The papers of New York City abstract expressionist painter William Baziotes and his wife Ethel measure 6.3 linear feet and date from circa 1900-1992, bulk 1935-1980. The collection includes William Baziotes biographical material, correspondence, writings, printed material, and photographs. The papers of Ethel Baziotes consists of correspondence mostly dated after her husband's death regarding exhibitions of his work, along with limited biographical material and writings.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York City abstract expressionist painter William Baziotes and his wife Ethel measure 6.3 linear feet and date from circa 1900-1992, bulk 1935-1980. The collection includes William Baziotes biographical material, correspondence, writings, printed material, and photographs. The papers of Ethel Baziotes consists of correspondence mostly dated after her husband's death regarding exhibitions of his work, along with limited biographical material and writings.
Biographical material on William Baziotes consists of a bibliography, teaching files, a sound recording of an interview, membership cards, sales records, a sketchbook, and other miscellaneous material. There is one folder regarding Ethel Baziotes containing a few certificates and her college diploma.
Correspondence consists of letters to William and Ethel Baziotes. Notable correspondents include Lawrence Alloway, Alfred Barr, Andre Breton, Clement Greenberg, Peggy Guggenheim, David Hare, Jean Helion, Maria and Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and others. There are also letters from the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery regarding the sales of William Baziotes's artwork and letters written by William Baziotes to his brother Christos. Letters to Ethel Baziotes include condolence letters as well as letters from museum and galleries regarding exhibitions of her husband's work.
Writings include William Baziotes's notes on various subjects, a list of book titles, and a transcript for a speech. Writings by others include essays about William Baziotes and other subjects.
Printed materials consist of clippings, announcements, magazines, and many exhibition catalogs, mostly on group exhibitions which included artwork by William Baziotes.
Photographs are of William Baziotes, Ethel Baziotes, family and friends, their residence, and his artwork. There are a also photographs of Meir Bernstein, Samuel Kootz, Paul Bodin, Maria Motherwell, Pablo and Maya Picasso, Rudi Blesh, Nathan Halper, Ethel Schwabacher, Clyfford Still, and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1933-1982 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1936-1988 (Boxes 1-2; 1 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1950-1992 (Box 2; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1944-1992 (Boxes 2-7, 9; 4.1 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographs, circa 1900-1979, bulk 1940-circa 1963 (Boxes 7-9; 0.7 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
William Baziotes (1912-1963) was an abstract expressionist painter in New York City. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baziotes moved to New York City in 1933, where he studied painting at the National Academy of Design, 1933-1936. He participated on the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project as a teacher, 1936-1938, and painted for the Easel Painting Project, 1938-1940.
In 1941 he married Ethel Copstein. He had his first one-man show at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery in 1944. The Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, Inc. held a solo show for Baziotes in 1946 and continued to exhibit his works until 1958.
Baziotes taught at Subjects of the Artist, 1948; the Brooklyn Museum Art School and New York University, 1949-1952; the People's Art Center at the Museum of Modern Art, 1950-1952; and Hunter College, 1952-1962. Baziotes died in 1963.
Provenance:
The William and Ethel Baziotes papers were donated by Ethel Baziotes, widow of William Baziotes, in several installments from 1969 to 1993.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Correspondence, including 20 letters from John Canaday; 2 scrapbooks, 1953-1969, containing clippings, photographs, letters, and memorabilia; newspaper clippings and magazine articles, 1957-1977; exhibition catalogs, announcements, and invitations; 29 photographs of Guerin and his paintings; and a copy of TEXAS GULF COAST, with illustrations by Guerin.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, educator; Austin, Tex.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1981 by John Guerin.
Microfilmed as part of the Archives of American Art's Texas project.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The papers of Michael Ponce de Leon measure 0.3 linear feet and date from 1952 to 1979. The papers document his career as an artist through two letters, one being a congratulatory letter from David Goddard upon receiving a Guggenheim award, 1967; photos and slides of Ponce de Leon's work, a slide of him in a workshop, and photos showing his metal collage intaglio printing technique; exhibition catalogs and announcements, reprints, clippings, miscellaneous notes, three cartoon drawings, and an intaglio, "There's a Time."
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Michael Ponce de Leon measure 0.3 linear feet and date from 1952 to 1979. The papers document his career as an artist through two letters, one being a congratulatory letter from David Goddard upon receiving a Guggenheim award, 1967; photos and slides of Ponce de Leon's work, a slide of him in a workshop, and photos showing his metal collage intaglio printing technique; exhibition catalogs and announcements, reprints, clippings, miscellaneous notes, three cartoon drawings, and an intaglio, "There's a Time."
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Series 1: Michael Ponce de Leon papers 1952-1979 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, OV 2)
Biographical / Historical:
Michael Ponce de Leon (1922-2006) was a an artist, printmaker, and cartoonist based in New York, N.Y. Ponce de Leon was born in Miami, but he grew up and attended school in Mexico City. He served in the United States military during World War II, and he settled in New York after the war where he studied at the Art Students League of New York, the National Academy of Design, and the School of the Brooklyn Museum. Between 1953 and 1980 Ponce de Leon taught at various colleges and universities including the Art Students League, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Hunter College, New York University, Pratt Institute, the Pratt Graphic Art Center, and Vassar College. Ponce de Leon died in Mexico in 2006.
Provenance:
Material on reels N69-127 & N70-14 lent for microfilming 1969 and unmicrofilmed material donated 1977-1979 by Michael Ponce de Leon.
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.
