, printed material, and scattered photographs. The collection also includes writings, personal business records, and artwork by Presser.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York painters and teachers Josef Presser and Agnes Hart measure 4.3 linear feet and date from 1913 to 1980, with the bulk of the material from 1940 to 1980. The collection documents their personal and professional lives as partners, artists, and educators and consists of biographical material, business and personal correspondence, teaching files, printed material, and scattered photographs. The collection also includes writings, personal business records, and artwork by Presser.
The collection is divided into two series. Series 1 consists primarily of Presser's papers from 1913 to his death in 1967, and Hart's correspondence dating from 1967 to 1977 regarding the management of his estate. Biographical material includes an address book, curriculum vitae, family history, and personal identification records. Presser's personal correspondence is with family and friends, including the artists Charles Hopkinson and Vera Fraser. Business related correspondence is with various collectors, galleries, museums, art associations, and art schools. There is also correspondence related to Presser's law suit against the New York Port Authority, and Presser and Hart's real estate purchases in Hurley and Woodstock, New York. Hart's correspondence concerns Presser's estate and artwork after his death, including letters related to the organization of Presser's memorial exhibition in 1968.
Writings by Presser include essay fragments, 4 notebooks, and numerous note fragments. His teaching files include memoranda, syllabi, and class assignments from his tenure at New York University from 1947 to 1952. There are also memoranda from the New York School of Visual Arts and the Prospect Hill School. Personal business records include bank registers, artwork sales records, and receipts from his residency in Paris in the 1960s.
Printed material consists of bulletins, clippings, and exhibition announcements and catalogs related to Presser's career. There are also draft and final versions of Presser's memorial exhibition catalog, and a copy of the 1951 conference Artist and the Museum sponsored by the Artists Equity Association and the Woodstock Artists Association.
Artwork consists of loose sketches, artwork on postcards and printed material, and 9 sketchbooks dating from the 1950s to 1960s. Photographic material includes photographs of Presser with friends and family, and photographs of his studio and artwork. There are also 4 photographs of the artist Abraham Walkowitz dating from the 1940s.
Agnes Hart's papers documenting her own career are arranged in Series 2 and date from 1930 to 1980. Biographical materials include two engagement calendars, curriculum vitae, consignment lists, and critiques. Her correspondence with family and friends includes letters from artist Lucile Blanch, journalist Agnes Smedley, and Yaddo director Elizabeth Ames. Business correspondence is with galleries, collectors, art associations, and art schools.
Teaching files include employment contracts, class catalogs, newsletters, and photographs from Hart's tenure at the Art Students League (1965-1975), and class catalogs and memoranda from Dalton Schools and Parnassus Square. Printed material includes bulletins, clippings, and exhibition announcements and catalogs related to Hart's career. There are also draft and final versions of the 1956 Yasuo Kuniyoshi memorial exhibition catalog. Additional photographic material consists of a photograph of the Central Cown Art Center, a gallery Hart managed in 1937.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 2 series:
Series 1: Josef Presser, 1913-1977 (3 linear feet; Boxes 1-3, Box 5)
Series 2: Agnes Hart, 1930-1980 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Biographical Note:
Josef Presser (1909-1967) lived and worked primarily in New York City as a painter, educator, and lecturer.
Presser was born in Lublin, Poland and immigrated with his family to Boston, Massachusetts in 1913. He showed an early affinity for art and, at the age of 12, was accepted to the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts on a four year scholarship. After completing his education, he spent several years traveling in Europe and visited the major museums of France, Italy, and Belgium before returning to America in 1931. Upon his return, Presser opened his first solo New York show at the Montross Gallery in 1931, moved to Philadelphia, painted murals as part of the Works Progress Administration program, and began receiving private commissions. By the mid-1930s, Presser was exhibiting regularly in solo shows in Philadelphia and had began accepting teaching positions. While lecturing at Iowa State University, Presser met his future wife and artist, Agnes Hart, who he married in 1941.
After moving to New York City in 1940, Presser continued to exhibit in New York galleries throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and eventually accepted teaching positions at New York University, Queens College, Cooper Union, and the Brooklyn Museum Art School, among others. Though he was familiar with the work of the abstract expressionists, Presser is known primarily for his figurative paintings featuring women, children, clowns, and horses, with the latter two subjects inspired by circuses he had traveled with in Europe. In 1940, Presser and Hart purchased studio space in Woodstock, New York where they exhibited as members of the Woodstock Artists Association. Presser's solo shows include exhibitions at Contemporary Arts Gallery, Associated American Artists Galleries, and the Vera Lazuk Gallery.
