The records of the Arwin Galleries consist primarily of artists' files (6 ft.), subject files (1 ft.), as well as general correspondence, photographs, various art work, motion picture film, printed material, and some scattered financial and other business records.
Artists' files, 1948-1981 contain correspondence, photographs, art work, printed material, writings and business records on 86 artists, including Harold Altman, Irving Berg, Harry Bertoia, William Bostick, Graciela Rodo Boulanger, Thomas Brun, John Butkin, Ray Cattell, Irma Cavat, Chuang Chi, Mihran Chobanian, Joseph Cibere, Max Arthur Cohn, Lila Copeland, Joseph Demariais, Jan De Ruth, Dick Van Dyk, Ray Elman, Kosso Eloul, Richard Fairfield, Leo Figiel, Richard Florsheim, Max Ginsburg, Harry Glassgold, Libby Golden, John Gould, Ken Guild, Frank Howell, Colette P. Iktin, Richard Jerzy, W. Louis Jones, Max Kahn, Charles Kaiman, Herbert Kallem, Deborah Kashdan, Ed Kasprowicz, John Kearney, Barbara Keidan, Richard Kozlow,
Allen Leepa, Rita Letendre, William Lewis, Leslie Loomis-Vansen, Clifton McChesney, Thomas McClure, Harry Mintz, Albert Noyer, Elliot Offner, John Pappas, Robert Parker, Richard Pepitone, James Pinto, Linda Plotkin, Steve Poleskie, Edward Pramuk, Renée Rauzy, Louis Redstone, Romanos Rizk, Clare Romano, John Ross, Jean Rouzaud, Stephen Rymph, Marlis Saunders, Leonard Schwartz, Tom Seawell, Ben and Bernarda Bryson Shahn, David Sharp, Fred Simper, Don Snyder, Jo Snyder, Nancy S. Stanford, Romeo Tabuena, David Tammany, Ann Taylor, Cledie Taylor, Russel Thayer, Lynn Tillery, Richard Treaster, John Van Haren, Emil Weddige, Derek Werwiter, Sol Wilson, Alex Wyse, Adja Yunkers, and David Zelman.
Subject files, 1963-1981, are on galleries, cities, styles of art, organizations and other topics.
Correspondence consists of Lester Arwin's personal correspondence, 1959-1980, and business correspondence, 1958-1981. Art works include greeting cards, paintings, sketches and prints. One reel of motion picture film and two reels of photonegatives are of the 1963 gallery fire. Photographs and slides are of Lester and Kathleen Arwin, their family and friends, gallery installations and openings, art works by Irma Cavat, John Kearney and others, and portraits of artists, including Ben Shahn and Richard Kozlow. Printed material, 1956-1980, consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and a sample book of prints CE CARACATURE NOEL, 1956.
Also found are notes for speeches by Lester Arwin; news releases; business and financial records, 1960-1981, regarding appraisals, framers, graphics companies, insurance, loans and sales, and including a ledger and an inventory made after the 1963 fire.
Biographical / Historical:
Art gallery; Detroit, Mich. Founded in 1963 by Lester and Kathleen Arwin. Specialized in contemporary art. Closed in 1981.
Provenance:
Donated 1981 and 1984 by Melanie Arwin, the daughter of Lester and Kathleen Arwin.
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.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
An interview of Betty Cooke conducted 2004 July 1-2, by Jan Yager, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Cooke speaks of her family and growing up in Baltimore, Maryland; taking art classes in high school; attending the Maryland Institute, College of Art; apprenticing in a jeweler's studio; teaching design at the Maryland Institute; buying a house and setting up a studio and shop in it; showing her work in the MoMA "Good Design" Exhibition; marrying fellow artist Bill Steinmetz; working as a design consultant; designing interiors for bowling alleys and restaurants; early jewelry designs; studying one summer at Cranbrook Academy of Art; selling works in various galleries; her interest in folk art; using wood and stones in her pieces; creating a wall mural for a school; working with the Rouse Company; opening The Store Ltd. at Cross Keys and designing the modern interior; her trademark designs; making jewelry on commission; and showing her work in exhibitions. Cooke also speaks of her current studio space and routine; sketching designs; documenting her work; traveling to Mexico, China, Morocco, and London; her current involvement with the Maryland Institute, College of Art; renovating a barn for a new studio; the function and wearability of her jewelry; having a retrospective show in 1995; designing for Geoffrey Beene; her interest in painting and sculpture; defining design versus craft; the market for jewelry; how her work has changed over time; sources of inspiration; collecting objects; deciding to go into retail; choosing metals and tools; masculine and feminine jewelry; and being a female artist. Cooke also recalls Margaret De Patta, Harry Bertoia, Philip Morton, George Nakashima, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Betty Cooke (1924- ) is a jeweler and metalsmith of Baltimore, Maryland. Jan Yager is a jeweler from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 6 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.