Occupation:
Cartoonists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of painter, pritnmaker and instructor, Rudolf Baranik, measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1951-1982. Included is biographical data; letters from Philip Evergood, Raphael Soyer, John Canaday, Philip Guston, and others; photographs of Baranik and of his work; transcripts of interviews of Baranik conducted by Martin Reis, Irving Sandler, Mary Gordon, leonard Altman, and Lynn Katzman; exhibition announcements and catalogues, including one for the work of his son, Steven Baranik; clippings and other printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Rudolf Baranik (1920- 1998) was a painter, printmaker, and instructor in New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Donated 1975-1983 by Rudolf Baranik.
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.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Painting, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
1.2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 4 reels))
0.6 Linear feet (Addition (D.C.))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Date:
1938-1994
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence; writings and lectures; press releases; photographs; sketchbook; exhibition annoucements, invitations and catalogs; and printed material.
REEL 92: Material relating to Hios' Marine Corps service as a combat photographer, 1943-1947, including correspondence, a citation and lists of watercolors done and exhibited by Hios showing war scenes; correspondence, 1957-1963, concerning a U.S. government grant to study Byzantine art, exhibitions and loans; draft of speech to the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, February 1968, on the new aesthetic; miscellaneous journal notes, 1953-1961 on Greek art, the purpose of art, etc,; photographs of Hios, his family and his work; clippings and exhibition announcements. Also included is a sketchbook, ca. 1957, with landscape and flower studies as well as notes from Hios' reading on Byzantine art, on rhythmic forms in art, and comments on his own paintings.
REEL 96: Sketches, notes, and photos.
REELS 1094 & 1116 (photos): Correspondence, mostly about exhibitions and his work, including letters from Elmira Bier, Harold Weston, Fairfield Porter, Martha Jackson, John Canaday, Arthur Osver and others; clippings and magazine articles; writings and lectures by Hios; press releases and writings about Hios; exhibition announcements, invitations, and catalogs, and printed material; and 23 photographs of Hios, his paintings, and exhibitions.
UNMICROFILMED: A letter; exhibition announcements; 22 photos of Hios and his family, 69 photos of his work and its installation; and copies of letters, articles and press releases.
ADDITION: A resume; awards from Parrish Art Museum, 1971, Grumbacher Award, 1979, Audubon Artists, 1979 and 1983, and letter awarding a grant from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, 1981; correspondence, 1939-1994, including letters from museums and university art galleries, letters from author Lawrence Campbell, and a card from photographer Hans Namuth; a sketchbook, 1947-1958; 9 loose drawings; photographs of Hios, friends, and his paintings; printed material including THEO HIOS, 52 YEARS OF PAINTING, by Lawrence Campbell, 1987, clippings documenting Hios's career, 1948-1991, exhibition announcements and catalogs, 1944-1993, press releases, reviews, and transcript of a 1981 television film about Hios.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, graphic artist; New York, N.Y. Died Jan. 10, 1999. Combat photagrapher during WWII.
Provenance:
Material on reels 92, 96, 1094 and 1116 lent for microfilming 1971-1976 by Theo Hios. Unmicrofilmed material donated by Hios, 1981-1995.
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:
Graphic artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview of John Edwin Canaday conducted 1971 August 17-24, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Canaday reminisces about his childhood in Kansas and Texas; his family; studying at the University of Texas, at Yale and in Paris; and teaching at Hollins, the University of Virginia, and Tulane. He speaks of his travels, his military experiences, writing mystery novels under a pseudonym, and working at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and as the art critic for The New York Times. He comments on the problems of a critic, his influence, the art section of the Times, and his other publications. He recalls Fiske Kimball.
Biographical / Historical:
John Canaday (1907-1985) was an art critic from New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav file. Duration is 2 hr., 29 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 of artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Art criticism -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Biographical material, correspondence, legal and financial material, notes and writings, art work, scrapbooks, sketchbooks, printed material, subject files and photographs.
REEL 4154: Five scrapbooks containing clippings, exhibition brochures, photographs of Pittman and of his works (1934-1969); and two sketchbooks containing European views of landscape and architecture (1927-1956).
REELS 4468-4472: Biographical material; correspondence, 1920-1900, with family, colleagues, students, and patrons, including Ivan Albright, Walter H. Annenberg, John Canaday, Blanchard Gummo, Edward Hopper, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Southern, and others; Pittman's will and estate papers; receipts, 1921-1980; 2 address books; school notebooks; writings by and about Pittman, including his "Drift of Consciousness" manuscript; 4 scrapbooks of drawings, 70 unbound drawings, and 2 prints; a menu decorated with sketches of acrobats and annotated "to H. Pittman from R. Marsh" and "E. Hopper"; files containing letters, printed material, and photographs on topics including Clare Boothe Luce (1946-1972), Margaret Sanger (1947-1974), greeting cards designed by Pittman (1960-1965), Pittman residences (1945-1974), Woodstock artists (1972-1975) and Guggenheim fellowships (1938-1956-contains a travel journal about Italy); a scrapbook of clippings (1938-1971) and clippings (1931-1985); exhibition announcements and catalogs (1930-1989), and other printed material; and photographs of Pittman, his family, friends, art classes (1945-1971), and works of art.
ADDITION: Preliminary works of art by Pittman consisting of 1,538 sketches in watercolor, ink and graphite.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, art instructor; Philadelphia, Pa. Born in Epworth, North Carolina, Pittman moved permanently to Pennsylvania in 1918.
Related Materials:
Letters from Pittman to his cousin Lucy Cherry Crisp located in Collection no. 154, East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
Provenance:
Material on reel 4154 lent for microfilming 1988 by Bryn Mawr College as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. Papers on reels 4468-4472 were lent by the Edgecombe County Cultural Arts Council, 1990, who received it from Pittman's niece, Alyce Weeks Gordon.The sketches were donated in 1997 from the North Carolina Museum of Art, which had received it from the Hobson Pittman estate.
