The records of Santa Barbara, California art gallery, Esther Bear Gallery, measure 5.7 linear feet and date from 1928 to 1985, with the bulk of the records dating from 1954 to 1977. The collection comprises administrative records that include exhibition files, photographs, records documenting the gallery's operations, and files for the Donald Bear Collection and Endowment Fund; professional correspondence with artists, clients, and galleries regarding exhibitions, sales and loans, and other business dealings; and artist files for Thomas Cornell, Antonio Frasconi, Ynez Johnston, Miguel Marina, Alfred Martinez, and Nina de Creeft Ward, among others.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Santa Barbara, California art gallery, Esther Bear Gallery measure 5.7 linear feet and date from 1928 to 1985, with the bulk of the records dating from 1954 to 1977. The collection comprises administrative records that include exhibition files, photographs, records documenting the gallery's operations, and files for the Donald Bear Collection and Endowment Fund; professional correspondence with artists, clients, and galleries regarding exhibitions, sales and loans, and other business dealings; and artist files for Thomas Cornell, Antonio Frasconi, Ynez Johnston, Miguel Marina, Alfred Martinez, and Nina de Creeft Ward, among others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as three series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1941-1981 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, OV 8)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1928-1975 (0.5 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 3: Artist's Files, 1941-1982 (3.7 linear feet; Boxes 3-7, OV 8)
Biographical / Historical:
The Esther Bear Gallery was a commercial art gallery located in Santa Barbara, California, that specialized in contemporary art. The gallery exhibited artists such as Leonard Baskin, Antonio Frasconi, Rico Lebrun, Lee Mullican, Nina de Creeft Ward, Cady Wells, and other prominent artists including Donald Bear, husband of the gallery's owner Esther Bear and director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art from 1940 to 1952. Esther Bear retired in 1977.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Donald Bear papers, 1923-1960.
Provenance:
The Esther Bear Gallery records were donated by Esther Bear in 1978 and 1987.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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.
x, 101, [1] p., 1 l. (18 pl. (1 double) facsim., 16 cm.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
c1934
Scope and Contents:
Book describes the friendship between cousins Julia Rosa Newberry and Minnie Clapp (later Mygatt), and reproduces Julia's sketches in facsimile.
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
New York : W.W. Norton & Co., c1934.
General:
Copy annotated by Donald Bear, Regional Director of Federal Art Projects, Denver Colorado.
Front flyleaf contains penciled note to E. Boyd, which reads: "Tho' we have never read this book and suppose no one else ever has including the publishers, we have a fundamental conviction that the basis of every library is a certain number of unread books. This is our contribution to yours. Last month we placed 'The wrongs of Indian womanhood.'" Note is dated Feb. 1936 and signed "N.H.; F.B.; D.B." (Edward Hall, Mrs. Donald Bear, and Donald Bear).
Plates are annotated in pencil with the names of various artists.
Provenance:
Item donated by Miss E. Boyd in 1965.
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.
An interview of Fred S. (Frederic Stewart) Bartlett conducted 1964 November 11, by Sylvia Loomis for the Archives of American Art.
Bartlett speaks of his early life in Colorado; his early museum experience at the Denver Art Museum; the art centers started under the New Deal; unnoticed artists of America; the art of the banal; contemporary problems in museums. He recalls Donald Bear, Gladys Caldwell, Frank Mechau and Holger Cahill.
Biographical / Historical:
Frederic (Fred) Stewart Bartlett (1905-1988) was a museum director in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 15 min.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Correspondence, writings, notes, photographs, catalogs, printed material, and scrapbooks.
REELS 1713-1715: 285 letters; drafts and notes for lectures, critical works, and radio talks; paper relating to the design of the "Contemporary American Art" exhibit at the New York's World Fair; a curriculum vitae; essays by other individuals, including Jules Lansner and Anne Fremantle; photographs of Bear's art works; exhibition catalogs and announcements; clippings; periodicals; and printed material.
REEL 1286: Three scrapbooks of clippings, including articles written by Bear while director of the Denver Art Museum and Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Museum director, critic, author, and artist; Santa Barbara, Calif.; b. 1905; d. 1952; full name: Donald Jeffries Bear.
Provenance:
Lent and donated by Esther Bear, widow of Bear.
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.
