Goldwater's correspondence is with academic colleagues, art museums, arts organizations, publishers, and former students. There is also scattered correspondence with artists and with family. Subjects include: requests to write book reviews and employment references, and to critique others' writings and provide research advice; Magazine of Art and Museum of Primitive Art business; awards and memberships; details about publishing texts by Goldwater and others; and congratulatory letters, comments, and questions about his writings. A small number of letters include comments about the personal lives of the correspondents, usually routine news of family and friends; a few letters are of a purely social nature. There are three letters addressed to Louise Bourgeois: two from Erick Hawkins and one from Ronnie Elliott.
Also found here are condolence letters received upon the deaths of Goldwater's mother and father in 1942 and 1958 respectively, and a small number of letters from his parents. Family letters include a few addressed to Clara A. Goldwater (Mrs. S. S. Goldwater).
Small amounts of additional correspondence can be found in Series 2: Subject Files and Series 3: Teaching Records.
See Appendix for a list of correspondents from Series 1.
Appendix: Correspondents from Series 1:
What follows is a complete list of correspondents (and the years of correspondence) in this series.
Abramson, Jerry, 1969
Albright Art Gallery, 1947, 1954-1955
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1953
Allen, Harold, 1953
Allert de Lange Verlag, 1952-1954
American Association of University Professors, 1946
American Council of Learned Societies, 1967-1968
American Federation of Arts, 1953
American Studies Association of Metropolitan New York, 1955
Anderson, Wayne V., 1964
Andiron Club of New York City, 1945-1946
Argent Galleries, 1947
Arnason, H. Harvard, 1948
Arnheim, Rudolf, 1945
Art Bulletin, 1940-1945, 1955
Art Forum, 1967
Art Gallery of Ontario, 1970
Art Gallery of Toronto, 1972
Art In America, 1941-1947, 1955
Art Institute of Chicago, 1940
Art News, 1946-1947
Art Students League of New York, 1940, 1943
Arts Magazine, 1964, 1967
Atlantic Transports, 1952
Auchincloss, James C., 1953
Authors Guild, 1947
Baltimore Museum of Art, 1946, 1954
Baltrusaitis, Mr., 1952, 1973
Barnard College, 1954
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1938-1939, 1949, 1951-1952
Becker, Marion R., 1945, 1949
Bellew, Peter, 1951
Bennington College, 1950
Benz, Helen, 1946
Bernheimer, Richard, 1955
Bernier, Rosamond, 1955
Besson, Mr., 1946
Black Mountain College, 1948
Board of Higher Education, City of New York, , 1944
Booth, Cameron, 1942
Boston Art Festival, 1954
British Council, 1951
British Museum, 1934
Brooklyn College, 1946
Brown University, 1964, 1968
Burlington Magazine, 1954
Busa, Peter, 1946
California Arts and Architecture, 1944
California School of Fine Arts, 1949
California State College, 1969
Carnegie Corporation, 1942-1943
Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1942
Chanticleer Press, Inc., 1955
Chapman, Ed, 1946
Choate, Mabel, 1946
Church, Howard, 1947
Cincinnati Modern Art Society, 1946-1946
Cleveland Institute of Art, 1952
Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952-1953
Colorado College, 1952
Columbia University Press, 1948
Columbia University, 1940, 1953-1955, 1962, 1965
Comité des Arts du Congres pour la Liberté de la Culture, 1964
Cook, Walter W. S., 1942-1943, 1945-1946, 1949-1950, 1955
Criterion Books, Inc., 1955
Critique, 1946
Crosby, Sumner McK., 1942
Dartmouth College, 1942
Davis, Stuart, 1943, 1945
Dersky, Morris, 1966
Dictionary of the Arts, 1941
Direction Départmentale de la Population de la Giornde, 1948
Dodd, Mead & Company, 1945
Duke University, 1946-1948, 1950
Edman, Irwin, 1942
Elliott, Ronnie, 1950*
Elsen, Al, 1969
Engel, Eugene W., 1946-1947
Exhibition Momentum, 1953, 1956
Falkenstein, Claire, 1951
Farwell, Beatrice, 1968-1969
Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Inc., 1946, 1950
Fitzsimmon, Jim, 1953
Florida State University, 1953
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1945-1947, 1949, 1954, 1956, 1971
Ford Foundation, 1969
Fox, Milton, 1958
[Frankenthaler?], Helen, 1950-1951
Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1969
Frick Collection, 1941
Fried, Richard N., 1950
Friedensohn, Elias, 1956
Fund for the Republic, Inc., 1956
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1956
Gallatin, A. E., 1944
Goldwater, Barry, 1966
Goodrich, Lloyd, 1945
Goucher College, 1967
Greene, Balcomb, 1942, 1947, 1951-1953
Guggenheim Foundation, 1945-1946, 1953-1955
Hallmark Art Award, 1949
Hammacher, Mr., 1952
Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., 1945
Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., 1952
Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1939-1942
Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, 1953, 1955, 1957
