The papers of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld measure 0.9 linear feet and date from 1931-1983. Found within the papers are letters to Hirschfeld, business records, writings, artwork, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The collection measures 0.9 linear feet, dates from 1931-1983, and documents the career of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. Found within the papers are letters, business records, writings, artwork, printed material, and photographs.
Letters are from friends and colleagues, and the subjects of Hirschfeld's drawings. A small majority of letters are from Brooks Atkinson, John Mason Brown, Edward Chodorov, Beauford Delaney, Roger K. Fruse, and Charles F. Lowe. Additional correspondents for which there are one or two letters are listed in the series description that follows.
Business records include a receipt for artwork delivered, a notice of probate on the will of Billy Rose, a loan agreement from the Studio Museum in Harlem for a work by Beauford Delaney, and a contract from The Franklin Library for a portrait of Mencken. Writings by Hirschfeld consist of brief typescripts of film and theater critiques.
Artwork consists of a sketchbook of caricatures of theater performers, a sketchbook of images from travel to Japan, loose sketches, and drawings by children inspired by a visit to see Hirschfeld.
Also found within the papers are 11 folders of clippings, posters, and miscellaneous printed material. Photographs are of Hirschfeld, his wife, and a drawing.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series. All series are arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Letters, 1931-1983 (Boxes 1-2; 1.75 linear feet)
Series 2: Business Records, 1932-1979 (Box 2; 1 folder)
Series 3: Writings, 1937-1973 (Box 2; 3 folders)
Series 4: Art Work, 1967-1977 (Box 2; 4 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1953-1983 (Box 2, OV 3; 11 folders)
Series 6: Photographs, 1965 (Box 2; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Albert Hirschfeld was born on June 21, 1903 in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of the three sons of Isaac Hirschfeld and his Russian-born wife Rebecca.
Al Hirschfeld studied art in St. Louis and moved with his family to New York City in 1915. He studied at the National Academy of Art and Design and at the Art Students League, but due to financial difficulties in 1919, he took a job at Selznick Pictures where he was given his first art assignments designing advertisements. He was soon made art director, a position he held for several years, until the company went bankrupt. Because the company could not pay him what they owed, Hirschfeld worked for an entire year to earn enough to pay his artists what he, in turn, owed them.
By 1924, Hirschfeld was able to travel to Paris and London, where he studied painting, drawing, and sculpture, and began to grow his distinctive beard. By mid-1925, he had returned to New York City planning to begin a career as a painter, but on December 26, 1926, a sketch he had done of French actor Sacha Guitry was published in the New York Herald Tribune. Within two years his theatrical drawings were appearing in five different New York newspapers, including the New York Times, for which he worked on a freelance basis until the newspaper offered him a contract in 1990. Hirschfeld's caricatures have also appeared in The New Yorker, Playbill, TV Guide, New Masses, Time, Life, Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, and many other publications.
Beginning in the late 1920s, Hirschfeld was assigned to capture the essence of each new Broadway play through his line drawings that were published prior to the play's opening night. Performers and the public alike were captivated with the accuracy of his seemingly effortless caricatures. During this time, Hirschfeld also co-edited a satirical journal, Americana, with Alexander King.
Divorced from his first wife, Florence Ruth Hobby, Hirschfeld met German-born film actress Dolly Haas when he was assigned to do a caricature of her. They were married in May 1943. Two years later, to celebrate the birth of his daughter Nina, Hirschfeld concealed her name in the background of his drawing for the play Are You With It? Finding the "Ninas" in his caricatures soon became an American ritual. During World War II, the Department of Defense trained bomber pilots the techniques of camouflage and target-spotting by having them search for the "Ninas" in Hirschfeld's drawings.
For forty years, Hirschfeld collaborated with S. J. Perelman in illustrating and writing books, including Westward Ha!, Listen to the Mockingbird, and The Swiss Family Perelman. Hirschfeld also provided illustrations for the 1986 memoir of Perelman, And Did You Once See Sidney Plain? Other books published by Hirschfeld include The Speakeasies of 1932, Harlem as Seen by Hirschfeld, Show Business is No Business, and Hirschfeld on Line.
Hirschfeld also had solo art exhibitions at the Heller Gallery, Hammer Gallery and at the Lincoln Center Museum of the Performing Arts. He received a Special Tony Award "for 50 years of theatrical cartoons" in 1975.
In 1991 and 1994, the United States Postal Service commissioned Hirschfeld to design a series of stamps commemorating comedians and silent film stars respectively. He was not only allowed to be the first artist to put his name on a U. S. postage stamp, but was allowed to include Nina's name within the caricatures as well.
