The records of the Waddell Gallery, a contemporary art gallery that was located in New York City, date from 1961 to 1978 and measure 6.5 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, artists' files, and sales and stock records.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Waddell Gallery, a contemporary art gallery that was located in New York City, date from 1961 to 1978 and measure 6.5 linear feet. The records include administrative files, correspondence, artists' files, and sales and stock records.
Administrative files consist of employment applications, event guest lists, leases and agreements, printed materials, publicity, schedules, typography samples, and scattered photographs of Richard Waddell with curator Dorothy Miller, artists Francois Baschet and Will Barnet, and art dealer Howard Wise.
Correspondence is with art collectors, art critics, art writers, organizations, colleges and museums, publications, and others. Correspondents include Harry Abrams, Art Dealers Association, John Canaday, Finch College Museum of Art, Frank Lucien, Emily Genauer, Roy Neuberger, Howard Wise, Whitney Museum, among many others.
Artists' files also include correspondence, in addition to printed materials, shipping and loan information, photographs, exhibition material, and resumes. Files are found for Will Barnet, Bernard Baschet, John Clague, Toni Costa, Francois Dallegret, Frederick Franck, Edward Giobbi, Guy Harloff, John Healey, Piet Hein, Alain Jacquet, Howard Kanovitz, Aleksandra Kasuba, Takeshi Kawashima, Bob Liikala, Sheldon Machlin, Ronald Mallory, Robert Michel and Ella Bergmann, George Mueller, Nicola, Charles Perry, Earl Reiback, Gerald Scarfe, Nicolas Schöffer, Vera Simons, Paul Van Hoeydonck, Boris Vansier, and Tomi Ungerer, among others.
Sales and stock records include appraisal documentation, inventories, price lists, shipping information and index cards and bound volumes of sales records, including a sales record of Andrew Wyeth's Uprooted Tree.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series.
Series 1: Administrative Files, 1966-1973 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1963-1973 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Artists' Files, 1961-1978 (3.2 linear feet; Boxes 2-5, OV 8)
Series 4: Sales and Stock Records, 1964-1973 (2.1 linear feet; Boxes 5-7)
Biographical / Historical:
The Waddell Gallery was established in 1963 by Richard Hughes Waddell in New York City, New York. The gallery represented contemporary American and European artists, notably Will Barnet. The gallery operated on 15 East 57th Street and later on 50 West 57th Street until 1973, one year before Waddell's untimely death in 1974. The gallery focused on representing contemporary American and European artists such as Will Barnet, Francois Dallegret, Edward Giobbi, Sheldon Machlin, and Paul Van Hoeydonck. Additionally, Waddell held benefits to support civil rights and served as a trustee of the Tuskegee Institute.
Provenance:
The Waddell Gallery records were donated in 1977 by the Estate of Richard Waddell, through Richard's father, Chauncey L. Waddell and brother, Theodore Waddell and in 1986 by Louise Tolliver Deutschman, former director of the gallery.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Waddell 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.
Topic:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The records of the Long Point Gallery measure 7.1 linear feet and date from 1959 to 1999, bulk 1976 to 1998. The collection documents the history of the gallery through administrative records, guest books, correspondence, exhibition files, artists' files, financial records, printed material, and photographic materials.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Long Point Gallery measure 7.1 linear feet and date from 1959 to 1999, bulk 1976 to 1998. The collection documents the history of the gallery through administrative records, guest books, correspondence, exhibition files, artists' files, financial records, printed material, and photographic materials.