In 1965, Presser went on an extended trip abroad to Paris, and continued working until his death in 1967.
Agnes Hart (1912-1979) was born in Meridan, Connecticut and studied art at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida and at Iowa State University. Hart was a prolific painter and printmaker of abstract forms and urban landscapes. In 1948 and 1949, she received fellowships as a guest painter at the Yaddo Foundation and exhibited her first solo show in New York City at the RoKo Gallery in 1948. She continued to exhibit regularly at New York City galleries into the 1970s, and also accepted several teaching positions, including a ten year tenure with the Art Students League of New York. She continued to paint and teach until her death in 1979.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel N69-1) including original clippings and exhibition announcements. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The papers of Josef Presser were lent for microfilming by Agnes Hart in 1968. Excluding certain printed material, Hart later donated the bulk of these papers and additional Presser materials in 1977 and 1979. Hart donated her papers in 1978. Frances Hitchcock, Hart's sister, gave additional material in 1981.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Biographical material; letters received, many from people associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; writings; sketchbooks; printed material; and a photograph album.
Included are biographical writings and resumes; letters (some illustrated) from friends, colleagues, and family, including Barbara Aubin, Kathleen Blackshear, Whitney Halstead, Thomas Kapsalis, Kathryn Kucera, Denis Loy, Ethel Spears, Lynn Webster and Berdich's sisters and cousins; letters from galleries and museums including the George Binet Gallery (N.Y.C.), the Yamada Gallery (Japan), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Illinois Arts Council; subject files on the Art Institute of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; writings regarding printmaking techniques, an index of Berdich's art works; notes kept during Berdich's sabbatical in San Francisco; 4 sketchbooks; clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs; and photographs, slides and photo albums of Berdich, her friends, family and works of art.
Biographical / Historical:
Printmaker, educator; Chicago, Illinois.
Provenance:
Donated 1992 by Vera Berdich.
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.
Letter from Zimmerman to Pickhardt, 1936; 2 photographs of Zimmerman; 9 pencil drawings by Zimmerman, ca. 1930s-1941, and photographs and negatives of drawings by him; xerox of a typescript of notes on Zimmerman's teaching by Rosamond Forbes Pickhardt, 1936-1938; 9 drawings by Jack Levine and 3 drawings by Hyman Bloom, both students of Zimmerman's, and a charcoal drawing of a male nude by Denman Ross.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter Carl Pickhardt (b.1908) and his wife, Rosamond were students of Zimmerman. Rosamond's father, Edward Waldo Forbes, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was a collector and Zimmerman patron. Zimmerman developed an experimental visual method of teaching drawing. When Jack Levine and Hyman Bloom were teenagers, he was their first drawing teacher. His teaching procedures were recorded in detail by Denman Ross, an influential educator, art collector and painter who taught Bloom and Levine after they studied with Zimmerman.
Provenance:
Donated 1992 by Carl E. and Rosamond Forbes Pickhardt. The drawings were given to the Pickhardt's from Zimmerman and from Rosamond's father, Edward Waldo Forbes, who received them from Mrs. Zimmerman.
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.
REEL 640: Sketchbooks, 7 v., 1886, 1888-1920, 1896 & undated, France, Boston, and elsewhere. Most of the sketches are in pencil. [Previously filmed on reel 593.]
REEL 862: Scrapbook, 1 v., 1893-1953, including: clippings,announcements and reviews of Paxton's exhibitions covering most of his career and several years after his death, reproductions of his work, and letters and telegrams with galleries and others. Also included is a letter from Robert Hale Ives Gammell to Elizabeth Paxton, 1953.
REELS 3714-3715: Correspondence of William McGregor Paxton and of his wife, Elizabeth, including letters from Philip Leslie Hale, Kenyon Cox, Maria Oakey Dewing, Edwin Blashfield, Horace Burdick, Susan Eakins, George Wales, from sitters thanking Paxton for their portraits, and from others. Elizabeth Paxton correspondence relates to her own paintings and exhibitions, donations, and sales of her husband's paintings after his death; poems, 2 notebooks and other writings; card files listing portrait information; clippings; exhibition catalogs and announcements; and lists of paintings.
UNMICROFILMED: Undated drawings and a sketchbook; 9 etchings by Paxton, ca. 1918-1938?; photographs, undated and 1896-1941, of works of art, Paxton, and of miscellaneous subjects; and glass negatives, half-tone printing plates, copper and zinc printing plates.