In 1996, an Academy Award-nominated documentary film about Hirschfeld's life, The Line King, was released.
Hirschfeld's wife Dolly passed away in September 1994. Three years later, in October 1997, he married Louise Kerz, widow of Broadway producer and designer Leo Kerz. Al Hirschfeld died on January 20, 2003 in New York City.
Provenance:
The Al Hirschfeld papers were donated in 1983 by Al Hirschfeld and his dealer, George J. Goodstadt.
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.
Occupation:
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Writings
Sketches
Drawings
Sketchbooks
Photographs
Citation:
Al Hirschfeld papers, 1931-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Scrapbooks; correspondence; exhibition catalogs; photographs; and some biographical material.
Reel NLU-1: a scrapbook, 1902-1948, of clippings mostly relating Luks, and to contemporary artists with whom Luks was associated.
Reel 95: clippings; correspondence, including two letters from James Huneker; exhibition catalogs, including one from an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, Nov. 1943-Jan. 1944; photographs; and 3 scrapbooks.
Biographical / Historical:
Illustrator, painter, cartoonist, lecturer, teacher; born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Recent scholarship shows 1866 as his birth date rather than 1867, as has been previously accepted. Studied at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, in Dusseldorf, Berlin, Munich, London, and Paris. Worked on the staff of the Philadelphia Press, the Philadelphia Bulletin, and the New York World newspapers. Created the comic strips Hogan's Alley, and The Yellow Kid. Was an outspoken member of "The Eight" who exhibited at Macbeth Gallery, NYC, 1908. Taught at Art Students League, was influential not for his methods, but for his strong personality. Known as a hard drinker, his works were imbued with gusto as he captured slum life in NYC.
Provenance:
The scrapbook, 1902-1948, was lent for microfilming via Barnhardt Crystal of the Washington Irving Gallery, 1958, on behalf of Mrs. Carolyn Luks, sister-in-law of George Luks. Papers on reel 95 were lent for microfilming by the Chapellier Galleries.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
REEL 2523: 37 drawings and sketches, ca. 1864-1889, cataloged by the Williams College Museum of Art.
REEL 3161: 18 pen and ink political cartoons and caricatures, undated and 1902, and a study, signed by Nast. 11 of the drawings contain captions on the verso by an unknown person.
Biographical / Historical:
Cartoonist and illustrator; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Cartoons on reel 3161 donated, 1962, by Charles E. Feinberg, an active donor and friend of AAA. Drawings and sketches on reel 2523 lent for microfilming, 1982, by Williams College Museum of Art.
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:
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Cartoonists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of printmaker, illustrator, caricaturist, and writer Peggy Bacon measure 3.6 linear feet and date from 1893 to 1973, with the bulk of materials dating from 1900 to 1936. Much of the collection consists of family correspondence, although writings, photographs, artwork, and personal business records from Bacon's late career are also found.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of printmaker, illustrator, caricaturist, and writer Peggy Bacon measure 3.6 linear feet and date from 1893 to 1973, with the bulk of materials dating from 1900 to 1936. Much of the collection consists of family correspondence, although writings, photographs, artwork, and personal business records from Bacon's late career are also found.
Correspondence is found between Peggy Bacon and her parents, Elizabeth and Charles Roswell Bacon. Letters to her mother describe in detail her life as an art student and artist at the Art Students League; summer schools in Port Jefferson, Long Island and Provincetown, Massachusetts; the Woodstock artists' colony; and her early years in New York City. Letters from her husband, Alexander Brook, to her mother are also present. Letters to Bacon include letters from her early teacher Jonas Lie, and from friends and fellow artists Catherine Wiley, Dorothy Varian, Katherine Schmidt, Anne Rector Duffy, and others. Her parents' extensive correspondence includes letters to her father from the artists Jules Adler, Rudolph Bunner, Ira Remsen, and Charles Downing Lay.
