The papers of Connecticut painter, educator, photographer, and watercolorist Roger Crossgrove measure 21.1 linear feet and date from 1888 to 2012 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1950 to 2006. The collection consists of biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, professional files, teaching files, subject files, exhibition files, printed materials, personal business records, artwork, sketchbooks, and photographic materials.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Connecticut painter, educator, photographer, and watercolorist Roger Crossgrove measure 21.1 linear feet and date from 1888 to 2012 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1950 to 2006. The collection consists of biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, professional files, teaching files, subject files, exhibition files, printed materials, personal business records, artwork, sketchbooks, and photographic materials.
Biographical materials consist of appointment notebooks and planners, awards, calendars, a marriage announcement, and graduate school coursework. Correspondence is with family, friends, colleagues, museums, and galleries. Correspondents include American Artists Group, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and artists Eric Carle, John Schoenherr, Joseph A. Smith, Antonia Torres, and Alfredo Zalce, among others.
Writings and notes include essays, a thesis by Crossgrove, a play manuscript, notebooks, and notes. There are also writings by Justino Fernandez about contemporary Mexican prints. Professional files contain correspondence, printed materials, and notes related to Crossgrove's involvement with various arts organizations, the Yaddo Fellowship, and other professional activities. Teaching files contain documents compiled during Crossgrove's tenure at the Pratt Institute and the University of Connecticut.
Subject files created by Crossgrove about topics of interest, Mexican art, and artists Milton Avery, Romare Bearden, and others contain clippings, exhibition catalogs, and museum publications. Exhibition files are both general and specific. There are files for Roger Crossgrove Selected Works: Photographs 1978-1993, Three Decades (1961-1990): Works on Paper and Photographs, and numerous additional exhibitions of Crossgrove's work.
Personal business records document loans and sales of Crossgrove's artwork, purchases of artwork, personal ledgers, and expense lists. Printed materials include clippings, invitations, exhibition announcements, exhibition catalogs, flyers, gallery and museum publications, periodicals, and posters.
Artwork consists of drawings, illustrations, and monotypes by Crossgrove, as well as photographs by Steve Balkin, and artwork by Louis Owens, Vincent Perez, and Warner Pfeiffer. Eighteen sketchbooks contain drawings and notes by Crossgrove. Photographs and negatives are of Crossgrove, artwork, family and friends, and travel.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 12 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1888-2002 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 23, OV 24)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1921-2000s (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1951-2000 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1951-2009 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 3-6)
Series 5: Teaching Files, 1953-2009 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 6-7, 23)
Series 6: Subject Files, 1950s-1999 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, OV 24)
Series 7: Exhibition Files, 1950-2005 (3.0 linear feet; Boxes 8-11)
Series 8: Personal Business Records, 1963-2009 (0.2 linear feet; Box 11, OV 24)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1906-2012 (8.5 linear feet; Boxes 11-20, 23, OV 24)
Series 10: Artwork, 1933-2000 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 20, 23)
Series 11: Sketchbooks, 1950s-1980s (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 20, 22-23)
Series 12: Photographic Material, 1920s-2006 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 21)
Biographical / Historical:
Roger Crossgrove (1921-2016 ) is a painter, photographer, and educator working at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut and who is best known for his monotype watercolors.
Roger Crossgrove was born in Farnam, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1949. In 1950, he spent a year painting in Mexico and later returned to live for another year in 1965. In 1951, he received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois. He also participated in the Yaddo Fellowship in Saratoga Springs, New York for several years beginning in 1957.
From 1953 to 1967, Crossgrove taught at the Pratt Institute's Art School and the Department of Graphic Art and Illustration in Brooklyn, New York, teaching under Albert Christ-Janer for some of that period. He moved to Storrs, Connecticut to teach at the University of Connecticut's School of Fine Arts where he served as head of the Art Department for 20 years. After retiring in 2008, he was awarded Professor Emeritus status and, in 2008, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the university.
Although Crossgrove produced artwork in various mediums over the course of his career, his monotypes are some of his most prolific works. Numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and Mexico have featured Crossgrove's monotypes and other works of art.
