Search Results

Creator:

Dewing, Thomas Wilmer, 1851-1938  Search this

Names:

Dewing, M. O. (Maria Oakey), 1855-1927  Search this

Extent:

0.3 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1876-1963

bulk 1890-1930

Summary:

The papers of Thomas Wilmer Dewing and the Dewing family measure 0.3 linear feet and date from 1876-1963. Found within the papers are biographical materials on Thomas Dewing; personal correspondence from Dewing, his wife Maria Oakey, and other family members; writings; printed materials; and photographs of Dewing, his family, and his work.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Thomas Wilmer Dewing and the Dewing family measure 0.3 linear feet and date from 1876-1963. Found within the papers are biographical materials on Thomas Dewing; personal correspondence from Dewing, his wife Maria Oakey, and other family members; writings; printed materials; and photographs of Dewing, his family, and his work.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 1 series:

Series 1: Thomas Wilmer Dewing and Dewing Family Papers, 1876-1963 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, OV 2)

Biographical / Historical:

Painters Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) and Maria Oakey Dewing (1855-1927) lived and worked in New York, N.Y. and Cornish, New Hampshire. A native of Boston, Thomas Dewing began his art studies at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and traveled to Paris in 1876 to study at the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre. He returned to Boston in 1877 and moved to New York City in 1880 where he met and married his wife, Maria Oakey, in 1881. Known for his tonalist style, Dewing taught at the Art Students League from 1881 to 1888, and was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1888. Dewing was also a member of the Ten American Painters, an exhibiting group that included Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase. Prominent patrons of his work include the architect Stanford White and the art collectors Charles Lang Freer and John Gellatly.

An artist in her own right, Maria Oakey Dewing began her studies at Cooper Union in 1866 and continued at the National Academy of Fine Arts in 1881. She was also a founding member of the Art Students League and a member of the Society of American Artists. Maria Dewing exhibited works at the National Academy of Design and continued to exhibit still life paintings after her marriage to Dewing, receiving awards at the 1893 Columbian Exposition and the 1901 Pan American Exposition. From 1885 to 1905, the Dewings summered at the artist colony in Cornish, New Hampshire and had one child, Elizabeth Dewing Kaup. Maria died at her home in New York in 1927 and Thomas died in New York in 1938.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 1818, 2077, and 2083) including correspondence, writings and diaries, sketchbooks, and photograph albums. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Thomas and Maria Dewing's daughter, Elizabeth Dewing Kaup, donated the papers in separate accessions beginning in 1959. In 1979-1980, ten additional letters were given by Mary Morain, the Dewings' granddaughter, through Susan Hobbs. Material was lent for microfilming by Mrs. Pete A. Gunther in 1980 and by Hugh Franklin in 1981. In 2009, an additional handful of correspondence and photographs were anonymously donated to the Archives.

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 Thomas Wilmer Dewing and Dewing family papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Painters -- New Hampshire  Search this

Women artists -- New Hampshire  Search this

Topic:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painting, American -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Women artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Citation:

Thomas Wilmer Dewing and Dewing family papers, 1876-1963, bulk 1890-1930. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitzation of this colleciton was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:

AAA.dewithom

See more items in:

Thomas Wilmer Dewing and Dewing family papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-dewithom

Creator:

Arneson, Robert, 1930-1992  Search this

Extent:

89 Items ((on partial microfilm reel))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1963-1977

Scope and Contents:

Correspondence, writings; selected bibliography; financial papers; exhibition catalogs and announcements; newspaper clippings and printed miscellany.

Biographical / Historical:

Ceramist, sculptor, educator; California and New York.

Provenance:

Donated 1977 by Robert Arneson.

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:

Ceramicists  Search this

Educators  Search this

Sculptors  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.arnerobe

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-arnerobe

Creator:

Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973  Search this

Names:

Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973  Search this

Stroll, Florence  Search this

Extent:

5 Items ((on partial microfilm reel))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1953-1955

Scope and Contents:

Four letters and a postcard to collectors Florence and Alex Stroll. Evergood discusses his exhibits and plans and thanks the Strolls for purchasing his painting "Rural Scene." Also included is an announcement from the Terry Dintenfass Gallery signed by Evergood.

Biographical / Historical:

Evergood was a painter, NYC and Conn; the Strolls, art collectors; Detroit, Mich.

Provenance:

Originals lent for photocopying by Florence Stroll, 1966.

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:

Painters -- United States  Search this

Topic:

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.everphil2

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-everphil2

Interviewee:

Ferrer, Rafael  Search this

Interviewer:

Veloric, Cynthia  Search this

Names:

Nancy Hoffman Gallery  Search this

Philadelphia College of Art  Search this

Philadelphia College of Art -- Faculty  Search this

Syracuse University -- Students  Search this

Granell, Eugenio Fernández, 1912-  Search this

Lewis, Frances  Search this

Lewis, Sydney  Search this

Extent:

4 Sound cassettes (Sound recording)

157 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound cassettes

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1990 Sept. 19

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Rafael Ferrer conducted 1990 Sept. 19, by Cynthia Veloric, for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.

Ferrer speaks about his childhood in Puerto Rico; his education in Catholic school and military school; his interest in music including his professional work as a drummer in Latin jazz bands both in Puerto Rico and New York City; studies at Syracuse University and the University of Puerto Rico; his interest in painting; meeting the surrealist Eugenio Granell and Granell's influence, including Ferrer's involvement in the 1950's with surrealists in Puerto Rico and Europe, and a discussion of his feelings on Dada and surrealism; the shift toward conceptual and process art in the 1960's; moving to Philadelphia in the 1960's, teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and exhibiting at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; installations and exhibits in New York City in the late 1960's and 1970's, including his twenty year association with the Nancy Hoffman Gallery; the deflected fountain piece at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the transition to handmade art works and then to painting and figurative works partially inspired by Alex Katz; collectors Sydney and Frances Lewis; and several commissions.

Biographical / Historical:

Rafael Ferrer (1933-) is a painter and conceptual artist from Puerto Rico and Philadelphia, Pa.

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 others.

Restrictions:

Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Painters -- United States -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Installations (Art) -- United States  Search this

Conceptual art -- United States  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Surrealism -- United States  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this

Figurative art -- United States  Search this

Art and music  Search this

Hispanic American artists -- Interviews  Search this

Conceptual artists -- Puerto Rico -- Interviews  Search this

Conceptual artists -- United States -- Interviews  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Identifier:

AAA.ferrer90

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-ferrer90

Creator:

Eaton, Charles James Madison, 1808-1893  Search this

Powers, Hiram, 1805-1873  Search this

Names:

Kellogg, Miner K. (Miner Kilbourne), 1814-1889  Search this

Lester, C. Edwards (Charles Edwards), 1815-1890  Search this

Sully, Thomas, 1783-1872  Search this

Extent:

21 Items ((on partial microfilm reel))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1845-1867

Scope and Contents:

Nineteen letters from Hiram Powers in Florence to Eaton, 1845-1867, concerning: the future of the Fine Arts in America; sculpture for the Capitol building; government patronage and politics; his commissions for portrait busts and ideal figures; his biographer, C.E. Lester, whom Powers rejects as "a scroundrel capable of any amount of falsehood"; the London exhibition and the American tour of the sculpture the GREEK SLAVE; European reaction to the outcome of the American Civil War; the art community in Florence; Powers' 1846 trip to Turin and Rome; and his health, family, and personal ambitions. In closing his letters, Powers often sends regards from Miner Kellogg.

Also included is a letter from Eaton to Powers, December 5, 1864, regarding a shipment of modelling clay from Baltimore to Florence, and a letter from Thomas Sully in Philadelphia to Eaton, September 27, 1847. Eaton was disappointed to learn that a painting he had inspected was not a Sully. "I am mortified at your disappointment," Sully wrote, "...had the picture been an original by me, I should have charged double the price."

Biographical / Historical:

Eaton was a founder of the Maryland Historical Society, a trustee of the Peabody Institute, and a collector of art. Eaton probably met Hiram Powers on one of his trips to Florence in the 1840's. They became lifelong friends and Eaton served as an American agent of sorts, promoting Powers' interests in Washington and Baltimore.

Provenance:

Lent for microfilming 1985 by the Maryland Historical Society.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Portrait painters  Search this

Miniature painters  Search this

Painters  Search this

Art patrons -- Maryland  Search this

Sculptors -- Italy  Search this

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 19th century  Search this

Artists and patrons  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.eatochar

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-eatochar

Creator:

Dove, Arthur Garfield, 1880-1946  Search this

Names:

Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Torr, Helen, 1886-1967  Search this

Extent:

3 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Audiotapes

Photographs

Diaries

Sketches

Date:

1905-1975

Summary:

The papers of artists Arthur and Helen Torr Dove measure 3 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1975, with the bulk of material dating from 1920 to 1946. Arthur Dove's life as an artist, and his life with the artist Helen Torr, are documented in biographical narratives, personal documents, an audio recording, correspondence, diaries, essays, poetry, notes, exhibition catalogs, clippings, magazine illustrations, pamphlets, receipts, an accounting ledger, tax records, sketches, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of Arthur and Helen Torr Dove measure 3 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1975, with the bulk of material dating from 1920 to 1946. Arthur Dove's life as an artist, and his life with the artist Helen Torr, are documented in biographical narratives, personal documents, an audio recording, correspondence, diaries, essays, poetry, notes, exhibition catalogs, clippings, magazine illustrations, pamphlets, receipts, an accounting ledger, tax records, sketches, and photographs.

Biographical Materials include a last will and testament, biographical narratives, and other official documents, as well as an audio recording of an interview with William Dove made around 1961 by George Wolfer. Correspondence includes letters from friends, clients, other artists, and Dove's patron Duncan Phillips. There is also correspondence with family members Helen Torr and Paul Dove. Drafts of outgoing letters from Dove to various correspondents including Phillips and Alfred Stieglitz are found.

