The papers of painter Andrew Dasburg and his wife and sculptor Grace Mott Johnson date from 1833 to 1980 (bulk 1900 to 1980), and measure 8.8 linear feet. The collection documents each artist's career and personal lives, including their brief marriage and their friendships with many notable artists in the New Mexico and New York art colonies during the early twentieth century. The papers of Dasburg (6 linear feet) and Johnson (2.8 linear feet) include biographical materials; extensive correspondence with family, friends, and fellow artists, such as John F. Carlson, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Marsden Hartley, Henry Lee McFee, and Ward Lockwood; writings by Dasburg, Johnson, and others; scattered legal, financial, and business records; clippings; exhibition materials; numerous photographs of Johnson and Dasburg, friends, family, and artwork; and original artwork, including two sketchbooks by Johnson.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter Andrew Dasburg and sculptor Grace Mott Johnson date from 1833 to 1980, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1900 to 1980, and measure 8.8 linear feet. The collection is divided into the papers of Andrew Dasburg (6 linear feet) and the papers of Grace Mott Johnson (2.8 linear feet), and documents each artist's career and personal lives, including their brief marriage, and friendships with many notable artists in New Mexico and New York art colonies during the early twentieth century. Found are scattered biographical, legal, and financial materials. Extensive correspondence (particularly in Dasburg's papers) is with family, friends, and fellow artists, such as John F. Carlson, Florence Ballin Cramer, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Marsden Hartley, Henry Lee McFee, Vera Spier Kuhn, and Ward Lockwood. Dasburg's papers also include letters to Johnson and his two later wives.
Johnson's correspondence is also with numerous artist friends and others, including John F. and Margaret Carlson, Florence Ballin Cramer, Jo Davidson, Florence Lucius, Walter Frankl, Lila Wheelock Howard, Henry Lee McFee, Mary Riley, Lee Simonson, Lindsey Morris Sterling, Alice Morgan Wright, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Vera Spier Kuhn. Letters to her son Alfred are quite detailed and revealing. Writings are by Dasburg, Johnson, and others. Johnson's writings include a very brief diary and her poetry. Writings by others are about the Taos and New Mexico art communities. Printed materials about both artists include clippings and exhibition catalogs. There are numerous photographs of Dasburg and Johnson, individually and together, and with friends and family. Of note are a group photograph of Birge Harrison's art class in Woodstock, New York, which includes Johnson and Dasburg, and a photograph of Dasburg with friends Konrad Cramer and John Reed. Dasburg's papers also include snapshots of Florence Lucius, Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer, Frieda and D. H. Lawrence, and Mabel Dodge Luhan. Original artwork by the two artists include two sketchbooks by Johnson and three prints and two drawings by Dasburg.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 2 series of each artist's papers:
Missing Title
Series 1: Andrew Dasburg Papers, circa 1900-1980 (Box 1-7; 6.0 linear feet)
Series 2: Grace Mott Johnson Papers, 1833-1963 (Box 7-10; 2.8 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Andrew Michael Dasburg (1887-1979) was born in Paris, France, to German parents. After his father died and when he was five, Dasburg and his mother moved to New York City. In 1902 Dasburg started attending classes at the Art Students' League and studied with Kenyon Cox and Frank Du Mond. He also took night classes with Robert Henri. In 1907 he received a scholarship to the Art Students' League summer school in Woodstock, New York and spent three summers studying there in Birge Harrison's painting class. While in school he became friends with many young artists, including Morgan Russell and his future wife, Grace Mott Johnson.
Grace Mott Johnson (1882-1967) was born in New York City. She began drawing when she was four years old, and when the family moved to a farm in 1900 she enjoyed sketching horses and other farm animals. At the age of 22 she left home to study at the Art Students' League with sculptors Gutzon Borglum and James Earle Fraser, and also attended Birge Harrison's painting class in Woodstock. Throughout her career she would sculpt animals from memory, and would often attend circuses and farms for inspiration.
In 1909 Johnson and Dasburg went to Paris and joined the modernist circle of artists living there, including Morgan Russell, Jo Davidson, and Arthur Lee. During a trip to London that same year they were married. Johnson returned to the United States early the next year, but Dasburg stayed in Paris where he met Henri Matisse, Gertrude and Leo Stein, and became influenced by the paintings of Cezanne and Cubism. He returned to Woodstock, New York in August and he and Johnson became active members of the artist community. In 1911 their son Alfred was born. Both Dasburg and Johnson showed several works at the legendary Armory Show in 1913, and Dasburg also showed at the MacDowell Club in New York City, where he met the journalist and activist John Reed who later introduced him to Mabel Dodge (Luhan), a wealthy art patron and lifelong friend. In 1914 Dasburg met Alfred Stieglitz and became part of his avant-garde circle. Using what he had seen in Paris, Dasburg became one of the earliest American cubist artists, and also experimented with abstraction in his paintings.