The collection also contains Peggy Bacon's school reports and writing assignments, a marriage certificate, scattered poetry manuscripts and notes by Peggy Bacon, and fiction manuscripts by Charles Roswell Bacon. Personal business records date from the 1960s and 1970s and include publisher's royalty statements, gallery sales statements, and scattered business correspondence with Antoinette Kraushaar and other staff at the Kraushaar Galleries. Photographs depict Bacon and her family, friends, homes, and works of art. Artwork includes several original drawings and sketches by Bacon, as well as artwork by Alexander Brook, Charles Roswell Bacon, and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1893-1913 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1893-1939, 1969-1972 (Boxes 1-3; 3 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1897-1934, 1963-1972 (Box 4; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1905-1920 (Boxes 4-5; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1905-1935, 1973 (Box 5; 3 folders)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1900-1963 (Box 5, OV 6; 4 folders)
Series 7: Artwork, undated (Box 5, OVs 6-8; 9 folders)
Biographical Note:
Peggy Bacon was born in 1895 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and grew up an only child after the death of two younger brothers in infancy. Her parents, Charles Roswell Bacon and Elizabeth Chase Bacon, had met at the Art Students League, where her father had studied with Robert Henri. Her father pursued a career in painting and writing until his suicide in 1913, and her mother painted miniatures.
A child of artists, Bacon began to draw at a very early age, and by age ten she was already earning money for her illustrations, drawings of literary characters made for dinner place cards. She did not attend school until 1909, when her parents sent her to a boarding school in Summit, New Jersey. She began her formal art training shortly after her father's death, enrolling in the School of Applied Arts for Women at the end of 1913. In the summer of 1914, she attended Jonas Lie's landscape class in Port Jefferson, Long Island, and continued private studies with him in New York City. Lie gave Bacon her first solo exhibition in 1915. From 1915 until 1920, she studied at the Art Students League under John Sloan, Kenneth Hayes Miller, George Bellows, Mahroni Young, and others. In the summers, she took classes first in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and then in Woodstock, New York, where she studied with Andrew Dasburg.
Bacon's circle was formed at the Art Students League, and the League's summer school in Woodstock. She met her husband, Alexander Brook, in Woodstock, and they were married in 1920. Both were active in the Woodstock Artists Association. Other artists in their close-knit group included Dorothea Schwarz (Greenbaum), Anne Rector (Duffy), Betty Burroughs (Woodhouse), Katherine Schmidt (Kuniyoshi Shubert), Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Molly Luce, Dorothy Varian, Edmund Duffy, Dick Dyer, David Morrison, and Andrew Dasburg. Many from this group were involved in the short-lived satirical magazine at the League called Bad News, published in 1918 with several of Bacon's earliest satirical drawings. Her first book, The True Philosopher and Other Cat Tales, was published in 1919. Brook and Bacon traveled to England in 1920, where their daughter Belinda was born. A son, Sandy, was born in Woodstock in 1922. In the early 1920s, Brook worked with Juliana Force at the Whitney Studio Club, and they were involved in the cultural life that sprang up around the gallery, which featured up-and-coming artists. For many years, Bacon and her family split their time between New York and Woodstock, and later summered in Cross River, NY. After divorcing Brook in 1940, Bacon spent summers in Ogunquit, Maine.
Though she initially thought of herself as a painter, she built her reputation on her drawings and prints, which often satirized the people around her in their natural habitats - artists in life classes, at dances, and in social situations, or a throng of people in a museum, on a city sidewalk, or a ship's deck. She became sought after for her illustrations and witty, topical verse in magazines such as Dial, Delineator, The New Yorker, New Republic, Fortune, and Vanity Fair. She helped to establish the American Print Makers, an artists' organization based in the Downtown Gallery which sought greater exhibition opportunities for printmakers. Bacon illustrated over sixty books, nineteen of which she also wrote, between 1919 and 1966, including many children's books and a successful mystery novel called The Inward Eye (1952). In 1933 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and used it to complete a collection of caricatures of art world figures called Off With Their Heads (1934), the success of which prompted a spate of commissions for caricatures. Bacon stopped making caricatures in 1935, but they include some of her best-known work.
Bacon exhibited frequently, in New York and in major museum exhibitions nationally, showing her prints, drawings, pastels, and watercolors. She had over thirty solo exhibitions at such venues as Montross Gallery, Alfred Stieglitz's Intimate Gallery, and the Downtown Gallery, and was represented by Rehn Galleries and later Kraushaar Galleries. Bacon also taught extensively in the 1930s and 1940s, at the Fieldston School, Art Students League, Hunter College, Temple University, the Corcoran Gallery, and other places. In the 1950s, she returned to painting. She made her last prints in 1955. In the early 1970s, Bacon's eyesight failed, and she eventually went to live with her son in Cape Porpoise, Maine. She died in 1987.
Related Material:
Among the other resources relating to Peggy Bacon in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Bacon, May 8, 1973; and letters to Bernice and Harry Lurie from Peggy Bacon, 1969-1977. Additional Peggy Bacon papers are available at Syracuse University.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Peggy Bacon in 1973 and Kraushaar Galleries in 2008.