Writings are extensive and include diaries, autobiographical essays, essays about art, artists, and other subjects, and poetry by Arthur Dove; as well as essays, reminiscences, and notes of Helen Torr. Printed Materials include exhibition catalogs for Dove's shows and the shows of other artists in the Stieglitz Circle, examples of Dove's early magazine illustration work, newspaper reviews of Dove's exhibitions, and various pamphlets related to modern art. Personal Business Records include an accounting ledger of the Doves' expenses, sales receipts, tax records, and an undated art inventory. Artwork consists of ten items, mostly sketches in pencil, watercolor, ink, and colored pencil. Photographs are undated and unidentified, but depict mostly family, homes, and coastal scenes.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 7 series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1928-1937, circa 1961 (Box 1; 2 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1920-1974 (Box 1; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1924-1945 (Boxes 1-3; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Materials, circa 1905-1975 (Box 3; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1921-1965 (Box 3; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Artwork, undated (Box 3; 1 folder)

Series 7: Photographs, 1909, undated (Box 3; 4 folders)

Biographical Note:

Arthur Garfield Dove was an early twentieth-century painter, collagist, and illustrator who was one of the first American artists to embrace abstraction in art. He was a part of Alfred Stieglitz's Circle of modern American artists introduced at Stieglitz's 291 Gallery along with John Marin and Georgia O'Keeffe. Dove spent his career developing his own idiosyncratic style of formal abstraction in painting based on his ideas about nature, feeling, and pure form, and characterized by experimentation with color, composition, and materials.

Born in Canandiagua, NY in 1880, Dove grew up in the small, rural town of Geneva, NY. He was first exposed to art by a local farmer and painter named Newton Weatherly, who gave him canvas and paint, and who Dove himself cited as an early influence. Dove went to Cornell University to study law, but soon shifted to art and illustration. He graduated in 1903 and quickly became a success as a magazine illustrator, working for Collier's, McClure's, St. Nicholas, and The Illustrated Sporting News, among other publications. In 1904, he married Florence Dorsey, a Geneva woman, and they lived in New York City. Their son, William Dove, was born in 1910.

In 1908 the couple traveled to Paris to enable Dove to pursue his interest in painting. In Paris, he met Alfred Maurer, Jo Davidson, and other American artists living abroad. The influence of his European and expatriate contemporaries would prove to be a lasting one, exposing him to ideas about abstraction and experimentation that he would develop in his work for the rest of his life.

Soon after Dove's return to the United States, he met Alfred Stieglitz and began a lifelong friendship. Stieglitz ran the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, which came to be known as 291, in New York. His daring, avant-garde exhibitions of both European and American modern art at 291 provided a venue and gathering-place for progressive American artists that was unique for its time. Dove's first solo exhibition at 291 was held in 1912, and consisted of ten pastel drawings that have come to be known as the "Ten Commandments." The attention it received established Dove as a prominent abstract painter.

Around 1920, Dove met another Westport artist named Helen S. Torr, also known as Reds. A Philadelphia-born painter who had studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Reds was married at the time to the cartoonist Clive Weed. Torr and Dove eventually left their unhappy marriages and began a life together, moving to a houseboat docked in Manhattan. In 1922, they moved to Halesite, Long Island, New York, where Dove's artwork once again flourished. By the mid-1920s, he was exhibiting regularly, paralleled by the rise of Stieglitz's new Intimate Gallery in 1925. His work continued to explore abstraction and organic forms, and, in addition to paintings, he produced assemblages made of found materials.

Although a building teardown brought the Intimate Gallery to a sudden end in 1929, the financial support of friends enabled Alfred Stieglitz to open An American Place soon thereafter. There Stieglitz would focus on the work of a few American artists, including Dove, John Marin, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Helen Torr was also exhibited at An American Place, in a group show with Arthur in 1933. It was also at this gallery that the art collector Duncan Phillips was introduced to Dove's artwork. Phillips' interest in Dove grew into an ongoing patronage of Dove that would see them through the Depression and periods of serious illness in the 1930s and 1940s. Their arrangement, whereby Phillips had first refusal on all of Dove's new artwork, enabled him to gradually assemble the largest collection of Dove's work held anywhere.

In 1938, while on a trip to New York to attend his exhibition, Dove became suddenly ill. Although he recovered somewhat that year, his health never entirely returned to normal, and he spent long periods during what remained of his life housebound and in a wheelchair. He and Reds bought a home in Centreport, on Long Island, where they would stay the rest of his life. In 1939 he was so ill that neither his family nor Stieglitz thought he would ever paint again. Despite his physical limitations, he continued to work, turning to the less physically strenuous media of drawing and watercolor, and produced new work for five solo exhibitions in the 1940s. His work of this period embraces pure abstraction more fully than ever, and is regarded by some to be a culmination or crystallization of his singular style and approach to abstract painting.

Arthur Dove suffered a stroke in 1946 and died that November, just four months after his lifelong friend and mentor Alfred Stieglitz died of a heart attack. Reds lived until 1967 in their Centreport home. Dove's importance to American art has since been recognized with more than a dozen retrospective exhibitions at major museums and galleries.

This biography relied heavily on the monograph Arthur Dove: Life and Work, with a Catalogue Raisonné (1984) by Ann Lee Morgan.

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming. Reel 725 contains Arthur Dove's letters from Alfred Stieglitz (1918-1946) and Georgia O'Keeffe (1921-1948), and two letters from William Einstein (1937). The original letters were later donated to the Beinecke Library at Yale University, which holds the Stieglitz/O'Keeffe Archives. Reel 2803 contains photocopies of Arthur Dove's card catalog of paintings that were discarded after microfilming. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

The papers of Arthur and Helen Torr Dove were loaned to the Archives of American Art by Arthur Dove's son, William Dove, for microfilming in several increments between 1970 and 1975. The papers were later donated to the Archives by William Dove via the Terry Distenfass Gallery of New York City in multiple accessions between 1982 and 1989, with two major exceptions: 177 letters from Alfred Stieglitz, sixteen letters from Georgia O'Keeffe, and two letters from William Einstein; and Arthur Dove's card catalog of paintings, a photocopy of which had been loaned for microfilming. The papers were digitized in 2006.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. Microfilmed and digitized portions must be consulted on microfilm or the Archives website. Use of unmicrofilmed, undigitized portion requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Arthur and Helen Torr Dove papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State)  Search this

Topic:

Women painters -- New York (State)  Search this

Collagists -- New York (State)  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Genre/Form:

Audiotapes

Photographs

Diaries

Sketches

Citation:

Arthur and Helen Torr Dove papers, 1905-1975. 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.

Identifier:

AAA.dovearth

See more items in:

Arthur and Helen Torr Dove papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-dovearth

Creator:

Dorothy Weiss Gallery  Search this

Names:

Meyer Breyer Weiss Contemporary Crafts, Inc.  Search this

Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this

Breier, Virginia, 1927-  Search this

Meyer, Sue, 1913-  Search this

Weiss, Dorothy, 1921-  Search this

Extent:

18.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1964-2001

bulk 1984-2000

Summary:

The records of the Dorothy Weiss Gallery measure 18.7 linear feet and date from circa 1964 to 2001 (bulk 1984-2000). The collection documents the gallery's relationships with approximately three hundred artists, through artist files, exhibition files, and subject files, and is an excellent source of information on the work of contemporary ceramic and glass sculptors.

Scope and Content Note:

The Dorothy Weiss Gallery records measure 18.7 linear feet and date from circa 1964 to 2001 (bulk 1984-2000). Although the collection includes limited records overlapping from Weiss's dealings with some artists through Meyer Breier Weiss Contemporary Crafts, Inc., its primary focus is the activities of the Dorothy Weiss Gallery. The records provide fairly extensive coverage of the gallery's relationship with approximately thirty artists, and scattered documentation of Weiss's relationship with more than two hundred other artists whose work she represented, exhibited, or had an interest in at some time during the gallery's existence. Overall, the collection is an excellent source of information on contemporary ceramic and glass sculpture and includes artist files of correspondence, administrative records, printed matter, and photographic material, as well as exhibition files and subject files.

The bulk of the collection consists of Series 1: Artist Files, which includes correspondence with artists, biographical material, printed material relating to exhibitions at the Dorothy Weiss Gallery and elsewhere, photographs of artwork, and administrative records such as price lists, inventories, and loan and consignment documentation.

Series 2: Exhibition Files contains records of approximately twenty-five group exhibitions held at the gallery, such as the Teapot Invitationals, and various exhibitions of glass artists. Records relating to exhibitions for a single artist's work can be found in Series 1: Artist Files.

Series 3: Subject Files consists of a small group of general subject files maintained by the gallery, such as correspondence with different types of clients, and records relating to specific projects outside the gallery in which Weiss participated.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into three series. The basic original arrangement was maintained throughout the collection. Records are generally arranged alphabetically by artist, subject, or exhibition, and then chronologically.

Series 1: Artist Files, circa 1964-2001(boxes 1-18, OV 21; 17.5 linear ft.)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1979-1999 (box 19; 0.75 linear ft.)

Series 3: Subject Files, 1983-2000 (boxes 19-20; 0.45 linear ft.)

Historical Note:

Dorothy Weiss founded the Dorothy Weiss Gallery in 1984. From 1977 Weiss had partnered with Sue Meyer and Virginia Breier in Meyer Breier Weiss Contemporary Crafts, Inc. She opened her new gallery in what was to be its permanent location at 256 Sutter Street in downtown San Francisco.

The Dorothy Weiss Gallery was renowned in San Francisco for the quality of its crafts program and the artists it represented. Weiss focused on contemporary ceramic and glass sculpture with an emphasis on non-functional, sculptural work. She also showed some paintings, drawings and monotypes, and her interests in this area expanded, particularly in the mid-1990s, when she began exhibiting works by artists such as Daniel Brice, in addition to showing drawings by artists generally known for their sculpture.