ADDITION: Biographical documentation; family genealogy; sketchbooks, some containing loose sketches done at a later date [most previously filmed on reel 640 as a loan]; photographs of Paxton and his work; reproductions of work by him and of art used as reference by Paxton; clippings; and posthumous exhibition material. ca. 1870s-1979. Also, Elizabeth Okie Paxton (ca. 1878-ca. 1968): biographical information; correspondence; exhibition and sales records; illustrations of her studio/residence, Boston; printed material; photographs of her, her family, and her work; and correspondence regarding William Paxton exhibitions. ca. 1880s-ca. 1968.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, teacher; Boston, Massachusetts. Paxton was born in Baltimore in 1869. He was raised outside of Boston, Mass., trained in Paris and Boston, and taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was an active participant in several artists' organizations in Boston, Provincetown, and New York City. Elizabeth Okie Paxton was born in Providence, R.I. to Howard Okie, a Baltimore physician who had been brought to Providence by a wealthy patron, Thomas Ives, an uncle of Robert Hales Ives Gammell, painter, writer, and friend of the Paxtons. She met Paxton while studying with with him. After marriage they resided Newton Centre, Mass. Following Paxton's death, she lived in a studio/residence in the Fenway Studios, Boston.
Provenance:
Papers on reels 3714-3715 were donated by Robert Douglas Hunter, executor of Elizabeth Oakie Paxton's estate. He also lent for microfilming the sketchbooks on reel 640 and the scrapbook on reel 862 in l973 & 1974, respectively. The scrapbook was subsequently donated by Hunter in 1997, and the sketchbooks were subsequently donated in 1998 by his wife, Elizabeth Ives Hunter along with additional papers of Paxton and those of Elizabeth Okie Paxton. Additions are expected.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
The interviews are of artists, educators, art administrators, and dealers. Topics covered include the Federal Art Project, the Artists' Union, the Club, the influence of French emigre artists, and political activism among artists. The transcripts range from 1 to 4 pages in length.
Interviewees include: Mildred Baker, Will Barnet, Emanuel Benson, James Brooks, Paul Burlin, Giorgio Cavallon, Willem de Kooning, Jimmy Ernst, Sidney Geist, Adolph Gottlieb, Balcomb Greene, Robert Gwathmey, Seymour Hacker, Carl Holty, Harry Holtzman, Reuben Kadish, Lee Krasner, Joe Lasker, Ibram Lassaw, Jack Levine, Conrad Marca-Relli, George McNeil, Dorothy Canning Miller, George L.K. Morris, Reuben Nakian, Phillip Pavia, Louis Schanker, Ben Shahn, Theodoros Stamos, Eugene Victor Thaw, Jack Tworkov, and Esteban Vincente.
Provenance:
Donated in 1985 by Anne Bowen Parsons' son, Randall T. Parsons.
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.
The papers of New York painter and educator Marcia Marcus measure 8.42 linear feet and .389 gigabytes (1 computer file), and date from 1928-2016, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1950-2000. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, interviews, writings (including two diaries), project files, personal business records, printed material, photographic material, eight sketchbooks, and artwork. Extensive personal and professional correspondence is with her husband and close friends, galleries, museums, and other arts organizations. Notable correspondents include Sally Avery, Dody Müller, and Robert (Bob) Richenburg, and, to a lesser extent, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Elaine Benson, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, and Myron Stout. Photographic material includes photographs of Marcus at all stages of her life and photographs and slides documenting her paintings.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York painter and educator Marcia Marcus measure 8.42 linear feet and .389 gigabytes (1 computer file), and date from 1928-2016, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1950-2000. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, interviews, writings (including two diaries), project files, personal business records, printed material, photographic material, eight sketchbooks, and artwork.
Biographical material includes address books, diplomas, certificates, identification documents, resumes, and other material.
Extensive personal and professional correspondence is with Marcia Marcus's husband and close friends, galleries, museums, and other arts organizations. Notable correspondents include Sally Avery, Dody Müller, and Robert (Bob) Richenburg, and, to a lesser extent, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Elaine Benson, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, and Myron Stout.
Interviews include 2 sound cassettes and a few transcripts. Writings by Marcia Marcus consist of diaries, artist statements, notebooks, notes, lists and poems. There are also a few writings by others about Marcus. Project files mostly consist of grant applications, a mail art project, information on exhibitions curated by Marcus, and other material.