Harvard University, 1949-1951, 1968
Hawkins, Erick, 1950*
Herbert, Robert L., 1954
Hollins College, 1950
Hope, Henry R., 1943-1944, 1947, 1955
Horizon, 1949
Hunter College, 1967
Hunter, Sam, 1955
Indiana University, 1966
Ingram Merrill Foundation, 1966-1967
Institute for Advanced Study, 1964, 1966
Institute for Sex Research, Inc, Indiana University, 1966
Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1951
Institute of Design, 1947
Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Association, 1954
Institute of Fine Arts, 1969
Institute of International Education, 1953-1955
Intercultural Publications, Inc., 1953
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 1954
Janson, H. W., 1952-1954
Johns Hopkins Press, 1966-1967
Joslin, Andrew, 1972
Kamer, Henri A., 1964
Karl, Aline, 1953
Kenyon Review, 1945-1947, 1954
Kerns Foundation, Theosophical Society in America, 1968
Keyserling, Leon H., 1948
Kimball, Fiske, 1945, 1949
Knowles, Edwin B., Jr., 1945
Koch, Bob, 1954
Komroff, Manuel, 1944, 1946
[Krautheimer], Richard, 1944
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 1944
Lee, Rensselaer W., 1942, 1944
Levy, Adele R., 1956
Levy, Julien, 1944
Leylan, Robert M., 1941
Library of Congress, 1944-1947, 1952-1953
Loran, Erle, 1941
Loshak, David, 1946
Lougee and Company, 1952
M. I. T. Press, 1967
MacAgy, Douglas, 1948
Magazine of Art, 1944-1945, 1948, 1950-1951
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1967
Masson, Rose, 1944
Mayhew, Edgar deN., 1944
McGraw, Patricia, 1953
McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950, 1965
Mellquist, Jerome, 1951
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1940, 1954
Miller, Peter, 1944
Mitchell, Eleanor, 1945
Moffett, Charles, 1969
Museum of Modern Art, 1942, 1946-1947, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1969
Museum Purchase Fund, 1952
National Arts Club, 1946
Nelson, Kathleen L., 1945
New School Associates, 1953
New School for Social Research, 1949
New School, 1953, 1955
New York Times, 1946
New York University, 1934, 1937-1941, 1945, 1947, 1954, 1956-1959, 1963, 1966, 1970
New York University Press, 1970
Newark Museum, 1944
Okun, Henry, 1967-1968
Old Dominion Foundation, 1969
Ozenfant, [Amédée], 1949
Pantheon Books, Inc., 1944-1946, 1953-1954
Partisan Review, 1946, 1961-1962
Perry, William, 1941
Perspectives U.S.A., 1952
Phillips, Duncan, 1952
Photo Berard, 1951
Pietrantoni, M. L., 1955
Plass, Margo, 1962
Porter, James A., 1942
Prendergast, Charles, 1945
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1950
Princeton University, 1943, 1949
Princeton University Press, 1947-1949, 1954-1955, 1959
Prior, Harris, 1946
Quadrum, 1956
Queens College, 1938-1957, 1972, undated
Rand School of Social Science, 1945
Random House, 1964
[Rattner], Abe, 1945
Redon, Ari, 1951
Rewald, John, 1941-1942, 1946
Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, 1946
Rice Institute, 1954
Rice, Philip, 1952
Richter, H., 1952, 1954
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller-Otterlo, 1957
Robb, David M., 1946-1947
Robinson, Cortland A., 1945
Rockefeller Foundation, 1946, 1951, 1954, 1956
Rockefeller, Nelson A., 1957-1958, 1965
Roditi, Edouard, 1951
Rodman, Selden, 1946
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, 1967-1968
Ruksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, 1952
Sachs, Mrs. H. F., 1941
Samuel Kress Foundation, 1968
San Francisco Museum of Art, 1953
Sandström, Sven, 1954
Sarah Lawrence College, 1949-1950
Saturday Review, 1951, 1954
Schaefer-Sinnevenm 1945
Scheeffner, Denise Pauline, 1964
Schmalenbach, Fritz, 1951-1952, 1954
Seeman, Hugh, 1953
Seligman, Germain, 1947
Seuphor, Michel, 1951-1953, 1955
[Schapiro?], Meyer, 1941, 1943, 1952, 1960
Sihara, Laxmi P., 1968
Sloane, Joe, 1941
Smyth, Craig Hugh, 1952-1954, 1956
Soby, James Thrall, 1946-1947, 1950, 1955-1956
Société des Africanistes, 1936
Sokol, David M., 1969
Solomon, Alan, undated
State University of New York, Buffalo, 1969
State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1969
Stix, Hugh, 1952
Stokowski, Gloria (Mrs. Leopold), 1952
Sweeney, James Johnson, 1953, 1956
Sypher, Wylie, 1954
Time, 1945
Times Book Club, 1945
Tobé-Coburn School for Fashion Careers, 1947, 1950
[Trilling], Lionel, 1945-1946
Twin Editions, 1944
United States Educational Commission for France, 1951
United States Information Agency, 1959
University Club of Jamaica, New York, 1941
University of Birmingham, 1969
University of Birmingham, 1970
University of California, 1968-1969
University of California, Berkeley, 1948
University of Connecticut, 1950
University of Guelph, 1970-1971
University of Illinois, 1967
University of Iowa, 1968-1969
University of Massachusetts, 1966-1967, 1972
University of New Mexico, 1967
University of North Carolina, 1953
University of Texas, 1947
University of Washington Press, 1967
