Search Results

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1900 November 12

Topic:

Picture frames and framing  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)16416

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Winslow Homer letters to M. Knoedler and Company, 1900-1904

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_16416

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Macbeth, William, 1851-1917  Search this

Subject:

Homer, Winslow  Search this

Macbeth, William  Search this

Macbeth Gallery  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1892 August 3

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)17456

See more items in:

Macbeth Gallery records, 1947-1948, bulk 1892-1953

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_17456

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Reicard, Gustav  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1893 March 17

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)1891

See more items in:

Macbeth Gallery records, 1947-1948, bulk 1892-1953

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_1891

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Clarke, Thomas B. (Thomas Benedict), 1848-1931  Search this

Subject:

Homer, Winslow  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1901 Jan. 4

Topic:

Illustrated letters  Search this

Self-portraits  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)13719

See more items in:

Winslow Homer collection, 1863

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_13719

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Prang, Louis, 1824-1909  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1895 November 6

Topic:

Lithography  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)15574

See more items in:

Winslow Homer collection, 1863

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_15574

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Clarke, Thomas B. (Thomas Benedict), 1848-1931  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Place:

Santiago, Cuba

Date:

1901 December 30

Topic:

Boat travel  Search this

Sightseeing  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)5701

See more items in:

Winslow Homer collection, 1863

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_5701

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Briggs, George G.  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1896 Feb. 19

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)5872

See more items in:

Winslow Homer collection, 1863

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_5872

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Clarke, Thomas B. (Thomas Benedict), 1848-1931  Search this

Subject:

Homer, Winslow  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1900 December 11

Topic:

Exhibitions  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)6094

See more items in:

Winslow Homer collection, 1863

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_6094

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Clarke, Thomas B. (Thomas Benedict), 1848-1931  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1900 December 31

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)6095

See more items in:

Winslow Homer collection, 1863

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_6095

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Beatty, John Wesley, 1851-1924  Search this

Subject:

Carnegie Institute. Museum of Art  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1896 Dec. 10

Topic:

Awards  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)12864

See more items in:

Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1962

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_12864

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Chase, J. Eastman  Search this

Type:

Correspondence

Date:

1882 Feb. [?]

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)6061

See more items in:

J. Eastman Chase papers, 1877-1917

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_6061

Creator:

Macbeth Gallery  Search this

Names:

Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Macbeth, Robert W. (Robert Walker), 1884-1940  Search this

Macbeth, William, 1851-1917  Search this

McIntyre, Robert G. (Robert George), b. 1885  Search this

Stuart, Gilbert, 1755-1828  Search this

Weir, Robert Walter, 1803-1889  Search this

Extent:

131.6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Daguerreotypes

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Date:

1947-1948

1838-1968

bulk 1892-1953

Summary:

The Macbeth Gallery records provide almost complete coverage of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1892 to its closing in 1953. Through extensive correspondence files, financial and inventory records, printed material, scrapbooks, reference and research material, and photographs of artists and works of art, the records document all aspects of the gallery's activities, charting William Macbeth's initial intention to lease his store "for the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures" through over sixty years of success as a major New York firm devoted to American art. The collection measures 131.6 linear feet and dates from 1838 to 1968 with the bulk of the material dating from 1892 to 1953.

Scope and Content Note:

The Macbeth Gallery records provide almost complete coverage of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1892 to its closing in 1953. The records document all aspects of the gallery's activities, charting William Macbeth's initial intention to lease his store "for the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures" through over sixty years of success as a major New York firm devoted to American art. The collection measures 131.6 linear feet and dates from 1838 to 1968 with the bulk of the material dating from 1892 to 1953.

The gallery's correspondence files form the core of the collection and illuminate most aspects of American art history: the creation and sale of works of art, the development of reputations, the rise of museums and art societies, change and resistance to change in the art market, and the evolution of taste. Ninety-five feet of correspondence house substantial and informative letters from dozens of important American painters and sculptors, including older artists and younger contemporaries of the gallery in its later years. There are also letters from collectors, curators, other galleries, and critics.

The financial files found in the collection offer insight into the changing economic climate in which the gallery operated. They include information ranging from the details of individual sales and the market for individual artists, to consignment activities and artist commissions, to overviews of annual sales. This information is augmented by the firm's inventory records and the photographs of artwork with their accompanying records of paintings sold. The inventory records provide details of all works of art handled by the gallery, both sold and unsold, and the buyers who purchased them; the photographs of artwork include images of artwork sold with accompanying sales information.

The highlight of the gallery's printed material is the publication Art Notes. Although published only until 1930, Art Notes provides an excellent and detailed view of the gallery's exhibition schedule and the relationship of the gallery owners with many of the artists whose work they handled. It was a house organ that also provided a running commentary on events in the art world. The gallery's 19 fragile scrapbooks, maintained throughout the firm's history, provide further coverage of activities through exhibition catalogs and related news clippings. Printed material from other sources provides a frame of reference for activities in the art world from the mid-19th to the mid-20th-centuries and includes an almost complete run of the rare and important pre-Civil War art publication The Crayon.

Reference files record the interest which the gallery owners took in the work of early portrait painters and in later artists such as George Inness and Winslow Homer. Together with the immense volume of correspondence with buyers and sellers of paintings by the great portraitists and the Hudson River School found in the gallery's correspondence files, these records are still useful sources of information today and underscore the deep interest that the Macbeths and Robert McIntyre took in 18th and 19th-century American art.

The photographs of artists found here are a treasure trove of images of some of the major figures of the 19th and 20th-centuries. There are photographs of artists such as Chester Beach, Emil Carlsen, Charles Melville Dewey, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, George Inness, Maurice Prendergast, and Julian Alden Weir, many of them original prints and the majority of them autographed.

With the exception of the "The Eight" and a few of their contemporaries, an important aspect of art history, the modernist movement, is generally represented in the Macbeth Gallery records only in a negative form as the three successive proprietors of the gallery showed very little interest in this area. Nevertheless, the collection is a highly significant source of information on many of the major and minor figures in American art in the period after 1890.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into eight series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1838-1968 (Box 1-95, 163-164, OV 165; 96.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Financial and Shipping Records, 1892-1956 (Box 96-110; 11.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Inventory Records, 1892-circa 1957 (Box 111-113; 3.0 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1838-1963 (Box 114-119, 162; 5.0 linear feet)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1892-1952 (Box 120-130; 3.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Reference Files, 1839-1959 (Box 131-132; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 7: Miscellaneous Files, 1912-1956 (Box 133-134; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1880-circa 1968 (Box 135-161; 12.1 linear feet)

Historical Note:

The Macbeth Gallery was established in 1892 by William Macbeth, a Scotch-Irish immigrant who had spent ten years with the print dealer Frederick Keppel before he opened his doors to the art-buying public at 237 Fifth Avenue in New York. Despite the prevailing interest in foreign art at that time, particularly in that of the Barbizon and Dutch schools, Macbeth was determined to dedicate his gallery to "the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures, both in oil and water colors."

Although some of the gallery's earliest exhibitions were of work by European artists, the business soon became the only gallery in continuous operation that kept American art permanently on display. In the January 1917 issue of Art Notes, Macbeth recounts those early days remembering that "The opening of my gallery......was a rash venture under the existing conditions, and disaster was freely predicted." Nevertheless, he struggled through the financial crisis of 1893 and persisted with his devotion to American art; slowly the market for his pictures grew more amenable.

Macbeth moved to more spacious quarters at 450 Fifth Avenue in 1906 and two years later undertook what was to become the major event in the gallery's early history: the 1908 exhibition of "The Eight," featuring work by Arthur B. Davies, Willam J. Glackens, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan. "The Eight" were an unlikely combination of social realists, visionaries and impressionists eager to challenge the dominating influence of the National Academy. The exhibition received an immense amount of publicity and instantly entered into art history as a successful assault on tradition.

Despite the splash that the exhibition made and its implications for the future of American art, nothing that the gallery did subsequently indicated that Macbeth intended to capitalize on its significance. It is true that Macbeth supported many artists later considered leaders in American art when the public would pay no attention to them because of their modernist tendencies; Arthur B. Davies, Paul Dougherty, Maurice Prendergast, Theodore Robinson, and F. Ballard Williams all held their first exhibitions at his gallery. Nevertheless, neither Macbeth nor the gallery's two successive proprietors, Robert G. McIntyre (William's nephew) and Robert Macbeth (William's son), who joined the gallery in 1903 and 1906 respectively, ever developed a true interest in modern art. The November 1930 issue of Art Notes summarizes their collective disdain for modernism, stating: "We believe that, by and large, modern art is amusing. We are heretical enough to believe that much of it was started for the amusement of its creators and that no one was more surprised than they when it was taken seriously by a certain audience to whom the bizarre and the unintelligible always makes an appeal." So while the Macbeths and McIntyre cetainly championed American artists and insisted they deserved as much recognition as the Europeans, their deepest and most abiding interest was undoubtedly the established artists of the 18th and 19th-centuries and those of the early 20th-century who continued in a more conservative style. Artists such as Emil Carlsen, Charles Harold Davis, Frederick C. Frieseke, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Chauncey F. Ryder, Abbot Handerson Thayer, J. Francis Murphy, A. H. Wyant were the gallery's bread and butter.

When William Macbeth died in 1917 Robert Macbeth took up the reins with the assistance of Robert G. McIntyre . Although they incorporated the business as William Macbeth, Inc., in 1918 the gallery continued to be known, as it always would be, simply as Macbeth Gallery. Macbeth and McIntyre continued to show work in the same vein as the elder Macbeth. They concentrated primarily on oil paintings at this time, having found by the 1920s that "oils are all that our gallery owners will buy," though they also exhibited an occasional group of watercolors and pastels in addition to bronzes and other sculpture by contemporary American artists such as Chester Beach and Janet Scudder.

Of the early American painters the Macbeths and McIntyre were particularly interested in colonial portraits and miniatures, especially those painted by prominent artists in the latter part of the eighteenth century such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully and John Trumbull. In its early years the gallery also handled the work of a few prominent American etchers including Frank W. Benson, Emil Fuchs, Daniel Garber, Childe Hassam and Chauncey F. Ryder. The print department was generally discontinued, however, in the late 1930s although the gallery continued to show prints by contemporaries such as Stow Wengenroth.

In 1924 relative prosperity allowed the gallery to move uptown to 15 East Fifty-seventh Street. When the 1930s brought new financial hardship for the gallery Macbeth and McIntyre took a variety of approaches to boosting sales. In 1930 they decided to hold only group exhibitions throughout the season to the exclusion of one-man shows, and also held some special exhibitions of paintings priced at a hundred dollars each in the hope that they could tempt those "willing to take advantage of a rare chance to secure representative examples of good art at a most attractive price." A move to smaller quarters at 15 East Fifty-seventh Street in 1935 was made with the intention of concentrating their efforts on the work of fewer contemporary artists, while continuing to handle the work of the older Americans they had long supported.

When Macbeth died suddenly and unexpectedly in August 1940 following an operation for appendicitis, McIntyre continued to run the gallery with the assistance of Hazel Lewis. During the 1940s McIntyre and Lewis showed primarily contemporary art in a wide range of media including oil, watercolor, pastel, drawing and sculpture, while continuing, as always, to show the occasional group of 19th-century Americans. The great success of the gallery's later years was undeniably Andrew Wyeth whose first exhibition, held at Macbeth Gallery in 1937, resulted in the sale of all twenty-two paintings cataloged.

Although subsequent Wyeth exhibitions were also successful, McIntyre struggled financially throughout the 1940s and periodically considered liquidating the company. Although "vitally interested" in contemporary art by people such as Robert Brackman, Jay Connaway, Carl Gaertner, James Lechay, Herbert Meyer and Ogden M. Pleissner he found that, for the most part, it did not pay. McIntyre continued operations until 1953 when he decided that doing so for profit was not only a financial burden but also ran contrary to his desire to spend more time devoted to his first love, early American art. When the lease expired on 11 East Fifty-seventh Street in April 1953 McIntyre did not renew it. After closing the gallery's doors he sold art from his New York apartment and from his home in Dorset, Vermont. He officially dissolved William Macbeth, Inc., in 1957.

The history of the Macbeth Gallery is a long and distinguished one with each successive proprietor making a significant contribution to art in America. William Macbeth helped establish an audience and a market for American art when few were willing to give it serious consideration. Robert Macbeth continued to cement the gallery's reputation as one of the leading firms in New York and was instrumental in organizing the American Art Dealers Association. Robert G. McIntyre claimed in a letter to Lloyd Goodrich, dated 22 June 1945, that the thing of which he was most proud was "the share I have had in the formation of the collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art, at Andover, Massacusetts." McIntyre was widely respected in the art community as a dealer, as an adviser to curators, and as a scholar whose research and book on Martin Johnson Heade helped "rediscover" an important American artist. One of his most significant and lasting contributions to the history of art in America, however, was undoubtedly his gift of the gallery's historical records to the Archives of American Art.

Related Material:

Among the holdings of the Archives of American are a small collection of scattered Robert McIntyre's papers and 9 items of William Macbeth's papers. Macbeth Gallery exhibition catalogs are also available in the American Art Exhibition Catalog collection and the Brooklyn Museum Records, both loaned and microfilmed collections.

An extensive collection of Macbeth Gallery exhibition catalogs are also held by the Frick Art Reference Library and the Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Provenance:

The bulk of the Macbeth Gallery records were donated and microfilmed in several installments between 1955 and 1966 by Robert G. McIntyre and Estate. Additional Macbeth Gallery printed material was donated by Phoebe C. and William Macbeth II, grandchildren of William Macbeth, in 1974.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Fragile original scrapbooks are closed to researchers.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Topic:

Curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Eight (Group of American artists)  Search this

Art directors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Artists -- United States  Search this

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Art, American  Search this

Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Daguerreotypes

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk 1892 to 1953. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Grant Program. Digitization of the scrapbooks was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee. Correspondence, financial and shipping records, inventory records, and printed material were digitized with funding provided by the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Walton Family Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.macbgall

See more items in:

Macbeth Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-macbgall

Creator:

Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art  Search this

Names:

Art Institute of Chicago  Search this

Buffalo Fine Arts Academy  Search this

Corcoran Gallery of Art  Search this

Gallery of William Macbeth  Search this

M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Alexander, John White, 1856-1915  Search this

Beatty, John W. (John Wesley), 1851-1924  Search this

Beaux, Cecilia, 1855-1942  Search this

Brush, George de Forest, 1855-1941  Search this

Chase, William Merritt, 1849-1916  Search this

Church, Samuel Harden  Search this

East, Alfred, Sir, 1849-1913  Search this

Hassam, Childe, 1859-1935  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Saint-Gaudens, Homer, b. 1880  Search this

Thayer, Abbott Handerson, 1849-1921  Search this

Extent:

265.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Letterpress books

Museum records

Place:

Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939

Date:

1883-1962

bulk 1885-1962

Summary:

The records of the Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art measure 265.8 linear feet and date from 1883-1962, with the bulk of the material dating from 1885-1940. The collection includes extensive correspondence between the museum's founding director, John Beatty, and his successor, Homer Saint-Gaudens, with artists, dealers, galleries, collectors, museum directors, representatives abroad, shipping and insurance agents, and museum trustees. The collection also includes Department of Fine Arts interoffice memoranda and reports; loan exhibition files; Carnegie International planning, jury, shipping, and sale records; Department of Fine Arts letterpress copy books, and a copy of the original card catalog index to these records.

Scope and Contents:

The records of the Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art measure 265.8 linear feet and date from 1883-1962, with the bulk of the material dating from 1885-1940. The collection includes extensive correspondence between the museum's founding director, John Beatty, and his successor, Homer Saint-Gaudens, with artists, dealers, galleries, collectors, museum directors, representatives abroad, shipping and insurance agents, and museum trustees. The collection also includes Department of Fine Arts interoffice memoranda and reports; loan exhibition files; Carnegie International planning, jury, shipping, and sale records; Department of Fine Arts letterpress copy books, and a copy of the original card catalog index to these records.

This collection is a complete record of the museum's work, starting with the planning of the first loan exhibition in 1885 and ending with the cancellation of the International at the start of World War II in 1940. The museum's day-to-day relationships with all aspects of the contemporary art world are documented within the historical context of artists' reactions to World War I; the economic repercussions of the Great Depression on art sales and museum budgets; the ramifications of fascism on German, Italian, and European art; the impact of civil war on Spanish art; and the tensions introduced by the rise of 'radical' modernist art in Europe.

Correspondence (Series 1) is the largest series in the collection (152.5 linear feet) and is comprised of extensive correspondence between the Museum of Art and over 8700 correspondents, with over 3600 correspondents specifically related to art and artists.

Correspondents related to the art world include museum staff, artists, collectors, museums, galleries, dealers, shippers, insurance agencies, art directors, associations, societies, clubs, critics, press, and governments. These exchanges include general requests for information; requests related to the museum's exhibitions, including the International; letters regarding the museum's involvement in the events of other art organizations; loan, sales, and provenance information for specific works of art; and information regarding the events of other art organizations.

The correspondence of the museum's staff provides the greatest insight into understanding the museum's evolution into an international cultural institution. Both directors' correspondence touch on their personal opinions on art, their rationale behind policy decisions, and their understanding of the extent to which the museum's work was dependent on the good relations they maintained in the art world. Additionally, the extensive, opinionated correspondence between Saint-Gaudens' European agents and museum staff during the 1920s and 1930s provide a unique perspective on emerging art trends and the skill, growth, and personalities of individual artists.

The most prolific of the museum staff correspondents include museum directors John Beatty and Homer Saint-Gaudens, Board of Trustees president Samuel Harden Church, assistant director Edward Balken, and European agents Guillaume Lerolle , Ilario Neri, Arnold Palmer, Margaret Palmer, and Charlotte Weidler. Additional prominent staff members include Helen Beatty, Robert Harshe, Caroline Lapsley, Henry Jack Nash, John O'Connor, Charles Ramsey, George Shaw, George Sheers, August Zeller, and Fine Arts Committee members John Caldwell, William Frew, William Hyett, and John Porter.

The most prolific artist correspondents include John White Alexander, George Grey Barnard, Cecilia Beaux, Frank Benson, George de Forest Brush, William Merritt Chase, William Coffin, Bruce Crane, Andre Dauchez, Charles H. Davis, Alfred East, Ben Foster, Daniel Garber, Charles P. Gruppe, John Johansen, Johanna Hailman, John McLure Hamilton, Birge Harrison, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Laura Knight, John la Farge, Gaston la Touche, John Lavery, Henri le Sidaner, Jonas Lie, Hermon A. MacNeil, Antonio Mancini, Gari Melchers, Emile Menard, Henry R. Poore, Edward Redfield, W. Elmer Schofield, Leopold Seyffert, Lucien Simon, Eugene Speicher, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Robert Vonnoh, J. Alden Weir, Irving R. Wiles, and Ignacio Zuloaga. Other artists of note include: Edwin Austen Abbey, George Bellows, Edwin Blashfield, Frank Brangwyn, Mary Cassatt, Kenyon Cox, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Thomas Eakins, William Glackens, Robert Henri, Eastman Johnson, Rockwell Kent, Paul Manship, Henry Ranger, John Singer Sargent, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Edmund Tarbell, James McNeil Whistler, N.C. Wyeth, and Charles Morris Young.

Frequent museum collaborators include the Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Brooklyn Museum, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Cleveland Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Detroit Institute of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Saint Louis Museum of Fine Arts, Toledo Museum of Art, and Worcester Art Museum.

Other prolific correspondents include collectors Chauncey Blair, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Lang Freer, George Hearn, Alexander Humphreys, Roy Hunt, Mrs. B.F. Jones, Burton Mansfield, Frank Nicola, Duncan Phillips, John Stevenson, and William Stimmel; dealers and galleries M. Knoedler, William Macbeth, Central Art Gallery, Charles A. Walker, C.W. Kraushaar Art Galleries, Downtown Gallery, Durand-Ruel and Sons, Ehrich Galleries, Ferargil Galleries, Frank Rehn, Frederick Keppel, Haseltine Art Gallery, R.C. Vose Galleries, and W. Scott Thurber Fine Arts; insurance agent Macomber Co.; and shippers Dicksee and Co., J.W. Hampton, P. Navel/R. Lerondelle, Stedman and Wilder, and W.S. Budworth and Son.

Correspondents not specifically related to the contemporary art world include businesses, educational institutions, libraries, and the general public. These exchanges detail the daily work of the museum, including the estimates and work orders of office suppliers, contractors, printers, and etc.; programming and research inquiries of k-12 and college/university institutions; acknowledgements of the receipt of Museum of Art publications; and general public inquiries regarding museum policies, exhibitions, and the permanent collection. Companies and institutions who worked particularly closely with the museum include Alden and Harlow (architects), Detroit Publishing Co., and Tiffany and Co.

Department of Fine Arts (Series 2) consists of art and artist lists, correspondence, memoranda, notes, and reports. These files were begun under John Beatty's tenure and streamlined under Homer Saint-Gaudens' directorship to track activities directly related to the museum's interoffice affairs. File headings continued under Saint-Gaudens focus on art considered and purchased for the permanent collection, employee records, exhibition proposals and loans, Fine Arts Committee minutes, museum programming, museum publications, press releases, requests for images, and requests for general information.

Under Saint-Gaudens, the Fine Arts Committee files contain voluminous impressions of contemporary European artists, which he composed during his annual studio tours of the continent in the early 1920s and late 1930s. These informal reports provide insight into the shaping of the International and include a running commentary on historical events of the time. The Fine Arts Committee files also document the artistic and budgetary compromises that were struck, particularly during the Great Depression and early run-up to World War II.

Exhibitions (Series 3) includes correspondence with collectors, museums, galleries, dealers, shippers, and many of the artists themselves. Additional documents include catalogs, lists, planning notes, and telegrams related to 185 traveling and loan exhibitions held at the Museum of Art from 1901 to 1940. Of these, over 100 are one-artist shows and 82 are group, survey, regional, or topical shows. The one-artist exhibitions tend to showcase contemporary artists of the time. Regional shows focused on American and European art, with two shows featuring the art of Canada and Mexico. Survey themes focused on animals, children, cities, gardens, landscapes, Old Masters, and portraitures. Many of the genre shows venture into art not typically collected by the Museum of Art, including architecture, crafts, engravings, figure studies, graphic arts, illustrations, miniatures, mural decorations, oriental rugs, prints, printed books, sculpture, small reliefs, stained glass, theater models, watercolors, and wood engravings.

The most important shows organized and curated by Museum of Art staff include the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915), American Sculpture Show (1915, 1920), Applied Arts Show (1917), Original Illustrations Show (1921), Mexican Art Show (1929), Garden Club Show (1922), Industrial Art Show (1924), Pittsburgh Artists Show (1935), French Survey Show (1936), English Painting Survey Show (1937), American Paintings, Royal Academy Show (1938), and Survey of American Painting Show (1940).

Important one-artist shows include Abbot Handerson Thayer (1919), George de Forest Brush (1922), Frank W. Benson (1923), Rockwell Kent (1923, 1939), Anders Zorn (1924), John Lavery (1925), Paul Manship (1925), Mary Cassatt (1925), Laura Knight (1925), Edouard Manet (1932), Edward Hopper (1936), Winslow Homer (1922, 1936), Paul Cezanne (1936), Charles Burchfield (1937), and William Glackens (1938).

International (Series 4) is comprised of catalogs, correspondence, art and artist lists, itineraries, jury selection ballots, minutes, notes, and reports related to the planning, logistics, and promotion of the International Exhibition from 1895 to 1940. These documents were originally grouped and filed separately under John Beatty and were more rigorously streamlined under Homer Saint-Gaudens. The folder headings continued under Saint-Gaudens focus on art purchases, artists' invitations, artists' request for information, general exhibition planning, Foreign Advisory Committees, foreign governments, jury reception planning, loan requests, and touring logistics.

Letterpress books (Series 5) consist of 75 volumes that chronologically collect all of the Museum of Art's outgoing correspondence from 1896 to 1917. Volumes 1-8 contain the only copy of outgoing correspondence from 1896 to 1900. Duplicate copies of all outgoing correspondence dating from 1901 to 1917 were filed in Correspondence (Series 1) by museum staff.

Card catalogs (Series 6) also include three sets of catalogs created by the Museum of Art to track the outgoing and incoming correspondence contained in this collection. Set 1 (1895-1906) consists of the original cards. Set 2 (1907-1917) and Set 3 (1918-1940) consists of photocopies of the original cards that were merged together into one contiguous set.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into six series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1883-1962, (Boxes 1-153, OV 267; 152.5 linear feet)

Series 2: Department of Fine Arts, 1896-1940, (Boxes 153-184, OV 268; 31.6 linear feet)

Series 3: Exhibitions, 1901-1940, (Boxes 184-204; 20 linear feet)

Series 4: International, 1895-1940, (Boxes 204-234, 265-266; 30.2 linear feet)

Series 5: Letterpress Books, 1900-1917, (Boxes 235-251; 17 linear feet)

Series 6: Card Catalogs, 1895-1940, (Box 252-264; 11 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

The Carnegie Institute Museum of Art was established in 1895 by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. One of the first modern contemporary art museums in the United States, its flagship exhibition, the Carnegie International, is recognized as the longest running contemporary exhibition of international art in North America and is the second oldest in the world.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Dumfermline, Scotland and migrated to America with his family in 1848. Often regarded as the second-richest man in history behind John D. Rockerfeller, Carnegie built his industrialist fortunes in the steel industry and spent the remainder of his life in support of major philanthropic projects. By the age of 33, he had developed his personal philosophy of philanthropy, which saw it as the responsibility of the wealthy to foster educational opportunities and disseminate the ideals of high culture among all levels of society. In addition to establishing over 2500 free public libraries, in 1895, he provided the funds to build the Carnegie Institute, located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Carnegie Institute originally maintained three separate departments under the auspices of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

The Carnegie Institute was administered by a Board of Trustees selected by Carnegie, all prominent professional men of Pittsburgh. Within this group, eight men were selected to serve on the Museum of Art's Fine Arts Committee, which was initially granted the final say on gallery affairs. The first Fine Arts Committee was composed of two artists, Alfred Bryan Wall and Joseph Ryan Woodwell, and six businessmen. Among the latter group, John Caldwell, Henry Clay Frick, William Nimick Frew, and David Thompson Watson were also knowledgeable art patrons and collectors. Over time, the Fine Arts Committee's sway over gallery affairs would be measured by the dedication of its various members and tempered by the vision and authority of the Museum's directors, John Beatty and Homer Saint-Gaudens, and the Carnegie Institute Board of Trustees president, Samuel Harden Church.

From 1896 to 1921, John Wesley Beatty (1851-1924) served as the first director of the Museum of Art. A native Pittsburgher and an accomplished silver engraver, illustrator, and painter, Beatty attended the Royal Bavarian Academy in Munich and upon his return to America, made a living as an artist. He also taught at the Pittsburgh School of Design for Women and co-founded a small school of art with fellow local artist George Hetzel. In 1890, while serving as the secretary of the Pittsburgh Art Society, he became the primary organizer of a loan exhibition to be displayed at the opening of the Carnegie Free Library in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. In 1895, when the Carnegie Institute trustees began discussing the possibility of a similar loan exhibition for the opening of their new institution, Beatty was contacted and eventually enlisted to take on the task. Upon the success of that exhibition, he was invited to direct the gallery's affairs and served as the Museum of Art's director until his retirement.

Beatty was an enthusiastic supporter of Impressionism, Realism, Tonalism, Symbolism, and the critically acclaimed contemporary art of the 1890s. He also shared Carnegie's vision for the Museum of Art and believed in the educational and uplifting role aesthetic beauty could provide to the general public. Pursuant to the stated goals of Andrew Carnegie, under Beatty's direction the museum began to purchase important contemporary works to add to its chronological collection of "Old Masters of tomorrow" and almost immediately began planning the first of its Internationals.

The Internationals were viewed as the primary means of showcasing the Museum of Art's selection of the best in contemporary American and European painting, thereby elevating its role as an influential cultural institution on a national and international level. Juried monetary prizes would be awarded to the two best works by American artists, additional awards would be offered to artists of all nationalities, and the Museum of Art's purchases for the year would be selected from the exhibition. Certain artists and collectors were tapped to serve as unofficial representatives of the Museum of Art at home and abroad, among them John White Alexander, William Coffin, I.M. Gaugengigl, Walter Shirlaw, and Edmund Tarbell. Many of the most prominent Pittsburgh art collectors were also asked to lend works to the exhibition. While details of the jury and artist selection process, number of representatives, exhibition show dates, and amount and total number of prizes would change over the years, the planning template was set and would remain the same for future Internationals.

Beatty continued to rely on a stable of close friends and confidantes to help smooth over relations with artists, dealers, shipping agents, and galleries alike, relying heavily on John White Alexander and W. Elmer Schofield, in addition to artists Thomas Shields Clarke, Walter Gay, Robert Henri, Frank D. Millet, and critic Charles M. Kurtz. Over time, many of the artists who served on International juries or Foreign Advisory Committees also became reliable friends and advocates of the International, including Edwin Austen Abbey, Edmond Aman-Jean, Edwin Howland Blashfield, William Merritt Chase, Charles Cottet, Kenyon Cox, Charles Harold Davis, Alfred East, Ben Foster, Charles Hopkinson, John la Farge, Gari Melchers, Leonard Ochtman, Irving R. Wiles, and Robert W. Vonnoh.

From 1896 to 1921, the Museum of Art held twenty-one Internationals, with the only exceptions coming in 1906 (construction of the Hall of Architecture, Hall of Sculpture, and Bruce Galleries), 1915 (deference to the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International), and 1916-1919 (World War I). During these years, the scope and administration of the International slowly expanded, though not without growing pains. At the turn of the century, new modernist styles of art that were appearing in galleries across Europe had not yet entered major American museums and the Carnegie Museum of Art maintained this trend. The museum's generally conservative selection policies, combined with criticism regarding the timing of the exhibition and the jury selection process, led to increasingly tense relations with artists, and were only partially resolved by changes made to the format of the International. In spite of these challenges, the Carnegie International retained its reputation as a preeminent venue for contemporary art and awarded top prizes to John White Alexander, Cecilia Beaux, George W. Bellows, Frank W. Benson, Andre Dauchez, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, John Lavery, Henri le Sidaner, Edward W. Redfield, W. Elmer Schofield, Edmund C. Tarbell, Abbot Handerson Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, and J. Alden Weir.

In addition to the International, Carnegie's mission of bringing cultural and educational opportunities to Pittsburgh was a central priority of the museum's daily operations. Beatty cultivated relationships with fellow museum directors, which allowed for the easy co-ordination and planning of traveling exhibitions benefiting the city. The museum developed educational programs for children and adults, including lectures, gallery talks, Saturday morning classes, fine art extension classes, guided tours, and outreach to local schools. As popular Pittsburgh art societies and clubs formed, the museum also provided meeting and exhibition spaces for groups such as the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, the Art Society of Pittsburgh, the Art Students League, the Garden Club of Allegheny County, and the Junior League.

After more than 25 years of service, Beatty made the decision to retire and put out an informal call for candidates. Being the right man at the right time, in 1921, Homer Schiff Saint-Gaudens (1880-1958) became the Museum of Art's second director.

The only child of American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his wife and artist, Augusta Fisher Homer, Saint-Gaudens frequently traveled abroad and grew up in the company of his parents' wide circle of friends, many of them artists, poets, writers, and performers who frequented the Cornish Artists' Colony. More intimate friends of the family included former students, assistants, and colleagues, the architect Stanford White, and successful artist-couples who resided near the family's Cornish, New Hampshire home, among them Louise and Kenyon Cox, Maria and Thomas Dewing, Florence and Everett Shinn, and Emma and Abbott Thayer.

Homer Saint-Gaudens attended the preparatory school Lawrenceville, graduated from Harvard in 1903, married the artist and suffragist Carlota Dolley (1884-1927) in 1905, and remarried to Mary Louise McBride (n.d.-1974) in 1929. He began his professional career as a journalist and worked as assistant editor of The Critic (1903) and managing editor of Metropolitan Magazine (1905). During those years, he was introduced to a number of the Ash Can school artists, wrote articles on contemporary art, and honed his abilities as a writer. In 1907, Saint-Gaudens took a break from professional editing and began a second career as the stage manager for Maude Adams, the most highly paid and successful stage actress of her day, with a yearly income of over one million dollars at the peak of her popularity. Working in theater and as Adams' manager for over ten years, Saint-Gaudens learned the ins and outs of event promotion and logistics, media coverage, and maintaining diplomatic relations through compromise, ideal skills he would later use in organizing the Carnegie Internationals.

With the United States' entry into World War I, Saint-Gaudens served as the chief of the U.S. Army's first camouflage unit and was awarded the Bronze Star. After his discharge, he managed Adams' 1918 final season and simultaneously helped his mother organize a major retrospective of his father's sculptures. While organizing a section of his father's work for the 1921 International, he was invited to step into the position of assistant director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, and was promoted to the directorship upon John Beatty's retirement.

Throughout his tenure, Saint-Gaudens was able to call upon long-standing family friendships with artists and art patrons to the museum's benefit. His connections to the art world can clearly be seen in his first major stand-alone exhibition, the Garden Club Show (1922). In this, he enlisted the aid of Elizabeth Alexander, wife of John White Alexander, and Johanna Hailman, artist and wife of John Hailman, who reached out to their circle of artists and art collecting friends in search of works appropriate for the show. Their efforts, combined with the relationships Beatty had established with museum directors, galleries, and dealers, as well as Saint-Gaudens' own friendships with Kenyon Cox, Thomas Dewing, Barry Faulkner, and Gari Melchers, resulted in an assemblage of 150 paintings of note. Coming immediately upon the heels of the 1922 International, the show was a resounding success. The exhibition's opening attracted over 300 delegates of the Garden Club of America and the entirety of Pittsburgh high society, settling any concerns regarding his leadership abilities.

As director of the Museum of Art, Saint-Gaudens instituted measures intended to streamline the Internationals and improve diplomatic relations with artists. Though the basic format of the juried exhibition remained the same, his solutions to the complaints many artists raised with the artist invitation, art selection, and jury systems reformed the International's reputation at a critical time. Though he was naturally inclined to appreciate the art and artists he had grown up with, Saint-Gaudens understood the immediate necessity of introducing modernist contemporary art into the museum's exhibitions and galleries. He circumvented the conservative Fine Arts Committee's resistance to the accolades of European modernists by choosing the tamest of the new 'radical' works. Eventually, he balanced the Internationals with a mix of conservative, moderate, and advanced works that appealed to a large range of audiences and increased the status and diversity of the Internationals.

To aid in his reformation of the International, Saint-Gaudens formalized a team of European agents who worked year round to scout artists' studios, recommend suitable art and artists, navigate local politics, arrange local transportation and logistics, and maintain cordial relations with artists abroad. In the spring, Saint-Gaudens would travel to Europe to meet with his agents in person, tour the most promising studios, and meet with artists personally. His team was headed by Guillaume Lerolle, who shared Saint-Gaudens' distinction of being the son of a well regarded national artist, Henry Lerolle. Like Saint-Gaudens, Lerolle was able and willing to call upon longstanding family friendships and networks on behalf of the Museum of Art. The other core members of the team were Ilario Neri (Italy), Arnold Palmer (England), Margaret Palmer (Spain), and Charlotte Weidler (Germany).

From 1922 to 1940, the Museum of Art held seventeen Internationals, with the exceptions coming in 1932 (Great Depression) and 1940 (World War II). After a brief period of change, growth, and experimentation in the early 1920s, the museum eventually settled on a routine of planning the Internationals, arranging for traveling exhibitions, and expanding upon the most popular of their educational programs. In addition to those programs put into place under Beatty's tenure, Saint-Gaudens paved the way for a revamped lecture series featuring visiting critics and traveled as a visiting lecturer himself.

During the 1930s, financial difficulties and increasing political tensions in Europe presented ample challenges to the diplomatic skills of Saint-Gaudens and his agents, and they found themselves increasingly forced to navigate through political minefields presented by the fascist ideologies of Germany and Italy, the chaos of the Spanish civil war, and the eventual outbreak of World War II in Europe. In spite of these challenges, under Saint-Gaudens' direction, the museum remained true to Andrew Carnegie's vision. The International was expanded to accept on average over sixty additional works of art, and at its peak, included art from twenty-one countries. Beginning in 1927, top prizes and recognition were awarded to Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Andre Derain, Raoul Dufy, Karl Hofer, Rockwell Kent, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Edouard Vuillard.

Works by Arthur B. Davies, Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper, Augustus John, Oskar Kokoschka, Leon Kroll, Ernest Lawson, and William Orpen were added to the museum's permanent collection. And, as under Beatty's tenure, many of the artists selected to serve on the Jury of Award became advocates and friends of the museum, including Emil Carlsen, Anto Carte, Bruce Crane, Charles C. Curran, Daniel Garber, Charles Hopkinson, Laura Knight, Jonas Lie, Julius Olsson, Leopold Seyffert, Lucien Simon, Eugene Speicher, Maurice Sterne, Gardner Symons, Horatio Walker, and Charles H. Woodbury.

The monumental task of establishing the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art and the Carnegie International has left an archival record that is unique and unparalleled in documenting its relations with every aspect of the contemporary art world from the turn of the century through the first forty years of the twentieth century.

Provenance:

The Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records were loaned for microfilming in 1966 and later donated to the Archives of American Art in 1972. A small addition of corrrespondence was donated in 2017 by Elizabeth Tufts Brown.

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.

Topic:

Art -- Economic aspects  Search this

World War, 1914-1918  Search this

Art museums -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh  Search this

Depressions -- 1929  Search this

Art, Modern -- Exhibitions  Search this

Fascism  Search this

World War, 1939-1945  Search this

Museum directors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Letterpress books

Museum records

Citation:

Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1940. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Brown Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:

AAA.carninst

See more items in:

Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-carninst

Collector:

Roberts, Charles  Search this

Names:

Allston, Washington, 1779-1843  Search this

Bierstadt, Albert, 1830-1902  Search this

Cole, Thomas, 1801-1848  Search this

Disney, Walt, 1901-1966  Search this

Durand, Asher Brown, 1796-1886  Search this

Gay, Edward, 1837-1928  Search this

Greenough, Horatio, 1805-1852  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Hurd, Peter, 1904-1984  Search this

Inman, Henry, 1801-1846  Search this

Peale, Charles Willson, 1741-1827  Search this

Peale, Rembrandt, 1778-1860  Search this

Sully, Thomas, 1783-1872  Search this

Trumbull, John, 1756-1843  Search this

West, Benjamin, 1738-1820  Search this

Extent:

1 Microfilm reel

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Microfilm reels

Date:

1773-1938

Scope and Contents:

Letters of American artists, including Washington Allston, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole, Walt Disney, Asher Durand, Horatio Greenough, Winslow Homer, Peter Hurd, Henry Inman, Thomas Sully, John Trumbull, Benjamin West and many others, with an illustrated letter from Edward Gay and correspondence of the Peale family; a handwritten manuscript by Rembrandt Peale, "Washington and His Portraits"; clippings, announcements, an auction catalog of the John Trumbull collection, and other printed material.

Provenance:

Lent for microfilming, 1955, by Haverford College Library.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Topic:

Art, American -- United States  Search this

Artists -- United States -- Autographs  Search this

Autographs -- Collections  Search this

Autographs -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.robechar

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-robechar

Creator:

Nichols, James C.  Search this

Names:

Chaffee, Oliver Newberry, 1881-1944  Search this

Currier, J. Frank (Joseph Frank), 1843-1909  Search this

Duveneck, Frank, 1848-1919  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Juergens, Alfred, 1866-1934  Search this

Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925  Search this

Twachtman, John Henry, 1853-1902  Search this

Whistler, James McNeill, 1834-1903  Search this

Extent:

0.6 Linear feet ((on 2 microfilm reels))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Date:

1885-1975

Scope and Contents:

Scrapbooks containing printed material, photographs and correspondence relating to Oliver Newberry Chaffee and Alfred Juergens.

REEL 991: Two scrapbooks compiled by Nichols on Alfred Juergens including correspondence between Nichols and Juergens concerning his work, and between Nichols and Francis Tikalsky, Juergens' biographer and friend, mentioning Frank Currier, Frank Duveneck, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, and letters to Juergens from A. Chatain and J.H. Guest; biographical information; photographs of Juergens, his wife, his work, of Currier and his work and of Duveneck's portrait of Currier; sketches from Munich and Rothenberg (not all microfilmed); lists of works in exhibitions and collections; and clippings and obituaries.

REEL 2299: A scrapbook compiled by Nichols in 1975 on Oliver Newberry Chaffee containing mainly photocopies of: letters to Chaffee and Nichols; exhibition catalogs and clippings; biographical material; 3 photographs of paintings by Chaffee; and a list of paintings.

Biographical / Historical:

Art dealer; Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Provenance:

The two Juergens scrapbooks were lent for microfilming by Nichols in 1975. He later donated it with the Chaffee scrapbook in 1979. The Juergens scrapboook was assembled in preparation for an exhibition. [Some of the Juergens sketches were not microfilmed.]

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.

Occupation:

Art dealers -- Michigan -- Kalamazoo  Search this

Painters -- Germany -- Munich  Search this

Topic:

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Identifier:

AAA.nichjame

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-nichjame

Creator:

WCBB (Television station : Lewiston, Me.)  Search this

Names:

WCBB (Television station : Lewiston, Me.)  Search this

Beam, Philip C.  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Skinner, Odell  Search this

Extent:

1 Videocassettes (U-matic) ((28 min), sd., col., 3/4 in.)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Videocassettes (u-matic)

Date:

1984

Scope and Contents:

Describe's Homer's early career and his life at Prout's Neck, Maine. Shows photographs, diaries, sketchbooks, and letters from the Homer Collection at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, as well as Homer's work.

Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):

Lewiston, Me. : WBCC-TV, 1984.

General:

Based on the book Winslow Homer at Prout's Neck by Philip C. Beam.

Provenance:

Donated by WCBB-TV via Odell Skinner, 1984.

Rights:

Authorization to reproduce, quote, or publicly broadcast requires written permission from WCBB-TV, 1450 Lisbon St., Lewiston, ME 04240. Contact Reference Services for more information.

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.

Occupation:

Painters -- Maine -- Prout's Neck  Search this

Topic:

Painting, American -- Maine -- Prout's Neck  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.wcbbtele

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-wcbbtele

Creator:

O'Brien Galleries (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this

Names:

House of O'Brien  Search this

M. O'Brien & Son  Search this

O'Brien Art Galleries  Search this

O'Brien's Art Emporium  Search this

Betts, Louis, 1873-1961  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

O'Brien, Martin, 1834-1917  Search this

O'Brien, William Vincent, 1859-1952  Search this

O'Brien, William Vincent, 1902-1972  Search this

Extent:

3 Microfilm reels

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Microfilm reels

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Date:

1811-1970

Scope and Contents:

Correspondence, business records, notes and writings, printed material, and photographs chart the gallery's history.

REELS 4180-4181: Correspondence from artists, patrons, and others (1811-1952) includes 8 letters from Winslow Homer (1898-1902). Business records include financial and legal documents (1857-1941), name lists and lists of paintings sold, painting and print registers (1898-1954), and minutes from corporation meetings (1901-1941). Howard O'Brien's writings include poems (1909-1944), some illustrated with photographs; a script "Cherchez La Femme"; and a typescript "The Long Trail". Printed material includes advertisements, clippings (1900-1970), exhibition catalogs (1921-1924), a sale catalog, and a booklet (1927) on landscape painters of America. An album contains photographs of portraits painted by Louis Betts, an artist promoted by O'Brien. Other photographs (1885-1936) show O'Brien family members, Winslow Homer, and one of Irene Dunne (an autographed publicity shot).

REEL 4193: A scrapbook contains exhibition announcements, clippings, and brochures from Chicago (1873-1941) and Arizona (1953-1958).

Biographical / Historical:

Art gallery; Chicago, Ill. and Scottsdale, Az. Chicago's first art gallery and one of the oldest family owned and operated gallery in the United States. It opened in 1855 as a frame shop, offering a variety of services to both artists and collectors. It was called by several names, including O'Brien's Art Emporium, O'Brien Art Galleries, O'Brien Galleries, House of O'Brien, and M. O'Brien & Sons. The gallery remained in Chicago until 1941, closed during the war, and resumed operation in Scottsdale, Arizona in the 1950s.

Three generations of O'Briens (Martin, William, and William Jr.) ran the gallery before it moved to Arizona; all were committed to bringing culture and the visual arts to Chicago. O'Brien's Art Emporium was a vital factor in shaping art collections and attitudes in the city; it supported and sold work by conservative, academic painters, developing and reflecting the taste of the majority of Chicagoans.

Other Title:

O'Brien's Art Emporium (microfilm title)

Provenance:

Lent for microfilming 1986 by the current owners of the gallery, Stephanie Roberts and her husband, Bill Dickerson.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Art dealers -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- Illinois -- Chicago

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Identifier:

AAA.obrigall

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-obrigall

Creator:

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Names:

M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this

Extent:

0.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1900-1904

Summary:

This small collection of twenty-two letters written by painter and illustrator Winslow Homer to his art dealer, M. Knoedler and Company, date from 1900 to 1904. These letters to the New York gallerist concern the logistics of selling his paintings and also reference agents, collectors, and art institutions where his work was being exhibited.

Scope and Contents:

This small collection of twenty-two letters written by painter and illustrator Winslow Homer to his art dealer, M. Knoedler and Company, date from 1900 to 1904. These letters to the New York gallerist concern the logistics of selling his paintings and also reference agents, collectors, and art institutions where his work was being exhibited.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 1 series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1900-1904 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Biographical / Historical:

Winslow Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1836. He was raised in Cambridge, where he developed a love of art and the outdoors. At the age of 19 he began his career as an illustrator, apprenticing at the J.H. Bufford lithographic firm in Boston. He then decided to become a freelance illustrator. In 1859 Homer moved to New York to work for Harper's Weekly, serving as artist-correspondent for the magazine during the Civil War. After taking some art classes at the National Academy of Design, he decided to focus on oil painting. He quickly gained international recognition as a painter, and in 1866 made his first trip to Europe. In 1873 he decided to work in watercolor and found great success in his experimentation with light and color in this medium. In the mid-1880s Homer moved permanently to Prout's Neck, Maine, an isolated area where he built a studio and focused his paintings on man's struggle with nature. Also during the 1880s he worked on a series of etchings based on his paintings. Homer continued to paint for the next twenty years, vacationing summers in places such as the Adirondacks and the Bahamas to capture varied landscapes, until his death in 1910.

M. Knoedler and Co. was a New York art dealership and gallery that managed the sales and logistics involved in shipping or lending artworks to various collectors, museums, organizations, and institutions.

Related Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds the Winslow Homer collection; a microfilm copy on reels 2932-2933 of the Winslow Homer and Homer family papers from the Bowdain College; and a video recording, Winslow Homer in Maine.

Provenance:

The Winslow Homer letters to M. Knoedler and Company were purchased at auction and donated by Martha J. Fleischman in memory of her father, Lawrence A. Fleischman, in 2010.

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.

Occupation:

Art dealers -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this

Illustrators -- Maine  Search this

Painters -- Maine -- Prout's Neck  Search this

Topic:

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art -- Economic aspects  Search this

Citation:

Winslow Homer letters to M. Knoedler and Company, 1900-1904. 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.

Identifier:

AAA.mknoeco

See more items in:

Winslow Homer letters to M. Knoedler and Company

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-mknoeco

Creator:

Kelly, James Edward, 1855-1933  Search this

Names:

Harper's Magazine  Search this

National Academy of Design (U.S.)  Search this

Scribner's magazine  Search this

Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945  Search this

Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865  Search this

Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849  Search this

Ryder, Albert Pinkham, 1847-1917  Search this

Ryder, George Hope  Search this

Sarony, Napoleon, 1821-1896  Search this

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900  Search this

Worden, John Lorimer, 1818-1897  Search this

Extent:

1.4 Linear feet ((on 2 microfilm reels))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Place:

New York (N.Y.) -- Pictorial works

Date:

1880-1957

Scope and Contents:

Business correspondence; correspondence between Robert Bruce and George Hope Ryder (Kelly's patron) concerning Ryder's collection of sculpture by Kelly; a bound typescript of Kelly's memoirs with descriptions of New York City from the Civil War period to the 1930s and impressions of HARPER'S and SCRIBNER'S magazines, the National Academy of Design, Theodore Dreiser, Thomas A. Edison, Winslow Homer. Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allen Poe, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Napoleon Sarony, Oscar Wilde, Admiral John L. Worden and others; and photos and reproductions of works of art. Also found are an inventory of George H. Ryder's art and furniture collection; and lists of pictures and bronzes of Ryder.

Biographical / Historical:

Sculptor, illustrator and painter; New York City. Kelly's primary work were Civil War monuments.

Provenance:

The donor, Mary C. Liberatore, is the niece of Leonard Clayton, who established a gallery in New York City in the 1920s. This collection was possibly organized by George Hope Ryder, Kelly's patron, acquired by the Gallery and then donated to the Archives.

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.

Occupation:

Engravers  Search this

Illustrators  Search this

Painters  Search this

Sculptors  Search this

Topic:

Sculpture, American  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.kelljame

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-kelljame

Creator:

Hendricks, Gordon  Search this

Names:

Bierstadt, Albert, 1830-1902  Search this

Bradford, William, 1823-1892  Search this

Davis, Charles H. (Charles Harold), 1856-1933  Search this

Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

Muybridge, Eadweard, 1830-1904  Search this

Extent:

26.6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1950-1977

Scope and Contents:

Unmicrofilmed: Research files for Hendricks's books, EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE, FATHER OF THE MOTION PICTURE, 1975; THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THOMAS EAKINS, 1972; WINSLOW HOMER, 1979; AND ALBERT BIERSTADT: PAINTER OF THE AMERICAN WEST, 1979, containing correspondence, manuscripts, notes, photographs, clippings and printed material. Also included are vintage photographs by Bradley and Rulofson, I.W. Taber, Carleton E. Watkins and the Bierstadt Brothers, and an advertisement "Proposal for Publishing an Engraving of Mr. Bierstadt's picture of the Rocky Mountains."

Reel 3002: Research files for Hendricks's unpublished book on William Bradford, a New Bedford, Mass. marine painter. Included are correspondence, notes, slides, photographs, clippings, printed material, and a list of Bradford's paintings.

Provenance:

Material on reel 3002 lent for microfilming 1983 by the New Bedford Whaling Museum; unmicrofilmed material donated 1983 by Guido Castelli.

Restrictions:

Unmicrofilmed gift: use requires an appointment and is limited to Washington, D.C. office.

Material on William Bradford (loan): Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Identifier:

AAA.hendgord

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-hendgord