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.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
15.7 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 2 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Sketchbooks
Video recordings
Date:
1910-2007
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, correspondence, photographs, project files, writings, financial records, works of art, audio visual material, and printed material regarding the career of sculptor William King.
Biographical material includes a yearbook and an award from the National Academy of Design. Business and personal correspondence is with family, friends, and others among them Terry Dintenfass, John Waggaman, Willard Cummings, E. E. Cummings, Gay Talese, and John Canaday. Photographs are of King's family, friends, works of art, and installation shots. Detailed project files contain notes, diagrams, paper cut-outs, blueprints, and technical material. Writings include 16 v. of daily diaries and notes by King and the book "Uncle King's Album". Financial records include sales ledgers and records, contracts for sculptures, cancelled checks, receipts, deposit books, bank statements, and income tax records. Works of art include sketches, a sketchbook, drawings for editorial cartoons, and illustrated cards.
Audio visual material includes six untranscribed cassettes of an interview with King's mother, Florence D. King, a videocassette of King creating Amitie at SUNY Plattsburgh, 1977, 8 mm motion picture films and VHS videocassette copies relating to sculptures Twins and The Creative Spirit, a DVD video recording of King's profile for the Luce Center, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and an audio cassette recording of the 11th International Sculpture Conference (and corresponding program booklet) honoring King. Printed material includes exhibition catalogs, invitations, announcements, and newspaper clippings. Also included is a memorandum book belonging to King's father Walter Blake King.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
This collection was donated in installments from 1969-2008 by William King. Two linear feet of material was micorfilmed upon receipt (reels 487-488).
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:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Correspondence; writings; photographs; legal and business records; a resume; journals; a notebook; exhibition catalogs and announcements; clippings; and printed material.
REEL 2832: 2 journals, February-December 1979 and January-November 1980; and a notebook recording dreams, reflections, 1977-1979.
REELS 2833-2837: A resume; correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, Miriam Schapiro, John Canaday and others; writings for ARTWEEK, ART VOICES/SOUTH, and STATESMAN; photographs of works of art; legal and business records; exhibition catalogs and announcements; clippings; and printed material.
Papers regarding sculptor William McVey and to a lesser extent his wife, ceramist and weaver, Leza McVey.
REELS 869-870: Files on 26 commissions executed between 1938 and 1973; 2 scrapbooks; printed articles by McVey; sketches and drawings; clippings; and photographs. Correspondents include Chaim Gross, Zoltan Sepeshy, Boyer Gonzales, Clifford West, John Canaday, and others.
REELS 5439-5460: Correspondence, writings, art work by the McVey's and others, photographs, and printed material.
Material on reels 869-870 lent for microfilming by William McVey. He subsequently donated the originals to Rice University in Houston, Texas. Material on reels 5439-5460 was donated in 1998 by the McVey estate via executor Seth C. Taft.
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.
Correspondence of Edward Winter with Joseph G. Butler, John Canaday, and Edward B. Rowan; Thelma Frazier Winter's portfolio, including biographical data and letters from Waylande Gregory and Anna Wetherill Olmsted, photographs, and awards; biographical data and curriculum vitae of Edward Winter; photographs of the Winters, their work, and home; one Thelma Frazier Winter scrapbook and three Edward Winter scrapbooks; exhibition catalogs and announcements; and clippings.
Biographical / Historical:
Edward Winter b. 1908: enamalist and writer; Thelma Frazier Winter: enamalist and sculptor; Cleveland, Ohio. Edward Winter is also known as H. Edward Winter.
Provenance:
Lent 1974 by the Winters.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The records of the Waddell Gallery, a contemporary art gallery that was located in New York City, date from 1961 to 1978 and measure 6.5 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, artists' files, and sales and stock records.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Waddell Gallery, a contemporary art gallery that was located in New York City, date from 1961 to 1978 and measure 6.5 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, artists' files, and sales and stock records.
Administrative files consist of employment applications, event guest lists, leases and agreements, printed materials, publicity, schedules, typography samples, and scattered photographs of Richard Waddell with curator Dorothy Miller, artists Francois Baschet and Will Barnet, and art dealer Howard Wise.
Correspondence is with art collectors, art critics, art writers, organizations, colleges and museums, publications, and others. Correspondents include Harry Abrams, Art Dealers Association, John Canaday, Finch College Museum of Art, Frank Lucien, Emily Genauer, Roy Neuberger, Howard Wise, Whitney Museum, among many others.
Artists' files also include correspondence, in addition to printed materials, shipping and loan information, photographs, exhibition material, and resumes. Files are found for Will Barnet, Bernard Baschet, John Clague, Toni Costa, Francois Dallegret, Frederick Franck, Edward Giobbi, Guy Harloff, John Healey, Piet Hein, Alain Jacquet, Howard Kanovitz, Aleksandra Kasuba, Takeshi Kawashima, Bob Liikala, Sheldon Machlin, Ronald Mallory, Robert Michel and Ella Bergmann, George Mueller, Nicola, Charles Perry, Earl Reiback, Gerald Scarfe, Nicolas Schöffer, Vera Simons, Paul Van Hoeydonck, Boris Vansier, and Tomi Ungerer, among others.