Valentin, Curt, 1953
Venturi, [illegible], 1941
Viking Press, Inc., 1944, 1968
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1953
Visson, Assia R., 1942-1943, 1947, 1950
Vytlacil, Vaclav, 1942
Walker Art Center, 1954
Walker, Hudson D., 1948
Wardwell, Allen, II, undated
Webster J. Carson, 1945, 1955
Webster, J. Carson, 1955
Weller, Allen S., 1958
Werner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, 1970
This material is ACCESS RESTRICTED; permission; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Robert John Goldwater papers, 1902-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
Scope and Contents note:
The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
Artists' files include biographical material; artists' statements; correspondence; sales and expense reports; lists and notes; guest lists; writings by others; receipts, invoices, and statements; printed material, including press releases, exhibition announcements, brochures, catalogues, clippings; and photographs of artwork and artists. Included are extensive files on Afro Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Robert Broderson, Anselmo Franesconi, Joseph Glasco, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Luciano Minguzzi, Ennio Morlotti, Bernard Perlin, Daniel Rice, and Bernard Rosenthal. There are also files on Jan Cox, Kay Sage, and Kazuo Wakabayashi.
Correspondence comprises the largest series in the collection and consists of general correspondence; correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States; and correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad. Letters focus on routine business matters, e.g., appraisals and sales, acquisitions, and organizing exhibitions at the Catherine Viviano Gallery and other venues.
General correspondence includes letters between Catherine Viviano and artists and their family members. Among the correspondents are: Mary Callery, Bernard Chaet, Piero and Virginia Dorazio, Jean Dubuffet, Dallas Ernst, Karl Fortress, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Sage Goodwin, Morris Graves, José Guerrero, Earle Ludgin, Joan Miro, Alfonso Ossorio, Dorothea Tanning, Stuyvesant Van Veen, Adja Yunkers and his wife, Dore Ashton, among others. Also found is Viviano's correspondence with clients, many of whom were prominent collectors, e.g., Richard Brown Baker, Carl and Joan Fisher, Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman, Joseph Hirschhorn, Marc Moyens, Vincent Price, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, Stanley Seeger, and Frederick and Dorothy Zimmerman. Of interest, are letters from Elizabeth Bishop inquiring about the purchase of a work of art from the gallery. Included are letters from art historians, museum directors, curators, representatives at other art-related institutions, and publishers including Walter Bareiss, Walter Barker, Dominque De Menil, Valentine Dudensing, William Eisendrath, S. Lane Faison, Emily Genauer, Bertram Goodhue, Erhard and Barbara Göpel, James Laughlin, Porter McCray, Abram Lerner, Doris Meltzer, Stephen Robson Miller, John Bernard Myers, Perry Rathbone, Belle Krasne Ribicoff, Meyer Shapiro, George Stout, and Curt Valentin.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States contains letters between Viviano and museum directors, curators, dealers, artists, and collectors pertaining to loans, shipping and delivery of artwork, appraisals and sales, and acquisitions. Files include substantive correspondence with the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Federation of the Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, the Barnes Foundation, Bristol Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Bundy Art Gallery, Carnegie Institute, City Art Museum of St. Louis, Cleveland Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Denver Art Museum, Des Moines Art Center, Detroit Institute of Arts, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Museum of Modern Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Wadsworth Atheneum, Walker Art Center, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Atkins Museum of the Fine Arts, World House Gallery, and Yale University Art Library.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad primarily concerns the lending of artwork for exhibitions, acquisition and sales; also included are letters requesting biographical information on artists. Letters between Catherine Viviano and representatives of Max Beckmann Gesellschaft Archiv and Galerie Gunther Franke contain provenance-related information on Beckmann's work.
Business records document the routine business operations of the gallery. Printed material includes an incomplete run of Catherine Viviano Gallery exhibition catalogues; invitations and announcements from other galleries and institutions; and miscellaneous printed material.