Provenance:
The Roger Crossgrove papers were donated by Roger Crossgrove in 2013.
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.
Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:
Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.
Collection Citation:
Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Roger Crossgrove papers, 1888-2012, bulk 1950-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
The papers of painter Andrew Dasburg and his wife and sculptor Grace Mott Johnson date from 1833 to 1980 (bulk 1900 to 1980), and measure 8.8 linear feet. The collection documents each artist's career and personal lives, including their brief marriage and their friendships with many notable artists in the New Mexico and New York art colonies during the early twentieth century. The papers of Dasburg (6 linear feet) and Johnson (2.8 linear feet) include biographical materials; extensive correspondence with family, friends, and fellow artists, such as John F. Carlson, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Marsden Hartley, Henry Lee McFee, and Ward Lockwood; writings by Dasburg, Johnson, and others; scattered legal, financial, and business records; clippings; exhibition materials; numerous photographs of Johnson and Dasburg, friends, family, and artwork; and original artwork, including two sketchbooks by Johnson.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter Andrew Dasburg and sculptor Grace Mott Johnson date from 1833 to 1980, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1900 to 1980, and measure 8.8 linear feet. The collection is divided into the papers of Andrew Dasburg (6 linear feet) and the papers of Grace Mott Johnson (2.8 linear feet), and documents each artist's career and personal lives, including their brief marriage, and friendships with many notable artists in New Mexico and New York art colonies during the early twentieth century. Found are scattered biographical, legal, and financial materials. Extensive correspondence (particularly in Dasburg's papers) is with family, friends, and fellow artists, such as John F. Carlson, Florence Ballin Cramer, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Marsden Hartley, Henry Lee McFee, Vera Spier Kuhn, and Ward Lockwood. Dasburg's papers also include letters to Johnson and his two later wives.
Johnson's correspondence is also with numerous artist friends and others, including John F. and Margaret Carlson, Florence Ballin Cramer, Jo Davidson, Florence Lucius, Walter Frankl, Lila Wheelock Howard, Henry Lee McFee, Mary Riley, Lee Simonson, Lindsey Morris Sterling, Alice Morgan Wright, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Vera Spier Kuhn. Letters to her son Alfred are quite detailed and revealing. Writings are by Dasburg, Johnson, and others. Johnson's writings include a very brief diary and her poetry. Writings by others are about the Taos and New Mexico art communities. Printed materials about both artists include clippings and exhibition catalogs. There are numerous photographs of Dasburg and Johnson, individually and together, and with friends and family. Of note are a group photograph of Birge Harrison's art class in Woodstock, New York, which includes Johnson and Dasburg, and a photograph of Dasburg with friends Konrad Cramer and John Reed. Dasburg's papers also include snapshots of Florence Lucius, Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer, Frieda and D. H. Lawrence, and Mabel Dodge Luhan. Original artwork by the two artists include two sketchbooks by Johnson and three prints and two drawings by Dasburg.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 2 series of each artist's papers:
Missing Title
Series 1: Andrew Dasburg Papers, circa 1900-1980 (Box 1-7; 6.0 linear feet)
Series 2: Grace Mott Johnson Papers, 1833-1963 (Box 7-10; 2.8 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Andrew Michael Dasburg (1887-1979) was born in Paris, France, to German parents. After his father died and when he was five, Dasburg and his mother moved to New York City. In 1902 Dasburg started attending classes at the Art Students' League and studied with Kenyon Cox and Frank Du Mond. He also took night classes with Robert Henri. In 1907 he received a scholarship to the Art Students' League summer school in Woodstock, New York and spent three summers studying there in Birge Harrison's painting class. While in school he became friends with many young artists, including Morgan Russell and his future wife, Grace Mott Johnson.
Grace Mott Johnson (1882-1967) was born in New York City. She began drawing when she was four years old, and when the family moved to a farm in 1900 she enjoyed sketching horses and other farm animals. At the age of 22 she left home to study at the Art Students' League with sculptors Gutzon Borglum and James Earle Fraser, and also attended Birge Harrison's painting class in Woodstock. Throughout her career she would sculpt animals from memory, and would often attend circuses and farms for inspiration.