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:
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
The papers of Cuban born cartoonist, caricaturist, graphic designer, illustrator, and art director Abril Lamarque papers date from 1883-2001, with the bulk of the material ranging from 1904-1999, and measure 6.8 linear feet. His papers contain biographical material; correspondence; writings; files on the many seminars and workshop he taught; scattered financial records; files concerning his business Abril Lamarque Creations; subject files; clippings; printed illustrations of his comics, designs, illustrations, and other work; seven scrapbooks; two sketchbooks, sketches and drawings by him, and artwork by others, including his sister, his brother, Paul Hoffmaster, Enrique Riverón, and H. Portell Vilá; and photographs and negatives depicting Lamarque, Lamarque at work, Lamarque's magic shows, examples of advertising, and friends and colleagues.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Cuban born cartoonist, caricaturist, graphic designer, illustrator, and art director Abril Lamarque papers date from 1883-2001, with the bulk of the material ranging from 1904-1999, and measure 6.8 linear feet. His papers contain biographical material; correspondence; writings; files on the many seminars and workshops he taught; scattered financial records; files concerning his business Abril Lamarque Creations; subject files; clippings; printed illustrations of his comics, designs, illustrations, and other work; seven scrapbooks; two sketchbooks, sketches and drawings by him, and others, including his sister, his brother, Paul Hoffmaster, Enrique Riverón, and H. Portell Vilá; and photographs and negatives depicting Lamarque, Lamarque at work, Lamarque's magic shows, examples of advertising, and friends and colleagues.
Biographical materials include of materials related to Abril Lamarque's many professional and personal associations, including the Art Directors Club, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the National Press Club, the New York University Club, the Society of American Magicians, and the Society of Illustrators. Material types include membership cards, documents, event posters, and yearbooks. Also included are some personal documents, information on Abril Lamarque and his family, Lamarque's collection of humorous business cards, and eulogies written about Lamarque.
Correspondence is generally scattered, but includes letters to and from illustrators and artists including Ernesto Garcia Cabral, Paul Hoffmaster, Conrado Massaguer, and Lamarque's brother, Juan Abril Lamarque. Some letters are illustrated. Also included is business correspondence, subjects and correspondents including the Dell Publishing Company, the New York Times, and correspondence related to workshops and lectures, including his work at Iowa State University and Oklahoma State University.
Writings chiefly document Lamarque's career in graphic and publication design, and consist of articles, an unpublished draft on publication design, manuals, and book reviews. Also included are scripts for magic shows performed by Lamarque. Writings by others are present, and include limericks written about Lamarque by friends and an autobiography of Lamarque's wife, Milagros Abril Lamarque.
The Workshops series consists of advertisements, press releases, handbooks, publication design layout examples, and other materials related to Lamarque's career in teaching publication design workshops and seminars. Also present within the collection are various financial materials. Abril Lamarque Creations materials document Lamarque's design firm, active 1940-1941, which focused on the design and manufacture of modern decorative accessories for the home, such as serving trays, cigarette holders and jewelry. Photographs, drawings, and advertisements in this series document the product design and sales.
The collection includes several subject files concerning the Bacardi Company, the Dell Publishing Company, and Cuban caricaturist and publisher Conrado Massaguer. Files on Massaguer include illustrations, posters, magazines, clippings, and articles. The Subject Files also include materials collected about Mexican caricaturist Ernesto García, self-taught Polish painter Karol Kozlowski, and several other illustrators and political figures of interest to Lamarque.
Printed materials make up the bulk of the collection. Found are numerous examples of his design work for the New York World-Telegram and Evening Mail, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, US News-World Report, Dell Publishing Company, and others; as well as cartoons, caricatures, and illustrations by Lamarque. Clippings of the comic strip Monguito and editions of the Havana newspaper Lunes de Diario de Cuba are present. Printed material also includes posters, including Lamarque's designs for the "Aluminum for Britain" project, which he was asked to discontinue by the U.S. State Department. Also found in this collection are graphic design and illustration clippings collected by Lamarque.
Also found within the collection are seven scrapbooks containing clippings and articles, illustrations, scattered letters, photographs, invitations, artwork, and other materials detailing Lamarque's extensive artistic career and his amateur magic performances.