Administrative records consist of legal documents, contracts, mailing lists, price lists, membership files, correspondence, meeting minutes, gallery history, projects files, and one videocassette of the Long Point Gallery dinner filmed by Renate Ponsold Motherwell in 1993. Guest books document the signatures and salutations of attendees at gallery exhibitions. Correspondence is with artists, organizations, and gallery customers. Exhibition files contain correspondence, press releases, articles, and exhibition announcements. Artists' files consist of news clippings, exhibition records, price lists, and correspondence. Financial records contain bills, receipts, deposits, financial reports, gallery sales, and records for the transport of artwork. Printed material includes news clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, press releases, obituaries, publications, souvenirs, and posters signed by the artists. Photographic materials include slides and printed photographs of artwork, artists, exhibitions, parties, and candid moments. Overall the collection documents the activities of artist members, including Varujan Boghosian, Fritz Bultman, Carmen Cicero, Sideo Fromboluti, Edward Giobbi, Budd Hopkins, Rick Klauber, Leo Manso, Robert Motherwell, Paul Resika, Judith Rothschild, Sidney Simon, Nora Speyer, Tony Vevers, Robert Beauchamp, Paul Bowen, Gilbert Franklin, Dimitri Hadzi, Renate Ponsold, and Michael Mazur.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 8 series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1976-1999 (1.5 linear ft.; Box 1-2)
Series 2: Guest Books, 1986-1998 (7 folders; Box 2)
Series 3: Correspondence, 1979-1998 (0.8 linear ft.; Box 2-3)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1959-1998, bulk 1972-1998 (0.6 linear ft.; Box 3-4)
Series 5: Artists' Files, 1963-1997 (0.8 linear ft.; Box 4)
Series 6: Financial Records, 1976-1998 (0.8 linear ft.; Box 5)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1972-1998 (0.8 linear ft.; Box 5-6, OV 8)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, 1972-1998 (1.5 linear ft.; Box 6-7)
Biographical / Historical:
Long Point Gallery (est. 1977, closed 1998) was a cooperative art gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The gallery operated in the American Legion building during the summer seasons as an artist cooperative. Members contributed financially, as well as artistically, enabling the promotion and preparation of exhibitions throughout the summer. The founding members were Varujan Boghosian, Fritz Bultman, Carmen Cicero, Sideo Fromboluti, Edward Giobbi, Budd Hopkins, Rick Klauber, Leo Manso, Robert Motherwell, Paul Resika, Judith Rothschild, Sidney Simon, Nora Speyer, and Tony Vevers. Later in the gallery's history Robert Beauchamp, Paul Bowen, Gilbert Franklin, Dimitri Hadzi, Renate Ponsold, and Michael Mazur also became members. Some notable friends of the gallery were Nassos Daphnis, Jack Tworkov, and Myron Stout. The gallery's first director was Rick Librizzi.
The Long Point Gallery gained a reputation for showing progressive, expressionist and abstract paintings and sculptures that veered away from the traditional tourist scenes of Cape Cod. During the 1980's, Provincetown was becoming a popular tourist destination, which caused real estate values to climb. Fortunately, members of the cooperative were able to afford the rising costs and remain in Provincetown allowing the gallery to become a fixture within the community. The gallery often held dual exhibits featuring two artists who presented their artwork individually. Other exhibitions include "Homeric Themes" (1987), "Myth & Ritual" (1989), "From the Studio Wall" (1990), "A Long Point Portfolio" (1991), "Keyworks" (1991), "Those Lovely Golden Thighs" (1991), and "A Story to Tell" (1996). Members also represented the Long Point Gallery in exhibitions at the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC), the Cape Museum of Fine Arts (CMFA), the Archives of American Art, and exhibitions in Europe. For over 20 years, the Long Point Gallery was the site of art exhibitions, poetry readings, musical performances, and parties until its closing in 1998.
In 1998, the American Legion building was sold at a price that was too high for the gallery to continue in the same location. The advanced ages and deaths of a few members prior to the sale of the building contributed to the members' decision to dissolve the gallery, which was under the direction of Rosalind Pace at the time of closing.
Provenance:
Donated in 1999 and 2013 by the Long Point Gallery via Rosalind Pace, former Director.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Long Point 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:
Artists -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown Search this
Correspondence; scrapbooks; business records; catalogs; photographs and printed material.
REEL D313: Artists' files, containing correspondence, biographical data, catalogs, and clippings; list of exhibiting artists; photographs of works of art; and printed material on the gallery.
Among the artists represented are: Josef Albers, John Altoon, Eugenie and Saul Baizerman, Gertrude Barrer, Harry Bowden, Sidney Chafetz, Walter Feldman, Sideo Fromboluti, Edward Giobbi, Leon Golub, John Grillo, Lester Johnson, Aristodemos M. Kaldis, Louise Kruger, Allen Leepa, Robert Loberg, Margo Boris, De Hirsh Margules, Joseph Meert, Robert Smithson, Jennings Tofel, Rudolf Weissauer, and others.
REEL 79: File of material relating to a 1939 Byron Browne exhibit; publicity brochures regarding the Gallery's services; a Hans Boehler exhibition catalog; photographs of work exhibited, largely by Werner Drewes; photographs of the gallery's interior; and miscellany.
REEL N737: Six letters (1938-1939) from Louis M. Eilshemius to Beer-Monti.
REEL 1042: Eight log books, 1938-1942, of daily business activities of the Artists' Gallery, including phone calls, visitors to the gallery, works brought into the gallery, and other matters; and 2 exhibition catalogs, 1937-1938.
UNMICROFILMED: Correspondence, largely with Federica Beer-Monti, director of the gallery, scrapbooks, account books, visitor logs, exhibition catalogs and announcements, photographs, and printed materials.
Biographical / Historical:
Art gallery. Founded 1936 by Hugh Stix. Directed by Federica Beer-Monti. Non-profit organization supported by contributions. Exhibited works of artists not represented by a commercial dealer. Some of the notable artists included Josef Albers, Saul Baizerman, Byron Browne, Louis Eilshemius, Aristodemos Kaldis, De Hirsh Margules, and Nicholas Vasilieff. Discontinued operation summer 1962.
Provenance:
Material on reels D313 and 79 were donated 1967-1968 by Federica Beer-Monti; she lent the Eilshemius letters on reel N737 in 1968. The unmicrofilmed portion was donated in 1974 by Beer-Monti's neice, Greta Shapiro, who also lent the logbooks on reel 1042 for microfilming in 1976. In 1998, Shapiro's widower, Aaron, donated the material lent on reel 1042.
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.
An interview with Edward Giobbi conducted 1977 Nov. 18-Dec. 1, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Edward Giobbi (1926-) is a painter from Katonah, N.Y.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
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.
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
The earliest documentation from 1895 to 1909 concerns the organization's history and founding and is located in Series 1: Board of Trustees. Also found in this series are meeting minutes, 1909-1963 and 1968. Interfiled with the board meeting minutes are minutes of the executive committee and other special and ad hoc committees, reports to the board, financial statements and reports, and lists of committee appointments and board membership. This series also contains the scattered correspondence and subject files of various officers. Although not a complete set of officers' files, Presidents' Frederick Allen. Whiting (1931-1936), Lawrence M.C. Smith (1948-1952), Thomas Brown Rudd (1952-1954), Daniel Longwell (1954-1956), James S. Schramm (1956-1958), and Roy R. Neuberger (1958-1961) are represented. Leila Mechlin served on AFA's board as secretary from its founding to 1929, and her files are a particularly rich resource for AFA's activities during its early years. Lawrence M.C. Smith's files documenting his years as board treasurer are also arranged in this series. Additional officers' correspondence is interspersed throughout the Alphabetical Files and other series.
General information about the scope of AFA's programs, affiliations, founding, functions, and proceedings are arranged in Series 2: Administrative Records. The first subseries, Alphabetical Files, houses a wide variety of subject files that contain memoranda, correspondence, printed materials, lists, reports, and other papers. These files document the AFA's general history and founding, organizational affiliations, buildings and moves, grants, federal and state government art programs, auctions and other fund-raising efforts, publicity and public relations, publications, and fiftieth anniversary celebration. The subject headings by which these files are arranged are, for the most part, the ones designated by the AFA. The second subseries, Staff Records, houses the scattered files of AFA's director, assistant director, registrar, and special state representative, Robert Luck.
During its most active period, the AFA sponsored or participated in several special programs and Series 3: Special Programs houses the files that document many of them. The first subseries consists of the files for the Artists in Residence program that was funded by the Ford Foundation. Awarded in 1963, the grant sponsored short-term teaching residencies for artists in museums throughout the United States. The host museums were encouraged to hold exhibitions of the artists' works. This subseries contains both the general files of the program, as well as individual files on the participating artists. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the AFA and the Ford Foundation also sponsored additional programs for artists, including Grants in Aid, Purchase Awards, and the Retrospective Exhibitions Program. The files documenting these three programs are also arranged in Series 3, under the subseries Ford Foundation Program for Visual Artists. In the late 1950s, the AFA implemented the Museum Donor Program with benefactors and philanthropists Audrey Bruce Currier and Stephen Richard Currier. Through the administration of the AFA, the Curriers donated funds to selected institutions specifically for the purchase of contemporary American art. The Curriers preferred to remain anonymous throughout the program. Files documenting this program include correspondence, applications from the accepted institutions, rejections, a summary report, and clippings about the untimely deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Currier in 1967.
Also found in Series 3 are the files documenting AFAs working relationship with the first state arts council, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). In 1961, AFA and NYSCA implemented a traveling exhibition program in New York State. Found here are files for possible itineraries, proposals, publicity, loans, budgets, and the actual exhibition files. Additional AFA special programs documented in Series 3 include the Picture of the Month program of the mid-1950s and the Jean Tennyson Foundation Color Slide Lecture Program.
AFA Annual Convention files constitute Series 4. Beginning with the Third Annual Convention in 1912 and continuing through the 1963 Annual Convention, the files contain official proceedings, speeches, programs, clippings, correspondence, and press releases. Files are missing for 1913, 1915, 1918, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1936-1949, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1960, and 1962. There are also audio recordings in the form of reel-to-reel tapes for the 1951 Annual Convention.
Series 5: Exhibition Files forms the bulk of the collection at circa 62 linear feet and is arranged into twenty subseries. The first subseries, Exhibitions, General, houses primarily the records of the Board of Trustees Exhibition Committee and documents the AFA's earliest involvement with traveling exhibitions. These files contain reports, budgets, correspondence, memoranda, scattered exhibition catalogs, and photographs. They are primarily the files of the chair of the Exhibition Committee and include the files of Juliana R. Force, Eloise Spaeth, and Mrs. John Pope. Also found in this series is a subseries of Mrs. John Pope's records documenting circulating exhibitions from 1934 to 1955, arranged by state.
The remaining nineteen subseries of the Exhibition Files reflect either specific exhibition programs, many of which have unique numbers assigned by AFA to individual exhibitions, or other exhibition-related files, such rejected, canceled, and suggested exhibitions and miscellaneous installation photographs. The Annual Exhibitions files constitute the largest of the subseries and are numbered according to the system assigned by AFA, following a typical chronological order. Although the documentation for each exhibition varies widely by both type and amount, most of the files contain contracts and legal agreements, correspondence, memoranda, itinerary information, condition reports, publicity materials, catalogs, announcements, price lists, and other such information arranged into one or more files. The files were labeled "documentation files," "dispersal files," "report form files," "loan agreement files," and "publicity files" according to the filing system devised by AFA. Many of the files also house a significant amount of correspondence with museum officials, lenders, and artists.
Additional subseries document AFA's exhibition venues and partnerships with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the New York State Council on the [UNK] Life magazine, and Addison Gallery. A complete list of all of the subseries, including specific exhibition programs, follows in the Series Outline.
The final three series of the collection are small: Printed Material, Miscellaneous Files, and Oversized Material. The printed material was donated much later to the Archives and dates from 1990 to 1993. Found here are scattered press releases, annual reports, and an exhibition program. Miscellaneous Files contain scattered records, 1926-1962, of the Architectural League of New York relating to national award programs. It is not clear why this small group of Architectural League records was found mixed with the AFA records but perhaps the collaboration between the two organizations on several special projects provides an explanation. Also found in Miscellaneous Files is a group of black and white lantern slides from a lecture series, "New Horizons in America." Oversized Material includes a portfolio, a work of art, and posters.
See Appendix for a list of artists exhibiting with the American Federation of Arts
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight primary series based primarily on administrative units or program areas. Several of the series are further subdivided into subseries. While processing, it became clear that the two filing systems were redundant and overlapped in both subject area and type of material. Most of these files were subsequently merged into the now broader Alphabetical Files or into separate series. Oversized material may be found at the end of the collection arranged in a separate series.
In most cases, files related to one another by subseries or subject areas (in the case of the Alphabetical Files) or by individual name (in the case of officers and staff files) are arranged in chronological order. The entire subseries of Alphabetical Files in Series 2 is arranged by subject heading, as assigned by the AFA, or individual name. The Alphabetical Files originally formed two broad filing systems as established by the AFA: one for general correspondence arranged by subject; and one for director's and other staff correspondence, also arranged by subject.
Series 1: Board of Trustees, circa 1895-1968 (Boxes 1-3)
Series 2: Administrative Records, 1910-1966 (Boxes 4-8)
Series 3: Special Programs, 1950-1967 (Boxes 9-13)
Series 4: Annual Conventions, 1912-1963 (Boxes 14-16)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1934-1969 (Boxes 17-78)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1990-1993 (Box 78)
Series 7: Miscellaneous Files, 1926-1962, undated (Box 79)
Series 8: Oversized Materials, 1890, undated (Boxes 80-85)
Historical Note:
Founded in 1909 by Elihu Root, the American Federation of Arts (AFA) exists today as a national nonprofit museum service organization striving to unite American art institutions, collectors, artists, and museums. Elihu Root, then secretary of state in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, spoke of his idea at the first meeting of the AFA held in New York at the National Academy of Arts. He envisioned an organization that would promote American art most often seen only by the elite in the major cities of the East and upper Midwest by sending "exhibitions of original works of art on tour through the hinterlands across the United States."
The American Academy in Rome, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Metropolitan Museum of Art were influential organizing member institutions. Individual members included such notables as William Merritt Chase, Charles L. Freer, Daniel C. French, Charles L. Hutchinson, Henry Cabot Lodge, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Walters. The founding of the AFA provided the American art world with a forum for communication and participation among artists, cultural institutions, patrons of the arts, and the public.
To accomplish its mission, the AFA established volunteer committees for membership, exhibitions, and publications. During its first year, the AFA began publishing Art and Progress (later changed to Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual (now the American Art Directory). In 1909, the AFA also organized its first traveling exhibition, Paintings by Prominent American Artists, which was shown at museums in Fort Worth, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and New Ulm, Minnesota.
By the end of the first year, the headquarters of the organization moved to Washington, D.C., to facilitate lobbying the federal government for favorable art legislation. In 1913, the AFA lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on foreign art entering the United States. In 1916, the Federation met with the Interstate Commerce Commission to protest prohibitively high interstate taxes on traveling art exhibitions.
Throughout the next fifteen years, the AFA continued to grow in membership and influence. By 1919, membership included 438 institutions and 2,900 individuals. The AFA's annual conventions were held in major national art centers and were attended by members, chapter delegates, and the public. At the conventions, scholars, patrons, and curators lectured on and discussed subjects of national interest, thereby fostering an exchange of ideas. The AFA also sponsored periodic regional conferences to promote institutional cooperation and to discuss mutual problems and needs. To facilitate exhibition venues west of the Mississippi River, in 1921 the AFA opened regional offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University. The AFA produced and circulated slide programs and lecture series to museums and educational institutions that fostered art education. By 1929, the Federation had developed forty-six slide-lecture programs that covered American mural painting, European and American contemporary art, and textiles.
During the 1930s, the Federation expanded its services by providing schools with teaching guides, student workbooks, slides, and films about art. In 1935, the AFA began publishing Who's Who in American Art, later publishing The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists and Films on Art reference guides. To reach an even larger audience, the AFA began collaborating with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to organize national circulating exhibitions to "bring the museum to the people."
One of AFA's priorities was to make American art more visible abroad. The Federation focused on encouraging the representation of American artists in foreign exhibitions, and in 1924 it lobbied successfully for additional American participation in the Venice Biennale. The AFA's focus on exhibiting American art abroad continued to expand, particularly following World War II. In 1950, recognizing that the AFA could assist in promoting American culture, the State Department awarded the AFA a grant for a German "re-orientation program" consisting of educational exhibitions shown in German museums. Additional government funding further enabled the AFA to organize American participation in exhibitions in India, Japan, Paris, Switzerland, and Rotterdam between 1950 and 1970. Later, the AFA collaborated with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program which permitted donations of American art to foreign institutions on a restriction-free, tax-deductible basis. During the 1950s, the AFA was a very active member of the Committee on Government and Art, a national committee with members from across the art and museum world concerned with government sponsorship of and legislation affecting art sales, commissions, and trade.
In 1952, the headquarters of the AFA returned to New York, sparking a period of innovation and expanded of programs. Throughout the 1950s, the AFA distributed films about art and co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York. The AFA also introduced its Picture of the Month Program in 1954, renting original works of art to small American art and educational institutions. In 1956, the AFA organized the Art Collectors Club of America to provide fellowship for art collectors through meetings and activities. The club disbanded in the 1970s.
The Federation's exhibition programs continued to flourish during the 1950s and 1960s. Private and public financial support allowed the AFA to achieve many of its goals. In 1958, the Ford Foundation awarded an important grant to organize a series of traveling one-person shows and a series of monographs devoted to contemporary American artists. Milton Avery, Andrew Dasburg, José DeCreeft, Lee Gatch, Walter Quirt, Abraham Rattner, and others were among the artists who participated. Private foundation support for the AFA's Museum Donor Program provided an annual allowance that was distributed to regional museums for the pourchase of contemporary American art. Cooperative programs and joint venues also became popular during this period. For example, public support from the New York State Council on the Arts allowed the AFA to circulate exhibitions to small New York State communities, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts provided the AFA with five exhibitions for national tours.
Throughout its history, the American Federation of Arts has concentrated on its founding principle of broadening the audience for contemporary American art. Through its numerous exhibition and film programs, the AFA has succeeded in "breaking down barriers of distance and language to broaden the knowledge and appreciation of art." Annual exhibitions such as New Talent in the USA and Art Schools USA, organized by the AFA, brought before the public the most contemporary American artists and craftspeople, genres, and artistic forms of experimentation, exposing viewers to new ways of thinking and expression. In 1965, AFA produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films created to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
A vital part of American art history, the AFA was one of the first organizations to develop successfully the concept of traveling art exhibitions on a national and international level. The AFA was instrumental in assisting museums with circulating important juried exhibitions of contemporary art, such as the Whitney Annual and Corcoran Biennial. The AFA also recognized the importance of the exchange of cultural ideas, and it brought exhibitions of the European masters to the American public as well as exhibitions focusing on foreign contempoorary art, photography, and architecture. Many organizations and museums have followed the AFA's precedent, and traveling national and international venues are now commonplace.
Since 1909, women have served as officers and members of the Board of Trustees. Leila Mechlin was a founding participant and served as secretary from 1909 to 1933. Juliana R. Force and Eloise Spaeth both chaired the Exhibition Committee in the late 1940s. Women and artists of diverse backgrounds and nationalities were widely represented in the AFA's exhibition programs, most notably during the 1960s. In 1960, the AFA organized, with financial support from the Ford Foundation, a major Jacob Lawrence retrospective. Additional culturally diverse exhibitions included Contemporary Jewish Ceremonial Art (1961), The Heart of India (1962), 1,000 Years of American Indian Art (1963), and Ten Negro Artists from the United States (1966).
The AFA also had an impact on patronage in the arts. AFA exhibitions of contemporary art provided collectors with knowledge of new artists and avant-garde art forms, creating a broader demand and market for this type of work. Museums and collectors began purchasing work by new or obscure American artists whom they learned about through AFA exhibitions and programs.
The historical records of the American Federation of Arts offer the researcher a unique opportunity to study the development of American art and artists in the twentieth century as well as providing insight into trends in American culture.
1909 -- Founded in New York City. Began publishing Art and Progress (later retitled Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual.
1910 -- Moved headquarters to Washington, D.C.
1913 -- Lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on art entering the United States.
1915-1916 -- Lobbied successfully against the Cummins Amendment and the Interstate Commerce Commission's prohibitively high interstate tax on traveling art.
1920 -- Organized a lobbying campaign for the development of a national gallery of art at its national convention.
1921 -- Opened two new offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University.
1924 -- Arranged American participation in the Venice Biennale exhibition.
1927 -- Closed office at Stanford University.
1929 -- Organized American participation in exhibitions in France and Germany.
1933 -- Closed office at the University of Nebraska.
1935 -- Began publishing Who's Who in American Art.
1948 -- Published The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists.
1949 -- Collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to circulate exhibitions from its collections.
1950 -- Participated in the U.S. government's German re-orientation program.
1951 -- Joined forces with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program. Published the reference guide Films on Art. Co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York, through 1957.
1952 -- Moved headquarters to New York City.
1953 -- Magazine of Art liquidated.
1954 -- Introduced the Picture of the Month Program.
1956 -- Founded the Art Collectors Club of America.
1958 -- Received a Ford Foundation grant to finance a series of one-person shows of contemporary American artists.
1960 -- Created the Museum Donor Program.
1961 -- Received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to circulate exhibitions to small New York state communities.
1963 -- Received a grant from the Ford Foundation for the Artists in Residence program.
1964 -- Introduced the List Art Poster Program.
1965 -- Produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films that attempted to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
Appendix: List of Artists Exhibiting with American Federation of Arts:
The following is an alphabetical list of artists who exhibited with the American Federation of Arts; many are obscure. The alpha-numeric codes and numbers appearing with the artist's name represent specific AFA exhibition programs and, most often, AFA's exhibition numbering system. In cases where the AFA did not assign an exhibition number, Archives' staff have done so.
The primary reference source for the names and name variants is the American Federation of Arts Records. The names are documented in handwritten notes and lists, typed lists, and exhibition catalogs and announcements. The Archives of American Art name authority file was also consulted in questionable cases. The majority of names, however, were not found in either the AAA name authority file or standard bibliographic resources, and only in the AFA records.
Examples:
55-1: AFA annual exhibitions program
AD-1: Addison Gallery exhibitions
L-1: Life Magazine Exhibitions
ME-1: Misceallaneous exhibitions (numbers assigned by AAA staff)
NMA-1: Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibitions
NE-96: Contemporary Color Lithography
NY-1: New York State Council on the Arts exhibitions
VA-1: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions
A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons & Assoc: 62-34
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) were donated to the Archives of American Art (AAA) over a thirteen-year period, with the bulk of the material arriving between 1964 and 1966. In 1979, Preston Bolton donated his letters and those from John de Menil, Ann Drevet, Lee Malone, and others regarding planning for the 1957 AFA annual convention held in Houston, Texas; convention committee minutes from 1956; and AFA newsletters. This material, as well as a 1979 gift from Louise Ferrari of transcripts from a panel discussion from the 1957 AFA convention in Houston, was microfilmed on AAA Reel 1780. All material previously microfilmed on Reel 1780 has been fully integrated into the collection and arranged within proper series and subseries. The provenance of the 1990-1993 printed material is unknown.
Restrictions:
Use requires an appointment.
Rights:
The American Federation of Arts 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.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Waddell 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.
Collection Citation:
Waddell Gallery records, 1961-1978. 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.