In 1909 Johnson and Dasburg went to Paris and joined the modernist circle of artists living there, including Morgan Russell, Jo Davidson, and Arthur Lee. During a trip to London that same year they were married. Johnson returned to the United States early the next year, but Dasburg stayed in Paris where he met Henri Matisse, Gertrude and Leo Stein, and became influenced by the paintings of Cezanne and Cubism. He returned to Woodstock, New York in August and he and Johnson became active members of the artist community. In 1911 their son Alfred was born. Both Dasburg and Johnson showed several works at the legendary Armory Show in 1913, and Dasburg also showed at the MacDowell Club in New York City, where he met the journalist and activist John Reed who later introduced him to Mabel Dodge (Luhan), a wealthy art patron and lifelong friend. In 1914 Dasburg met Alfred Stieglitz and became part of his avant-garde circle. Using what he had seen in Paris, Dasburg became one of the earliest American cubist artists, and also experimented with abstraction in his paintings.
Dasburg and Johnson lived apart for most of their marriage. By 1917 they had separated and Dasburg began teaching painting in Woodstock and in New York City. In 1918 he was invited to Taos, New Mexico by Mabel Dodge, and returning in 1919, Johnson joined him there for a period of time. Also in 1919, Dasburg was one of the founding members of the Woodstock Artists Association with John F. Carlson, Frank Swift Chase, Carl Eric Lindin, and Henry Lee McFee. In 1922 Dasburg and Johnson divorced, and also at that time he began living most of the year in Santa Fe with Ida Rauh, spending the rest of the year in Woodstock and New York City. Dasburg became an active member of the Santa Fe and the Taos art colonies, befriending many artists and writers living in these communities, and remaining close friends with Mabel Dodge Luhan. Here he moved away from abstraction, and used the southwestern landscape as the inspiration for his paintings.
In 1928 he married Nancy Lane. When that marriage ended in 1932, he moved permanently to Taos, and with his third wife, Marina Wister, built a home and studio there. Dasburg periodically taught art privately and at the University of New Mexico. In 1937 he was diagnosed with Addison's disease, which left him unable to paint again until 1946. In 1945 he and his wife Marina separated. Dasburg was recognized for his career as an artist in a circulating retrospective organized by the American Federation of Arts in 1959. He also had retrospectives in Taos in 1966 and 1978. His artwork influence several generations of artists, especially in the southwest, and he continued creating art until his death in 1979 at the age of 92.
Grace Mott Johnson lived in the Johnson family home in Yonkers, New York during the 1920s and later moved to Pleasantville, New York. In 1924 she went to Egypt to study ancient Egyptian sculpture. During the 1930s she became a civil rights activist. She produced very little art during the last twenty years of her life.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Andrew Dasburg, July 2, 1964 and March 6, 1974. Additional related collections at other repositories include the Andrew and Marina Wister Dasburg Papers at the New Mexico State Archives, the Andrew Dasburg Papers at Syracuse University Library, and the Grace Mott Johnson Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming. Reel 2803 contains photocopies of ten Morgan Russell letters to Dasburg. Reels 4276-4278 include biographical material, subject files, photographs, correspondence, writings, and exhibition material. The photocopies on reel 2803 were discarded after microfilming, and the items on 4276-4278 were returned to the lender. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson papers were donated by their son, Alfred Dasburg, in 1980. Syracuse Univresity lent materials for microfilming in 1978 and 1989.
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.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer papers, 1897-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Includes letters from Lawrence Langner and Carl Eric Lindin
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer papers, 1897-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
This series consists of Florence Ballin Cramer and Konrad Cramer's correspondence, including outgoing drafts and carbons of letters written by the Cramers. Correspondents include artists, curators, gallery staff, editors, writers, and personal friends and family. Prior to 1911, correspondence is entirely that of Florence Ballin, and the letters of 1911 are dominated by a large volume of letters between Florence Ballin and Konrad Cramer during the months of their courtship, many of which are in German. Also found are letters to Florence's brother Irving Ballin, and letters to and from the Cramer's children, Margot and Aileen. An increasing number of outgoing drafts of letters written by Konrad Cramer are found beginning in the 1950s.