Original artwork includes drawings, sketches, prints, and design by-products by Abril Lamarque. Artwork by Lamarque includes silkscreens of dictators; drawings and printing plates for Monguito comics; page banners for Film Fun and other publications; and design paste-ups. Artwork created by others found within the series includes caricatures of Lamarque, sketches by Juan Abril Lamarque, and prints by Paul Hoffmaster.
Photographs included in the collection document Abril Lamarque's life and career, and show Lamarque with friends and colleagues, and performing as an amateur magician for both children and adult audiences.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as eleven series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-2001 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1, OV 12)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-1990 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1, OV 12)
Series 3: Writings, 1925-1981 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2, OV 13)
Series 4: Workshops, circa 1940-circa 1985 (0.4 linear feet; Box 2, OV 13)
Series 5: Financial Records, 1924-1989 (4 folders; Box 2)
Series 6: Abril Lamarque Creations, circa 1940-circa 1945 (6 folders; Box 2, OV 13)
Series 7: Subject Files, 1905-1996 (0.5 linear feet; Box 4, OV 14)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1883-1989 (1.5 linear feet; Box 3, 4, 6, and 11, OV 15-17)
Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1920-1959 (1 linear foot; Boxes 7-9, OV 10)
Series 10: Original Artwork, circa 1914-1988 (0.5 linear feet; Box 4, OV 18)
Series 11: Photographic Material, circa 1920-circa 1985 (0.5 linear feet; Box 5, OV 19)
Biographical Note:
Eduardo Abril Lamarque (1904-1999) was a Cuban born cartoonist, caricaturist, graphic designer, illustrator, and art director who worked primarily in New York City.
Eduardo Abril Lamarque was born in Cuba on August 28, 1904. His parents sent him to the United States in 1916 when he was twelve to study English and business administration. He lived with an American family in Brooklyn. At age 15, Lamarque's first cartoon was published in the Boy Scout section of the New York World-Telegram and Evening Mail. Four years later he created Bla-Bla, a comic strip that appeared regularly in the New York Daily News. He is credited with creating, in the early 1920s, the first Spanish language comic strip that was not translated from English. The title cartoon character, Monguito, was a hapless soul, fully dressed in business suit and hat, who kept getting into sticky situations. Lamarque produced hundreds of these strips which were picked up by the New York based United Feature Syndicate and published daily in Spanish language newspapers throughout Latin America and the United States.
When he was twenty, Lamarque returned to Cuba to work as the artistic director for the Havana newspaper Lunes de Diario de Cuba. He also published a booklet designed to teach the elements of caricature drawing. Lamarque returned to New York and was hired by the New York World Telegram and Evening Mail as a caricaturist. He produced political cartoons and caricatures for the paper, introducing his "radiocatures", which involved providing instructions on the radio for filling in a grid in the newspaper to produce a caricature of well-known figure in the news.
In 1927, at the age of 23, he became the first art director of Dell Publishing Company - a magazine empire that included Film Fun, I Confess, War Stories, Modern Screen, Popular Song, Spotlight, Radio Stars, Theatrical Page, Ballyhoo, and Modern Romances. He continued working there for 14 years.
In 1940-1941, Lamarque established Abril Lamarque Creations, a design firm that specialized in elegant and functional household objects and jewelry in a modernist tradition. His signature piece was the Pallettray, a serving tray modeled after an artist's palette and hand-finished in exotic woods.
Between 1941 and 1946, Lamarque became the first art director for the Sunday edition of the New York Times and redesigned the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times Book Review. Throughout his career, Lamarque designed and redesigned countless magazines and journals, including American Weekly, New York News, Metropolitan Life, Popular Science, This Week, US News-World Report, and others.
In 1948, Lamarque established a successful graphic design studio in New York that provided a full spectrum of design services, including annual reports, posters, product labeling, corporate publications, advertising, logos, package designs, and brochures. His clients included Barcardi Company, Con Edison, Ericcson Telephone, General Cable, Berlitz School, Lipton, Monsanto, and numerous magazines. In 1958, he was given the National Award for Graphic Design in packaging. His design for the annual American Red Cross poster was selected for the 1948 national Red Cross campaign.
His success and high demand as a publication art director, consultant, and designer was attributed to innovative design principles he based on the German Bauhaus School and its philosophy that promoted functional design principles. Lamarque reduced these principles to a set of guidelines suitable for page design and applied them successfully to a wide variety of publication and print layouts.
Lamarque's teaching experience began in the early 1940s with seminars and workshops he conducted for the publishing industry. He joined the faculty of New York University School of Continuing Education in 1958, where he taught until 1963, and later joined the Crowell Collier Institute and taught publication design workshops across the United States and Canada. He also gave workshops and courses at Oklahoma State School of Journalism.
