0.3 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 6 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Sketchbooks
Date:
1915-1977
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, correspondence (1920-1977), diaries, notes and writings, art works, subject files (1939-1968), printed material (1919-1971), and photographs (1919-1929) document Geissbuhler's artistic activities in Paris and New England.
Reels 1267-1268: Many letters (1920-1971), written by Geissbuhler to his wife Elisabeth Chase Geissbuhler, are illustrated. Other correspondents include Adelyn Breeskin, Margaret Browne, Edward W. Forbes, and A. Conger Goodyear. Art works consist of 26 sketchbooks (1915-1962), annotated in French and English, and over 600 figure studies (1922-1970). Printed material includes a Sculptors' Guild brochure, art course announcements (1958), and clippings (1924-1971). Other materials consist of 2 autobiographical accounts, an award from the Cambridge Centennial Exhibition (1946), an address book and calling cards.
Reel 1271: Printed material includes reproductions of Geissbuhler's work, an advertisement for the Academie Julian (1919), an exhibition announcement (1921), and a clipping (1925). Photographs (1919-1922) and a photograph album (1921-1929) contain images of Geissbuhler in his studio, his works, his family, and friends including Otto Banninger, Antoine Bourdelle, Alberto Giacometti, his father Giovanni Giacometti, and Germaine Richier. Sixteen photographs show art classes, primarily Bourdelle's classes (1919-1922), and Charles Graffley's studio (1921). Other materials consist of biographical notes, an award certificate and 4 sketches (1918).
Reel 1331: Correspondence consists of letters received from Antoine and Rhoda Bourdelle (1921-1977) and general correspondence concerning art business matters (1927-1971). A diary in 8 volumes (1921-1922) contains some illustrated entries. Printed material (1934-1971) consists of 40 exhibition catalogs, 8 clippings, and a school brochure. Four loose sketches are undated. Seven subject files concerning Geissbuhler's sculpture projects contain letters, business records, notes, and clippings.
Reel 1813: Photographs of Geissbuhler's work and one of his house, ca. 1924-1933.
Unfilmed: Letters (1937-1941) concern Geissbuhler's work for the WPA, Treasury Department, and the Federal Works Agency, primarily the Medford project and the Foxboro, Massachusetts, post office project. Other material consists of 3 forms, 2 exhibition catalogs, a press release concerning government projects, 2 rolled charcoal drawings and 2 photographs of the sculptural relief "Straw Cutting and Weaving" from the Foxboro, Massachusetts post office project, and notes.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; Dennis, Mass. Born in Delemont, Switzerland. In 1914, Geissbuhler traveled to Zurich to become a sculptor's apprentice in the studio of Otto Munch. He attended the Kunst Gewerbe School and worked as Munch's assistant until 1919. In that year, Geissbuhler went to Paris to study with Antoine Bourdelle at the Academie Julian. He maintained a studio in Paris until 1927, when he travelled to the United States and married Elisabeth Chase, a Boston sculptor whom he met in Bourdelle's class. They moved to New England in 1933, and in 1937 he became an art instructor at Wellesley College.
Provenance:
Material on reels 1267-1268, 1271, 1331 and 1813 lent for microfilming 1977-1978; unmicrofilmed material donated 1984 all by Arnold Geissbuhler.
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.
47 photographs of 43 artists in their Paris studios. Artists include: Louise Abbema, Albert Aublet, Riene Bellcourt, Jean Beraud, Paul Albert Besnard, Maurice Bompard, Leon Joseph Florentin Bonnat, Gustave Rodolphe Clarence Boulanger, William Adolphe Bouguereau, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Alexandre Cabanel, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Georges Jules Victor Clairin, Louis Joseph Rapheal Collin, Jean-Joseph Benjamin Constant, Fernand Cormon, Gustave Courtois, Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan, Jean Baptiste Edouard Detaille, Ernest Ange Duez, Carolus Duran, Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguiere, T. R. Fleury, J. Frappa, Walter Gay, Jean Leon Gerome, Henri Gervex, George Peter Alexander Healy, Antoine Auguste Ernest Hebert, Jean Jacques Henner, Charles Jacques, Jean Paul Laurens, Jules Lefebvre, Albert Maignan, Luc Olivier Merson, Aime Nicolas Morot, Mihaly Munkacsy, Alphonse Wane de Neuville, Georges Rochegrosse, Alfred Philippe Roll, John Singer Sargent, Alfred Stevens, and George Adolphus Storey.
The studios show mainly a strong Moorish influence.
Provenance:
Donated by the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1971, which had received them from a Mrs. Kirkham?, a painter who probably purchased them while studying in Paris.
The papers of American portrait painter William Cushing Loring (1897-1959) measure 0.7 linear feet and date from 1899-1961. The majority of the collection consists of correspondence, including letters which document Loring's artistic education in Paris and London 1900-1904. Also found within the collection are letters from other Loring family members, printed materials which document Loring's artistic career, and photographs of the artist and his work.
Scope and Contents:
The William Cushing Loring papers measure 0.7 linear feet and date from 1899-1961. The collection documents Loring's artistic education in Paris and London and his career as an artist and instructor through correspondence, printed materials, and photographs.
Correspondence consists primarily of letters from William Cushing Loring to other Loring family members, including Stanton D. Loring, his father; Mrs. Stanton D. Loring, his mother; Robert Loring, his brother; and Elizabeth and Helen Loring, his sisters. Letters document Loring's life as an artist living abroad in Paris and London. He writes of visits to the studios of John Singer Sargent, Francis David Millet, and Lawrence Alma-Tadema; trips to museums and galleries; excursions to copy paintings in the Louvre and the London National Gallery; evening entertainment; and accounts of daily expenses. Some letters addressed to his parents include illustrations, sketches in ink and graphite, as well as miniature paintings. Letters from Helen Loring and Robert Loring to their parents, as well as unidentified letters, are also present. Envelopes are for the most part matched to letters, but fragment envelopes and letters are integrated within collection.
Printed materials include exhibition catalogs, newspaper obituary clippings for William Cushing Loring, bulletins for Rhode Island School of Design alumni, a holiday card for Loring's studio, and business cards.
Photographic material includes photographs of works of art by William Cushing Loring and photographs of the artist. Photographs of the artist include portraits and photographs of Loring with his family. Included among photographs of works of art are photos by Elmer Chickering.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as three series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1899-1904 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 2: Printed Material, circa 1905-1961(4 folders; Box 2)
Series 3: Photographic Material, circa 1905 (4 folders; Box 2, OV 3)
Biographical / Historical:
William Cushing Loring (1897-1959) was an American painter and teacher born in Newton Center, MA. He studied at Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Chase's Art School in New York, Academie Colarossi and Academie Delecluse in Paris, and for two years in Holland and London. Loring was best known for his portraiture. He was appointed head of the painting and drawing department at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1905, and taught at La Salle Junior College in Auburn, Massachusetts from 1921 to 1939.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by William Loring Cushing, Jr., son of the artist, in 1985.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