Sales and stock records include appraisal documentation, inventories, price lists, shipping information and index cards and bound volumes of sales records, including a sales record of Andrew Wyeth's Uprooted Tree.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Administrative Files, 1966-1973 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1963-1973 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Artists' Files, 1961-1978 (3.2 linear feet; Boxes 2-5, OV 8)
Series 4: Sales and Stock Records, 1964-1973 (2.1 linear feet; Boxes 5-7)
Biographical / Historical:
The Waddell Gallery was established in 1963 by Richard Hughes Waddell in New York City, New York. The gallery represented contemporary American and European artists, notably Will Barnet. The gallery operated on 15 East 57th Street and later on 50 West 57th Street until 1973, one year before Waddell's untimely death in 1974. The gallery focused on representing contemporary American and European artists such as Will Barnet, Francois Dallegret, Edward Giobbi, Sheldon Machlin, and Paul Van Hoeydonck. Additionally, Waddell held benefits to support civil rights and served as a trustee of the Tuskegee Institute.
Provenance:
The Waddell Gallery records were donated in 1977 by the Estate of Richard Waddell, through Richard's father, Chauncey L. Waddell and brother, Theodore Waddell and in 1986 by Louise Tolliver Deutschman, former director of the gallery.
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.
Correspondence; scrapbooks; writings; and clippings.
Reels D257-D259: Scrapbooks containing clippings of art columns from newspapers, 1932-1962. 16 volumes.
Reel 1393: Correspondence which Canaday received and sent as art critic for the "New York Times". The letters are mostly from the general public, but also from museum staff, other critics, and artists. Many are about the Metropolitian Museum of Art and Barnett Newman. Correspondents include Jacob Burck, Edward and Rosamund Corbett, Stuart Davis, Thomas Hoving, Majorie and Virginia Lewisjohn, Bob Osborne, E. P. Richardson, and Tessim Zorach. Other items include drafts of articles, clippings, and a photo of Canaday in Venice, 1935.
Reel 3482: A letter to Canaday, October 7, 1960, from Si Lewen regarding Canaday's "call for a 'moratorium on art' and an invitation to all artists to occupy themselves with domestic service."
Reel 4909: A one page letter to Canaday from Nora Scott, February 18, 1973.
Unmicrofilmed: A letter from Balcomb Greene to John Canaday, March 14, 1960, written upon reading a review by Canaday of an exhibition of members of the American Abstract Artists art organization, in which Greene provides information and his reminiscences about the organization and several of its members.
Biographical / Historical:
John Canaday (1907-1985) was an art critic in New York, N.Y.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives are papers lent for microfilming in 1965 by John Canaday (microfilm reels NYJC1-NYJC6), including correspondence with artists and others regarding Canaday's articles and reviews written for the New York Times, 1959-1965. Among the correspondents are George Biddle, Balcomb Greene, Adolf Dehn, Ernest Fiene, Joseph Hirsch, Karl Knaths, I. Rice Pereira, Nathaniel Poussette-Dart, Henry Varnum Poor, Selden Rodman, Jack Twoarkov, and William Zorach.
John Canaday papers are also located at Syracuse University.
Provenance:
Material on reels 1393, 3482, D257-D259, and 4909 was donated 1966-1974 by John Canaday. Material on reels NYJC1-NYJC6 was lent for microfilming 1965 by Canaday. He subsequently donated the papers he lent to Syracuse University.
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.
The papers of realist painter Isabel Bishop date from 1914 to 1983 and measure 2.6 linear feet. The collection documents Bishop's painting career, her friendship with other artists, and her participation in several arts organizations. There are scattered biographical documents, correspondence with fellow artists such as Peggy Bacon, Warren Chappell, Edward Laning, and R. B. Kitaj, and with writers, curators, museums, galleries, arts organizations, and others. Also found are arts organization files, Bishop's writings about Warren Chappell and friend Reginald Marsh, notes, exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material, photographs of Bishop and her artwork, and photographs of Reginald and Felicia Marsh. Original artwork includes 8 sketchbooks, loose sketches, prints, and watercolor figure studies.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of realist painter Isabel Bishop date from 1914 to 1983 and measure 2.6 linear feet. The collection documents Bishop's painting career, her friendship with other artists, and her participation in several arts organizations. Scattered biographical documents include awards and a file on her participation in art juries.
Bishop was friends with many artists and cultural figures and her correspondence includes letters to and from artists such as John Taylor Arms, Peggy Bacon, Peter Blume, Warren Chappell (many letters from Chappell are illustrated), Sidney Delevante, Edwin Dickinson, Philip Evergood, John Folinsbee, Malvina Hoffman, Jo Hopper, James Kearns, Leon Kroll, Clare Leighton, Jack Levine, Alice Neel, Hobson Pittman, Fairfield Porter, Abraham Rattner, Katherine Schmidt, Henry Schnakenberg, Raphael Soyer, George Tooker, Stuyvesant Van Veen, Franklin Watkins, Mahonri Young, and William Zorach. Bishop not only corresponded with artists but also many poets, authors, historians, and dancers, such as Van Wyck Brooks, John Canaday, John Ciardi, Merce Cunningham, Babette Deutsch, Edna Ferber, Richmond Lattimore, Marianne Moore, Lewis Mumford, Kurt Vonnegut, and Glenway Westcott. Also found are letters from many galleries, museums, and schools which exhibited or purchased her work, including curators Juliana Force and Una Johnson.
Bishop kept files from her affiliations with the American Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers and the New Society of Artists, containing mostly membership and financial records, and a file on a UNESCO conference. Unfortunately, files documenting her membership and vice presidency of the National Institute of Arts & Letters are not found here.
