The papers of landscape painter Sanford Robinson Gifford, date from the 1840s through 1900, and circa 1960s-1970s. The bulk of the papers fall between 1855-1881; material from the circa 1960s-1970s consists of photographic copy prints for which the Archives does not have the originals. The small collection measures 0.9 linear feet of scattered documentation of Gifford's life, primarily extensive biographical accounts of his travels in the mid 1850s and late 1860s in the form of bound letters to his father. These serve as detailed journals of his impressions of Europe and the Middle East, the development of his painting, and his relationships with other artists such as Albert Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredge. The collection also contains sketches by Gifford, printed material including catalogs of Gifford's paintings, and photographs of Gifford and others.
Scope and Content Note:
The collection dates from the 1840s through 1900, and circa 1960s-1970s with the bulk of the material falling between 1855-1881. Material from circa 1960s-1970s consists of photographic copy prints of original photographs from the mid to late 1800s for which the Archives does not own the originals. The papers measure 0.9 linear feet and provide detailed documentation of the life of Hudson River School landscape painter, Sanford Robinson Gifford, during the mid 1850s and late 1860s. The papers contain extensive accounts of Gifford's travels in 3 bound volumes of typewritten letters from Gifford to his father. These letters serve as travel journals and provide extensive and vivid descriptions of Gifford's work and experiences in Europe and the Middle East, and document his relationships with a variety of other artists, including Alfred Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredge, during this period.
Additional records provide scattered documenation of other periods of Gifford's life. Letters refer to his travels in the American west and his Civil War service and its effect on his painting. Printed material includes clippings and exhibition catalogs, and includes a catalogue of his paintings published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1881. Artwork by Gifford includes sketches by the artist and prints, engravings and paintings by various others. Original photographs date from 1856-1900 and include images of Gifford during the Civil War. Copyprints for which the Archives does not own the originals date from the circa 1960s-1970s and include two images of a family home in Hudson, New York, where Gifford had a studio in the mid 1860s, a portrait photograph of Gifford, and an image of Gifford on the Hayden expedition.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series:
Series 1: Letters, 1855-1874 (Box 1; 3 volumes, 1 folder)
Series 2: Printed Material, circa 1850s-1881 (Box 2; 4 folders)
Series 3: Artwork, circa 1840s-circa 1870s (Box 2, OV 3; 4 folders)
Series 4: Photographs and Copy Prints, 1856-circa 1900, circa 1960s-1970s (Box 2, 5, OV 4; 11 folders)
Biographical Note:
Sanford Robinson Gifford was born in Greenfield, New York, in 1823. He attended Brown University from 1842-1844 and moved to New York City in 1845 where he studied drawing, perspective and anatomy under the direction of the British watercolorist and drawing-master, John R. Smith. He also studied the human figure in anatomy classes at the Crosby Street Medical college and took drawing classes at the National Academy of Design. In 1846 he visited the Berkshire Hills and the Catskill Mountains, sketching from nature. "These studies," he wrote to O. B. Frothingham in 1874, "together with the great admiration I felt for the works of Cole developed a strong interest in landscape art, and opened my eyes to a keener perception and more intelligent enjoyment of nature. Having once enjoyed the absolute freedom of the landscape painters life I was unable to return to portrait painting."
The American Art Union bought and showed some of Gifford's first pictures in 1847. In 1851 he was elected an associate, and in 1854 an academician, of the National Academy of Design.
Gifford traveled widely to sketch landscapes for future paintings, recording his experiences in letters to his father which he intended would "serve the double purpose of letter and journal, and be an economy of time." He requested that his father number the letters sequentially and keep them together.
In the summer of 1855 Gifford visited England, Scotland and Paris, where he spent the winter of 1855 transforming his English and Scottish sketches into paintings. In the fall of 1856 he rented a studio in Rome and, over the course of the winter, painted pictures that reportedly pleased him "pretty well," including Lake Nemi. During the spring of 1857, Gifford spent time with fellow artists Worthington Whittredge, William H. Beard and Albert Bierstadt before leaving Rome in May with Bierstadt for a walking tour of southern Italy, where they planned to reconnect with Whittredge and Beard. Gifford ended his European tour with a visits to Innsbruck, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin and Paris, before returning to the United States at the end of the summer.
On his return Gifford rented studio Number 19 in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City, which he retained until his death. Over the next few years he also made frequent summer trips to various northeastern locales including the Catskills, the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains in Vermont, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, Maine and Nova Scotia.