Dasburg and Johnson lived apart for most of their marriage. By 1917 they had separated and Dasburg began teaching painting in Woodstock and in New York City. In 1918 he was invited to Taos, New Mexico by Mabel Dodge, and returning in 1919, Johnson joined him there for a period of time. Also in 1919, Dasburg was one of the founding members of the Woodstock Artists Association with John F. Carlson, Frank Swift Chase, Carl Eric Lindin, and Henry Lee McFee. In 1922 Dasburg and Johnson divorced, and also at that time he began living most of the year in Santa Fe with Ida Rauh, spending the rest of the year in Woodstock and New York City. Dasburg became an active member of the Santa Fe and the Taos art colonies, befriending many artists and writers living in these communities, and remaining close friends with Mabel Dodge Luhan. Here he moved away from abstraction, and used the southwestern landscape as the inspiration for his paintings.
In 1928 he married Nancy Lane. When that marriage ended in 1932, he moved permanently to Taos, and with his third wife, Marina Wister, built a home and studio there. Dasburg periodically taught art privately and at the University of New Mexico. In 1937 he was diagnosed with Addison's disease, which left him unable to paint again until 1946. In 1945 he and his wife Marina separated. Dasburg was recognized for his career as an artist in a circulating retrospective organized by the American Federation of Arts in 1959. He also had retrospectives in Taos in 1966 and 1978. His artwork influence several generations of artists, especially in the southwest, and he continued creating art until his death in 1979 at the age of 92.
Grace Mott Johnson lived in the Johnson family home in Yonkers, New York during the 1920s and later moved to Pleasantville, New York. In 1924 she went to Egypt to study ancient Egyptian sculpture. During the 1930s she became a civil rights activist. She produced very little art during the last twenty years of her life.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Andrew Dasburg, July 2, 1964 and March 6, 1974. Additional related collections at other repositories include the Andrew and Marina Wister Dasburg Papers at the New Mexico State Archives, the Andrew Dasburg Papers at Syracuse University Library, and the Grace Mott Johnson Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming. Reel 2803 contains photocopies of ten Morgan Russell letters to Dasburg. Reels 4276-4278 include biographical material, subject files, photographs, correspondence, writings, and exhibition material. The photocopies on reel 2803 were discarded after microfilming, and the items on 4276-4278 were returned to the lender. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson papers were donated by their son, Alfred Dasburg, in 1980. Syracuse Univresity lent materials for microfilming in 1978 and 1989.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
23 letters between Metcalf and Charles L. Freer, 1917-1919, discussing prospective purchases of Metcalf's work for the Freer Collection, and 2 personal letters to Florence Griswold, 1905-06. Also included are a diary for 1876, recording the progress of some of his paintings, detailing sketching trips around Boston and Vermont, and noting daily expenses; sketchbooks, 1885, 1905, 1913-14; photographs of his murals and paintings; snapshots of his friends and himself; and a scrapbook of clippings, 1905-1925.
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter, illustrator; New York City. One of The Ten American Painters. Worked in Southwest U.S. painting Zuni Indians 1881-1883; associated with artists' colonies in Old Lyme, Conn., and Cornish, N.H.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by Addison Metcalf, 1969.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Interview of Ilya Bolotowsky conducted 1968 March 24-April 7, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Bolotowsky, a lively raconteur, recalls a host of episodes from his personal and professional life. He speaks of his childhood in Russia and Azerbaijan; the effects of war and communism; the family's flight as refugees into Georgia and then to present-day Istanbul; and his early education with a private tutor and at a Jesuit school in Istanbul. Bolotowsky recalls his family's emigration to the United States by ship in 1923; his first impressions of New York City; and early visits to the city's museums. He relates numerous anecdotes about faculty and fellow students at the National Academy of Design, including Ivan Olinsky, Raymond Neilson, Charles Hawthorne, Amedee Ozenfant, and William Henry Johnson.
He speaks of various early exhibitions of his work, including those with the Art Students League, G.R.D. Studio, and the J.B. Neumann Gallery. He also describes a stay at Yaddo in 1934.
