Wenley, A. G. (Archibald Gibson), 1898-1962 Search this
Extent:
24 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Photographs
Diaries
Maps
Place:
China -- Description and Travel
China
USA -- New York -- New York
Date:
1904-1998
bulk 1935-1980
Scope and Contents:
Papers of art collectors Pauline Baerwald Falk (1910-2000) and Myron (Johnny) Falk Jr. (1906-1992), 1904-1998. Created and collected by the Falks, this collection includes: biographical data; black-and-white and color prints of art objects and people; photo albums of art objects in the Falk's art collection; symposium papers, scholarly reviews, and newspaper articles on Chinese art; Professor Alfred Salmony's lecture notes, Metropolitan Museum; purchase invoices for Chinese art, Japanese art, and Korean art; photographs, receipts, itineraries, one seal, atlases, and journals relating to the Falk's various trips to Asia and Europe, personal correspondence and correspondence with art dealers; guest books from 17 East 66th Street, New York and 888 Park Ave., New York, signed by guests from 1949-1997; committee papers; exhibition loan forms, Mr. Falk's notes about the collection and sale results from property consigned for sale; and four reels 16mm motion picture film taken during the Falk's 1937 trip to Asia.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into five series. 1. Correspondence; 2. Personal papers; 3. Professional papers; 4. Travel related materials; 5. Falk art collection related materials.
Biographical / Historical:
Myron S. (Johnny) Falk Jr., and his wife Pauline Baerwald Falk were active philanthropists, prominent Asian art collectors and were both active in the Jewish and Art communities.
The purchase that started their collection happened while on their 1935 honeymoon in the English countryside where they came upon two blue-and-white Ming Dynasty porcelain dishes. Later, taking one of the inaugural Pan Am Clipper flights to China in 1937, their collecting began in earnest. There are home movies in the collection taken by Johnny that document their trip to a largely untouched China. However, because China was closed to the West starting in 1950, they were unable to return until 1979.
As collectors, the Falks made a good team. Due to his engineering background from school, Johnny became an expert on firing techniques and glazes; while Pauline was known as the ''eye.'' Their fervent and long-term involvement in the Asian art community led them to become close friends with the biggest dealers in America and Europe.
Johnny and Pauline collected wares of the Song dynasty, archaic bronzes, jades, stone sculptures, several fine Ming and Qing porcelains, Korean ceramics, and nearly 100 Japanese paintings. After more than fifty years collecting their art work totaled over 700 items.
Johnny and Pauline lent their artworks to museums, advised art institutions in the United States and abroad, and fostered the training of a new generation of curators, scholars and other professionals in the Asian art field.
Johnny was an investment banker, philanthropist and prominent collector of Asian art. He was a longtime trustee of the Asia Society and helped found the Oriental Art Council, Roebling Society of the Brooklyn Museum and Japan Society Gallery. He also served as a director of the New York Foundation and Hebrew Technical Institute, a board member of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and chairman of the Bennington College board of trustees.
Pauline was a philanthropist, collector of Asian art, president of the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services, and founder of the New Lincoln School in Manhattan. She worked with displaced Jewish refugees before and during World War II. She was active in the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and became a founding member of the National Refugee Service, the Council for Jewish Women and the Jewish Social Service Association.
Together they were strong supporters of the Asia Society, the Chinese Art Society, they helped establish the Friends of Asia House Gallery in 1971, and founded the Friends of the China Institute in America Gallery. They also established the "Archives of Chinese Art" in 1945 an important scholarly journal that is published today by The Asia Society as the "Archives of Asian Art," and are among the founding members of the Friends of the Far Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Friends of Asian Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2002.03
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., was contracted by John M. Schiff, son of American banker Mortimer L. Schiff, to handle the disposition of his father's vast collection of artwork. The 1937-1938 sale was arranged through the auction house of Christie's of London, as Germain Seligman believed that the type of artwork in the collection would generate more buyers in Europe than in the United States. The auction was held June 1938. The collection consisted of important oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings by Flemish, French, and German masters, English drawings and watercolors, Beauvais tapestries, Gothic and Renaissance sculpture and bronze, Chinese porcelains, Gothic and Renaissance arms and armor, and decorative arts. Included in the sale were a glazed terracotta, Madonna and Child , by Giovanni della Robbia, and Carlo Crivelli's Portrait. A collection of Italian majolica, not for sale, was lent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibition.