Gifford served in New York's Seventh Regiment when it marched to the defense of Washington in April 1861, and again in 1862 and 1863. Several paintings resulted from this experience, including Sunday Morning at Camp Cameron (1861), Bivouac of the Seventh Regiment at Arlington Heights, Virginia (1861) and Camp of the Seventh Regiment, near Frederick, Maryland, in July 1863 (1864).
In 1868 Gifford returned to Europe, again visiting London and Paris, where he met with friends Jervis McEntee and his wife. He then spent the summer visiting the Alps and Sicily before wintering in Rome. In 1869 he traveled to Egypt where he and a small party hired a boat to take them on a two-month voyage from Cairo down the Nile River. Subsequently, Gifford traveled to the Middle East with Alfred Craven via the Suez Canal, where his itinerary included Syria, Jerusalem, Samaria, Damascus, Greece and Turkey. Gifford arrived in Venice in June 1869 and sailed for the United States at the beginning of September.
In 1870 Gifford visited Colorado with Worthington Whittredge and John Frederick Kensett, and accompanied a United States Geological party under Dr. Hayden in the exploration of Wyoming, Utah, and the Colorado Territories. In the summer of 1873 he visited California, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska.
Gifford married in 1877 but in 1880 became ill and died of malarial fever and pneumonia at the age of 58. That same year he was honored with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's first monographic retrospective and a memorial catalogue of his known pictures.
Related Material:
Five sketchbooks were loaned by Vassar College in 1966 and the originals were returned to the donor after microfilming on reel D254.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels D254 and 688) including twenty-one sketchbooks, photographs, passports and certificates, an 1888 European travel diary of Mary Louise Willard, wife of Gifford's nephew, Harold, and a 1966 letter. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Edith Wilkinson first donated the Sanford Robinson Gifford papers in 1955 and 1957. James C. Gifford donated copy prints of photographs in 1964. Five sketchbooks were lent for microfilming by the Vassar College Art Library in 1966 and George and Frances Gifford Cummings donated additional material in 1973. In 1974, sixteen sketchbooks, photographs, and other materials were lent for microfilming by Dr. Sanford Gifford, Gifford's great-nephew.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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.
Metropolitan Fair (1864:New York, N.Y.) Search this
Brady, Mathew B., 1823 (ca.)-1896 (Recollections of the art exhibition, Metropolitan Fair) Search this
Extent:
2.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Photographs
Paintings
Sketchbooks
Date:
circa 1840s-1965
bulk 1849-1908
Summary:
The papers of landscape painter Worthington Whittredge measure 2.2 linear feet and date from the 1840s to 1965, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1849 to 1908. This small collection documents Whittredge's career as a painter, particularly his years in Europe from 1849 to 1859, through biographical materials, a manuscript of his autobiography, news clippings, catalogs, six sketchbooks and numerous drawings and paintings. Also found are two photographs of Whittredge and a nineteenth-century photo album containing photographs of 32 famous artists.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of landscape painter Worthington Whittredge measure 2.2 linear feet and date from the 1840s to 1965, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1849 to 1908. This small collection documents Whittredge's career as a painter, particularly his years in Europe from 1849 to 1859, through biographical materials, a manuscript of his autobiography, news clippings, catalogs, six sketchbooks and numerous drawings and paintings. Also found are two photographs of Whittredge and a nineteenth-century photo album containing photographs of 32 famous artists.
Biographical materials include a manuscript of his autobiography, passport, award certificates, and a ledger he kept while living in Düsseldorf, Germany, that documents commissions, accounts, and business activities. Printed material includes news clippings, catalogs, and the book Recollections of the Art Exhibition, Metropolitan Fair, New York, published by Mathew Brady, which includes a catalog of the art exhibition at the fair and 20 printed images by Brady.
Artwork consists of six sketchbooks and numerous drawings and paintings. The sketchbooks contain drawings Whittredge executed on a trip down the Rhine River in 1849 as well as during his travels in Italy and Mexico. Other loose drawings and paintings include numerous landscapes, figure studies, trees, animals, and other miscellaneous sketches.