Artists represented here include John Carlson, Birge Harrison, Peggy Bacon, Alexander Brook, Andrew Dasburg, Alfred Stieglitz, Julius Bloch, Grace Mott Johnson, George Franklin, Hermine Kleinert, Holger Cahill, Grace Evans, Emil Ganso, George Grosz, Carl Eric Lindin, Fred Dana Marsh, Henry Lee McFee, Elie Nadelman, Homer Saint-Gaudens, Lee Simonson, Gene Speicher, Carl Sprinchorn, Alfred Stieglitz, and Dorothy Varian. Artwork found in the correspondence includes a hand-painted card from Peggy Bacon and Alexander Brook (1923), a Rube Goldberg cartoon (1937), and an illustrated letter from Konrad to Florence Cramer (1957).
The correspondence files include fragments of letters, especially drafts of outgoing letters, and enclosures such as receipts, photographs, and clippings. These include early photographs of Konrad Cramer in the 1911 letters, and a photograph of Eugene Speicher from 1929. Notes made retrospectively by Florence Ballin Cramer are sometimes found with letters or on accompanying envelopes.
Arrangement:
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically, with unknown and illegible drafts of letters filed at the end of the series. Additional correspondence can be found in Personal Business Records, and drafts of outgoing letters are found in Notebooks in the Writings series. See also the Christmas Card Album for additional notes and cards.
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer papers, 1897-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Found here is Andrew Dasburg's extensive correspondence which spans over seventy years, documenting both his personal and professional life. One third of the correspondence is between Dasburg and his first wife, Grace Mott Johnson. most of which was written during their marriage. These candid letters discuss daily activities, social events, travels, including Dasburg's time in Paris in 1910 and trip to Europe in 1914, news of mutual friends, artwork, and problems with their relationship.
Also found is Dasburg's correspondence with his second wife, Nancy Lane around the time of their marriage in 1928, and correspondence with his third wife, Marina Wister Dasburg during the periods that she visited her family in Pennsylvania; most of these letters are written by Marina. Dasburg's correspondence with his son, Alfred, consists of brief letters sharing news of their travels, family, and personal matters.
General correspondence primarily consists of Dasburg's correspondence with other family members, friends, colleagues, scholars, universities, and galleries. Where they exist, Dasburg's outgoing letters are interfiled with letters he received in a chronological arrangement. Dasburg was friends with many artists who, like him, were part of regional art colonies in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Woodstock, New York. He also maintained friendships with artists he met in Europe and other travels and at the Art Students' League. Correspondents includes Kenneth Adams, Thomas Hart Benton, George Biddle, Dorothy Brett, Alexander Brook, Lucienne Chinard Clemens, Howard Cook, Russell Cowles, Vida Hunt Francis, Lewis Garrison, Marsden Hartley, Norbert Heerman, Richard Hollander, Lila Wheelock Howard, Charles Kassler, Mary Aubrey Keating, Carl Eric Lindin, Ward Lockwood, Erle Loran, Hayes Lyon, Henry Lee McFee, John Gaw Meem, Loren Mozley, Dickson Reeder, Louis Ribak, Paul Rohland, Alfred Stieglitz, Earl Stroh, Carl Van Vechten, Alice Morgan Wright, and Stanton Macdonald-Wright, among many others. Dasburg also corresponded with many former students including Edwin Gamble, Willard Nash, Alice Naylor, and Earl Stroh. Also found are letters from writers John Howard Griffin, Witter Bynner and Miriam Hapgood De Witt as well as art critics and historians such as Robert M. Coates, Oliver Larkin, and Stanley Lothrop. Dasburg maintained extensive correspondence with close friend, art patron and Taos resident, Mabel Dodge Luhan.
A small amount of correspondence with galleries, universities, museums, curators, and scholars concerns exhibitions, sales, or research. Additional topics found within his correspondence are American Indian rights in New Mexico and his medical treatment for Addison's disease.
See Appendix A for a list of correspondents from Series 1.2.
Appendix A: Correspondents from Series 1.2: Andrew Dasburg Papers, General Correspondence:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson papers, 1833-1980 (bulk 1900-1980). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