This subseries consists of correspondence with Christie's, general correspondence regarding the collection, insurance policies, auction catalogs, clippings, lists, research notes, and photographs.
Arrangement note:
Arrangement is by subject heading and, thereafter, chronologically. This series has been scanned in entirety.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., maintained extensive files to track important clients and collectors in the art world. The files within this series reflect the wide scope of contacts and collector references maintained by the firm throughout its operating years. The series is further subdivided into several subseries based on type of reference file.
The first and largest subseries, titled Collectors (Series 2.1), traces artwork owned and sold by private American and European collectors and galleries, with descriptions and sale prices noted, present location of works of art, when known, along with photographs of art pieces and occasional physical descriptions and exhibition text. The Museum Files (Series 2.2) reflects a similar function and arrangement as the Collectors (Series 2.1) files but mainly concerns artwork held, donated to, or purchased by major American and European museums.
Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., acted as agents in the sales of several large and important art collections. Files in the Duc d'Arenberg Collection (Series 2.3) document the involvement in the late 1940s of Jacques Seligmann & Co. in the sale of objects from the d'Arenberg family's manuscript collection and the firm's activities in arranging for treatment and eventual sale of a select group of paintings that included Jan Vermeer's Portrait of a Young Girl Antoine Watteau's Marriage Contract and Rembrandt van Rijn's Tobias Healing His Father. The firm also conducted sales for the executors of the Estate of Clarence H. Mackay (Series 2.4) in 1939. As a wealthy American collector of Renaissance art and antiquities, Mackay had amassed a large and impressive collection, but many of the items lacked complete documentation. Seligmann & Co. undertook the task of describing, photographing, and documenting the collection in preparation for its dispersal through gallery sales and auction. The Mortimer L. Schiff Collection (Series 2.5) documents the 1937-1938 sale at Christie's of London auction house that was arranged by Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., to handle the disposition of the vast art collection of American banker Mortimer L. Schiff. The collection consisted of important oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings by Flemish, French, and German masters, English drawings and watercolors, Beauvais tapestries, Gothic and Renaissance sculpture and bronze, Chinese porcelains, Gothic and Renaissance arms and armor, and decorative arts. The Prince of Liechtenstein Collection (Series 2.6) documents the 1953 purchase by Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., of seven Italian marble sculptures from the Prince of Liechtenstein. The sculptures were subsequently sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1954.
Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., maintained a variety of records to track the location of important pieces of art as well as background material and addresses of collectors of note. Old Collectors of Interest (Series 2.7) consists of documents that were originally contained in two looseleaf volumes, generally compiled circa 1938-1952, but there are infrequent sales data from earlier dates. The information includes names and addresses of collectors, details of artwork or collections owned by the collectors, along with references to listings or reproduction in art catalogs. Most of this information appears to come directly from the catalogs, but some items record the observations and impressions of Germain Seligman after personally viewing the collection or object. Materials in the Blue Book of Collectors (Series 2.8) were originally contained within a blue-covered looseleaf notebook. Entries list collectors along with their address and occasional details of the artwork they owned. The entries date largely from 1956. Collections Books (Series 2.9) includes four looseleaf notebooks dating from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s that maintained information related to the holdings of art collectors, individual works of art, and negotiations related to the sales or purchases of works of art. The first volume serves as an index to the other three volumes and is arranged by artist and collector or collection. The other three volumes contain memoranda for the record by Germain Seligman, letters and telegrams, lists of works viewed by Seligman along with his opinions about them, and his accounts of conversations held with owners regarding their willingness to sell items. Prospective Clients (Series 2.10) consists of records from five looseleaf binder notebooks. The books contain entries made between the mid-1930s and the mid-1950s by Germain Seligman concerning people he viewed as potential clients, along with notations as to why he viewed them that way. File cards were subsequently made from these files and added to Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., mailing lists. Reserve Notebooks (Series 2.11) consists of records from four spiral notebooks that list client, artwork under consideration, and related material. Entries from the mid-1960s to early 1970s document clients who expressed an interest in a particular work or type of art as well as actual customer requests to reserve a particular work. People of Interest (Series 2.12) consists of additional files maintained on people viewed as potential clients that were largely compiled by Germain Seligman and other staff members during their trips to visit museums, collections, or individual owners or buyers of art. The information centers on American clients, but occasional European customers are also included. The records largely date from 1930 to 1950, with the records regarding Paris and the French provinces dating from 1963 to 1974. European Collectors (Series 2.13) has information similar to that in People of Interest (Series 2.12) but for European and South American regions and in a card file format. The records cover the period from the mid-1930s to the early 1970s.