Photographs include three images of miscellaneous artwork used for art reference.
Arrangement note:
Records are generally arranged by material type and in chronological order thereafter. Artists' files and correspondence files are arranged in alphabetical order and materials within the folders are arranged chronologically
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Artists' Files, 1945-1986 (Boxes 1-3; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1985 (Boxes 3-6; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Business Records, 1949-1972 (Boxes 10-11; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1930-1990 (Boxes 11-13; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographs (1948-1954), undated (Box 14; 1 folder)
Biographical/Historical note:
Catherine Viviano (1889-1992) opened her gallery in 1949 on 42 East 57th Street in New York City. Specializing in contemporary American paintings and sculpture, the gallery featured younger American and European artists, e.g., Robert Broderson, Carlyle Brown, Jan Cox, Joseph Glasco, Peter Lanyon, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Bernard Perlin, Joseph Rollo, Bernard Rosenthal, and Kay Sage, among others. The gallery was also notable for introducing the work of Italian artists, who had been cut off from the American art scene during World War II, including Afro Basaldella and his brother Mirko Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Leonardo Cremonini, and Luciano Minguzzi.
Born in Italy in 1899 and raised in Chicago, Catherine Viviano came to New York in the early 1930's to work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, where she remained for sixteen years before founding the Catherine Viviano Gallery.
In 1970, Catherine Viviano closed the gallery, though she continued to work from her home as an art dealer and consultant. She died of a stroke at the age of ninety-two in 1992.
Related Archival Materials note:
Among the other resources relating to Catherine Viviano Gallery in the Archives of American Art are the Kay Sage papers, 1925-circa 1985, bulk 1950-1965.
Provenance:
The Catherine Viviano Gallery records were donated in 2003 on behalf of Margaret Viviano, Catherine Viviano's sister, by her grandnephew, Peter C. Salerno, who had Power of Attorney for Margaret Viviano.
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.
This series contains the personal and business correspondence of George Grey Barnard until his death in 1938. Later correspondence consists of the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Barnard's son, Monroe Grey Barnard, mostly in connection with his father's estate and in letters to art historian and Barnard scholar, Harold E. Dickson.
Correspondents include art and antiques dealers, museum directors, curators, and galleries, as well as individuals whom Barnard identified as 'prospects' for either his own sculptural projects or medieval antiquities in his collection. Frequent correspondents include art and antiques dealers M. Dagras et Fils, C. Joret, Ste. Galleries Schutz, D.W. French and Co.; museum directors Edward Forbes (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard Univesity), Robert DeForest (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Fiske Kimball (Philadelphia Museum of Art); and art patrons Arthur M. Huntington and John Gellatly. Handwritten drafts and typed copies of Barnard's outgoing letters are scattered throughout.
Of particular interest are the letters from the early to mid-1920s, the period during which he was trying to sell the medieval art and architectural elements that made up the George Grey Barnard Cloisters. Individuals wrote with proposals, such as artist Calthea Vivian, who hoped to find a home for the collection in California. Museums that expressed interest include the Toledo Museum of Art. Ultimately the collection was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with funds provided by John D. Rockefeller. The 1925 folder contains letters providing details concerning the sales agreement.
Correspondence that post-dates Barnard's death in 1938 includes his son's correspondence with various individuals and institutions concerning his father's estate and the remaining collection of medieval art and architectural elements, which was known as 'The Monastery' or 'The Abbaye.' There is significant correspondence with representatives of the National Cathedral regarding moving the collection to Washington, D.C. However, no correspondence was found relating to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's subsequent acquisition of the bulk of the collection. There is also significant personal correspondence between Monroe and his mother (Edna Monroe Barnard), primarily typed copies of his outgoing letters.
See Appendix for a list of notable correspondents from Series 2
Arrangement note:
Correspondence is arranged chronologically. A file of undated letters and another that contains a typed list of telegrams and telephone calls has been placed at the end.
