Personal correspondence; museum and gallery correspondence, including letters with Kahn's dealer Grace Borgenicht Brandt; 4 sketchbooks, photographs and catalogs.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1969 by Wolf Kahn.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
An interview of Grace Borgenicht Brandt conducted by Dorothy Seckler on 1963 January 10 for the Archives of American Art.
Brandt speaks of the beginnings of the Grace Borgenicht Gallery, her development as a dealer. She recalls the artists Leonard Baskin, Jose de Rivera, Jimmy Ernst and Wolf Kahn.
Biographical / Historical:
Grace Borgenicht Brandt (1915-2001) was an art dealer and collector in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 38 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Collectors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The Laurel Gallery records measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1944 to 1951. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through scant correspondence, photographs, printed material, an exhibition inventory, and financial records.
Scope and Contents:
The Laurel Gallery records measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1944 to 1951. This small collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through scant correspondence, photographs, printed material, an exhibition inventory, and financial records.
The collection includes letters from artists and museums to gallery director Chris Ritter, and some to the gallery's co-director, Grace Borgenicht; writings on artists Milton Avery, Gabor Peterdi, and Leonard Pytlak. Financial records consist of tax records, notes, bills, price lists, artist agreements, an account book, and a sales book. Also present is an inventory from the exhibition, The New York Society of Women Artists (1947); a scrapbook and loose newspaper clippings; photographs of artists and works of art; a plan for the gallery's marketing, pricing, and financials by Chris Ritter; and photographs, notes, and drafts related to the gallery's quarterly, Laurels.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
The Laurel Gallery was founded in New York City in 1946 by painter, printmaker, and educator, Chris Ritter. The gallery, located at 108 East 57th Street, was an active supporter of contemporary American art. Ritter occasionally exhibited his own work in the Laurel Gallery, but mostly exhibited the work of other avant-garde artists, including Jimmy Ernst, Grace Borgenicht (Laurel Gallery's co-director), Claude Bentley, George Constant, Ibram Lassaw, and others. In addition to exhbitions, the gallery published four portfolios of artists' prints and a quarterly magazine. Ritter closed the gallery in 1952, around the same time Borgenicht opened the Grace Borgenicht Gallery.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by gallery founder Chris Ritter in 1974.
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.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- History Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York
Citation:
Laurel Gallery records, 1944-1951. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The records of New York City Grace Borgenicht Gallery date from circa 1953 to 1996 and measure 18.2 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, financial and legal records, exhibition files, printed material, two scrapbooks, and photographic negatives of artwork. The majority of the collection consists of artists' files.
Scope and Contents:
The records of New York City Grace Borgenicht Gallery date from circa 1953 to 1996 and measure 18.2 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, financial and legal records, exhibition files, printed material, two scrapbooks, and photographic negatives of artwork. The majority of the collection consists of artists' files.
Administrative files focus on advertising, events, gallery renovation, artists' insurance, and writings about the gallery. Correspondence concerns galleries, artists, works of art, and gallery prints and includes correspondence with the Library of Congress, Hokin Gallery, and Raab Gallery in Berlin. Exhibition files are found for exhibitions of Milton Avery, Paul Burlin, Stuart Davis, and Wolf Kahn, and several artists from Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Canada, as well as for international art fairs. Artists' files mainly contain correspondence with galleries and patrons regarding the artists and their work, and with artists. Files are found for Milton Avery, Charles Biederman, Ilya Bolotowsky, Martin Chirino, Stuart Davis, Jose De Rivera, Roy Gussow, Philip Grausman, and Wolf Kahn, among many others. Financial and legal records include sales and operations ledgers, artists' contracts, and documents concerning arts organizations. Printed materials consist of exhibition announcements and catalogs. Two scrapbooks include clippings and other printed materials. Also found are photographic negatives of artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1970-1995 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1950s-1995 (2 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, circa 1970-1996 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Series 4: Artists Files, circa 1950s-1995 (11.2 linear feet; Boxes 4-13, 16-22)
Series 5: Financial and Legal Records, 1953-1995 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 13-15)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1950s-1995 (0.8 linear feet; Box 15)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, circa 1950s-circa 1980s (0.3 linear feet; Box 23)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, circa 1950s-circa 1980s (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 24-25)
Biographical / Historical:
In May 1951 Grace Borgenicht Brandt (1915-2001) opened the Grace Borgenicht Gallery on 57th Street in New York City with an exhibition of Jimmy Ernst. At that time, the gallery was one of a handful that represented contemporary American artists. Jimmy Ernst, Milton Avery, Ilya Bolotowsky, Edward Corbett, Jose de Rivera, Roy Gussow, Wolf Kahn, and Gabor Peterdi were among the artists represented by the gallery.
The gallery held multiple exhibitions for individual artists such as Milton Avery, Wolf Kahn, Paul Burlin, and Stuart Davis. Although Borgenicht's main focus was American contemporary artists, the gallery also held several exhibitions featuring artists from Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Mexico.
The Grace Borgenicht Gallery closed in 1995.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Grace Borgenicht Brandt conducted by Dorothy Seckler on January 10, 1963.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel D112) including 72 letters from artists Leonard Baskin, Edward Corbett, Sidney Gordin, Wolf Kahn and Elbert Weinberg. They are addressed to gallery director Grace Borgenicht (Grace Borgenicht Brandt), and regard the artists' their work, travels, exhibition plans, and other activities. Also included is a photograph of Brandt and a resume. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Material lent for microfilming is available on 35mm microfilm reel D112 at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Provenance:
Owner Grace Borgenicht Brandt originally lent material for microfilming in 1963. She donated additional papers in 1996.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the 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.
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Grace Borgenicht Gallery records, circa 1953-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund
