The papers of portrait painter Carl Bohnen date from 1888-1977, and measure 3.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence among family, clients, and colleagues; scattered business records; a sketchbook and loose sketches; miscellaneous notes and writings; three scrapbooks of clippings and additional printed materials. Photographs are of Bohnen, family members, colleagues, views of Paris in the late 1920s, Native American models, portrait clients, and artwork.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of portrait painter Carl Bohnen date from 1888-1977, and measure 3.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence among family, clients, and colleagues; scattered business records; a sketchbook and loose sketches; miscellaneous notes and writings; three scrapbooks of clippings and additional printed materials. Photographs are of Bohnen, family members, colleagues, views of Paris in the late 1920s, Native American models, portrait clients, and artwork.
Biographical material includes miscellaneous Bohnen family histories and chronologies of Bohnen's career, Bohnen's marriage certificate, school transcripts, and copies of his burial certificate.
Family correspondence consists of letters exchanged between Bohnen, his wife, siblings, and children. General correspondence is with colleagues including Carl Von Marr, and portrait clients including Constance Collier, John Erskine, Edna Ferber, and Frank B. Kellogg. The letters are often emotional and illustrate occasionally volatile relationships between Bohnen, his clients, and his children. Also included are condolence letters received by the family following Bohnen's death.
Business records include a contract for financial backing of artistic activities, insurance records, miscellaneous receipts, and a file concerning the elderly Bohnen's injuries on an American Airlines flight bringing him from California to live with his son in Chicago.
Artwork found within the papers consists of a sketchbook, miscellaneous sketches, hand-lettered signs for Bohnen's portrait business, etchings by Bohnen and others, a bronze plaque displaying a self-portrait of Bohnen, and etching plates. Scattered notes and writings include typescripts of speeches, plays, and poems.
Three scrapbooks of clippings and additional printed material consisting of loose clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and reproductions of artwork offer a good overview of Bohnen's career.
Photographs are primarily of Bohnen's artwork and protrait clients. Two photograph albums contain scattered photographs of Bohnen, family members, colleagues, and artwork. Other photographs are of Bohnen at his easel, family members, colleagues including sculptor Paul Dubois working in his studio, artist Grace Neal, and views of Paris. There are also photographs of Native American models in ceremonial headdresses. Photographs of clients include Sarah Bernhardt, William Jennings Bryan, Enrico Caruso, Fritz Feld, Mary Garden, and Helen Hayes, among others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series. Each series is arranged chronologically, with the exception of Series 8: Photographs. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1898-1952 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1892-1977 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Business Records, 1914-1952 (Box 1; 10 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, 1900-1935 (Box 1; 8 folders)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1917-1974 (Box 1; 8 folders)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1904-1962 (Boxes 1-2, OV 5; 15 folders)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1907-1977 (Boxes 2, 4; 19 folders)
Series 8: Photographs, 1888-1951 (Boxes 2-4, 6; 1.5 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Charles "Carl" Bohnen was born in October 1872 (according to the U.S. Census) in Erie, Pennsylvania, to Nicholas and Marie Jochin Bohnen, who had emigrated from Germany. The family moved to Meyer's Grove, Minnesota in the following year.
Carl Bohnen graduated from St. John's University at Collegeville, Minnesota in 1892, earning a diploma in "Bookkeeping and Penmanship." Soon afterwards, he met Jake Hohman who employed him in a business involving drawing portraits from photographs. In 1896, Bohnen established a studio in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he continued creating portraits from photographs. During this time, he met Charlotte Johnson, whom he married in 1898.
Bohnen moved his studio in 1902 and began painting portraits from life. Paul Manship's family were neighbors of the Bohnens at Bald Eagle Lake near St. Paul, Minnesota. Bohnen studied at the Minnesota School of Fine Arts in exchange for cleaning up the classrooms. He later made space available to Manship in his studio.
In 1904, Bohnen completed studies at the St. Paul Art Institute. He also did commercial work, including doing portraits of sports figures for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch. Through his newspaper connections, he did portraits of many other celebrities, later selling reproductions of these artworks. Eventually, he was hired as a portrait painter by a variety of prominent sitters, including R. A. Jackson, a railroad executive in St. Paul. An exhibition of Bohnen's portraits organized by Jackson resulted in additional commissions.