Weiss represented many of the country's most prominent and well-respected artists working in glass, including Hank Murta Adams, Dale Chihuly, Richard Marquis, William Morris, Jay Musler, Clifford Rainey, Italo Scanga, Therman Statom, and James Watkins. Glass exhibitions at the gallery included site-specific installations by artists such as Statom, Adams, and Rainey.

The gallery was also an important venue for contemporary ceramists such as Rudy Autio, Annette Corcoran, Ruth Duckworth, Michael Lucero, Beverly Mayeri, and Robert Turner. Monthly exhibitions were held on the Third floor with the Fourth floor gallery space being reserved for a variety of work by gallery artists. "Teapot Invitationals," and exhibitions of "new glass" featuring teapots and glass sculpture by a variety of artists were held regularly at the gallery.

Weiss was an active participant in the wider art community, hosting collector's groups from around the country and guests during conferences, such as a special Glass Invitational in conjunction with the Glass Art Society Conference in March 1994. As a member of the San Francisco Art Dealers Association (SFADA), Weiss participated in First Thursday, holding opening receptions to new exhibitions on the first Thursday of every month and often accompanying them with artists' talks. She also participated in an annual Introductions show along with other SFADA members, representing younger, emerging artists in the Bay Area and nationwide. In addition, Weiss assisted the American Craft Museum in developing its exhibition programs, and was a Collectors Circle Affiliate for the American Craft Council.

Dorothy Weiss closed the gallery in 2000, retiring at the age of eighty. On October 4 of that year the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco opened A Tribute to Dorothy Weiss, an exhibition selected from her own collection.

Provenance:

The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Dorothy Weiss in 2002.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.

Rights:

The Dorothy Weiss Gallery records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Ceramicists  Search this

Topic:

Handicraft -- Exhibitions  Search this

Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- San Francisco  Search this

Handicraft -- California  Search this

Glass sculpture  Search this

Ceramic sculpture  Search this

Glass artists  Search this

Citation:

Dorothy Weiss Gallery records, circa 1964-2001 (bulk 1984-2000). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.doroweig

See more items in:

Dorothy Weiss Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-doroweig

Creator:

Dilexi Gallery  Search this

Extent:

0.9 Items (linear ft. (on two microfilm reels))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1957-1971

Scope and Contents:

Correspondence with artists, critics, collectors, galleries and museums; business material; catalogues and announcements; miscellaneous exhibition material; printed material; photographs, including photographs of Leslie Kerr, Jess Collins's paintings, and other art work; and clippings.

Biographical / Historical:

The Dilexi Gallery (est. 1958- closed 1970) was an gallery in San Francisco, Calif.

Related Materials:

Also in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview, 1974 May 13, with Dilexi Gallery founder and director James Newman.

Provenance:

Donated 1974 by James Newman, the founder and director of the Dilexi Gallery.

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:

Gallery owners  Search this

Gallery directors  Search this

Painters -- California -- San Francisco  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- San Francisco

Identifier:

AAA.dilegall

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-dilegall

Interviewee:

Dawson, William, 1901-1990  Search this

Interviewer:

Blum, Betty  Search this

Names:

Brown, Roger, 1941-1997  Search this

Kind, Phyllis, 1933-2018  Search this

Extent:

173 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1990 April 11-23

Scope and Contents:

An interview of William Dawson conducted 1990 April 11-23, by Betty Blum, for the Archives of American Art.

Dawson speaks of his childhood in Alabama; coming to Chicago in 1923; working as a porter and janitor; the beginnings of his art career after retiring in 1965; making carvings from found objects; the process of discovering and creating forms; his first exhibition at the Lincoln Park Public Library; his first sales to collectors, including Phyllis Kind and Roger Brown; gaining exposure through collectors and eventually getting discovered; the beginning of his work in painting; his exhibition at the Corcoran in 1982; work methods; and inspirations and ideas.

Biographical / Historical:

William Dawson (1901-1990) was a self-taught painter and sculptor from Chicago, Illinois. Dawson was born in 1901 in Huntsville, Alabama, came to Chicago in 1923, and after retiring from a career as a janitor and porter, he began sculpting and painting. He died July 1, 1990.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 58 min.

Provenance:

These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Occupation:

Painters -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews  Search this

Folk artists -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

African American artists  Search this

Sculptors -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews  Search this

Self-taught artists -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Identifier:

AAA.dawson90

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-dawson90

Creator:

Davis, Gene, 1920-1985  Search this

Names:

White House (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Baro, Gene  Search this

Colby, Carl  Search this

Davis, Douglas  Search this

Davis, Florence  Search this

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this

McGowin, Ed, 1938-  Search this

Naifeh, Steven, 1952-  Search this

Nordland, Gerald  Search this

North, Percy, 1945-  Search this

Seitz, William Chapin  Search this

Thomas, Alma  Search this

Wall, Donald  Search this

Extent:

17.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Photographs

Interviews

Video recordings

Date:

1920-2000

bulk 1942-1990

Summary:

The papers of the artist Gene Davis measure 17.7 linear feet and date from 1920-2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1942-1990. Papers document Davis's personal life and his career as an artist and educator, as well as his career as a journalist in the 1940s and 1950s, through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, business records, estate records, writings by and about Gene Davis, printed materials concerning Davis's art career, personal and art-related photographs, and artwork by Davis and others.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of the artist Gene Davis measure 17.7 linear feet and date from 1920-2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1942-1990. Papers document Davis's personal life and his career as an artist and educator, and to a lesser degree his early career as a journalist in the 1940s and 1950s, through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, business records, estate records, writings by and about Gene Davis, printed materials concerning Davis's art career, personal and art-related photographs, and artwork by Davis and others.

Biographical materials include birth and death certificates, awards, biographical narratives by Gene Davis and others, CVs, résumés, personal documents from Davis's family and childhood, documents related to his work as a White House correspondent, documentation related to his death and memorial service, and papers for the family pets. A video documentary about Davis by Carl Colby is found on one videocassette.

Correspondence is mainly of a professional nature, and correspondents include gallery and museum curators, private art collectors, publishers, fellow artists, art educators, academics, and students. Letters document exhibitions, sales, book projects, teaching jobs, visits to studios, local art community events in the Washington, D.C. area, and other projects. Significant correspondents include Gene Baro, Douglas Davis, Clement Greenberg, Gerald Nordland, William Seitz, Alma Thomas, and Donald Wall. Interviews and lectures include sound recordings and transcripts. Many of the interviews were broadcast or published. Also found is a single lecture by Davis given in 1969 at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, entitled "Contemporary Painting." Sound recordings are found for three of the interviews and for the lecture, on 4 sound reels and 1 sound cassette.

Business records include artwork documentation, price lists, sales records, contracts, financial and legal records, gallery and museum files documenting sales and exhibitions, records related to the construction of Davis's home studio in 1970, and a few teaching records. Estate records mainly reflect Florence Davis's efforts to document the works of her husband, and to manage their exhibition, promotion, and sale after his death in April 1985. Estate records include an inventory of artworks, documentation of gifts to museums, correspondence, legal, and financial records. Writings include notes, drafts of essays, artist statements, and articles by Davis, and many articles by others about Davis. Several of Davis's articles reflect specifically on the Washington, D.C. art scene. Also found are drafts of monographs on Davis including one by Donald Wall (1975) and one by Steven Naifeh (1982). Records of Naifeh's book also include photographs of all black and white and color plates from the published book. Among the writings are also notes and research files of Percy North, who worked on an update to Naifeh's 1982 bibliography after Davis's death.

Printed materials include annual reports of museums, published arts-related calendars, auction catalogs, brochures from organizations with which Davis had some affiliation, exhibition announcements and invitations, exhibition catalogs, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, newsletters, posters, press releases, and other published material. Photographs include personal photographs of Gene and Florence Davis and their families, portraits of Gene Davis, photographs of Gene Davis with artworks and working in the studio, Davis' art classes and students, installations of site-specific works, conceptual and video works, exhibition openings, and photographs of artwork, both installed in exhibitions and individually photographed. Found among the photographs are also four videocassettes documenting the Gene Davis retrospective as installed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art in 1987.

Artwork includes photographs, drawings, moving images, and documentation of conceptual art. Works by Davis include documentation of the 1969 "Giveaway" with Douglas Davis and Ed McGowin, "The Artist's Fingerprints Except for One which belongs to someone else," documentation of his "Air Displacement" happening, a short film entitled "Patricia," and a video entitled "Video Puzzle." Other moving images include four reels of film of Davis's stripe paintings, and other experiments with motion picture film and photographs.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 8 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1930-1987 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 17)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1943-1990 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)

Series 3: Interviews and Lectures, 1964-1983 (0.3 linear feet; Box 3)

Series 4: Business and Estate Records, 1942-1990 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 3-5, 17, OV 20)

Series 5: Writings, 1944-1990 (2 linear feet; Boxes 5-6, 17, OV 19)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1942-1990 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 7-11, 17-18, OV 20, FC 35-37)

Series 7: Photographs, 1920-2000 (3.8 linear feet; Boxes 11-15, 17, OV 19)

Series 8: Artwork, 1930-1985 (2.2 linear feet; Boxes 15-16, 18, FC 21-34)

Biographical / Historical:

Gene Davis (1920-1985) was a Washington, D.C.-based artist and educator who worked in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, collage, video, light sculpture, and conceptual art. Davis is best known for his vertical stripe paintings and his association with the Washington Color School.