Appendix: Notable Correspondents from Series 2:
A. Charnoz Antiquaire, 1925
Albert L. Morse and Sons Antiquities, 1925
Allen, Collens, and Willis Architects, 1934
American Museum of Natural History, 1918
Anderson Galleries, 1927
Andr Seligmann, 1929
Arnold Seligmann et Fils, 1927
Arthur S. Vernay, Inc., 1923
Bacri Frres, 1925
Ball, D.C., 1916
Barnard, Monroe, 1938, 1941-1942, 1953 and undated
Billikopf, Jacob, 1926
Bird, Hobart S, 1929
Bloomingdale, Hiram, 1924
Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1938
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1937
C. Hendel and Sons, 1938
C. Joret Antiquities, 1925, 1938, 1939 and undated
C.M. Traver Co., 1925
Carnegie Institute, 1923
Charbon Anglais, 1914, 1916
Chicago Institute of Art, 1920
Cleveland Museum of Art, 1915, 1935
Columbia University, Teachers College, 1922
Commission of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., 1956
Commissioner of Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, Penn., 1926
Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 1925
Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott Architects, 1926
Cram and Ferguson Architects, 1919, 1926
DeForest Bros., 1925
Denton, Christine, 1918, 1920-1921 and undated
Doll and Richards Fine Arts, 1920-1921
duPont, Pierre S., 1939
E and A Silberman, 1927
E. Larcade Objects d'Art Ancien, 1925
E. Simon, 1927, 1932
Elmer Grey Architect, 1931, 1937
Fine Arts Federation of New York, 1938, 1940
Ford Motor Company, 1938
Franklin Spier, 1925
Freeman, James E (Bishop of Washington D.C.), 1940
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1912, 1924-1927, 1930, 1935, 1937, 1957
Midway Studio (Lorado Taft), 1924
Morris, Ruth, 1962-1964
Moss, Col. James A., 1920
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Mass.), 1919, 1921, 1927, 1935
Museum of Newark, New Jersey, 1928
Myers, Clarance J., 1938
Nelson Gallery of Art (William Rockhill), 1938
Norris, Gertrude, 1933
North Carolina Historical Society (R.D.W. Connor), 1911-1913
P. Jackson Works of Art, 1925
P.W. French and Co., 1928
Paris Singer, 1926
Parrot, William, 1936
Paul Gouvert, 1925
Pennsylvania Museum of Art (later Philadelphia Museum of Art), 1926-1930, 1937
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1955-1956
Rockefeller Jr., John D, 1927-1928, 1938
S. Marchat, 1925
Saint-Georges Art Gallery, 1925
Simon and Co., 1929
Sparks, William Sheppard, 1938
Spreckels, Alma de Bretteville, 1920
Ste. Galeries Schutz, 1927-1929
Thaw, Elsa Dows, 1915-1916
Thomas, Joseph B., 1922
Thompson, A., 1899
Toledo Museum of Art, 1922
United States Department of the Interior, 1957-1958
United States Department of State, 1913-1914
University of Illinois, College of Fine and Applied Arts, 1937
Vivian, Calthea, 1922-1924
Wadsworth Atheneum , 1938
Washington National Cathedral (formerly Washington Cathedral), 1922
Waterman, F.D., 1923
Wildhaber, A. Paul, 1921-1922
Wilson, William H., 1922
Worcester Art Museum, 1927
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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:
George Grey Barnard papers, circa 1860-1969, bulk 1880-1938. 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. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
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:
George Grey Barnard papers, circa 1860-1969, bulk 1880-1938. 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. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
The personal papers of Charles Lang Freer, the industrialist and art collector who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. The papers include correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, and photographs.
Scope Content:
The personal papers of Charles Lang Freer, the industrialist and art collector who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. The papers include correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, financial material, architectural drawings, and photographs.
Correspondence, circa 1860-1921, includes Freer's correspondence, 1876-1920, with artists, dealers, collectors, museums, and public figures; letterpress books contain copies of Freer's outgoing letters, 1892-1910; correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler, and his wife Beatrix, 186?-1909, with Lady Colin Campbell, Thomas R. Way, Alexander Reid, Whistler's mother, Mrs. George W. Whistler, and others; correspondence of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, 1904-1913, regarding works in Canfield's collection; and correspondence of Freer's assistant, Katharine Nash Rhoades, 1920-1921, soliciting Freer's letters from his associates, and regarding the settlement of his estate.
Also included are twenty-nine pocket diaries, 1889-1890, 1892-1898, 1900-1919, recording daily activities, people and places visited, observations, and comments; a diary kept by Freer's caretaker, Joseph Stephens Warring, recording daily activities at Freer's Detroit home, 1907-1910. Inventories, n.d. and 1901-1921, of American, European, and Asian art in Freer's collection, often including provenance information; vouchers, 1884-1919, documenting his purchases; five volumes of scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeill Whistler, 1888-1931, labeled "Various," "Peacock Room," "Death, etc.," "Paris, etc.," and "Boston...London" ; three volumes of newsclippings, 1900-1930, concerning Freer and the opening of the Freer Gallery of Art.
Correspondence regarding Freer's gift and bequest to the Smithsonian Institution, 1902-1916; and photographs, ca. 1880-1930, of Freer, including portraits by Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen, Freer with others, Freer in Cairo, China and Japan, Freer's death mask, and his memorial service, Kyoto, 1930; photographs of artists and others, including Thomas Dewing, Ernest Fenollosa, Katharine Rhoades taken by Alfred Stieglitz, Rosalind B. Philip, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Abbott H. Thayer, Dwight Tryon, and Whistler; and photographs relating to Whistler, including art works depicting him, grave and memorial monuments, works of art, the Peacock Room, and Whistler's memorial exhibition at the Copley Society.
