The records of the B. R. Kornblatt Gallery of Baltimore, Md. and Washington, D.C. measure 4.1 linear feet and date from 1971 to 1992. The collection consists primarily of artists' files along with a few exhibition files and sales records.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the B. R. Kornblatt Gallery of Baltimore, Md. and Washington, D.C. measure 4.1 linear feet and date from 1971 to 1992. The collection consists primarily of artists' files along with a few exhibition files and sales records.
Exhibition files are found for the Chicago International Art Exposition (1983-1988), the International Sculpture '90 (1990) exhibition, and exhibitions of African art. Artists' files contain correspondence, photographs and slides, resumes, and financial and printed material for numerous artists associated with the gallery or of interest to the gallery, including Mel Chin, Jerry Clapsaddle, Gene Davis, John Ferguson, Wolf Kahn, Willem de Looper, Helen Frankenthaler, Ronnie Landfield, Manuel Neri, Sol LeWitt, Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg, Karl Rosenberg, Amalie Rothschild, Frank Stella, Michael Todd, John Van Alstine, and others. The collection also contains sales records.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 3 series.
Series 1: Exhibition Files, 1981-1990 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Artists' Files, 1971-1992 (3.0 linear feet; Box 1-4, OV 5)
Series 3: Sales Records, 1988-1992 (0.5 linear feet; Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
Barbara R. Kornblatt established the B. R. Kornblatt Gallery in 1975 on 326 North Charles Street in Baltimore, Maryland. The gallery specialized in American painting, sculpture, and works on paper. In 1980, Kornblatt moved the gallery to 406 Seventh Street, N.W. in Washington, D. C. where it became the mainstay of downtown commercial art galleries. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the gallery began feeling the effects of the economic recession, and then suffered a fire in the building. Kornblatt closed the gallery in 1991.
Provenance:
The B.R. Kornblatt Gallery records were donated by Barbara R. Kornblatt in 1992.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
An interview of Willem De Looper conducted 1992 January 26 and February 29, by Benjamin Forgey, for the Archives of American Art. De Looper discusses growing up in the Hague, in Holland, during WWII; his family and educational background; moving to the United States in 1950; his U.S. Army service; his studies at American University and his teachers including Robert Gates, Ben Summerford, William Calfee, and Sarah Baker; his early experiments with abstraction; his first studio in Washington, D.C.; exhibiting at the Jefferson Place Gallery in the 1960s and later at the B.R. Kornblatt Gallery; working at the Phillips Collection for twenty-five years; and materials, techniques, and influences in his painting. He recalls Tom Downing, the Institute of Contemporary Art (Washington, D.C.), John Gernand, Sam Gilliam, Michael Clark, Duncan and Marjorie Phillips, Harold Giese, William Woodward, Jim McLaughlin, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Willem De Looper (1932-2009) was a painter from Washington, D.C.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 23 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Painters -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Topic:
Art students -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
B. R. Kornblatt Gallery records, 1971-1992. 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.
Smithsonian American Art Museum. Curatorial Office Search this
Container:
Box 4 of 12
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Rights:
Restricted for 15 years, until Jan-01-2033. Records may contain personally identifiable information (PII) that is permanently restricted. Transferring office; 3/22/2019 memorandum, Johnstone to Laura Augustin; Contact reference staff for details.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 19-136, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Curatorial Office, Acquisition Records (Declined)
Smithsonian American Art Museum. Curatorial Office Search this
Container:
Box 1 of 12
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Rights:
Restricted for 15 years, until Jan-01-2033. Records may contain personally identifiable information (PII) that is permanently restricted. Transferring office; 3/22/2019 memorandum, Johnstone to Laura Augustin; Contact reference staff for details.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 19-136, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Curatorial Office, Acquisition Records (Declined)
Full access copies are available through the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library, Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Information on who to contact for full access is available on the Hirshhorm Museum and Sculpture Gardern Library Audio Archive website.
Maurice Prendergast / David W. Scott ; with a reprinted essay by Duncan Phillips ; compiled and edited by Willem de Looper, Martha Carey & Jan Lancaster ; the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C
Pierre Bonnard : a selection of paintings from the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., and the collection of Mrs. Duncan Phillips / compiled and edited by Willem de Looper and Kevin Grogan