Davis was born in 1920 in Washington, D.C. and began his career as a writer. In his twenties he wrote pulp stories and worked as a journalist, reporting for United Press International and serving as a White House correspondent for Transradio Press Service during the Truman administration. Later, he worked in public relations for the Automobile Association of America. A self-taught artist, Davis began painting while still working full-time as a writer, influenced by the prevailing abstract expressionist artists of the time, his frequent visits to the Corcoran Gallery and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and by his friend and mentor, Jacob Kainen. His first one-man show was held in the lobby of the Dupont Theater in Washington in 1952. He had a drawing accepted in the Corcoran Area Show in 1953, and won several local art prizes in the 1950s. He began showing work regularly in galleries around Washington, such as the Watkins Gallery at American University, the Gres Gallery, and the Henri Gallery, and had solo exhibitions at Jefferson Place Gallery in 1959 and 1961. Many of the painters who made up what became known as the Washington Color School also showed there, including Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, and Sam Gilliam. In 1965, the Washington Gallery of Modern Art held a seminal exhibition entitled Washington Color Painters, which included Davis, Noland, Mehring, Morris Louis, Thomas Downing, and Paul Reed.

Davis began showing outside of Washington regularly in the 1960s, including the Poindexter and Fischbach galleries in New York City, and in several important group shows at museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He had three works shown in the 1964 exhibition Post-Painterly Abstraction, organized by the influential art critic Clement Greenberg at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In the late 1960s, he began teaching art classes at the Corcoran School, and spent the summer of 1969 as artist in residence at Skidmore College's "Summer in Experiment" program.

Davis experimented with form continuously throughout his career, including a period of conceptual work in the late 1960s. In 1969 he participated in the "Giveaway," organized by Douglas Davis and Ed McGowin, in which multiple copies of a Davis painting were given away to invited guests in a gesture intended to subvert the art market. Davis also began experimenting with scale, creating a series of tiny paintings he called "Micro-paintings," which were exhibited at Fischbach Gallery in 1968. Around this time he also began working with film and video, recruiting models from his art classes to enact tightly choreographed movement pieces that played with rhythm and interval. Convinced by a lawyer that his videos were a liability without having obtained releases from the models, Davis destroyed all but one of his video works. The surviving video, "Video Puzzle," shows a foreshortened view of a model on the floor of a gallery spelling out a statement by Clement Greenberg at predetermined intervals.

Davis made several large-scale site-specific works using the stripe motif in public places. The first of these was created in the Bal Harbour, Florida, Neiman Marcus department store in 1970. Later works included Franklin's Footpath, executed in the road leading to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1972, and Niagara (1979) at ArtPark in Lewistown, NY, promoted at the time as the largest painting in the world. Interior large-scale works were created twice at the Corcoran Gallery, with Magic Circle (1975) and Ferris Wheel (1982), both executed in the museum's rotunda. Black Yo-Yo was created for the Cranbrook Academy in 1980, and Sun Sonata (1983), an illuminated wall of colored liquid-filled tubes, was created as an architectural feature of the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia. Plans for an unexecuted work called "Grass Painting," for a site near the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., were exhibited in the 1974 "Art Now" festival.

In the late 1970s and 1980s Davis consistently exhibited his work in several solo gallery shows a year, and also had numerous solo exhibitions in major museums. A major exhibition, Recent Paintings, was organized by the Walker Art Center in 1978, and traveled to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1979. A drawing retrospective was held at the Brooklyn Museum of art in 1983, and the same year the Washington Project for the Arts organized an exhibition entitled Child and Man: A Collaboration, featuring drawings Davis made in response to childrens' drawings. Davis died suddenly in April 1985 at the age of 65, and a major retrospective of his work was held at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art in 1987.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Gene Davis conducted by Estill Curtis Pennington on April 23, 1981. A transcript is available on the Archives of American Art website.

Provenance:

Donated 1981 by Gene Davis and 1986 by his wife, Florence. Additional material donated 1991 and 1993 from Smithsonian American Art Museum via a bequest to them from the Gene and Florence Davis estate. Much of the 1993 addition was assembled by art historian Percy North at the request of Florence Davis. An additional folder of photographs of Davis taken in 1969 but printed in 2000 was later added to the collection.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Rights:

The Gene Davis papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Reporters and reporting -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Video artists -- Washington, D.C.  Search this

Conceptual artists -- Washington, D.C  Search this

Painters -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Collagists -- Washington, D.C  Search this

Topic:

Color-field painting -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Photographs

Interviews

Video recordings

Citation:

Gene Davis papers, 1920-2000, bulk 1942-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.

Identifier:

AAA.davigene

See more items in:

Gene Davis papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-davigene

Creator:

Demuth, Charles, 1883-1935  Search this

Names:

Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this

Henderson, Helen W. (Helen Weston), 1874-  Search this

Locher, Beatrice  Search this

Locher, Robert E. (Robert Evans), b. 1888  Search this

McBride, Henry, 1867-1962  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia , 1887-1986  Search this

Ronnebeck, Arnold, 1885-1947  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Sheeler, Katharine  Search this

Stettheimer, Florine, 1871-1944  Search this

Street, Susan Watts  Search this

Williams, William Carlos, 1883-1963  Search this

Extent:

98 Items ((on 1 microfilm reel))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

[ca. 1890-1936]

Scope and Contents:

Postcards and letters from Helen W. Henderson, Robert and Beatrice Locher, Arnold Ronnebeck, Charles and Katharine Sheeler, Florine Stettheimer, Susan Watts Street, William Carlos Williams, Marsden Hartley, Henry McBride, Georgia O'Keeffe and others; postcards and letters to his mother Agusta Demuth, from Charles while in Paris, 1921; photos of Demuth and others; photographs of Demuth's childhood sketchbook containing 27 drawings of flowers, birds, insects, and animals; 3 photos of landscapes in oil; and a pamphlet by Henry C. Demuth tracing the history of Demuth Tobacco Shop, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Biographical / Historical:

Painter; Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Provenance:

Material on frames 2-129 lent for microfilming by collector Pauline Stauffer; Frames 130-230 by Harris C. Arnold, Demuth family attorney, 1981.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Painters -- Pennsylvania  Search this

Topic:

Art, American -- Pennsylvania -- Lancaster  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.demuchar

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-demuchar

Creator:

Danieli, Fidel  Search this

Names:

Almaraz, Carlos  Search this

Antin, David  Search this

Antin, Eleanor  Search this

Bell, Larry, 1939-  Search this

Berman, Wallace, 1926-1976  Search this

Bettelheim, Judith, 1944-  Search this

Brigante, Nicholas P., 1895-1989  Search this

Delano, Annita, 1894-  Search this

Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978  Search this

Flavin, Dan, 1933-  Search this

Graham, Robert, 1938-  Search this

Kaprow, Allan  Search this

Krasnow, Peter, 1886-1979  Search this

Langsner, Jules, 1911-1967  Search this

Lloyd, Gary, 1943-  Search this

McLaughlin, John, 1898-  Search this

Pettibone, Richard, 1938-  Search this

Pettibone, Shirley  Search this

Plagens, Peter  Search this

Rosenthal, Rachel, 1926-  Search this

Saar, Betye  Search this

Smith, Alexis, 1921-1993  Search this

Extent:

8.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound recordings

Photographs

Interviews

Date:

1962-1987

Summary:

The papers of Los Angeles art critic and writer, art historian, professor, collector, and artist Fidel Danieli (1938-1988) measure 8.4 linear feet and date from 1962 to 1987. Found within the papers are writing and research files, and 108 sound recordings of interviews with or about 45 Los Angeles artists conducted by Danieli in 1974-1975 for the U.C.L.A. oral history project "L.A. Community Artists." There are also sound recordings of art performances and art talks, and printed materials, including numerous exhibition announcements.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Los Angeles art critic and writer, art historian, professor, collector, and artist Fidel Danieli (1938-1988) measure 8.4 linear feet and date from 1962 to 1987. Found within the papers are writing and research files, and 108 sound recordings of interviews with or about 45 Los Angeles artists conducted by Danieli in 1974-1975 for the U.C.L.A. oral history project "L.A. Community Artists." There are also sound recordings of art performances and art talks, and printed materials, including numerous exhibition announcements.

Writing and research files consist of articles and reviews written by Fidel Danieli and supporting documentation and printed material. Files cover individual artists, exhibitions, and other scattered topics. Files on reviews of artists Danieli wrote include typescripts and handwritten drafts, printed materials, and photographs. Artists covered include Carlos Almarez, Larry Bell, Wallace Berman, Lorser Feitelson, Dan Flavin, Robert Graham, Jules Langsner, Richard Pettibone, Rachel Rosenthal, Alexis Smith, and John White, among many others. The file for Richard Pettibone includes 2 original sound cassettes and duplicates. Writings for exhibition catalogs and reviews of exhibitions focus primarily on Los Angeles area exhibitions or exhibitions of California artists. These files include notes, typescripts, and printed materials. Also found are files for magazine articles written by Danieli. Research files include a set of index cards documenting a chronology of Los Angeles art and 9 sound cassettes of television shows that focus on California art.

Interviews of and performances by Los Angeles comprise 108 sound cassettes. The majority of the cassettes are artist interviews conducted by Danieli in 1974-1975 for the U.C.L.A. oral history project "L.A. Community Artists," but there are also scattered recordings of art talks, panel discussions, and performances. Artists include David Antin, Eleanor Antin, Judith Bettelheim, Nick Brigante, Annita Delano, Allan Kaprow, Peter Krasnow, Peter Plagens, Gary Lloyd, John McLaughlin, Shirley Pettibone, Betye Saar, and John White, among many others.

Printed material consists primarily of exhibition announcements about California artists and exhibitions.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 3 series.

Series 1: Writing and Research Files, 1962-1987 (3.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-4)

Series 2: Los Angeles Artist Interviews and Performances, 1974-1975 (3.1 linear feet; Boxes 4-7)

Series 3: Printed Material, 1969-1985 (2.1 linear feet; Boxes 7-9)

Biographical / Historical:

Fidel Danieli (1938-1988) was an art critic and writer, art historian, educator, and artist based in Los Angeles, California. Danieli received his B.A. in 1960 and M.A. in 1965 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). For nearly 22 years, he taught at the Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys. He also taught and lectured at the California State College in Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley State College in Northridge.