Organization of the Papers:
This collection is organized into twelve series.
Series 1: Genealogical and Biographical Data
Series 2: Correspondence
Series 3: Diaries
Series 4: Freer Colleague Materials
Series 5: Art Inventories
Series 6: Financial Materials
Series 7: Exhibition Loan Files
Series 8: Biblical Manuscripts and Gold Treasure Files
Series 9: American School of Archaeology in China
Series 10: Printed Material
Series 11: Outsize Material
Series 12: Photographs
Biographical Note:
1854 February 25 -- Born in Kingston, New York
1873 -- Appointed accountant and paymaster of New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad by Frank J. Hecker (1846-1927)
1876 -- Moves to Indiana to work, with Hecker, for the Detroit and Eel River and Illinois Railroad
1880 -- Moves to Detroit, participates in organization of the Peninsular Car Works with Hecker
1883 -- Becomes vice president and secretary of Peninsular Car Company when it succeeds Peninsular Car Works
1883 -- Begins collecting European prints
1884 -- Peninsular Car Company constructs plant on Ferry Avenue
1887 -- Meets Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)
1887 -- Acquires proofs of 26 etchings, Venice, Second Series(1886), by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
1887 -- Purchases a small Japanese fan attributed to Ogata Korin(1658-1715)
1887 -- Buys land on Ferry Avenue
1889 -- Meets Frederick Stuart Church (1826-1900) and Dwight William Tryon (1849-1925) in New York
1890 -- Commissions Wilson Eyre (1858-1944) to design house on Ferry Avenue, Detroit, Michigan
1890 -- On first trip to London, meets James McNeill Whistler(1834-1903)
1892 -- Moves to Ferry Avenue house
1892 -- Tryon and Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) undertake decoration of reception rooms
1893 -- Lends American paintings to World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago
1893 -- Purchases first piece of Chinese art, a small painting of white herons by an anonymous Ming dynasty (1368-1644) artist
1894 -- Begins yearlong trip around the world, which includes visit to the Whistlers in Paris and first trip to Asia, stopping in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, China, and Japan
1896 -- Meets Matsuki Bunkyo (1867-1940) in Boston
1899 -- Takes part in consolidation of railroad-car building companies then retires from active business
1900 -- Attends Exposition International Universelle in Paris
1900 -- Buys villa in Capri with Thomas S. Jerome
1901 -- Meets Siegfried Bing (1838-1905) in Paris and Ernest Fenollosa(1853-1908), who visits Freer in Detroit
1902 -- Meets Dikran Kelekian (1868-1951)
1902 -- Spends summer in Britain building Whistler collection
1902 -- Views Whistler's, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room
1904 -- Purchases Whistler's Peacock Room
1904 -- Offers his art collections and funds to build a museum in which to house them to the Smithsonian Institution
1905 -- Smithsonian committee visits Freer in Detroit
1906 -- United States government formally accepts Freer's gift on January 24
1906 -- Freer signs Deed of Gift to Smithsonian Institution on May 5
1907 -- On second tour of Asia, meets Hara Tomitaro 1868-1939) in Yokohama, Japan
1908 -- Takes third trip to Asia, specifically to West Asia to study Rakka ware
1909 -- Tours Europe to study art museums
1909 -- On fourth trip to Asia, attends memorial ceremony for Fenollosa (d.1908 September) at Miidera, Japan, and meets Duanfang (1861-1911) in China
1910 -- On last trip to Asia, visits Longmen Buddhist caves in China
1911 -- Suffers stroke
1912 -- Lends selection of objects for exhibition at Smithsonian Institution
1913 -- Meets Eugene (1875-1957) and Agnes E. (1887-1970) Meyer
1913 -- Commissions Charles Adams Platt (1861-1933) to design museum building in Washington
1914 -- Meets Katharine Nash Rhoades (1885-1965) in Detroit
1915 -- Settles in New York City
1915 -- Site of future Freer Gallery of Art is determined
1916 -- Platt's plans for Freer Gallery are approved by Smithsonian Regents and Commission of Fine Arts and ground is broken in September
1918 -- After falling ill in Detroit, Freer travels to New York for treatment
1918 -- Work on the museum building is delayed by the war
1919 -- Freer appends codicil to will permitting acquisitions of Asian, Egyptian, and Near Eastern (West Asian) art
1919 -- Dies in New York City on 25 September and is buried in Kingston, New York
1919 -- Construction of Freer Gallery completed
1920 -- John Ellerton Lodge (1876-1942) is appointed director of the Freer Gallery
1923 -- Freer Gallery opens to the public on May 9
1930 -- Memorial ceremony for Freer is held at Koetsuji, Kyoto
Charles Lang Freer was an American industrialist who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. He was a well-known collector of Asian art, and strongly supported the synthesis of Eastern art and Western art. One of his most famous acquisitions was James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room.