There are two photographs of Whittredge, taken by M. Louise Greene, and a nineteenth-century photo album containing cartes de visite photographs of 32 artists. Most of these photographs include the artists autograph as well. Included are Albert Bierstadt, George H. Baker, William Holbrook Beard, Albert F. Bellows, John G. Brown, Seth Wells Cheney, Frederic Church, Jasper Cropsey, Thomas Seir Cummings, Mauritz De Haas, Francois Regis Gignoux, Henry Peters Gray, Seymour Guy, George Henry Hall, William Hart, William Hennessy, Richard W. Hubbard, Daniel Huntington, Henry Augustus Loop, Jervis McEntee, Samuel F. B. Morse, William Page, Horace Wolcott Robbins, Aaron Shattuck, James Augustus Suydam, Launt Thompson, Robert W. Weir, Henry Wenzler, Edwin White, and George Yewell, and two unidentified artists.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1849-circa 1940s (Box 1, 5, OV 9; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 2: Printed Material, 1861-1965 (Box 1, 4, 5, OV9; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 3: Artwork, circa 1840s-1902 (Box 2, 5, OV 6-9; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 4: Photographs, circa 1850s-1860s, circa 1900 (Box 2-3; 0.3 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Thomas Worthington Whittredge (1820-1910) was born in 1820 in Springfield, Ohio. Receiving very little formal education, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 17 to serve as an apprentice house and sign painter. A few years later, in his early twenties, he briefly ran a daguerreotype studio in Indianapolis, Indiana, and worked as a portrait painter in Charleston, West Virginia.
In 1843 Whittredge decided to pursue landscape painting, and was greatly influenced by Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole. In 1849 he traveled to Düsseldorf, Germany, to further his training at the Düsseldorf Academy. There, he met painter Emanuel Leutze and modeled for Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware (1850). He lived for a year in the home of landscape painter Andreas Achenbach and became friends with Carl Friedrich Lessing. Whittredge spent the summer of 1856 sketching in Switzerland with Albert Bierstadt. That fall Whittredge and Bierstadt moved to Rome where they were joined by fellow artists Sanford Robinson Gifford and William Stanley Haseltine.
Whittredge stayed in Italy until 1859 when he returned to America and settled in New York City, renting a space at Richard Morris Hunt's famous Tenth Street Studio Building, which was frequented by some of the best-known artists, writers, and actors of the time. He kept company with Jervis McEntee, Eastman Johnson, Sanford Robinson Gifford, John Ferguson Weir, and other artists of the "old guard". Whittredge quickly became a very successful artist, adapting what he had learned in Europe to the American landscape. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1860 and became a full member in 1862. He also served as President of the National Academy of Design from 1874 to 1877.
In 1866 Whittredge went along on a government inspection tour of the Missouri Territory and was greatly inspired by the landscape. He traveled to Colorado in 1870 with John Frederick Kensett and Sanford Gifford and, in the late 1870s, began painting these new landscapes. He moved with his family to Summit, New Jersey, in 1880. In 1893 he went on a sketching trip to Mexico with fellow artist Frederic Church and continued painting into the early 1900s. Around this time he also began writing his autobiography which he completed in 1905. Worthington Whittredge died in 1910 at the age of 89.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are several collections relating to Whitteredge: the Anthony F. Janson research material on Worthington Whittredge, 1969-2003; the Worthington Whittredge sale records, 1900; the Edith Wilkinson Letter to E.P. Richardson and biographical notes on Worthington Whittredge, 1957; and a Worthington Whittredge letter to John Ferguson Weir, 1871.
Separated Material:
One sketchbook was loaned by William W. Katzenbach for microfilming in 1959 and returned. Loaned material is available on microfilm reel 153, but is not described in container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
The Worthington Whittredge papers were donated by William W. and L. Emery Katzenbach, grandsons of Whittredge, in 1959. Additional items were donated by William W. Katzenbach in 1968.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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:
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
TThe Rackstraw Downes research material concerning Fairfield Porter measure 1.0 linear foot and date from 1962 to 2000, with the bulk of the material dating from 1970-1979. Downes used the material to compile, edit and write the introduction to Fairfield Porter: Art In Its Own Terms - Selected Criticism 1935-1975 published in 1979. Research materials include articles about Porter, exhibition catalogs, photocopies of letters and some original correspondence, theses and manuscripts. Also included are project files for the publication of Art In Its Own Terms.