A small amount of Bishop's writings and notes include essays about friends and artists Reginald Marsh and Warren Chappell. Printed material consists of exhibition catalogs and announcements, news clippings, magazines, and a design by G. Alan Chidsey for a book about Bishop. Photographs depict Bishop with her husband and in her studio, her artwork, and also include three photographs of her friend, Reginald Marsh.
Original artwork includes eight small sketchbooks, loose pen and ink sketches, intaglio prints, watercolor figure studies, and a drawing of Bishop by Aaron Bohrod.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1943-1975 (Box 1; 4 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1983 (Box 1; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Organization Files, 1924-1937, 1951-1952 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings & Notes, 1937-1960s (Box 1; 4 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1930-1979 (Box 2; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, 1914, circa 1920s-1975 (Box 2, OV 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1940s-1970s (Box 2-4, OV 5; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Isabel Bishop (1902-1988) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to John Remsen Bishop and Anna Bartram Newbold Bishop. Shortly after her birth the family moved to Detroit, Michigan. As a child Bishop took art classes and had a growing interest in drawing. In 1918 at the age of 16 she left home and moved to New York City where she enrolled in the School of Applied Design for Women to be an illustrator. However, her real interest was in painting, not the graphic arts, and she enrolled in the Art Students League in 1920. There she studied with Kenneth Hayes Miller and Guy Pene du Bois and met many young artists, including Reginald Marsh and Edwin Dickinson, both of whom became close friends. She took classes until 1924 and rented a studio and living space on 14th Street in a neighborhood where many artists maintained studios at the time.
Bishop began exhibiting her work and participated in artist groups, including the Whitney Studio Club and the New Society of Artists. During the 1920s and 1930s she developed a realist style of painting, primarily depicting women in their daily routine on the streets of Manhattan. Her work was greatly influenced by Peter Paul Rubens and other Dutch and Flemish painters that she had discovered during trips to Europe. In 1932 Bishop began showing her work frequently at the newly opened Midtown Galleries, where her work would be represented throughout her career.
In 1934 she married Harold Wolff, a neurologist, and moved with him to Riverdale, New York. Bishop kept her studio in Manhattan, moving from 14th Street to Union Square. She remained in her Union Square studio for fifty years (1934-1984). From 1936 to 1937 she taught at the Art Students League and in 1940 her son Remsen was born. In 1941 she was named a member of the National Academy of Design and from 1944 to 1946 she was the Vice President of the National Institute of Arts & Letters, the first woman to hold an executive position with that organization. She wrote articles and joined other artists in speaking out in support of realist painting and against the abstract style that was dominating the New York art scene.
During her long career which lasted into the 1980s, Bishop exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions, traveled throughout the U. S. as an exhibition juror, and won many awards for her work, including the award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts presented by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
Related Material:
Also found at the Archives of American Art are three oral history interviews with Isabel Bishop, April 15, 1959, May 29, 1959, and November 12-December 11, 1987.
The Whitney Museum of American Art and Midtown Galleries loaned additional Bishop papers to the Archives for microfilming on reels NY59-4 and NY59-5. These items were returned to the lenders after microfilming and are not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in several installments by Isabel Bishop from 1959 to 1983.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Book illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The records of the Perls Galleries measure 79.6 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1997. Founded by Klaus Perls in 1937 and operating until 1997, the gallery dealt primarily in modern French art and the artwork of Alexander Calder. Found within the records are extensive correspondence (circa 44 linear feet) with artists, dealers, galleries, museums, and collectors; photographs and negatives of inventory and other artwork; exhibition files, scattered financial records; and exhibition catalogs and clippings.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the Perls Galleries measure 79.6 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1997. Founded by Klaus Perls in 1937 and operating until 1997, the gallery dealt primarily in modern French art and the artwork of Alexander Calder. Found within the records are extensive correspondence (circa 44 linear feet) with artists, dealers, galleries, museums, and collectors; photographs and negatives of inventory and other artwork; exhibition files, scattered financial records; and exhibition catalogs and clippings.
Correspondence primarily discusses sales (and includes invoices), loans, and exhibitions, as well as more routine activities such as gallery maintenance, the printing of exhibition catalogs and letterhead, and the shipment, framing, or restoration of artwork. Many letters enclose photographs, negatives, or slides of artwork, and clippings. A few letters contain oversize architectural or engineering drawings, and a small handful of letters are illustrated.
Correspondents include artists such as Darrell Austin, Joan Mir, Pablo Picasso, and Karl Priebe; galleries such as the Corcoran Gallery, Fujikawa Galleries, Galerie Maeght, and the Pierre Matisse Gallery; museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of Modern Art; collectors such as Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz, Adelaide de Mnil, Valentine Dudensing, and Henry Ford, II; and celebrity clients such as Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Henry and Clare Booth Luce, and Barbra Streisand.
The records contain nearly thirty-two linear feet of photographs and negatives. Photographs are of artists and the inventory of the gallery's artwork. Additional photographs represent artwork either by artists not represented by the gallery or not included in the gallery's inventory. Most of the photographs are black and white. Over fifteen linear feet of negatives are of gallery stock. Photographs are also found in the exhibition files.
There is a relatively small amount of records relating to exhibitions, loans, and sales. Found are exhibition lists, schedules, invitations and announcements, photographs of exhibition installations, press releases, and records of loans to other institutions and galleries. Sales records include artist lists, inventory lists, invoices, pick up and delivery receipts, and price lists.
Printed materials include a large number of clippings and an incomplete run of catalogs from Perls Galleries exhibitions between 1939 and 1980.