Danieli was perhaps best known for his work as an art critic and writer, notably his reviews for Artforum from 1963-1968 that brought national recognition to many modern Southern California artists, such as Billy Al Bengston, Bruce Nauman, Robert Graham, and George Herms. Danieli was a member of the editorial committee of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art's (LAICA) Journal, a contributing editor to Artweek, and writer and reviewer for ArtScene and Images and Issues.

Danieli's special interest was in the early Los Angeles Modernists and he received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant around 1974 to fund research on the subject. From 1974-1975, he was also an interviewer for the UCLA oral history project "Los Angeles Art Community." The project culminated in the 1974 exhibition Nine Senior Southern California Painters at LAICA.

Danieli was also a painter, sculptor, and collector. His extensive art collection included photographs, paintings, ceramics, and prints. He bequeathed the bulk of his collection to the Oakland Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and a few private collectors who were friends. His art library was donated to Los Angeles Valley College.

He was briefly married to Edie Ellis though they later separated. He suffered ill health for several years and passed away in North Hollywood on March 26, 1988, at the age of 49.

Provenance:

The Fidel Danieli papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1990 by Sage Stormcreek, executor of Danieli's estate.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Rights:

The Fidel Danieli papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Authors -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Educators -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Art critics -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Topic:

Art historians -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Photographs

Interviews

Citation:

Fidel Danieli papers, 1962-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Collections grant program.

Identifier:

AAA.danifide

See more items in:

Fidel Danieli papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-danifide

Creator:

Claflin, Agnes Rindge, 1900-1977  Search this

Names:

Vassar College. Art Gallery  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this

Extent:

0.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Potcards

Manuscripts

Photographs

Illustrated letters

Date:

1936-circa 1970s

Summary:

The papers of arts administrator, collector, and educator Agnes Rindge Claflin concerning Alexander Calder measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1936-circa 1970s. Included are five letters, two of which are illustrated, and one postcard from Alexander Calder to Claflin; two handwritten manuscripts by Calder, one untitled and "A Propos of Measuring a Mobile," 1943; an invitation to a Calder exhibition at Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1952; and 14 photographs of Calder, of Calder and Claflin in Calder's studio, of Calder's art work, and of a Calder exhibition installation at Vassar Art Gallery, 1942. Transcriptions of three of the letters and both manuscripts are also included.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of arts administrator, collector, and educator Agnes Rindge Claflin concerning Alexander Calder measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1936-circa 1970s. Included are five letters and one postcard from Alexander Calder to Claflin, two of which are illustrated; two handwritten manuscripts by Calder, one untitled and "A Propos of Measuring a Mobile," 1943; an invitation to a Calder exhibition at Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1952; and 14 photographs of Calder, of Calder and Claflin in Calder's studio, of Calder's art work, and of a Calder exhibition installation at Vassar Art Gallery, 1942. One photograph depicting an event is possibly the opening of the Calder exhibition at Vassar Art Gallery, 1942. Also included are two polaroid photographs most likely from the 1970s. Transcriptions of three of the letters and both manuscripts are also included.

Arrangement:

Due to the small size of the collection, items are organized into one series of 23 folders:

Series 1: Agnes Rindge Claflin Papers Concerning Alexander Calder, 1936-circa 1970s (Box 1; 23 folders)

Biographical Note:

Agnes Rindge Claflin (1900-1977) was an arts administrator, collector, and educator who spent the majority of her career at Vassar College as a professor and serving as director of its art gallery for 28 years.

Claflin was born Agnes Millicent Rindge in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 19, 1900. She graduated from the Madeira School in 1917, attended Mount Holyoke College for two years, and graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College. Afterwards, Claflin briefly taught at Vassar College before returning to Radcliffe and earning her M.A. and Ph.D. She rejoined the Vassar College faculty in 1928 and served as the director of the Vassar Art Gallery from 1934-1962. Claflin published Sculpture in 1929 and in the 1930s she began writing articles for several different publications. At the request of Alfred Barr, she joined the Advisory Committee for the Museum of Modern Art in 1941 and became the Assistant Executive Vice President from 1943-1944. Claflin held a number of other positions in art organizations such as the Commission on Arts of the American Association of Colleges (1939), Art in America (1940-1943), Art Division of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (1941-1942), American Federation of Arts (1944-1945), and Committee on Fellowships of the College Art Association (1945-1948). She married Philip W. Claflin, a captain in the U.S. Army, in 1945. Throughout her career, Claflin lectured at organizations and universities across the United States, including the Chicago Art Institute, Columbia University, New York University, Yale University, and many others. Agnes Claflin died on June 12, 1977.

Claflin and Calder were colleagues and friends. In 1942, the Vassar Art Gallery hosted a Calder exhibition installation. The following year, Claflin wrote and narrated a short film, "Alexander Calder: Sculpture and Constructions," which was presented with the Museum of Modern Art's Calder exhibition of the same year.

Related Material:

The Archives of American Art holds several collections related to the Agnes Rindge Claflin papers concerning Alexander Calder, including the Alexander Calder papers which have been fully digitized; Alexander Calder letters and photographs microfilmed on reel 4781; Alexander Calder letter microfilmed on reel 2787, frames 963-970; and an oral history interview with Alexander Calder, October 26, 1971, available as a transcript online.

Provenance:

The collection was donated in 1981 by Philip W. Claflin, widower of Agnes Rindge Claflin.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Agnes Rindge Claflin papers concerning Alexander Calder are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Arts administrators -- New York (State)  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Genre/Form:

Potcards

Manuscripts

Photographs

Illustrated letters

Citation:

Agnes Rindge Claflin papers concerning Alexander Calder, 1936-circa 1970s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.clafagne

See more items in:

Agnes Rindge Claflin papers concerning Alexander Calder

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-clafagne

Creator:

Christ-Janer, Albert, 1910-1973  Search this

Names:

Michigan State University -- Faculty  Search this

New York University -- Faculty  Search this

Pennsylvania State University -- Faculty  Search this

Pratt Institute -- Faculty  Search this

Stephens College  Search this

University of Chicago -- Faculty  Search this

University of Georgia -- Faculty  Search this

Bingham, George Caleb, 1811-1879  Search this

Christ-Janer, Virginia Morgan Carpenter  Search this

Robinson, Boardman, 1876-1952  Search this

Saarinen, Eliel, 1873-1950  Search this

Zoller, Edwin W., 1900-1967  Search this

Extent:

54.6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Christmas cards

Sound recordings

Blueprints

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Prints

Drawings

Sketches

Date:

1915-circa 1993

bulk 1930-1981

Summary:

The papers of art historian, educator, painter, and printmaker Albert Christ-Janer measure 56.3 linear feet and date from 1915 to circa 1993, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1930 to 1981. The papers include biographical materials, personal and professional correspondence, writings, professional files, project files, teaching files, exhibition files, financial and estate records, printed material, scrapbooks and scrapbook material, photographs, artwork, and artifacts.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of art historian, educator, painter, and printmaker Albert Christ-Janer measure 56.3 linear feet and date from 1915 to circa 1993, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1930 to 1981. The papers include biographical materials, personal and professional correspondence, writings, professional files, project files, teaching files, exhibition files, financial and estate records, printed material, scrapbooks and scrapbook material, photographs, artwork, and artifacts.

Biographical material includes address books; awards, certificates and diplomas; chronologies, biographies, and resumes; material relating to Albert Christ-Janer's death, including memorial services and a sound tape reel memorial; and information and blueprints for residences, among other materials.

Correspondence includes Christmas cards from other artists and professional correspondence, much of it relating to his work at various institutions, including Michigan State University, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, Pratt Institution, and foundations. Also included is Virginia Christ-Janer's correspondence regarding Christ-Janer's artwork and career, his death in Italy, as well as general correspondence and letters between Virginia and Albert. Additional correspondence is found within the Professional Files, Project Files, and Teaching Files.

Writings by Christ-Janer include articles, book reviews, essays, notes, and eleven notebooks. There are also a few miscellaneous articles and writings about Christ-Janer written by others. There are 38 annotated appointment notebooks and five of Virginia Christ-Janer's annotated appointment books. Annotations are about meetings, travel, and general thoughts.

Albert Christ-Janer's book projects are documented in the Project Files series. There are drafts, manuscripts, research, and correspondence relating to the research, writing, and publication of five of his books, including George Caleb Bingham of Missouri (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1940), Boardman Robinson (Unversity of Chicago Press, 1946), Eliel Saarinen (University of Chicago Press, 1948), and Modern Church Architecture, with Mary Mix Foley (McGraw-Hill, 1962), and Modern Hymns (1980). Project files also include files regarding proposed projects.

Professional files document Christ-Janer's work at various institutions, as a consultant, on juried art exhibitions, memberships in arts associations, activities at conferences and committees, and the development of art centers in cities and educational institutions. There is significant documentation of his work planning and developing an arts center in New York City and at New York University, as well as his positions at Pennsylvania State University, Pratt Institute, University of Chicago, and University of Georgia. Also found are materials relating to professional trips taken to El Paso, Italy, Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe.

Teaching files consist of syllabi, lecture notes and course materials, class record books, and other documents for positions at New York University, Pennsylvania State University, Stephens College, University of Georgia, and other institutions. Exhibition files are comprised of lists, prizes and awards, and other scattered documentation of Christ-Janer's solo and group exhibitions.