Scope and Contents:
The Rackstraw Downes research material concerning Fairfield Porter measure 1.0 linear foot and date from 1962 to 2000, with the bulk of the material dating from 1970-1979. Downes used the material to compile, edit and write the introduction to Fairfield Porter: Art In Its Own Terms - Selected Criticism 1935-1975 published in 1979. Research materials include articles about Porter, exhibition catalogs, photocopies of letters and some original correspondence, theses and manuscripts. Also included are project files for the publication of Art In Its Own Terms.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series:
Series 1: Research Material, 1962-2000 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Files on -- Fairfield Porter: Art In Its Own Terms, Selected Criticism 1935-1975 -- , 1973-1992 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)
Biographical / Historical:
Rackstraw Downes (1939-), a landscape painter and author in New York City, edited and wrote the introduction to Fairfield Porter: Art In It's Own Terms: Selected Criticism 1935-1975. Born in Kent, England, Downes received a B.A. in English literature from Cambridge University in 1961 and earned an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Arts in 1961. Downes was personally acquainted with Porter.
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975), a painter, art critic and poet, resided in Southampton, New York. Porter was a strong advocate for figure painting. He wrote for ArtNews and The Nation, and eventually became art editor for The Nation.
Provenance:
Donated by Rackstraw Downes in 2012.
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 critics -- New York (State) -- Southampton Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
The Rackstraw Downes research material concerning Fairfield Porter, 1962-2000, bulk 1970-1979. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of artist and art patron Dorothea A. Dreier measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1881-1941, with the bulk of the material dating from 1887-1923. The papers document the life and work of Dorothea Dreier and also contain the papers of and about members of her immediate family, particularly her sisters, Mary and Katherine Dreier, and Margaret Dreier Robins. Found are correspondence, printed materials, legal and financial records, photographs, and one sketchbook by Dreier.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of the painter Dorothea A. Dreier measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1881 to 1941, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1887-1923. These papers document not only her life and work as an artist, but also the activities of her distinguished family in the realms of social reform, women's suffrage, and politics, through correspondence, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, exhibition catalogs, publications, photographs, ephemera, a sketchbook, and legal and financial records.
Biographical materials include official documents, childhood writings, notes, ephemera, membership cards, invitations, programs, notes, lists, and legal and financial records.
Measuring 1.2 linear feet, correspondence is the largest and most extensive series and consists of letters from family and close friends as well as business correspondence. Although the letters in this series span from 1881-1925, a large number stem from Dorothea's 1913-1916 stay at Saranac Lake for treatment of her tuberculosis.
Family correspondents consist of members of Dorothea's immediate family as well as more distant relations, including those who resided in her parent's native Germany. Letters from her sisters Mary E. Dreier, and Margaret (Gretchen) Dreier Robins, her sister-in-law Ethyl Eyre Valentine Dreier and brother-in-law Raymond Robins provide some insight into the varied social reform and political movements, such as women's suffrage and the Bull Moose Party, with which they were allied. Additionally both Mary and Margaret were active in the Women's Trade Union League, Margaret having served as the League's president from 1907-1922. Therefore their correspondence is a rich resource for scholars interested in women's history and the history of the Progressive Era in the United States.
Due to their shared interest in the arts, her sister Katherine S. Dreier's letters provide information about her own work as an artist, particularly when she was studying abroad, exhibitions in which she participated or visited, and the Cooperative Mural Workshop, a combination art school and workshop that she ran from 1914-1917 with Walt Kuhn, with substantial financial help from Dorothea.
Additionally through her Brooklyn neighborhood, art classes, and support of numerous social causes, Dorothea had a large circle of friends. Frequent correspondents include the Bartlett sisters, Agnes, Mary, and Maud, Rebecca Forbes, Ellen Kuhn Mahan, and Charlotte Schetter. Notable art world correspondents include Vincent van Gogh's sister Elisabeth du Quesne van Gogh, the American Tonalist landscape painter Charles Harold Davis and Dreier's painting instructor and close friend, the painter Walter Shirlaw.
Printed materials reflect the varied interests and activities of Dorothea Dreier and select members of her immediate family through exhibition announcements, catalogs, including a numbered copy of the The Dorothea A. Dreier Exhibition from the memorial exhibition of her work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1925, newspaper clippings relating to her career, the activities of other members of the Dreier family, art and politics; as well as pamphlets, broadsides, brochures and blank postcards.