Through R. A. Jackson, several lumber millionaires helped finance a European trip for the Bohnen family in 1914. Bohnen studied at the Koenigliche Kunst Academie in Munich under Carl Von Marr and Angelo Jank, and established a studio in that city. Travel constraints resulting from the onset of World War I caused the family to remain in Munich for three years. During this time, Bohnen was a member of the American Artist Club that included E. Martin Hennings, Louis Grell, and Emil Frei.
Bohnen and his family returned to St. Paul, Minnesota in May 1918, where he established a studio. He moved to Chicago in the following year, opening a studio in the Fine Arts building where he remained until the 1930s. Bohnen created thousands of portraits primarily of notable people including Edward the Prince of Wales, Ethel Barrymore, Enrico Caruso, Helen Hayes, Charles Lindbergh, Douglas MacArthur, John McCormack, Cardinal Mundelein, and Lawrence Tibbett.
In 1928, Bohnen established a studio in Paris and worked there sporadically through 1933. In 1933, he returned to St. Paul, Minnesota, setting up his studio in the Ryan Hotel. In 1944, he retired to live in Los Angeles, California, with his son, actor Roman Bohnen. After his son's sudden death in 1949, Bohnen lived with his other son, Arthur, in Chicago.
Carl Bohnen died on December 31, 1951 in Willmette, Illinois.
Provenance:
The Carl Bohnen papers were donated in 1978 by the artist's daughter-in-law, Dorothy Clark Bohnen, and his granddaughter, Blythe Bohnen.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and not served to researchers.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of painter and muralist Daniel Putnam Brinley and his wife, linguist and writer Kathrine Sanger Brinley, date from 1879 to 1984 and measure 14.3 linear feet. The Brinleys' careers and lives are documented in biographical materials, as well as extensive correspondence with one another, family, friends, art galleries, organizations, publishers, and others. Also found within the papers are writings by both, including 16 diaries (1 by Daniel Putnam Brinley and the rest by Kathrine), essays, manuscripts, typescripts, notes and notebooks, poetry, and various other writings. There are mural commission files, files for organizations of which the Brinleys were members, financial and legal records, exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material. Also found are photographs of the Brinleys, family, friends, travels, and artwork, and six sketchbooks and original artwork by Daniel Putnam Brinley.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and muralist Daniel Putnam Brinley and his wife, linguist and writer Kathrine Sanger Brinley, date from 1879 to 1984 and measure 14.3 linear feet. The Brinleys' careers and lives are documented in biographical materials, as well as extensive correspondence with one another, family, friends, art galleries, organizations, publishers, and others. Also found within the papers are writings by both, including 16 diaries (1 by Daniel Putnam Brinley and the rest by Kathrine), essays, manuscripts, typescripts, notes and notebooks, poetry, and various other writings. There are mural commission files, files for organizations of which the Brinleys were members, financial and legal records, exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material. Also found are photographs of the Brinleys, family, friends, travels, and artwork, and six sketchbooks and original artwork by Daniel Putnam Brinley.
Biographical material consists of biographical sketches and professional summaries for both Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley, passports, personal mementos, award certificates, two radio interview transcripts, and military records documenting Daniel Putnam Brinley's service in the American Expeditionary Forces and the Camouflage Corps.
The papers contain extensive correspondence (4.6 linear feet) divided into family correspondence and general correspondence. Family correspondence includes letters between Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley and with their parents and siblings. General correspondence primarily includes the Brinley's personal correspondence with friends and extended family. These letters discuss travel, mutual acquaintances, social events, and general news. Also found is professional correspondence regarding the exhibition and commission of artwork by Daniel Putnam Brinley and the publication of writings by Kathrine Sanger Brinley. Also discussed in the letters are the Brinleys' participation in art, social, and religious organizations. Correspondence of note is with Edwin Blashfield, Edward Bruce, William A. Coffin, Charles H. Davis, John Erskine, Anthony Euwer, Esperanza Gabay, Robert Henri, Hildreth Meiere, Ernest Peixotto, and Hugh Troy.