Financial and estate records include five account books, miscellaneous bills and receipts, a will and estate taxes and financial papers, and files for gallery transactions, lists of galleries representing Christ-Janer, lists of museum and private collectors of Christ-Janer's artwork. Printed materials include exhibition catalogs and announcements, published versions of Christ-Janer's books, books written by others and annotated by Christ-Janer, clippings, magazines, reviews, and printed material relating to Pratt Institute. There is one bound scrapbook and several files of loose scrapbook materials.

The scrapbooks series consists of one completed scrapbook concerning Christ-Janer's book on George Caleb Bingham, as well as several folders of general scrapbook files.

Photographs and slides depict Albert Christ-Janer, family, friends, artists, colleagues, exhibitions, and also include photographs compiled for published books.

Artwork includes numerous drawings, sketches, one sketchbook, and 111 lithographs by Albert Christ-Janer. There are also sketches and drawings by Charles Massey, John D. Whiting, Edwin Zoller, and others. Miscellaneous artifacts include a business card die, exhibition medals and trophy, handmade paperweight, a block-printed piece of fabric, and three graduation hoods.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged as 14 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1930-circa 1986 (Boxes 1-2, 51, 53, 67, OV 54, OV 57; 2.1 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1937-1990 (Boxes 2-16, 51, 67, OV 55; 15.1 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1930s-1972 (Boxes 16-18, 51; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Appointment Books, 1939-1973 (Boxes 18-21; 2.9 linear feet)

Series 5: Professional Files, circa 1933-circa 1986 (Boxes 21-28, 51-52, 67-69; 10 linear feet)

Series 6: Project Files, 1937-circa 1981 (Boxes 28-34, 51, 69; 6.1 linear feet)

Series 7: Teaching Files, circa 1939-circa 1973 (Boxes 34-35; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 8: Exhibition Files, circa 1938-circa 1992 (Boxes 35-38; 2.7 linear feet)

Series 9: Financial and Estate Records, circa 1947-1992 (Boxes 38-40; 2.4 linear feet)

Series 10: Printed Material, 1915-circa 1993 (Boxes 40-49, 51-52, 69; 8.7 linear feet)

Series 11: Scrapbooks, circa 1936-circa 1952 (Boxes 49, 51; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 12: Photographs, circa 1937-circa 1986 (Boxes 49-51, OV 56; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 13: Artwork, circa 1933-circa 1970s (Boxes 50-52, 69, OV 58-66; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 14: Artifacts, 1923-circa 1986 (Boxes 50, 53; 0.9 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Albert Christ-Janer (1910-1973) was a painter, printmaker, art historian, writer, and educator active at colleges and universities across the U.S.

Albert Christ-Janer was born in Appleton, Minnesota in 1910 and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University. Christ-Janer wrote about American artists Boardman Robinson and John Caleb Bingham, and taught at a variety of institutions, including Stephens College, Cranbrook Academy, Pratt Institute Art School, and the University of Georgia. He was also an artist-in-residence at Tamarind Lithography Workshop in 1972.

Christ-Janer began his teaching career at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri in 1934, and soon became head of the art department. He moved to Michigan to accept the position of head of the art department and professor of art at Michigan State University in 1942. In 1945, he began working for the Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, serving as director of the educational program, director of the museum and library, and professor of art history.

In 1947, Christ-Janer moved to Chicago and worked at the University of Chicago and the Arts Center Association, Inc. In the 1950s, he served as director of Arts Center Development at New York University, director of the School of Arts at Pennsylvania State University, and on the Lake Erie College Board of Trustees. In 1958, he moved to New York and become dean of the School of Art and Design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, later becoming director. He left Pratt in 1970 to accept the position of Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Art at the University of Georgia, where he remained until his tragic death in 1973.

Christ-Janer was the author of several books: Art in Child Life (University of Iowa Press, 1938), George Caleb Bingham of Missouri (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1940), Boardman Robinson (Unversity of Chicago Press, 1946), Eliel Saarinen (University of Chicago Press, 1948), and Modern Church Architecture, with Mary Mix Foley (McGraw-Hill, 1962).

Albert Christ-Janer was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1950, awarded the Rockefeller Award in 1954, and the Guggenheim Award in 1960. He was also awarded multiple grants from the American Philosophical Society and the J. M. Kaplan Fund for research and work in lithography, as well as multiple Arthur Judson grants. In 1972 Christ-Janer was the Tamarind artist-in-residence at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Christ-Janer traveled often. In 1962 he was a guest of the Bonn government for two months to visit museums and schools of design in Germany. And in 1964, he was a guest of the governments of Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden for two months to study schools, museums, and cultural centers. In July of 1973, Christ-Janer was the official NASA artist for the Skylab III launch, and in October of 1973, he was the studio guest of the Norway-America Association and the Norwegian government in Oslo. From November to December of 1973, Christ-Janer was the scholar-in-residence at the Study and Conference Center of the Rockefeller Foundation (Centro Culturale delle Fondazione Rockefeller), at the Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio (Como), Italy.

Albert Christ-Janer was killed in an automobile accident in Bellagio (Como), Italy on December 12, 1973.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Albert Christ-Janer conducted by Dorothy Seckler, March 21, 1964.

Albert Christ-Janer's research materials for his book American Hymns Old and New (1980) are found at the St Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a center for the study of hymns.

Provenance:

The Albert Christ-Janer papers were donated by Virginia Christ-Janer in 1980-1981 and 1994.

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.

Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Rights:

The Albert Christ-Janer papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Printmakers -- Georgia  Search this

Painters -- Georgia  Search this

Art historians -- Georgia  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Christmas cards

Sound recordings

Blueprints

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Prints

Drawings

Sketches

Citation:

Albert Christ-Janer papers, 1915-circa 1993, bulk 1930-1981. 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.

Identifier:

AAA.chrialbe

See more items in:

Albert Christ-Janer papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-chrialbe

Creator:

Chernow, Burt  Search this

Names:

Housatonic Community College (Bridgeport, Conn.)  Search this

Housatonic Museum of Art  Search this

Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection  Search this

Westport-Weston Arts Council (Westport, Conn.)  Search this

Arman, 1928-2005  Search this

Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this

Christo, 1935-  Search this

Christo, 1935- (Wrapped Reichstag)  Search this

Hendricks, Barkley L., 1945-  Search this

Jeanne-Claude, 1935-2009  Search this

Johnson, Lester, 1919-2010  Search this

Peterdi, Gabor  Search this

Woodham, Jean, 1925-  Search this

Zúñiga, Francisco, 1912-1998  Search this

Extent:

21.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Transcriptions

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Photographs

Date:

1930-2002

Summary:

The papers of Burt Chernow measure 21.8 linear feet and consist mainly of research materials gathered and produced in the course of writing Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography over an extensive period of close contact with the subjects, from the early 1980s until Chernow's death in 1997. Research materials for the biography include photocopies of personal documents of the Christos, hundreds of recorded interviews with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, their family members, and their associates, transcripts of interviews and research on interview subjects, other collected research material compiled chronologically, drafts of the biography written by Chernow, drafts of the biography and its epilogue produced after Chernow's death, and business records related to the book's production, which include significant correspondence with the Christos. Also found are the published German and U.S. editions of the biography, printed materials and photographs related to the book's subject matter, and fabric samples from five of the Christos' projects undertaken during Chernow's association with them. Chernow's career as an art critic, writer, educator, and arts advocate, primarily in Southern Connecticut, is documented in Chernow's other writings, organizational records, printed materials, and photographs.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Burt Chernow measure 21.8 linear feet and consist mainly of research materials gathered and produced in the course of writing Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography over an extensive period of close contact with the subjects, from the early 1980s until Chernow's death in 1997. Research materials for the biography include photocopies of personal documents of the Christos, hundreds of recorded interviews with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, their family members, and their associates, transcripts of interviews and research on interview subjects, other collected research material compiled chronologically, drafts of the biography written by Chernow, drafts of the biography and its epilogue produced after Chernow's death, and business records related to the book's production, which include significant correspondence with the Christos. Also found are the published German and U.S. editions of the biography, printed materials and photographs related to the book's subject matter, and fabric samples from five of the Christos' projects undertaken during Chernow's association with them.

Chernow's career as an art critic, writer, educator, and arts advocate, primarily in Southern Connecticut, is documented in Chernow's other writings, organizational records, printed materials, and photographs. Other writings include drafts of articles, lectures, exhibition reviews, and catalog essays, some of which include research material gathered on the subjects. Artists written about by Chernow include Arman, Milton Avery, Barkley Hendricks, Francisco Zuñiga, Lester Johnson, Gabor Peterdi, and Jean Woodham, among many others, and including many Connecticut artists. A recorded interview with Arman, as well as transcripts of multiple interviews with Zuñiga, are filed with these writings. Also found are many writings and lectures related to the value of visual art in public life and in elementary and higher education. Numerous lectures by Chernow about several of the Christos' large-scale projects are also found, one of which, on the Wrapped Reichstag, is recorded on video.

Organizational records document Chernow's involvement in various art education organizations, his years of teaching at Housatonic Community College, his development of the Housatonic Museum of Art collection, and his work with several local arts organizations in Westport, Conn., including the Westport Arts Advisory Council, the Westport Arts Center, the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection Committee, and the Westport Weston Arts Council. Types of documents found include correspondence, clippings, photographs, flyers, and notes.

Printed material includes many of the books written by Chernow, and monographs and magazines which included essays on specific artists by Chernow. A file of clippings about Chernow spanning his career is also found. Photographs include prints, negatives, and contact sheets, and consist mainly of photographs of artists, many of which were taken by Chernow, and many of which are signed by the artists with a personal note to the Chernows. A handful of personal photographs of the Chernows are also found.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged as 5 series.