Photographs include both studio portraits and informal snapshots of Dorothea and Katherine Dreier; group photographs including Dorothea; travel photographs, many of which appear to have been taken in the Netherlands; and photographs of Teddy Roosevelt giving a speech at a railway station. Artworks include a sketchbook by Dreier, five sketchbooks by friend and teacher, Walter Shirlaw, and an unidentified artist, a pencil drawing by Shirlaw, an engraving by Huquier and an etching by Ernest D. Roth.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 5 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1884-1923 (Box 1; 0.75 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1881-1925 (Boxes 1-2; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1883-1916 (Boxes 2-3; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Photographs, circa 1900-1923 (Box 3; 7 folders)
Series 5: Artwork, circa 1885-1941 (Boxes 3-4; 9 folders)
Biographical Note:
Dorothea A. Dreier was born on December 8, 1870, in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrant parents. The second of five children in a close knit, socially progressive family, her siblings include the social reformers and suffragettes Mary E. Dreier and Margaret Dreier Robins. However she was closest to her youngest sister, Katherine S. Dreier, fellow artist, patron of modern art and cofounder of the Société Anonyme, an organization dedicated to the promotion of modern art in the United States. Her sole brother, H. Edward Dreier, followed his father into business and managed the family investments.
Of all the Dreier sisters, Dorothea is the least well-known and there is scant information about her artistic career. It appears that she began her formal art training with John Twachtman and William Merritt Chase, although accounts disagree as to whether it took place at the Art Students League or the National Academy of Design. In 1904 Dorothea and her sister Katherine began studying with the painter Walter Shirlaw, with whom they developed a close friendship. Both sisters also traveled abroad frequently as the family maintained close ties with their German relatives and they combined these visits with trips to museums and galleries throughout Europe where they studied the works of the Old Masters as well as more contemporary artists. As evidenced by her series of oil paintings of Dutch weavers of 1908, Dorothea was greatly influenced by Van Gogh's early paintings of rural Dutch peasant life and she spent long periods abroad living and painting in Laren, The Netherlands. Her later paintings depicted landscapes, both in The Netherlands and the Adirondacks, as well as a series of New York street scenes.
Unfortunately, during a 1913 sojourn in Laren, Dorothea contracted tuberculosis. She remained at Saranac Lake, a renowned treatment center in the Adirondacks from late December 1913 to sometime in 1916. During her convalescence, Dorothea remained actively involved in the arts as she continued to paint and draw and supported her sister Katherine's work at the Cooperative Mural Workshop, a short-lived combination art school and workshop that focused on the decorative arts.
In 1920, Dorothea supported Katherine's decision to champion modern art and made generous financial contributions toward the establishment of the Société Anonyme, where Dorothea's first solo exhibition took place in 1921. This was her only solo exhibition prior to her untimely death in 1923. In the spring of 1925, Christian Brinton of the Brooklyn Museum of Art organized a memorial exhibition for which Katherine Dreier privately published a limited edition catalogue.
Related Material:
The papers of Katherine S. Dreier related to the Société Anonyme Archives are located at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.
The Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University holds the papers of Mary E. Dreier
Provenance:
The bulk of the collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in 1959 by Mrs. Peter Voorhees, Dorothea A. Dreier's neice. Additional materials were donated in 2007 by Theodore and Barbara Dreier, Dreier's great-nephew and great-neice.
Restrictions:
The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via the Archives of American Art's website.
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.
Writings, sketchbooks, sketches, and printed material.
REEL 3615: A typescript of Part I of Daingerfield's autobiography, "Beginnings" (40 p.); an 8 p. biographical sketch; and two family histories; a 1913 inventory of paintings by various artists owned by Daingerfield; directions and a sketch for constructing a sundial; and two poems by Frederic Fairchild Sherman based on Daingerfield's paintings.
Also included are five sketchbooks and one watercolor sketch for the mural, "Epiphany"; a steel engraving by John Sartain; exhibition catalogues, 1919-1984, from Vose Galleries, Henry Reinhardt and Son, Milch Galleries, Macbeth Gallery, Grand Central Art Galleries, and others; clippings and other printed material about Daingerfield, his art, and his North Carolina house; and photographs of Daingerfield, his students, his friends, his North Carolina house, and his art.
REEL 4909 (fr. 983-1022) A photocopy of Part II of Daingerfield's autobiography "Part II, New York" (38 p.)
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter, painter, illustrator, writer; NYC. In 1880 Daingerfield moved to New York City, where he studied under George Inness, whose studio adjoined his. Author of books on Inness, Ryder and Blakelock.
Provenance:
Material on reel 3615 was lent for microfilming by Dr. Robert Coggins, 1985. The typescript on reel 4909, donated by Joseph D. Dulaney, Elliott Daingerfield's grandson, was discarded after microfilming in 1994.