The collection also includes ten original pencil drawings from John Canaday's series entitled My Beautiful Girls and a reproduction of eight drawings from the same series
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1937-1995 (Boxes 1-44, OV 81-83; 43.6 linear feet)
Series 2: Negatives, circa 1937-1995 (Boxes 44-59; 15.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Photographs, circa 1937-1995 (Boxes 60-75, OV 84; 16.1 linear feet)
Series 4: Exhibition, Loan, and Sales Records, 1937-1995 (Boxes 76-78; 2.1 linear feet)
Series 5: Clippings Files, 1943-1989 (Box 78; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Exhibition Catalogs, 1939-1980 (Boxes 78-79; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Drawings by John Canaday, circa 1967-1972 (Box 80; 0.3 linear feet)
Historical Note:
Klaus Perls (b. 1912, d. 2008) formally opened Perls Galleries in New York in 1937, and ran it with his wife Amelia until its closing in 1997. The gallery dealt in contemporary French artists of the School of Paris, such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, but also acted as the primary representative of Alexander Calder beginning in 1954. In the 1970s Mr. Perls developed an interest in art from Benin and built an important collection of African sculpture, some of which was later donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Amelia Perls died in 2002, and Klaus Perls died in 2008.
Klaus Perls was born in 1912 in Berlin in a house Mies van der Rohe designed for his parents, who owned an art gallery specializing in Impressionists, post-Impressionists, Old Master paintings, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and African sculpture. Perls studied Art History in Hamburg and Munich but completed his PhD in Basel, Switzerland in 1933 after the Nazi government stopped awarding degrees to Jews. His dissertation covered the complete works of 15th-century French painter Jean Fouquet.
Before moving to New York in 1935, Perls worked for his mother, Kaethe Perls, in her Paris gallery that she opened in 1932 after splitting up with Klaus' father Hugo. He spent his first two years in New York selling paintings through other art dealers, primarily paintings shipped or recommended to him by his mother from Paris that were not selling well in the Depression-era French art market. These were primarily the work of Maurice Utrillo, Marie Laurencin, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck. In 1937 he formally established his own gallery, the Perls Galleries, on East 58th Street and continued to specialize in French and European contemporary art. Around the same time, his older brother Frank opened a gallery in Beverly Hills, California.
Klaus Perls was familiar with other New York dealers specializing in modern European art such as Valentine Dudensing and Pierre Matisse, but he tried to distinguish himself by catering to young collectors. When the war restricted the international art trade and his mother was forced to flee France during the Occupation, Perls began dealing in contemporary American artists such as Darrel Austin and Karl Priebe.
Perls married Amelia Blumenthal, fondly known as "Dolly," in 1940, and she became his business partner.
After the war, the international art market exploded, and the Perls made frequent buying trips to Europe. The Perls Galleries continued to sell primarily contemporary French art and gained an early reputation as a staunch defender of modern art by European artists such as Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, Lger, Soutine and Pascin. Perls prepared catalogues raisonns on Soutine and Pascin.
Klaus Perls was one of the founding members of the Art Dealer's Association, whose initial mission was to clean up the reputation of the art market following a series scandals involving fake antiquities that flourished in the 1960's. Perls was the Association's second president, after Pierre Matisse.
In 1954 Perls Galleries moved to 1016 Madison Avenue, a building that served as both gallery and home for the Perls. The same year Perls became Alexander Calder's dealer after the death of Calder's previous dealer, Curt Valentin. Perls explained his inclusion of Calder, a rare American among his stable of European artists, by saying that Calder's roots lay in France and that Calder bridged Europe and America the way Perls felt he did himself. In 1970, Calder designed the terrazzo sidewalk in front of the gallery and often resided in the Perls' home during long visits to New York City. Perls Galleries later handled Calder's estate and functioned as a quasi-archives of Calder's works, holding more than 7,000 negatives depicting Calder's art and preparing a Calder catalogue raisonn.
Klaus was named as a third-party defendant in the 1969 World War II looted art case Menzel v. List. When Erna Menzel sued Albert List for ownership of a Chagall painting confiscated from Menzel by the Nazis, List in turn sued Perls, who had sold him the painting in 1955, having purchased it himself from a Paris art dealer. The court awarded the Chagall painting to Menzel and ordered Perls to pay List the appreciated value of the painting.
Perls began building an important collection of African artwork and fell in love with art from Benin in the 1970's. In 1991 he donated more than 150 pieces of royal art from Benin to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Perls closed their gallery in 1997; Amelia Perls died in 2002, and Klaus Perls died in 2008.
Related Material:
Among the resources relating to the Perls Galleries in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Klaus Perls done by Mona Hadler on January 19, 1993.
Provenance:
The records were donated in 1997 by Douglas Mayhew, associate and legal representive of Klaus G. and Amelia B. Perls.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
An interview of Raymond Horowitz conducted 2004 Oct.20-Nov. 5, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art, in New York, N.Y.
Horowitz speaks of his privileged childhood in New York; the effects of the Depression on his family's finances; attending Columbia University for Law and the anti-Semitism he faced there; his ingratiation into art appreciation through Meyer Shapiro; employment under then-New York City comptroller Joseph McGoldrick; the formation of his law practice; and his marriage to his wife, Margaret Goldenberg. Horowitz also mentions his involvement in left-wing political movements; how he managed relationships with different dealers; his experiences with misattributed artworks and forgeries, particularly his luck in avoiding them; the hobbies of himself and his wife; how he avoids relationships with the artists of his works; sharing information with other collectors; the economics of donating artworks and the subsequent tax breaks; the importance of credit in art purchasing; how he and Margaret conferred on purchases; their affinity for Chase; his habits on lending to exhibitions; the differences between the management of the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery; his summer homes in East Hampton and Provincetown; the problems with contemporary art scholarship; and the importance of dealers in affirming the interest in American art. Horowitz spends most of the interview reflecting upon others in the art world whom he has met. He recalls Ira Spanierman, Dan and Rita Fraad, Charles Merill Mount, Victor Spark, Abraham Adler, Nicolai Cikovsky, Phillipe de Montebello, Theodore Stebbins, Jack Levine, Daniel Terra, Joseph Hirshhorn, Norman Hirschl, John Canaday, Doris and Harry Rubin, Paul Mellon, Bill Gerdts, Paul Magriel, Bernard Meyers, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Raymond Horowitz (1916-2005) was a collector from New York, N.Y. Avis Berman is an art historian from New York, N.Y.