Series 1: Research Material for -- Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography -- , 1930-2002 (17.1 linear feet; Boxes 1-17, 23, OV 24)

Series 2: Other Writing, 1962-1999 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 17-19)

Series 3: Organizational Records, 1963-2000 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 19-20, 23, OV 24)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1960-2002 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 20-21, 23)

Series 5: Photographs, 1950-1997 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 21-23, OV 24)

Biographical / Historical:

Burt Chernow was an art historian, writer, educator, collector, and dealer who founded the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and who, upon his retirement from Housatonic Community College, became the authorized biographer of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which he researched through close contact with the Christos from 1984 until his death in 1997. Although he had not completed the biography when he died, his wife Ann Chernow saw the manuscript through to publication, and the biography, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography, was first published in Germany in 2000, and then in the United States in 2002.

Born in New York City in 1933, Chernow earned a master's degree in art education at New York University in 1960, and began his career as an art teacher in the Westport, Connecticut public schools, later joining the faculty of the Art Department at the Housatonic Community College, where he eventually became the department's director. He also taught at the Museum of Modern Art, organizing the Children's Art Carnival in Harlem through the museum, and at Silvermine School of the Arts, the A.B.C.D. Arts Center in Bridgeport, Conn., and the Stamford Museum. While on the faculty at Housatonic Community College, he began collecting original artworks, mainly through donations directly from the artists, for what eventually became the Housatonic Museum of Art. Over the course of nearly 30 years he amassed over 4000 works for the collection, the largest of its kind for a community college, and remained the museum's Emeritus Director until his death. He remained active in civic arts organizations in Westport as well, where he was a founding member of the Westport Arts Center, served on the Westport Arts Advisory Council, and helped to establish the annual Westport Arts Awards.

Upon his retirement from the Housatonic faculty in 1984, Chernow approached Christo and Jeanne-Claude about becoming their authorized biographer. He had participated in their project Surrounded Islands in Miami in 1983, and had played a role in exhibitions and artist talks by Christo at the Aldrich Museum (1981) and the Wadsworth Atheneum (1978) as well. He and his wife Ann Chernow attended and helped to document the Wrapped Pont Neuf (1985) in Paris, and then visited Christo's family in Bulgaria in 1986. It was after their Bulgarian trip that Christo and Jeanne-Claude agreed to authorize him to write their biography, and Chernow's research began in earnest. He conducted hundreds of interviews with them, their family, and associates, participated in the major large-scale projects that took place between 1985 and 1995, and completed a draft of the biography up to the year 1982 before he died suddenly in 1997. After his death, his wife Ann Chernow saw the biography through to publication. It was published with an epilogue by Wolfgang Volz, the Christos' official photographer, bringing the Christos' story up to date from where Chernow had left off, first in Germany, and later in the United States and Italy.

Chernow wrote many books, catalogs, and articles about other artists as well, including Milton Avery, Francisco Zuniga, Gabor Peterdi, Will Barnet, Jean Woodham, and Lester Johnson, among others, and published and lectured widely on the subjects of art education and public art.

Provenance:

Donated 2002 by Ann Chernow, the widow of Burt Chernow.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Rights:

The Burt Chernow papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Art historians -- Connecticut  Search this

Art critics -- Connecticut  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Authors -- Connecticut  Search this

Educators -- Connecticut  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Transcriptions

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Photographs

Citation:

Burt Chernow papers, 1930-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.

Identifier:

AAA.cherburt

See more items in:

Burt Chernow papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-cherburt

Creator:

Castano Galleries (Boston, Mass.)  Search this

Names:

Beam, Philip C.  Search this

Castano, Giovanni, 1896-1978  Search this

Chrysler, Walter P. (Walter Percy), 1909-1988, Jr.  Search this

Danes, Gibson A.  Search this

Denghausen, Franz H., 1911-  Search this

Goodrich, Lloyd, 1897-1987  Search this

Grandin, Isabella  Search this

Hale, Lilian Westcott, 1880-1963  Search this

Hofer, Philip, 1898-1984  Search this

Rathbone, Perry Townsend, 1911-2000  Search this

Richardson, Edgar Preston, 1902-1985  Search this

Sachs, Paul J. (Paul Joseph), 1878-1965  Search this

Venturi, Lionello, 1885-1961  Search this

Extent:

30 Microfilm reels

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Microfilm reels

Date:

1907-1983

Scope and Contents:

20 feet, chiefly gallery records and some personal papers of gallery owner, Giovanni (John) Castano, including correspondence, legal material, subject files, notes, writings, financial material, photographs, a scrapbook, and printed material.

Included are biographical information about Castano, business correspondence with dealers, museums, clients, collectors, artists, art historians, and others, and some personal correspondence, including a letter from Rome, 1876, from an unidentified writer to an unidentified woman containing a detailed description of a painting in the Barberini, and correspondence related to Castano's work as a scenic artist, 1924-1931. Subject files contain mainly correspondence and lists of work, and relate to Italian Renaissance exhibition, 1938, the Heeramaneck Collection of Persian and Indian Art, a Boldini exhibition, Arthur C. Goodwin, 1945-1952, and a Mancini-Sargent exhibition, 1951.

Financial material includes records of expenses and income; account books; employees' weekly wage book; records of purchases and sales of art work, including part of a bill for a painting by Diaz paid by Knoedler and Co., 1890; appraisals done for individuals, estates and institutions, including the Gorham Corporation, Harvard University murals, the Mrs. T. Morris Murray estate, furnishings of William M. Paxton's studio, ca. 1941, and paintings by Edmund Tarbell, and others; consignments; priced auction catalogs of the Henry F. Sears estate, the Mary A.H. Traiser estate, and miscellaneous price lists.

Also included are a card file on paintings; lists of paintings; inventories; client cards; address and appointment books; mailing lists; gallery journals, 1936-1927; descriptions and notes on paintings and authentications; biographies of artists; writings by and about Castano; and notes by Churchill Wyman on Philip Hale's anatomy lectures.

Photographs are of Castano, his work, artists at work, and various works of art. Original art work consists of sketches for a logo designed by Suzanne Chapman. Included in the exhibition related material is a catalog for Castano's posthumous exhibition.

Also included is a scrapbook containing announcements, clippings on the gallery and Castano, exhibition catalogs, and biographical material compiled by Castano's longtime secretary.

Among the correspondents are: Philip Beam, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Gibson Danes, Franz Denghasusen, Lloyd Goodrich (Whitney Museum of American Art), Isabella Grandin, Lilian W. Hale, Philip Hofer (Fogg Art Museum), Perry T. Rathbone (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Edgar P. Richardson (Detroit Institute of Arts), Paul J. Sachs (Fogg), and Lionello Venturi.

Biographical / Historical:

Art gallery, Boston, Mass. Founded in 1931 by Giovanni Castano, also known as John Castano. Castano attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he was an assistant to Philip Hale. He was a scenic artist for the Boston Opera Company and for the Grand Opera in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the Depression, he returned to Boston where he opened a gallery on Newbury Street specializing in European and American paintings, acted as an agent for Wildenstein and Co., and restored paintings. The gallery had numerous exhibitions of the "Boston School," including A.C. Goodwin, Winslow Homer, Philip Hale, Edmund C. Tarbell, William Paxton and others. The gallery occupied several Newbury St. locations. From 1975 until his death, Castano operated it from his home in Needham.

Other Title:

Giovanni Castano Galleries records, 1907-1983.

Provenance:

Lent for microfilming by Elvira Castano Palmerio, Castano's daughter, 1988.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Art appraisers  Search this

Restorers  Search this

Set decorators  Search this

Gallery owners  Search this

Art dealers -- Massachusetts  Search this

Painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- Massachusetts -- Boston

Identifier:

AAA.castgall

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-castgall

Creator:

Carlen Galleries  Search this

Names:

Peale family  Search this

Davies, Albert Webster, 1889-1967  Search this

Feuillate, Raymond, 1901-1971  Search this

Gainsborough, Lee  Search this

Hicks, Edward, 1780-1849  Search this

Kollwitz, Käthe, 1867-1945  Search this

Pippin, Horace, 1888-1946  Search this

Prendergast, Maurice Brazil, 1858-1924  Search this

Extent:

10.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Date:

1775-1997

bulk 1940-1986

Summary:

The Carlen Galleries, Inc., records measure 10.4 linear feet (gift portions) and date from 1775 to 1997 (bulk 1940-1986). Correspondence, business records, subject files, a scrapbook, printed matter, and photographs document the operation and activities of Carlen Galleries, Inc., and its founder Robert Carlen.

Scope and Content Note:

The Carlen Galleries, Inc., records measure 10.4 linear feet (gift portions, Parts 1 and 3) and date from 1775-1998 (bulk 1940-1986). Correspondence, business records, subject files, a scrapbook, printed matter, and photographs document the operation and activities of Carlen Galleries, Inc., and its founder Robert Carlen.

Part 1: Received in 1986 as a gift from Robert Carlen, these records document the activities of Carlen Galleries and its founder, 1937-1986. Correspondence mainly concerns the sale and purchase of works of art. Also included are artist files containing correspondence, receipts, and printed matter regarding Albert Davies, Edward Hicks, Käthe Kollwitz, Horace Pippin, and Maurice Prendergast. Subject files concern African American artists, Raphael Peale, Raymond Feuillate, and the French Moderns. Business records consist of loan forms, documentation of exhibitions at Carlen Galleries, inventories, a scrapbook and clippings concerning the gallery, conservation reports, appraisals (not microfilmed), and financial records.

Part 2: Additional records documenting the activities of Carlen Galleries and its founder, 1937-1986, were loaned by Robert Carlen for microfilming in 1988. Included are letters about Horace Pippin and rare letters from the artist. Other correspondence concerns Carlen's search for paintings by Edward Hicks, and there is also a small selection of letters regarding more routine gallery business. Among the business records are and account book and receipts. Printed matter consists of exhibition catalogs, announcements, and clippings; a scrapbook contains printed matter about Horace Pippin. Photographs are of Allan Freelon and works of art.