Bolotowsky recounts his participation in the Public Works of Art Project as a teacher of art to delinquent children; later work on the mural project of the Works Progress Administration; the picketing of WPA offices, providing anecdotes about Max Spivak and Joseph Vogel; military service during World War II, first working on a Russian dictionary of technical terms and then as a liason officer with the Soviet Air Force in Nome, Alaska.
Upon his return from the military, Bolotowsky immediately resumed his painting career, and describes his involvement with artists' organizations such as the American Abstract Artists, the American Artists' Congress, the Concretionists, the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, and the Ten; he mentions in these contexts such personalities as Byron Browne, Burgoyne Diller, Werner Drewes, Arshile Gorky, Clement Greenberg, Balcomb and Gertrude Greene, Harry Holtzman, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian, and Meyer Schapiro.
Bolotowsky gives an extensive description of his experiences filling in for Joseph Albers for a year at Black Mountain College, and goes on to discuss his subsequent teaching positions at the University of Wyoming (including a discussion of the impact of the Wyoming landscape on his painting), Brooklyn College, Southampton College, and SUNY New Paltz. He devotes great attention to the development of his painting, his understanding of neo-plasticism and abstraction, and his efforts in filmmaking and playwriting.
Biographical / Historical:
Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981) was a Russian-American abstract painter in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 37 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. Funding for the interview was provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
An interview of Andree Ruellan conducted 1990 Jan. 27-1991 July 22, by Lewis Kachur, for the Archives of American Art.
Ruellan discusses her studies in Europe; her life at Woodstock (artist colony, Woodstock, N.Y.); the 1930's; and the development of her work. She recalls Maurice Stern, William Hunt Diederich, Alexander Calder, Jules Pascin, Stuart Davis, John Taylor, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Carl Zigrosser, Elsie Driggs and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Andrée Ruellan (1905-2006) was a painter from New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hr., 2 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. Funding for this interview was provided by the John Sloan Memorial Foundation.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of ceramicist, sculptor, and educator Frans Wildenhain measure 8.2 linear feet and date from circa 1890 to 1991. The papers document his career in Europe and the United States through biographical material, correspondence, diaries and notebooks, writings and notes, subject files, project files, printed material, three mixed media scrapbooks, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic materials.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of ceramicist, sculptor, and educator Frans Wildenhain measure 8.2 linear feet and date from circa 1890 to 1991. The papers document his career in Europe and the United States through biographical material, correspondence, diaries and notebooks, writings and notes, subject files, project files, printed material, three mixed media scrapbooks, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic materials.
The bulk of Wildenhain's correspondence is from family and friends including Walter Herzger and Marguerite Wildenhain. Twelve diaries and notebooks include general diary entries but may include notes on art, sketches, kiln logs, and designs. Of note is a diary kepy by Wildenhain during his drive from New York City to Guerneville, California upon his arrival in the United States in 1937. Project files contain records relating to four murals completed by Wildenhain on the east coast. Three scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition materials, and photographs concerning his teaching career at the School for American Craftsmen and exhibitions. Eleven sketchbooks date from the 1930s to 1979 and mostly contain pencil sketches. Photographs depict Wildenhain, family, his wives Marguerite, Marjorie, and Lili, homes, studios, exhibitions, and works of art by Wildenhain and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1930-circa 1980 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1895-1981 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 3: Diaries and Notebooks, 1930-1978 (Box 1-2; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, 1940-1980 (Box 2-3; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 5: Subject Files, 1951-1985 (Box 3; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 6: Project Files, 1950-1975 (Box 3, 10; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1930-1991 (Box 3-4; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1934-1965 (Box 4; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 9: Artwork and Sketchbooks, 1930-1979 (Box 4-5, 11; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1890-1979 (Box 5-11; 3.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Frans Wildenhain (1905-1980) was a German-born ceramicist, sculptor, and educator active in Rochester, New York.
Wildenhain was born in Leipzig, Germany to a family of craftsmen. He began his study of art with drawing and design. For formal training, he enrolled at the Bauhaus where he studied in the pottery studio with Gerhard Marcks, Max Krehan, and his future wife, Marguerite Friedlaender Wildenhain. The Wildenhains moved to Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany to teach at the State School of Applied Art.
In 1933, due to Marguerite's Jewish ancestry, they moved to the Netherlands and set up a studio called Het Kruikje (Little Jug). Marguerite later emigrated to the United States however Frans was unable to follow. He moved to Amsterdam but was drafted into the German Army which he deserted. He followed Marguerite to the United States in 1947 after a seven year separation.