Writings and notes are by Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley. Included among their writings are one diary by Daniel Putnam Brinley, 15 diaries by Kathrine Sanger Brinley, essays, notebooks and notes, manuscripts, and typescripts. Subjects of their writings include essays about religion, poetry, and autobiographical and travel essays. Also found among Daniel Putnam Brinley's writing are lecture notes, fictional stories and plays, essays about art, and historical research for his mural projects.
Mural commission files include correspondence, lists, contracts, financial agreements, notes, plans, sketches, and photographs for specific murals. There is extensive documentation on murals Brinley completed for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York and the Liberty War Memorial in Kansas City Missouri. Organization files document the Brinleys' participation in art and social organizations.
Scattered financial and legal records include receipts, account books, leases, estate and power of attorney documents, and records regarding their house and property in New Canaan, Connecticut. Printed material consists of published items documenting the careers, social activities and personal interest of the Brinleys, and includes books, exhibition catalogs and announcements, news clippings, newsletters, and items from their travels abroad.
Photographs depict Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley, individually and with family and friends, and include photographs of Daniel Putnam Brinley working on mural commissions. Also found are photographs of their travels, their homes, Daniel Putnam Brinley's artwork, and reference photographs for his murals. Artwork in this collection includes six of Daniel Putnam Brinley's sketchbooks, primarily from his travels in Europe and Canada, loose drawings and mural studies, drawings by Albert Sterner and Reinhold Palenske, and a lithograph by John Steuart Curry.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 9 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1879-1970s (Box 1, OV 16; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1879-1984 (Box 1-6; 4.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1895-1964 (Box 6-9; 3.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Commission Files, 1920-1979 (Box 9-10; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Organization Files, 1909-1964 (Box 10-11; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 6: Financial and Legal Records, 1896-1965 (Box 11; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1895-1979 (Box 11-13, OV 16-17; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1881-1971 (Box 13-14, OV 22; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 9: Artwork, 1891-1950s (Box 14-15, OVs 18-21; 0.9 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Daniel Putnam Brinley (1879-1963) was a muralist and painter in New York City and New Canaan, Connecticut. Brinley was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and studied from 1900 to 1902 at the Art Student's League under Kenyon Cox and John Henry Twachtman. Influenced by Twachtman, he became an impressionist landscape painter for a time. In 1904, he married his childhood friend, writer Kathrine Gordon Sanger (1877-1966). For the next four years they traveled throughout Europe and lived in Paris, where Brinley studied art independently and became a member of the modernist circle of painters.
In 1908 the Brinleys returned to the United States and Daniel established a studio in New York City. During this period his work was heavily influenced by the modernist movement, with flattened forms and a deeper hued palette. Brinley had his first one-man show at Madison Avenue Galleries in 1910, exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery at 291, and helped organized the 1913 Armory Show. He was also a founding member of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and the Grand Central Art Galleries. In 1914 the Brinleys built a home, Datchet House, in New Canaan, Connecticut, and spent part of each year there for the remainder of their lives.
In 1917 Daniel Putnam Brinley trained with the American Expeditionary Forces and went to France as the Director of Decoration for the Foyers Du Soldat (YMCA), remaining there until 1919. After returning to the United States he became a mural painter and received numerous commissions for memorials, office buildings, churches, and public spaces over the next forty years. Perhaps most notable of these commissions was the Liberty War Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, for which Brinley painted 24 decorative maps showing the history of World War I. He remained active in the art community as a member of the Architectural League of New York, the National Academy of Design, and the Silvermine Guild of Artists, among others.
Kathrine Sanger Brinley was a writer and linguist who worked in Europe, New York City, and Connecticut. She lived in Europe from 1904 to 1908 where she studied the arts and crafts of the middle ages and became an expert on English writing and language of the 14th century. She published articles and books on these subjects and during the 1920s had a successful career touring as a dramatic recitalist of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. From 1934 to 1938 the Brinley's spent their summers traveling throughout Canada, and Kathrine published four travel books which were illustrated by Daniel Putnam Brinley. Kathrine Sanger Brinley published and wrote professionally under the name Gordon Brinley.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is the Elizabeth Loder research material on Daniel Putnam Brinley, 1919-1990.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel 1427, including select family photographs. Loaned material was returned to the lender is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley papers were lent for microfilming by their niece, Elizabeth Loder, in 1978-1979. Loder subsequently donated all but select family photographs in 1991 and additional material in 1992.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