Part 3: Received in 2002 as a gift from Robert Carlen's daughter Nancy Carlen, this portion of the Carlen Galleries, Inc., Records consists of two letters, business records, photographs, and selections from the galleries' library. Letters are from Joan Baez, circa 1960 and Charles M. Mount, 1968. Previously sealed letters from Charles M. Mount, undated, and 1962-1975, relating to John Singer Sargent have been integrated into this portion.

Part 4: Additional records borrowed for microfilming from Nancy Carlen in 2002 include documents dated 1775-1997 (bulk 1940s-1990). Correspondence concerns gallery business, but a small amount of personal correspondence is also included. Business records consist of appraisal reports, receipts for sales and purchases, and the contract and program for the 1964 University [of Pennsylvania] Hospital Antiques Show in which Carlen Galleries exhibited. Subject files document Edward Hicks, Anatol Jal, the Captain James Lawrence Goblet, Horace Pippin, and Antoine Roux. Five notebooks, containing material similar to that in the subject files, are about Horace Pippin (vols. 1-3), Edward Hicks (vol. 4), and chronicle the career of Robert Carlen (vol. 5).

Printed matter consists of clippings and other items concerning art and antiques, Robert Carlen and Carlen Galleries, Inc., and the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the State Department where two Hicks paintings owned by Carlen were on extended loan. Among the miscellaneous records are biographical documents, personal financial records, business and research notes (including original documents and photocopies of archival materials), and four prints. Photographs are mostly of antiques and art work; also included are a few pictures of people, places, and miscellaneous subjects.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four parts, representing gift and loan accessions received and microfilmed at various times. The two loans for microfilming (Parts 2 and 4) overlap and partially duplicate one another-particularly records relating to Horace Pippin and Edward Hicks-but are far from identical. Some of the Pippin and Hicks material was significantly rearranged in the interim between the first loan (1988) and the second (2002).

Part 1: Gift (1986), 1906-1986 (Boxes 1-7; 7.0 linear feet; Reels 4166-4175)

Part 2: Loan (1988), 1937-1986 (Reel 4175)

Part 3: Gift (2002), 1835-1992 (Boxes 8-12; 3.4 linear feet; Reel 5745)

Part 4: Loan (2002), 1775-1997 (Reels 5746-5748)

Historical Note:

Robert Carlen (1906-1990) worked as a secretary and attended evening classes at the Graphic Sketch Club in Philadelphia right after graduating from high school. He studied painting full-time at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts during the academic year 1928/29, and from 1929-1936 he continued to study painting in the evenings while employed at a brokerage firm.

Since he wanted to be associated with the art world and needed to earn a living, Carlen decided to establish an art gallery that would show the works of young artists. In 1937, he opened in Carlen Galleries in his home at 323 South 16th Street, Philadelphia; the galleries operated in the same location for the remainder of Carlen's life. In its earliest years, Carlen Galleries housed exhibitions of the Associated American Artists' Group and featured prints by Wanda Gag, Käthe Kollwitz, Louis Lozowick, Lynd Ward, and other print makers.

In 1941, paintings by Horace Pippin were exhibited at Carlen Galleries. Carlen soon befriended the artist and began providing him with art supplies. He remained Pippin's agent for many years following the artist's death in 1946, and was a sought-after authority on the artist's work and life.

By the mid-1940s, Carlen had discovered a painting by Edward Hicks in Bucks County, Pa. He began researching the then-obscure Quaker artist. Through contacting descendants of Hicks's patrons, Carlen was able to acquire many of Hicks's paintings and Carlen Galleries became known for handling important early American folk paintings and antiques. Among his clients were Edward W. and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Del., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Williamsburg, Va., and the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vt.

During the course of his long career, Robert Carlen served as an advisor to many Philadelphia collectors and developed an extensive knowledge of the genealogies and heirlooms of the city's prominent families. Because of his extensive experience and expertise, Carlen's opinion was widely valued and his services as an appraiser of art and antiques were in great demand.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 4175 and 5746-5748) including material relating to Horace Pippin. Loaned material was returned to the lender and is described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

The collection was acquired in various accessions of gifts and loans. Part 1: gift of Robert Carlen, 1986; Part 2: loaned by Robert Carlen for microfilming, 1988; Part 3: gift of Nancy Carlen, 2002 (previously sealed letters and appraisals received with Part 1 are housed with Part 3 and integrated for microfilming); Part 4: loaned by Nancy Carlen for microfilming, 2002.

Restrictions:

Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Rights:

Parts 1 and 3 of the Carlen Galleries, Inc. records are owned by the Archives of American Art. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. Parts 2 and 4 were loaned for microfilming and the originals returned to the donor. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Art appraisers  Search this

Painters  Search this

Topic:

Decorative arts -- United States  Search this

African American artists  Search this

Folk art -- United States  Search this

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Art dealers  Search this

Art galleries, Commercial -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this

Art -- Exhibitions  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Carlen Galleries, Inc., records, 1775-1997, bulk 1940-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.carlgall

See more items in:

Carlen Galleries, Inc., records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-carlgall

Interviewee:

Callahan, Kenneth, 1905-1986  Search this

Interviewer:

Prince, Sue Ann  Search this

Names:

Seattle Art Museum  Search this

Anderson, Guy, 1906-1998  Search this

Graves, Morris, 1910-  Search this

Tobey, Mark  Search this

Extent:

75 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1982 October 27-December 19

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Kenneth Callahan conducted 1982 October 27-1982 December 19, by Sue Ann Kendall, for the Archives of American Art's Northwest Oral History Project.

Callahan speaks of his childhood in Montana; his education; working as an illustrator; early shows of his work; mural commissions; the Northwest arts community, particularly Morris Graves, Guy Anderson and Mark Tobey; changes in his subject matter and interests; the increasing abstraction in his painting; the fire in his studio; his relationship with the Seattle Art Museum, where he worked as a curator for 20 years; collectors he has known; experimenting with other media; and contemporary art and its future.

Biographical / Historical:

Kenneth Callahan (1905-1986) was a painter, muralist, writer, and curator from Long Beach, Washington.

General:

Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 27 min.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives' Northwest Oral History Project, begun in 1982 to document the Northwest artistic community through interviews with painters, sculptors, craftsmen, educators, curators, and others, in Oregon, Washington and Montana.

Restrictions:

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Occupation:

Painters -- Washington (State) -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Artists -- Northwestern States -- Interviews  Search this

Art, Modern -- Northwestern States  Search this

Art, American -- Northwestern States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Identifier:

AAA.callah82

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-callah82

Creator:

Butler, Martha Ferguson  Search this

Kellogg, Miner K. (Miner Kilbourne), 1814-1889  Search this

Names:

Kellogg, Elizabeth Rogers  Search this

Extent:

1.3 Linear feet ((on 1 microfilm reel))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Place:

Europe -- description and travel

Date:

1840-1879 and 1944-1983

Scope and Contents:

Papers of Miner Kellogg collected by Martha Ferguson Butler and Butler's papers documenting her research on Miner Kellogg. Also included are 3 published volumes written by Elizabeth R. Kellogg, niece of Miner Kellogg.

Kellogg's papers consist of 3 journals, 1840, ca. 1861, and 1879, including "Journal of Departure from Washington for Europe in 1840, also stay in Lisbon Portugal, arrival in Florence and first work there in and expenses of living such as it was"; writings, consisting of 5 published and 2 unpublished volumes, 1848-1870 and n.d., one includes a page of notes describing his visit to the Hermitage, 1868; exhibition catalogs for Kellogg, 1865, and his collection, 1857 (in French), 1858, and 1885-1886; clippings, 1857; and photographs of travels and of works of art, annotated by Kellogg.

Butler's research material (1944-1983) includes correspondence with museums, historical societies, art dealers, Kellogg's niece Elizabeth R. Kellogg and others; notes; clippings and exhibition catalogs; and photographs and slides of Kellogg's works of art. Also included are published writings by Elizabeth R. Kellogg, 1945, 1961 and 1962.

Arrangement:

I. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg papers, 1840-1886. II. Martha Ferguson Butler research material on Kellogg, 1944-1983. III. Elizabeth R. Kellogg writings.

Biographical / Historical:

Butler: collector of Kellogg's art work, St. Louis, Mo. Kellogg: portrait painter, miniature painter, and orientalist, New York, N.Y. and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Related Materials:

Additional Miner K. Kellogg papers also located at: Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Provenance:

Transferred 1993 from the National Museum of American Art, which received them with Butler's gift of Kellogg's drawings and watercolors in 1990. Butler purchased Kellogg's papers from various sources and planned on writing a book about him.

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:

Portrait painters  Search this

Miniature painters  Search this

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 19th century -- History -- Sources  Search this

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.butlmart

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-butlmart

Creator:

Burkhardt, Hans Gustav, 1904-1994  Search this

Burkhardt, Thordis W., 1908-1993  Search this

Names:

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948  Search this

Tobey, Mark  Search this

Extent:

1.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Scrapbooks

Date:

1905-1981

Scope and Contents:

Resumes, awards, and memberships; letters thanking the Burkhardts for paintings, regarding visits to their home and studio, and from scholars and institutions requesting information about his own work as well as his collection of works by Mark Tobey and Arshile Gorky; writings and notes by and about Burkhardt; 2 bound sketchbooks, undated and 1961, containing black felt-tip pen drawings; exhibition related materials including lists of works exhibited, acknowledgements of gifts, loan agreements, and receipts; exhibition announcements and catalogs; clippings, press releases, and bulletins, and 2 scrapbooks of clippings; and photographs of Burkhardt, his wife Thordis, and others including Mark Tobey and Willem de Kooning.

Biographical / Historical:

Painter and collector; Los Angeles, Calif.; d. 1994.

Provenance:

Donated 1975-1981 by the Burkhardts.

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:

Painters -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Scrapbooks

Identifier:

AAA.burkhans

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-burkhans