The Collectors Files series is arranged into the following subseries. More detailed descriptions for each of the subseries follow with a corresponding box and folder inventory.
Arrangement note:
The bulk of this series has been scanned. Details of exceptions are provided in the arrangement notes for each subseries.
2.4: Clarence H. Mackay Collection, 1907, 1920-1943
2.5: Mortimer L. Schiff Collection, 1921-1947, undated
2.6: Prince of Liechtenstein Collection, 1948-1969, undated
2.7: Old Collectors of Interest, 1930-1954, undated
2.8: Blue Book of Collectors, 1947-1958, 1971
2.9: Collections Books, 1929-1954, undated
2.10: Prospective Clients, 1934-1956
2.11: Reserve Notebooks, 1952, 1965-1974
2.12: People of Interest, 1921-1974, undated
2.13: European Collectors, 1935-1974, undated
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Shanxi, Jiangsu, Ruohe, Anhui, Shanxi wu sheng chu tu zhong yao wen wu zhan lan tu lu / Wu sheng chu tu zhong yao wen wu zhan lan chou bei wei yuan hui bian
Title:
陜西江苏热河安徽山西五省出土重要文物展覽图录 / 五省出土重要文物展覽籌备委員會編
Author:
Wu sheng chu tu zhong yao wen wu zhan lan chou bei wei yuan hui Search this
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John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
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Period latern slides taken in the mid to late 1930's pertaining to objects in Mr. Cox's collection, namely ceramics, bronzes, lacquer and figures found at archaeological sites in Changsha, Hunan province, dating primarily from the Zhou and Han Dynasties and from the Warring States period.
At a later date, a 5 minute 16mm film of the annual Dragon Boat Festival, shot in Changsha, Hunan province, in 1935 was added to this collection by the donor. The film was converted into both Beta and VHS cassette formats.
Arrangement:
Series 1: Tombs & grave at Changsha (Hunan Province), 1936-1937
Series 2: Changsha Exhibition (Yale, 1939)
Series 3: Objects from the same Chu Tomb, Changsha
Series 4: Bronze vessels
Series 5: Bronze objects
Series 6: Bronze mirrors
Series 7: Bronze object
Series 8: Chu pottery
Series 9: Han and later ceramics
Series 10: Chu wooden "Zhenmushou"
Series 11: Chu wooden burial figures
Series 12: Other Chu wooden pieces
Series 13: Chu lacquer pieces
Series 14: Lacquer pattern
Series 15: Others
Series 16: Chu silk manuscript
Biographical / Historical:
John Hadley Cox (b. 1913) was a collector of Chinese archaeological ceramic, pottery and bronze vessels, predominantly from the Ch'angsha region of Hunan Province, South Central China. Upon graduating from Yale University in 1935, he spent two years teaching at Yale University's Yale-in-China program in Changsha. In 1991, Mr.Cox also donated 106 potsherds of Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Chinese origin to the Freer Gallery Study Collection. Mr. Cox also left numerous items of his collection to the art gallery of his alma mater.
Local Numbers:
FSA A1991.07
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