Index:
Index to cross-referenced correspondents in the series Charles Lang Freer correspondence
Beal, Junius E. -- See: -- Warring, Joseph Stephens
Black, George M. -- See: -- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Board of Education (Kingston, New York) See: Michael, M. J.
Bonner, Campbell See: University of Michigan
Boughton, George H. See: Yardley, F. C.
British Museum See: Binyon, Laurence; Hobson, R. L.
Brown, Harold H. See: Art Association of Indianapolis
Buchner, Evelyn B. See: Knoedler, M., and Company
Buckholder, C. H. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Butler, S. B. See: Unidentified correspondents
Carnegie Institute See: Balken, Edward Duff; Harshe, Robert B.
Carpenter, Newton H. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Caulkins, Horace James See: Pewabic Pottery
Chao, Shih-chin See: Gunn, Chu Su
Chicago & North Western Railway Co. See: Hughett, Marvin
Clark, Charles Upson See: Clark, Arthur B.
Cleveland Museum of Art See: Whiting, Frederic Allen
Columbia University See: Braun, W. A.; Gottheil, Richard; Hirth, Friederich
Commission of Fine Arts See: Moore, Charles
Corcoran Gallery of Art See: Minnigerode, C. Powell
Crocker, Anna B. See: Portland Art Association
Dannenberg, D. E. See: Karlbeck, Orvar
De Menoncal, Beatrice See: Lien, Hui Ch'ing Collection
De Ricci, Seymour See: Ricci, Seymour de
Defnet, William A., Mrs., See: Franke, Ida M.
DeMotte See: Vigouroux, J.
Detroit Institute of Arts See: Detroit Museum of Art
Detroit Publishing Company See: Livingstone, W. A.
Detroit School of Design See: George Hamilton; Stevens, Henry
DeVinne Press See: Peters, Samuel T.; Witherspoon, A. S.
Dyrenforth, P. C. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Eddy, Arthur J. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Eggers, George Williams See: Art Institute of Chicago
Farr, Daniel H. See: Robinson and Farr
Farrand School (Detroit) See: Yendall, Edith
Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) See: Laufer, Berthold
Flagg, Frederick J. See: Allen, Horace N.
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University See: Forbes, Edward; Pope, Arthur Upham; Sachs, Paul J.
French, M. R. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Fu, Lan-ya See: Pang, Lai-ch'en
Fujii, Yoshio See: Yoshio, Fujii
Gerrity, Thomas See: Knoedler, M., and Company
Goupil Gallery See: Marchant, William
Gray, William J. See: Barr, Eva
Great Lakes Engineering Works See: Hoyt, H. W.
Grolier Club See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Heinemann, W. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Holden, Edward S. See: West Point, U. S. Military Academy
Hudson, J. L. See: Weber, William C.
Hutchins, Harry B. See: University of Michigan
Hutchins, Charles L. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Kelekian, H. G. See: Kelekian, Dikran G.
Kent, H. W. See: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lee, Kee Son See: Li, Chi-ch'un
Levy, John See: Schneider, A. K.
Library of Congress See: Rice, Richard A.; Wright, Helen
Louvre (Paris, France) See: Midgeon, Gaston
Matsuki, Z. See: Matsuki, Kihachiro
McKim, Mead and White See: White, Stanford
Mills, A. L., Colonel See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Miner, Luella See: Lien, Hui Ch'ing Collection
Minneapolis Institute of Arts See: Breck, Joseph; Van Derlip, John R.
Monif, R. Khan See: Rathbun, Richard
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston See: Lodge, John Ellerton
Naser, Katen & Nahass See: Katen, K.
Nordlinger, Marie, Miss See: Meyer-Riefstahl, Marie
Panama Pacific International Exposition See: Moore, Charles C.; Trask, John E. D.
Peabody Museum See: Morse, Edward Sylvester
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts See: Trask, John E. D.
Saint-Gaudens, Augusta H. See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Saint-Gaudens, Homer See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Samurai Shokai See: Nomura, Yozo
San Francisco Art Association See: Laurvik, J. Nilsen
Scribner's, Charles, Sons See: Van Dyke, John C.
Shaw, Wilfred B. See: University of Michigan
Shirae, S. Z. See: Yamanaka and Company
Smith College See: Clark, Arthur B.