Lamarque was a long-time member of the Society of Illustrators, Society of Art Directors, the Dutch Treat Club, National Press Club, and New York University Club. He was also an amateur magician and member of the Society of American Magicians. He performed magic acts for the annual Christmas party of the Society of Illustrators. Abril Lamarque died in 1999 at the age of 94.
Provenance:
Martha Lamarque Sarno and Lita M. Elvers assembled and donated their father's papers to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in 2001.
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.
The papers of caricaturist and illustrator Alfred J. Frueh measure 7.7 linear feet and 3.18 GB and date from circa 1880-2010. These papers consist of biographical information, including a sound recording of reminiscences about Frueh by his children; correspondence that includes many illustrated letters and greeting cards; notes and writings; numerous caricature sketches, cartoons, and 25 sketchbooks by Frueh; printed and digital material; and photographs of Frueh and his artwork. There is a 2.3 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated 2020 that includes bound and unbound scrapbooks and loose newspaper and magazine clippings of caricatures by Frueh from the New Yorker and other publications, circa 1920-1940.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of caricaturist and illustrator Alfred J. Frueh measure 7.7 linear feet and 3.18 GB and date from circa 1880-2010. These papers consist of biographical information, including a sound recording of reminiscences about Frueh by his children; correspondence that includes many illustrated letters and greeting cards; notes and writings; numerous caricature sketches, cartoons, and 25 sketchbooks by Frueh; printed and digital material; and photographs of Frueh and his artwork.There is a 2.3 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated 2020 that includes bound and unbound scrapbooks and loose newspaper and magazine clippings of caricatures by Frueh from the New Yorker and other publications, circa 1920-1940.
Biographical materials include birth, marriage, and death certificates, biographical notes, employment contracts, obituaries, and legal papers concerning patents and license agreements for toy animals and sheet material sculpture. Also included is a 1993 sound recording of Frueh's children reminiscing about their father.
Correspondence consists mainly of incoming letters with a small number of interfiled replies drafted by Frueh. Most of Frueh's surviving outgoing letters are addressed to Giuliette Fanciulli (whom he married in 1913), her parents, and his sister Minnie Frueh. Many of the letters to Giuliette and other family members are illustrated. Also included are a large number of greeting cards (mainly Christmas cards) containing original artwork, from friends, artists, writers, and colleagues. The correspondence concerns both personal and career matters. Notable correspondents are: George Gershwin, Robert Henri, Mr. and Mrs. Elie Nadelman, Eugene O'Neil, Walter and Magda Pach, New Yorker editor Harold Ross, and Alfred Stieglitz. Other letters document Frueh's interest in nut and fruit trees.
Among the notes and writings by Frueh are notes of ideas for art work, lists of caricature sketches, lists of plays and their casts, and 8 address books kept by Alfred and Giuliette Frueh and by Giuliette and her mother. Also included are 6 notebooks of miscellaneous jottings. Notes and writings by other authors consist of lists of caricature sketches, a poem by an unknown writer, and 13 short stories by "Joe" with 6 illustrations by Frueh.
Artwork by Frueh comprises the largest series. It consists mainly of caricature sketches, mostly theatrical, but some political, with a few of himself, his wife Giuliette, and their personal friends. In addition, there are various sketches, drawings, designs, prints, watercolors, cartoons, book covers, greeting cards, paper sculptures, pop-ups, and cut-outs. Also included are patterns for greeting cards, lamp bases and a shade, magic squares, paper sculptures, sheet material sculptures, toy animals, and wallpaper. There are also 25 sketchbooks, a digital slideshow presentation of 1600 images from the sketchbooks, and 3 caricatures of Frueh drawn by other artists.
Among the printed material are articles by and about Frueh; book covers and book jackets, magazine covers, invitations, announcements, and a program cover designed by Frueh; caricatures, cartoons, and illustrations by Frueh; exhibition catalogs and announcements of Frueh's solo and group shows; and miscellaneous printed material.