Personal business records include receipts, ledgers, prices lists, leases, and other documentation. Photographic material includes photographs of Marcus at all stages of her life and photographs and slides documenting her paintings. There are eight sketchbooks and artwork, mostly in the form of small sketches and watercolors.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as ten series
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1928-2000s (0.7 linear feet; Box 1, OV 9)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1948-2016 (4.0 linear feet; Box 1-5)
Series 3: Interviews, 1970s-1980 (3 folders; Box 5)
Series 4: Writings, 1970s-2014 (0.3 linear feet; Box 5)
Series 5: Project Files, 1962-circa 2000 (0.2 linear feet; Box 5-6)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1960s-2000s (0.3 linear feet; Box 6)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1950s-1990s (0.8 linear feet; Box 6-7, OV 10-11)
Series 8: Photographic Material, 1950s-1990s (1.3 linear feet; Box 7-8)
Series 9: Sketchbooks, circa 1954-2000 (0.3 linear feet; Box 8)
Series 10: Artwork, 1950s-1990s (0.4 linear feet; Box 8, OV 12)
Biographical / Historical:
Marcia Marcus (1928- ) is a figurative painter working in New York, New York.
Born in New York City, Marcus earned her bachelor's degree in fine arts from New York University in 1949, studied at the Cooper Union from 1950-1952, and studied at the Art Students League with Edwin Dickinson in 1954. In 1951, Marcus exhibited her first painting in a group exhibition at Roko Gallery in New York City. Since then, she has been the subject of over a dozen solo shows and participated in many group exhibitions.
Marcus had an exhibition of self-portraits (1960) at the Delancey Street Museum, where the artist Red Grooms, one of her many friends in the art world, was one of the founders. She also directed and performed a "Happening" there. In 1961, Marcus studied Byzantine and fresco painting in Florence, Italy. She then traveled to France from 1962-1963 on a Fulbright fellowship, and was the recipient of many other grants throughout her career including a Esther and Adolph Gottlieb grant and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. Marcus has taught as a visiting artist at a number of colleges and universities, including Vassar College, New York University, and Purdue University.
Marcus married Terrence (Terry) Barrell in 1959 and they have two children, Kate and Jane.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Marcia Marcus conducted by Paul Cummings in 1975.
Provenance:
Marcia Marcus donated her papers in multiple increments between 1974-1984. Her daughter Kate Prendergast donated additional papers in 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copy requires advance notice.
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 teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Women painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Diaries
Sketchbooks
Photographs
Interviews
Citation:
Marcia Marcus papers, 1928-2016, bulk 1950-2000. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the family of Marcia Marcus, and the Lily and Earle M. Pilgrim Art Foundation.
18 Items (Reel 3134: (on a partial microfilm reel))
0.3 Linear feet (Unfilmed)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
1928-1964
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material (1928-1950), 6 letters (1953), 2 scrapbooks (1929-1964), printed material (1929-1964) and photographs concern the life and career of Henry Lee McFee.
Reel 3134: Photographs show McFee (1929) and 5 of his paintings. Printed material consists of 8 reproductions of his works and 4 clippings (1950-1964).
Unfilmed: Biographical material consists of 5 award and membership certificates (1928-1950). Letters consist of one Christmas card and 5 letters of condolence (1953). Printed material consists of clippings (1929-1950), reproductions of works of art, and a poster. Photographs show McFee, his studio, and his works.
Unfilmed: Two scrapbooks contain photographs of McFee and his works. One also includes photographs of gallery installations and printed reproductions of his works (1931-1950). The other, assembled by McFee's step-daughter, also contains clippings (1929-1964), 2 exhibition catalogs (undated and 1949), an advertisement and annotated galley proof for a book of reproductions of McFee's paintings (1950), 2 typescripts on painting by McFee, and photographs of colleagues including Charles Rosen, Eugene Speicher, and Will Henry Stevens.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter. After graduation from Kemper Military School in 1905, he entered art school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1907. In the following year, he studied under Birge Harrison at the Art Students League summer classes in Woodstock, New York. In 1937 he was the director of the Museum School of Art in San Antonio, Texas. He moved to Claremont College in 1947 to teach in the graduate school.
Provenance:
Donated by McFee's stepdaughter, Marian S. Sweeney, who inherited the papers from her mother, Eleanor McFee.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Correspondence between Martin and Sam Haddad and Royal Marks of the Royal Marks Gallery, 1964-1972, and with many artists and people involved with the arts; manuscript, business and printed materials; catalogs and announcements; clippings; miscellany; two small works; 20 photographs, 1957-1966, of works by Martin, Jeremy Anderson, Jay Defeo, Richard Diebenkorn, Sam Francis, Sonia Gechtoff, Wally Hedrick, Ivan Majdrakoff, David Park, Sam Richardson, and Joseph White; and one photograph of Wally Hedrick with a painting.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, illustrator, collagist and art educator, San Francisco, Cal. Director of the College of the San Francisco Art Institute. Worked in oil, watercolor, Gouache and pencil.
Provenance:
Donated 1975 by Fred Martin.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Collagists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