Upon his arrival in the United States, Frans drove from New York City to Geurneville, California where Marguerite had settled at an artist colony, Pond Farm. Their marriage did not last and Frans Wildenhain accepted a position at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. He stayed in that position for over twenty years. He co-founded a cooperative gallery called Shop One, in Rochester, New York.
In 1952, he married Marjorie McIlroy and after her death, married Elisabeth (Lili) Brockkardt.
Franz Wildenhain was a Guggenheim Fellow and exhibited his works around Europe and the United States. His pottery is included in the collections of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Smithsonian Institution, Luther College, and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds an oral history interview of Frans Wildenhain conducted 1978 April 10-1979 July 28, by Robert Brown for the Archives of American Art; the Marguerite Wildenhain papers, 1930-1982; a Frans Wildenhain grant application, 1974 for the National Endowment for the Arts; Letters from Frans Wildenhain to Virginia Cartwright Katz, 1968-1979; Robert Johnson slides of works by Frans Wildenhain, circa 1978; the Kitty C. L. Fischer papers relating to Frans Wildenhain, 1940-1981; and an interview with Elisabeth (Lili) Wildenhain conducted 1995 August 22, by Robert F. Brown. Also found are the Ron Meyers papers relating to Frans Wildenhain, circa 1967-1979; the Roy Cartwright letters from Frans Wildenhain, 1966-1979; and the Gerhard Marcks letters from Frans Wildenhain, 1950-1979 on reel 2435.
Provenance:
Elisabeth Wildenhain donated her husband's papers in 1989 and 1998.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Occupation:
Ceramicists -- New York (State) -- Rochester Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- Rochester Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- Rochester Search this
Genre/Form:
Diaries
Scrapbooks
Drawings
Sketchbooks
Interviews
Citation:
Frans Wildenhain papers, circa 1890-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
A letter from Sturdevant to her mother, and 2 family letters; copy prints of 3 photographs of Sturdevant and her Paris studio; 3 postcards postmarked July 1892, Tannersville, N.Y., from Sturdevant to her mother with sketches of students sketching (possibly sent while studying at nearby Onteora art colony created in 1887 by Candace Wheeler) ; 4 clippings on Sturdevant and Cragsmoor; and a catalog, "A Century of Women Artists at Cragsmoor."
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Cragsmoor, N.Y. Sturdevant was also the owner and manager of the Cragsmoor Inn, a popular gathering place for visiting artists.
Provenance:
Donated 1977 and 1979 by Clarissa C. Dryden, Sturdevant's granddaughter.
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.
Typescript of Shelton's unpublished autobiography, in which he writes of his boyhood in New York and his experiences in the Civil War. Shelton also describes his career as an artist-illustrator in New York City, beginning in 1871, work for LESLIE'S, HARPER'S, CENTURY, and the NEW YORK LEDGER, how engraving was done, the beginning of the artists' colony at Cold Spring Harbor with Stanley Reinhart, Arthur Quartley, and others, the work of Frank Smith, the colony at East Hampton, and recollections of the Tile Club and the Salmagundi Club.
Provenance:
Lent 1974 by the New-York Historical Society.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Engravers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Soldiers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Art, American -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The estate papers of New York tonalist painter Henry Ward Ranger, measure one linear foot and date from 1888-circa 1999, with the bulk of the material dating from 1904-1954.The collection primarily documents the settlement of Ranger's contested will and the administration of his estate, but also provides scattered biographical information on Ranger's life, provenance information about his work, and documentation of the significance of his estate gift to the National Academy of Design. Records include appraisal information including an estate ledger, correspondence and memoranda including two letters from Ranger, court documents, financial and real estate records, news clippings, and two photographs and eight negatives of Ranger.
Scope and Contents:
The estate papers of New York tonalist painter Henry Ward Ranger, measure one linear foot and date from 1888-circa 1999, with the bulk of the material dating from 1904-1954.The collection primarily documents the settlement of Ranger's contested will and the administration of his estate, but also provides scattered biographical information on Ranger's life, provenance information about his work, and the significance of his estate gift to the National Academy of Design. Records include appraisal information including an estate ledger, correspondence and memoranda including two letters from Ranger, court documents, financial and real estate records, news clippings, and two photographs and six negatives of Ranger.