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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Lawyers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
The John Bernard Myers papers span the period circa 1940s to 1987, bulk 1970-1987. The collection measures 2.0 linear feet and documents Myers's work as a writer, editor, and gallery director, and includes correspondence, writings, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The John Bernard Myers papers, which measure 2.0 linear feet, date from circa 1940s to 1987, bulk 1970-1987, and document his work as a writer, editor, and gallery director.
Personal and professional correspondence consist mainly of incoming letters from colleagues, friends, and admirers. Among the correspondence is business and fan mail concerning Tracking the Marvelous and Parenthése, letters from writer and English professor Guy Davenport, and invitations to speak and teach. Also included are letters to The New York Times and Art In America complaining about critic John Canaday's behavior and comments during a visit to the Tibor de Nagy Gallery.
Myers' published and unpublished writings are the collection's most significant series. These consist of manuscripts for his autobiography, Tracking the Marvelous, published in 1984 ; Forward and Backward: A Chronicle, circa 1976, about Mark Rothko's suicide and the subsequent lawsuit brought by his daughter against Marlborough Galleries (a revised version was published later as part three of Myers' autobiography); and Knowing What I Like, 1985, an unpublished collection of his own essays and criticism compiled and edited by Myers. Among his other writings are articles, essays, and reviews. Also included are his diariess dated 1969 and 1974-1983. Entries record daily activities and reactions to his experiences, news of friends, and reflections on his life and relationships. Excerpts from much earlier diaries (not part of the John Bernard Myers Papers) are quoted extensively in Tracking the Marvelous.
Printed Matter consists of writings by Myers - Tracking the Marvelous: A Life in the New York Art World; a selection of articles, essays, and criticism published mainly in art periodicals; and exhibition catalogs. Also included are a few articles about Myers and issues of publications he edited. Other printed matter consists of clippings on art subjects, exhibition catalogs, and miscellaneous publications.
Miscellaneous items are artwork, biographical information, minutes and memoranda of the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and transcripts of interviews conducted by and with Myers. Also included are records of the Southampton Artists' Theatre Festival, produced by John Bernard Myers, consisting of director's notes and notes and music for "Gertrude Stein's 'First Reader.'"
Photographs are of Myers and unidentified friends, interior views of his home in Brewster, N.Y. and one of the back yard. Also included are many photographs of puppets.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1960-1986, undated (box 1, 6 folders)
Series 2: Writings, 1959-1987, undated (boxes 1-2, 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 3: Printed Matter, 1951-1987, undated (box 2, 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 4: Miscellaneous, circa 1962-1987, undated (box 2, 0.25 linear ft.)
Series 5: Photographs, circa 1940s-1985, undated (box 2, 6 folders)
Biographical Note:
During his youth in Buffalo, New York, John Bernard Myers developed life-long interests in poetry, puppets, and painting. As a teenager, he wrote poetry and established his own marionette theater. He first learned about modern art and became especially interested in Surrealism through reading European magazines and exhibition catalogs in the library of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Through helping to edit Upstate, an avant garde literary magazine, he met many like-minded friends. Myers was deemed unqualified for military service due to ruptured eardrums, so instead went to work in an airplane factory. But his membership in the Young Communist League and participation in efforts led by a Socialist Workers party colleague to upgrade job assignments and pay for qualified minorities created problems and Myers soon departed. His final two years in Buffalo were spent working in a bookstore.
In 1944, Myers sent issues of Upstate to Parker Tyler, editor of View, whom he had met a few years earlier through mutual friends involved with the Communist party. A few months later Tyler offered him the position of managing editor of View, a magazine devoted to the Neo-Romantics and Surrealists in exile. Myers moved to New York City and remained with the magazine until it ceased publication in 1947. A large portion of his time at View was spent selling advertising space. Since this involved calling on gallery owners each month, he came to know many dealers, had the opportunity to study the exhibitions and meet many of the artists. During this period he began attending art history courses taught by Meyer Schapiro at the New School. His responsibilities at View also included assisting with editing and layout, and he became well-acquainted with Marcel Duchamp and André Breton when special issues devoted to them were published. His association with the magazine resulted in many invitations; Myers enthusiastically attended parties practically every night of the week, enlarging his already impressive circle of friends and acquaintance in the art and literary worlds.
Puppets were another of Myers' special interests. After View ceased publication in1947, he edited poetry and art publications, but to earn his living he resumed puppeteering. Around 1948 Myers met Tibor de Nagy, a cultured Hungarian immigrant with a background in banking and finance, who, for immigration purposes, needed a business that bore his name. The Tibor de Nagy Marionette Company gave performances at schools in and around New York City and staged elaborate productions for both children and adults at fine hotels. After several years of physically exhausting work with the marionette company and falling profits, the two decided to try another business venture.
Over the years, several of Myers' friends and acquaintances had suggested he open an art gallery. Myers was interested and had many appropriate contacts, but lacked sufficient capital and had no business experience. An old friend, Dwight Ripley, offered to back a gallery and in 1951 the Tibor de Nagy Gallery opened at 219 East 53rd Street with John Bernard Myers as the gallery director. Tibor de Nagy was the gallery's business manager, and at the same time pursued a full-time career in banking. Following the good advice of his friends Jackson Pollock,Lee Krasner, and Clement Greenberg, Myers decided to seek out and promote the artists of his own generation. Artists affiliated with the Tibor de Nagy Gallery included Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Goodnough, Red Grooms, Grace Hartigan, Alfred Leslie, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, Fairfield Porter, and Larry Rivers.
Myers and de Nagy remained partners in the Tibor de Nagy Gallery for 19 years. In 1970 Myers left in to open a gallery which he ran for about five years under his own name. After retiring from the gallery, he was a private dealer and lecturer; he also served as a consultant to the Kouros Gallery. He continued to organize exhibitions including a Joseph Cornell exhibiton at A.C.A. Gallery in 1977, and "Tracking the Marvelous" at the Grey Gallery, New York University in 1981.
For more than thirty years after View ceased publication, a number of art and poetry publications benefitted from Myers' editorial skills. Among them were Prospero Pamphlets, a series of chapbooks produced between 1946 and 1948, featuring contemporary poets Wallace Stevens, Charles Henri Ford, Parker Tyler, and Paul Goodman. Brunidor Editions, a portfolio of graphics by Yves Tanguy, Joan Miró, Kurt Seligmann, Max Ernst, Wilfredo Lam, Matta, and William Stanley Hayter was issued in 1948. From 1953 until 1956, Tibor de Nagy Gallery published Semi-Colon, a poets' newsletter edited by Myers. Gallery Editions, a series of pamphlets paired the work of a poet and painter, among them: John Ashbury and Jane Freilicher, Frank O'Hara and Larry Rivers, Kenneth Koch and Nell Blaine, and Barbara Guest and Robert Goodnough. Myers devoted a great deal of time to Parenthése, a magazine of words and pictures, that was published between 1975 and 1979. In addition, he compiled and edited Poets of the New York School, an anthology with photographs by Francesco Scuvullo published by the University of Pennsylvania Art Department in 1968.
For much of his life, John Bernard Myers kept a diary recording daily activities and his reactions to an reflections on his experiences. His autobiography, Tracking the Marvelous: A Life in the New York Art World, published in 1984, quotes extensively from diaries written as early as 1939. He wrote many book reviews, exhibition reviews, and articles about art and art criticism that were published in Art in America, Arts, Artforum, Art and Literature, Art International, Art News, Art/World, Craft Horizons, and Smithsonian. Knowing What I Like, a selection of his own essays and articles that Myers compiled and edited in 1983, remains unpublished. He also wrote poetry and song lyrics.
John Bernard Myers died July 26, 1987.
Missing Title
1919 or 1920 -- Born, Buffalo, New York
circa 1939 -- Began puppeteering and eventually established his own puppet theater
circa 1942-1944 -- Assisted with editing Upstate, an avant garde literary magazine
1942 -- Rejected from military service due to ear problems; employed in airplane factory, and later at Ulbrich's Bookstore in Buffalo
1944-1947 -- Managing Editor, View, a magazine devoted to the Neo-Romantic and Surrealist artists in exile
1946-1948 -- Editor, Prospero Pamphlets, a series of chapbooks featuring Wallace Stevens, Charles Henri Ford, Parker Tyler, and Paul Goodman
1948 -- Editor, Brunidor Editions, portfolios of graphics featuring Yves Tanguy, Joan Miró, Kurt Seligmann, Max Ernst, Wilfredo Lam, Matta, and William Stanley Hayter; started a professional marionette company with Tibor de Nagy as business manager
1951 -- Tibor de Nagy Gallery opens at 219 East 53rd Street, backed by Dwight Ripley, with Myers as gallery director and de Nagy its business manager
1953 -- Tibor de Nagy Gallery moves to 24 East 67th St.
1953-1956 -- Editor, Semi-Colon, a poets' newsletter emphasizing brief prose and verse
1954-1970 -- Producer and Artistic Advisor, The Artists' Theater; during this time 36 plays by poets, with appropriate décors and music by modern painters and composers
1959-1970 -- Editor, Gallery Editions, a series of poetry pamphlets pairing poets and painters (Frank O'Hara and Larry rivers, Kenneth Koch and Nell Blaine, Barbara Guest and Robert Goodnough)
1968-1968 -- Producer, Southampton Artists' Theatre Festival, Long Island University
1970 -- Leaves Tibor de Nagy Gallery and opens John Bernard Myers Gallery at 50 West 57th Street
1974 -- Closes his gallery and in retirement becomes a private dealer
1975-1979 -- Editor, Parenthése, a little magazine of words and pictures
1981 -- Editor, Parenthése Signatures, each deluxe limited edition portfolios paired an artist and poet
1981 -- Tracking the Marvelous, exhibition at Grey Gallery, New York University
1984 -- Publication of Tracking the Marvelous: A Life in the New York Art World
1985-1987 -- Consultant to Kouros Gallery, New York
1987 -- Dies July 26, Danbury, Conn.
Related Material:
Other material relating to John Bernard Myers in the Archives of American Art includes an interview with Myers conducted by Barbara Rose, circa 1969.
Provenance:
The collection was a gift of the Estate of Ricky Dale Horton, 1990.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
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.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
A panel discussion "New Directions in American Painting and Sculpture," sponsored by the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors. Panel members are John Canaday, Albert Christ-Janer, Hubert Crehan, and Katharine Kuh, with Henry Botkin as moderator.