An interview of Phillip A. Bruno conducted 2009 January 13-21, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at the Archives of American Art, in New York, New York.
Bruno speaks of some his earliest impressions of art while growing up in New York and Paris; attending Columbia University, where he majored in the history of painting and architecture and studied under Meyer Schapiro; his first job at the Weyhe Gallery as a gallery assistant; helping create the Grace Borgenicht Gallery, where he served as director for five years; traveling to Mexico, meeting Jose Cuevas and exhibiting his work at the Edward Loeb Gallery in Paris; traveling to Brazil and meeting a family of naturalist painters who emphasized the importance of painting outdoors, unlike many painters from the New York school; working with Henry Clews and the La Napoule Art Foundation; selling a piece of Salvador Dali jewelry made by Carlos Alamanni to Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Magazine; working as director of The World House Gallery and selling works by Fancis Bacon and Max Ernst to clients such as Joseph Hirshhorn and Roy Neuberger; organizing a exhibition of artists shown at the Brussels World Fair in 1958 at World House and meeting George Staempfli through the artist Joan Brown; moving from World House to the Staempfli Gallery in 1960 to work as co-director; the Staempfli Gallery's role in the international art world; an original drawing by Leonard Baskin inscribed to Phillip in 1954; selling the work of artists such as Harry Bertoia, Fritz Koening, and David Park; meeting Henri Matisse in Paris at the age of 21; visiting the studios of Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko; the difference between galleries that can spot new talent and galleries that sell certain artists well; the art market becoming less idealistic and more commercial; the rising importance of auction houses and the possibility of their taking the place of traditional art galleries; the move of the Staempfli Gallery to the SoHo neighborhood and soon after, leaving Staempfli for Marlborough, where he was one of the New York directors for 18 years; his appreciation for the creativity of others, retirement and current plans to write his memoirs. Bruno also recalls Milton Avery, Gabor Peterdi, Hans Muller, Ralston Crawford, Randall Morgan, Charlotte Willard, Dorthy Satterlee, Masayuki Nagare, Claude Bemardin, Kubach-Wilmsen, Louise Nevelson, Cladio Bravo, Lopez Garcia, Alberto Giacometti, The Barnes Foundation, Richard Estes, Alex Katz, and Neil Wlliver.
Biographical / Historical:
Phillip A. Bruno (1930- ) is an art collector and director of Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 45 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.
Occupation:
Gallery directors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation.
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Carbon copy of a letter, Jan. 7, 1975 from Tabakoff to Harry Bertoia inquiring about a silver tea set made by Bertoia which the Institute was interested in accessioning; and Bertoia's letter Jan. 13, 1975, responding to Tabakoff and stating that the set was executed in 1938 or 1939 at Cranbrook Academy of Art where it was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. George Kamperman.
Biographical / Historical:
Associate curator of European Decorative Arts, Detroit Institute of Art; Detroit, Mich. Bertoia was a sculptor and metalsmith. He lived in Michigan.
Other Title:
Harry Bertoia papers
Provenance:
Donated 1975 by Sheila Tabakoff.
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:
Museum curators -- Michigan -- Detroit Search this
An interview of Marianne Strengell conducted 1982 January 8-1982 December 16, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Strengell speaks of colleagues and students at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, including Eliel and Loja Saarinen, Charles Eames, Florence Knoll, and Harry Bertoia. She also speaks of her training in hand weaving in Helsinki; her interest in texture and new materials; the rejection of vogue in Scandinavia in the 1930s for folk art motifs; her close association with the Saarinen family at Cranbrook and in Finland; and her work with industry, 1940s-1970s.
Biographical / Historical:
Marianne Strengell (1909-1998) was a weaver, textile designer, and educator.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 5 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on-line at the Archives of American Art's website.