Smithsonian Institution See: Holmes, William Henry; Rathbun, Richard; Ravenel, Walcott, Charles D.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Detroit) See: Plumb, Helen
Societe des Beaux-Arts See: Reid, Alexander
Stevens, George W. See: Toledo Museum of Art
Stratton, Mary Chase Perry See: Pewabic Pottery
Tanaka, Kichijiro See: Yamanaka and Company
Tuttle, William F. See: Art Institute of Chicago
Union Trust Company (Detroit) See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
United States Military Academy See: West Point, U. S. Military Academy
University of Chicago See: Zug, George Breed
University of Pennsylvania, Univ. Mus. See: Gordon, George Bryon
Ushikubo, D. J. R. See: Yamanaka and Company
Wallis & Son See: Barr, Eva; Thompson, C. Croal Ward, Clarence See: Oberlin College
Warren, Edward K. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Warring, Stephen See: Warring, Joseph Stephens
Watkin, Williams R. T. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie
Watson, Margaret, Miss See: Parker, Margaret Watson
Whistler, Anna See: Stanton, Anna Whistler
Whiting, Almon C. See: Toledo Museum of Art
Williams College See: Rice, Richard A
Wright, F. G. See: Orbach and Company
Yatsuhashi, H. See: Yamanaka and Company
Index to cross-referenced correspondence in the series Whistler correspondence
Bell, William See: Unidentified correspondents
Brown, Ernest See: Painter Etchers' Society, Committee
Cowen, John T. See subseries: Charles Lang Freer Correspondence
Ford, Sheridan See: Reid, Alexander
Haden, Francis Seymour See: Painter Etchers' Society, Committee
Haden, Francis Seymour, Lady See: Haden, Deborah Whistler
Leighton, Frederick, Baron See: Campbell, Lady Colin
Moore, Albert See: Reid, Alexander
Morley, Charles See: Pall Mall Gazette
Morris, Harrison S. See: Reid, Alexander
Pennell, Joseph See: Miscellaneous typescripts
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts See: Reid, Alexander
Prange, F. G. See: Reid, Alexander
Societe des Beaux-Arts See: Reid, Alexander
Society of Portrait Painters See: Reid, Alexander
Stevens Fine Art See: Reid, Alexander
Studd, Arthur See: Miscellaneous typescripts
[Vanderbilt?], George, Mrs. See: George, Mrs.
Whistler, William McNeill, Mrs. See: Whistler, Nellie
Whistler Memorial Committee See: Miscellaneous typescripts
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art microfilmed portions of the Freer papers in 1992. The microfilm is available at the Archives of American Art's Washington D.C. office, the Freer Gallery of Art Library, and through interlibrary loan.
Provenance:
Gift of the Estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Ben Shahn papers, 1879-1990, bulk 1933-1970. 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
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jeanne L. Wasserman, 1993-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Interview of Jeanne L. Wasserman, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Cambridge, MA from January 28, 1993-July 19, 1994.
Wasserman speaks of her parents' cultural interests; first becoming interested in sculpture after visiting a Rodin exhibition in Paris with her family; visiting art galleries and studying painting in New York City as a young woman; her education at Fieldston and Radcliffe; trying to get a job in New York after college; working in advertising; meeting her husband, Max, and building a business with him; beginning to collect art; putting together a collection for the condominium project, 180 Beacon; the opening of 180 Beacon; working on a condominium project in the Virgin Islands; curating sculpture exhibitions at the Fogg Museum and at Wellesley; writing the catalogue for a Daumier exhibition at the Fogg; serving on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; organizing forums on contemporary art with the Council of the Arts at MIT; becoming involved with Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement; and notable purchases of work by Daumier, Rodin, Degas, Giacometti, de Chirico, Nicolas Schöffer, Henry Moore, and others. Wasserman also recalls Alfred Stieglitz, Peppino Mangravite, Elie Nadelman, Hyman Swetzoff, Joseph Hirshhorn, Erica Brausen, René and Charles Gimpel, Louise Nevelson, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, Denise René, Yaacov Agam, George Rickey, George Segal, David Ross, Milena Kalinovska, Jacques de Caso, Yulla Lipchitz, Vera List, Jim Cuno, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Jeanne L. Wasserman, (1915-2006) was a museum curator and art collector from Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 12 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.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art museums -- Massachusetts
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.
Postcard image of Bamana Chiwara masquerade, Mali. Photograph by Edmond Fortier, ca. 1906. Fortier Postcard collection. Original caption reads, "1058. Afrique Occidentale - SOUDAN - Danseurs "Miniankas". Fetiches des Cultures."
Local Numbers:
Fortier 1058
Exhibitions Note:
"Changing Place: Spatial Effects of African Art," held by the Fogg Art Museum, 2001.
General:
Citation source: Postcard caption.
Title source: Archives staff; not provided by photographer.
Image indexed by negative number.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
The collection is temporarily closed to researchers for archival processing and digitization. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Dorothy Dehner papers, 1920-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
The collection is temporarily closed to researchers for archival processing and digitization. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Dorothy Dehner papers, 1920-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