Series 1 documents the appraisal, administration, and distribution of Ranger's estate by the National Academy of Design. The bulk of the material comprises appraisal records, including an appraisal of Ranger's Noank studio by William Macbeth; correspondence and agreements with museums and other art institutions that received artwork purchased by the Ranger fund, including the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Des Moines Association of Fine Arts, Fine Arts Society of San Diego, Museum of Fine Arts , Houston, Oberlin College, and others; and financial records documenting assets and liabilities, including cancelled checks, receipts, investment and tax records, and records documenting real estate investments that contributed to the estate. Also found is a folder of personal papers, including two letters from Ranger, and a photograph and six negatives of Ranger, and a folder of nine letters from Ranger family members.
Series 2 primarily comprises court documents and legal counsel notes and correspondence related to the litigation of Ranger's will, and the process of proving the the legitimacy of Ranger's original will and the fraudulence of the will presented by Edith Ranger's lawyers.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as two series.
Series 1: Henry Ward Ranger Estate, 1888-circa 1999 (0.95 linear feet; Boxes 1, 4)
Series 2: Settlement of Will, 1907-1920 (1.05 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Biographical / Historical:
Tonalist landscape and marine painter, Henry Ward Ranger (1858-1916), became a full academician of the National Academy of Design in 1906 and bequeathed his entire residuary estate to the academy. The investment of this substantial gift of nearly $400,000, known as the Ranger fund, would provide for the purchase of paintings by living American artists, which were distributed or accessioned by the Smithsonian Institution's then National Collection of Fine Arts.
Ranger was born in western New York State and attended Syracuse University for two years before opening a studio in New York City in the mid-1880s. He traveled to Europe and lived in the Netherlands for several years, where he was influenced by the Dutch watercolorists and the Barbizon masters. Ranger was known for his experiments with pigments and colors, his interiors of forests, and marine views of the shoreline in Connecticut, where he spent summers and helped to establish the artist colony in Old Lyme. He further divided his time between a country studio in Noank, Connecticut, his studio in the city, and trips to Puerto Rico and Jamaica in the winter months.
Following his death in 1916, Ranger's will was probated and involved in costly litigation for two years due to the presentation of another will asserting Ranger's sister, Edith, as the beneficiary. The second will was proven to be false and the Ranger fund went on to make a significant contribution to the Smithsonian's collection of American art, allowing the institution to ultimately claim sixty-six of the paintings purchased by the fund and amass a collection which represented popular academic tastes in American art over more than half a century.
Provenance:
The papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by the National Academy of Design in 2018.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning 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.
Citation:
Henry Ward Ranger estate papers, 1888-circa 1999, bulk 1904-1954. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Two letters to Miss Ward, one written while on board a sailing yacht, the Winsome, Aug. 23, in which Millet recommends "Mr. Lippincott who has taken charge of the Academy painting class" as a teacher; the second regarding an exhibition, March 13; and two letters to [George] Ticknor, making plans to meet, March 16 and April 21 (no years). Also included, but not on microfilm, is a photocopy of a page from Harper's magazine, 1917, alluding to Ticknor and Millet.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, muralist; Washington, D.C. and New York, N.Y. George Ticknor was a history professor and writer at Harvard University. Millet established an artists' colony with close friends John Singer Sargent, Henry James, and Edwin Abbey in the village of Broadway, Worcestershire. He played a major role in the founding of the American Federation of the Arts, was extensively involved in the World Columbian Exposition, worked on the Fine Arts Commission in Washington, D.C., during the terms of presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Millet went down with the Titanic, April 15, 1912.
Provenance:
Purchased 1956 with funds provided by Alfred Brayer.
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:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Four sketchbooks representing Metcalf's early sketches.
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter, illustrator; New York City.Born 1858. Died 1925. Willard Metcalf was one of a group known as The Ten American Painters. He worked in the Southwest U.S. painting Zuni Indians 1881-1883. He was associated with artists' colonies in Old Lyme, Conn., and Cornish, N.H.
Provenance:
Donated 1963 by IBM, who acquired the sketchbooks along with a painting they purchased for their company collection.
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:
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Artists' files, containing mainly correspondence with Jackson and her son David Anderson concerning exhibitions. Some files also contain resumes, price lists, exhibition catalogs, checklists, and receipts. Also included is a letter from John Hultberg, 1963.