Photographs consist of a studio portrait and informal snapshots of Alfred Frueh and a photograph of his daughter Barbara as a young child. Photographs of art work by Frueh include images of his caricatures, lamp bases, paper sculptures, and toy animals.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged into seven series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1909-1993 (Box 1; 8 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1909-1968 (Boxes 1-2, 12, OV 7; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Notes and Writings, circa 1912-1963 (Box 2; 10 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, circa 1906-2010 (Boxes 2-4, 6, 12, OV 8-9; 1.8 linear feet, ER01; 3.18 GB)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1904-1986 (Boxes 4-5, 6, OV 10-11; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1880-1967 (Boxes 5, 12; 12 folders)
Series 7: Unprocessed Addition circa 1920-1940 (Boxes 13-17; 2.3 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Alfred J. Frueh (1880-1968) worked primarily in New York and was best known for his caricatures of theater personalities that appeared in The New Yorker from 1925 through 1962. In addition, he was a cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and designer of children's furniture, toys, pop-ups, and cut-outs.
Upon graduation from the Lima Business College in his native Lima, Ohio, Al Frueh (pronounced "free") began farming and working in his father's brewery. He moved to St. Louis to live with relatives, and from 1904-1908 worked in the art department of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Frueh's 1907 cartoon of Fritzi Scheff, published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, so outraged the music-hall star that her St. Louis performance was cancelled and the attendant publicity made Frueh a celebrity.
Frueh traveled to Paris, London, Rome, Munich, Berlin, and Madrid in 1908 and 1909. During this period, he studied at various art schools in Paris, receiving instruction from Theophile Steinlen, Lucien Simon, Naudin, and Henri Matisse. Upon his return to the United States, Frueh settled in New York City. His tenure at The World was interrupted by a return trip to Europe lasting from late 1912 until late 1914. While abroad, he married Giuliette Fanciulli, whom he had met in New York. He remained with The World for another ten years, also producing other work for publication and exhibition. With a young family, Frueh wanted a less hectic life and decided to switch from a daily publication to a weekly one. Thus began his affiliation with a newly established periodical, The New Yorker. Frueh's work appeared in its 1925 debut issue until his retirement in 1962. Mostly he contributed caricatures for the theater section, but he also produced cover designs, illustrations, and on occasion wrote brief pieces for the "Talk of the Town" and "Notes and Comments" sections. In 1926, Frueh moved his family to a farm in Sharon, Connecticut, where he seriously pursued a longstanding hobby of growing fruit and nut trees.
Alfred J. Frueh died in Sharon, Connecticut, in 1968, after a long illness.
Provenance:
The Alfred J. Frueh papers were the gift of his children, Barbara Frueh Bornemann, Alfred J. Frueh, Jr., and Robert Frueh, in 1993 and 1997. An addition of 25 sketchbooks, scrapbooks, and other materials were given by his grandson Stephen Bornemann in 2011, 2018, and 2020.
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.
Occupation:
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Cartoonists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of artist Isabella Howland measure 1.2 linear feet and date from 1899-1979. The collection documents her career through biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, writings, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, sculptor, caricaturist, and portraitist Isabella Howland measure 1.2 linear feet and date from 1899-1979. Correspondence makes up about a third of the collection, with the remainder comprised of biographical material, writings, printed material, photographs, and artworks.
Correspondence is found between Isabella Howland and other artists or dealers. Among these are Eugenie Gershoy, Henry Strater, Edith Halpert, Peggy Bacon, Forbes Watson, Jerry Bywaters, Adolph Dehn and Dorothea Greenbaum. Letters from Juliana Force, the first director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, are present. Many invitations to exhibit are included. The collection includes a small number of letters with Howland's family. She maintained written communication with several individuals over decades.
The biographical material contains Isabella Howland's handwritten notes and typed documents about her life. Some legal documents and financial records are present. The writing series includes her story 'Willy Nilly' with accompanying illustrations of animals, in addition to some other writings. The artwork series includes sketches and sketchbooks from childhood into adulthood. Photographs include images of Howland as well as her paintings and portraits.
Arrangement:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1901-1972 (4 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1917-1973 (22 folders; Box 1)
Series 3, Writings, 1935-1964 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1928-1976 (5 folders; Box 1)
Series 5: Photographs, circa 1900-1979 (4 folders; Box 1, OV 2)
Series 6: Artwork, 1899-circa 1940s (8 folders; Box 1, OV 2)
Biographical / Historical:
Isabella Howland (1895-1974) lived and worked in New York City. She drew portraits, painted on canvas, sketched on paper, and sculpted caricature busts of people in the art world. She wrote that she could do anything with her hands.
Howland was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. From her youth she knew she wanted to be an artist. She had her earliest artistic training at age 16. Her art education included time at the Boston Museum School and the Art Students League in New York City. She completed her secondary education in France and Germany, moved back to the United States afterwards, and in 1920 travelled again to Europe. In 1922 she settled in Greenwich Village and spent summers in Woodstock to paint landscapes and still-lifes.
She actively painted in the 1920s, and had three shows in 1927, 1929, and 1931. During the Depression she worked for the Public Works of Art Project and the Works Progress Administration. In 1934 she married Armando Zegri, and they divorced in 1937. While they were married they owned a club in the West Village named The Café Latino. She began teaching at a private school in the early 1940s while dealing with some personal difficulties. She found religion which comforted her as she dealt with her mother's declining health and her sister's waning mental state.
Howland had many friends in the art world and regularly received requests to exhibit at museums. She became known as an accomplished portrait artist, and she was commissioned many times to execute drawings or sculptures. She dabbled in writing and illustrating stories, and produced a set of 33 Christmas cards featuring two monks.
Provenance:
Donated between 1975-1976 by Mrs. Martha Craig and Barbara Summer. Three photographs of works of art were donated by Eugenie Gershoy in 1979.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Portrait painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Interview of Peggy Bacon conducted 1973 May 8, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art, in Cape Porpoise, Maine. Bacon speaks of her family and educational background; summer art classes in Provincetown, Massachusetts and Woodstock, New York; the Art Students League; the Provincetown Players; working in black and white; her drawings, drypoints, etchings, and caricatures; her illustrated books including, "Off With Their Heards"; cats as subjects; and her husband Alexander Brook. She recalls George Bellows, Andrew Dasburg, Edith Gregor Halpert, Charles Webster Hawthorne, Jonas Lie, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Peggy Bacon (1895-1987) was a printmaker from Cape Porpoise, Maine.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 9 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 the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with William Gropper, 1965 June 12. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Exhibition catalog, "10 Lithographs by Hirschfeld," ca. 1935; press releases; a copy of Feiden's foreword to Hirschfeld's book SHOW BUSINESS IS NO BUSINESS, 1983; an invitation to Hirschfeld's birthday celebration and exhibition opening held at Gracie Mansion, and a catalog for the exhibit, 1983; an illustrated change-of-address card by Hirschfeld, "removal notice from 58 West 57th Street to Tahiti and Points West"; and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Margo Feiden Galleries represented graphic artist and caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. Located on 51 E. 10th St., New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Margo Feiden.
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.
Levy, Florence N. (Florence Nightingale), 1870-1947 Search this
Extent:
1 Item ((on partial microfilm reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
[undated]
Scope and Contents:
Beard writes about himself and his work, apparently in response to a series of questions previously posed by Levy.
Biographical / Historical:
Illustrator, painter, caricaturist, teacher; New York, N.Y. Beard was a founder of the American Boy Scouts, and was an author of several books on nature subjects. He also illustrated for several national magazines.
Provenance:
Purchased 1956 by the Archives of American Art from Charles Hamilton Autographs.
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:
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
0.8 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 1 reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1892-1937
Scope and Contents:
Printed material; art works; and portrait sketches.
REEL 4386: 226 portrait sketches and caricatures, 1919-1937, of members of the Dutch Treat Club, Walker's friends, notable artists, musicians, actors, politicians, and writers of the day. Sketches are signed by the sitters.
UNMICROFILMED: Proofs, offprints, clippings of cartoons, and illustrations made primarily for LIFE magazine; and two pen and ink drawings, 1892.
Biographical / Historical:
Cartoonist, illustrator; New York, N.Y. His professional career was as a hospital administrator. Contributed political and satirical cartoons to LIFE, HARPER'S, NEW YORK EVENING POST, and NEW YORK HERALD. He was the first to use the lithographer's crayon for cartoons.
Provenance:
Material on reel 4386 lent for microfilming and unmicrofilmed materials donated, 1989 by Walker's daughter-in-law, Alice Smith (Mrs. Robert Miller) Walker. Her husband had collected and annotated his father's papers.
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:
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Cartoonists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Graphic artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Biographical sketches; published and unpublished writings including a lecture on puppetry and puppet play scripts by Sarg and Remo Bufano; sketches of marionettes; reports of audience reaction to puppet performances; business correspondence with Ernest Briggs; photographs of puppets and puppeteers; clippings; catalogs; programs; and printed materials.
Biographical / Historical:
Puppeteer, marionettist, childrens' books illustrator, cartoonist, caricaturist, painter, craftsman, lecturer, and writer; New York, N.Y. His full name was Anthony Frederick Sarg.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming, 1979, Detroit Institute of Art Archives.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Puppeteers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