Reel D246: Files on: Karel Appel, Francis Bacon, Tom Benrimo, James W. Boynton, Fritz Bultman, Alberto Burri, Lawrence Calcagno, Sam Francis, Gottfried Honegger, John Hultberg, Paul Jenkins, Paul Haller Jones, Louise Kruger, Alfred Leslie, Frank Lobdell, Marino Marini, Ben Nicholson, Alejandro Otero, Rudy Pozzatti, Germaine Richier, William Scott, Sofu Teshigahara, Walasse Ting and others. Included is a file on the Gutai avant-garde artists group of Japan.
Reel 2814: a letter, March 29, 1963, from John Hultberg in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Hultberg writes of the artist colony there, the difficulty of acquiring artist supplies in Mexico, studio arrangements, his sense "of serenity," his plans, and arrangements for an upcoming exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery.
Biographical / Historical:
Martha Jackson opened her Gallery in New York City at 22 E. 66th St., moving three years later to 32 E. 69th St. The gallery specialized in modern American and European painting and sculpture, particularly Abstract Expressionists. Her son, David Anderson, worked with Jackson and took over the gallery after her death in 1969.
Related Materials:
Additional Martha Jackson Gallery records are available at the University of Buffalo Art Galleries.
Provenance:
Material on reel D246 was lent for microfilming by the Martha Jackson Gallery, September 1965. One letter from John Hultberg (reel 2814) was donated.
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 papers of the sculptor Michael Brenner measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1888 to 1976. The collection includes letters, scrapbooks, drawings, photographs and other materials documenting Michael Brenner's career, the activities of members of the Brenner family, and the colony of expatriate American artists flourishing in Paris in the early twentieth century.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of the sculptor Michael Brenner measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1888 to 1976. The collection includes letters, scrapbooks, drawings, photographs and other materials documenting Michael Brenner's career, the activities of members of the Brenner family and the colony of expatriate American artists flourishing in Paris in the early twentieth century.
Letters are written to family members and associates and include exchanges between Brenner's sister Miriam (Fanny) and her brothers Michael, Morris, Samuel, and Victor (Dave) Brenner concerning their health, family business, work, and other art-related activities. Several of Michael Brenner's letters mention his dissatisfaction with Robert Coady's handling of consignments, dealings with Mr. Kahnweiler, and exhibitions of colleagues Michel Kikoine and Pinchus Kremegne. Other correspondents include Alexandre Charpentier and (Louis) Oscar Roty.
Scrapbooks are comprised of material related to the life and career of Michael Brenner. The first scrapbook contains a photocopy of a letter written to Michael Brenner from Gertrude Stein where she describes her travels with Alice B. Toklas and mentions the bust Brenner made of her likeness. Other materials include a 1953 exhibition catalog for Chaim Soutine at Perls Galleries, letters written to Mrs. Michael Brenner concerning the sale of her husband's artwork, and photographs of Michael Brenner, Miriam Brenner, other family members, and works of art.
Photographs are of artwork and show Brenner family members, Victor Brenner and his studio, Michael Brenner with Chaim Soutine and pictures of Brenner's close friend, I. C. Rubin and Albert Einstein.
Art work is comprised of twenty-seven figure drawings.
Printed materials consists of clippings about Abraham Lincoln, reproductions of works of art, a bookplate for Marion Kean Lopez, and an essay entitled "Instead of an Introduction" by Sadakichi Hartmann praising the American landscape artist, Leon Dabo. Also found is an 1899 announcement for a "Seance Publique Annuelle," a photocopy of an article about Brenner by Cathy Turrill, a list of objects borrowed and photographed by Turrill in 1974, a photocopy of a photograph of Robert Coady, and the cover of an Avant-Garde catalog.
Other materials includes notes and a subject file on a life-long friend and physician, I. C. Rubin (1922-1975). There are letters from Rubin about his travels and photographs of Brenner and Rubin as young men, Brenner with his son, and Brenner with painter Isaac Pailes.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Michael Brenner (1885-1969) was a sculptor who emigrated from Lithuania to New York with his family in 1890. In 1900, Brenner moved to Paris, France, entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Academie Julian. He studied under his brother, Victor Brenner, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Brenner established a studio in Paris and was included in Gertrude Stein's circle of friends. He was associated with a small artist colony of Russian Jews which included Chaim Soutine, Michel Kikoine, Pinchus Kremegne, and Isaac Pailes. In 1914, with his American friend, Robert Coady, Brenner established the Washington Square Gallery in New York for which he acted as European agent.
Provenance:
The papers of Michael Brenner were donated by his widow in 1976.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Expatriate painters -- France -- Paris Search this
Citation:
Michael Brenner papers, 1888-1976. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Missing Title
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.