Restrictions:
The Archives does not own the originals. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of New York painter and art critic William Anderson Coffin date from 1886-1924 and measure 1.6 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered biographical materials and correspondence, project files for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artist's Committee of One Hundred, and the exhibition of works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, three additional scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York painter and art critic William Anderson Coffin date from 1886 to 1924 and measure 1.6 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered biographical materials and correspondence; project files for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artist's Committee of One Hundred, and the exhibition of works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris; three additional scrapbooks; printed material; and photographs.
Scattered biographical material includes membership cards and an autobiographical essay. Correspondence is with colleagues and related generally to receptions and events, including an invitation to the launch of the U. S. Battleship Arizona. There are one or two letters each from Frank W. Benson, Edwin Howland Blashfield, Royal Cortissoz, Walter Gay, and Whitney Warren.
Three series of project files document Coffin's work for the Fine Arts Division of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred that established a relief fund for families of French soldier-artists, and an exhibition of artwork by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris. Files contain a variety of materials, such as letters, drafts of reports, meeting minutes, photographs, catalogs and brochures, and other materials. There are two oversized scrapbooks for the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition. The files for the Luxembourg Museum exhibition include a letter signed by Louis Bouché, Bernard Gussow, Alfred H. Maurer, Joseph Stella, and William Zorach protesting the exclusion of their work.
Three additional scrapbooks contain clippings of articles written by Coffin when he was employed as an art critic for The New York Evening Post, Harper's Weekly, and The New York Sun.
Printed material consists of miscellaneous clippings primarily about Coffin, programs from American Rights Committee exercises, a Dixie Club of New York concert, a Lotos Club concert, the Lafayette-Marne Anniversary exercises, and souvenir tickets to various art-related events including several Paris Salon Vernissage events sponsored by the Société des Artistes Francais.
Photographs include an album of photographs of Coffin, various family members, and residences; a photograph of Coffin posing with an unidentified group of his colleagues; and photographs of family friends. Project files also contain photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1922 (2 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1915-1924 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 3: Project File for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, 1900-1901 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 4: Project File for the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred, 1914-1923 (14 folders; Box 1)
Series 5: Project File for the Exhibition of Works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, 1919-1920 (11 folders; Box 1)
Series 6: Scrapbooks of Clippings of Articles Written by Coffin, 1886-1913 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1912-1924 (6 folders; Box 1)
Series 8: Photographs, 1905-1923 (10 folders; Box 1)
Biographical Note:
William Anderson Coffin (1855-1925) of New York City was a landscape and figure painter and art critic. He organized several notable exhibitions and art-related charitable events for relief work in post-World War I France.
William Anderson Coffin was born near Pittsburgh in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on January 31, 1855, the son of Isabella C. Anderson and James Gardiner Coffin. Coffin studied art and graduated from Yale University in 1874. Three years later, he left for Paris and studied with academic artist Léon Bonnat. Coffin exhibited in the Paris Salons of 1879, 1880, and 1882.
In 1882, Coffin moved to New York City, participating in many exhibitions, including at the National Academy of Design. He also wrote as an art critic for Scribner's and Harper's Weekly, among other publications. From 1886 to 1891, he was art critic for The New York Evening Post, and was art editor at the New York Sun from 1896 to 1901.
Coffin directed the Fine Arts Division of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo from 1900 to 1901, and participated as a member of the New York Advisory Board of the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Coffin was also president of the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred that established a relief fund for families of French soldier-artists. For this charitable work, Coffin received the medal of the Legion of Honor from the French government in 1917.
Coffin was a member of various arts organizations including the Lotos Club, the Architectural League of New York, and the National Academy of Design. His artwork is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Municipal Gallery of Venice, Italy, the Albright Art Gallery, and the Brooklyn Museum.
William Anderson Coffin died on October 26, 1925 in New York City.
Provenance:
The William Anderson Coffin papers were donated in 1970 by Stewart Klonis to whom the papers were given by Mrs. DeWitt M. Lockman of Manorville, Long Island, New York.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Four sketchbooks representing Metcalf's early sketches.
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter, illustrator; New York City.Born 1858. Died 1925. Willard Metcalf was one of a group known as The Ten American Painters. He worked in the Southwest U.S. painting Zuni Indians 1881-1883. He was associated with artists' colonies in Old Lyme, Conn., and Cornish, N.H.
Provenance:
Donated 1963 by IBM, who acquired the sketchbooks along with a painting they purchased for their company collection.
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:
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
23 letters between Metcalf and Charles L. Freer, 1917-1919, discussing prospective purchases of Metcalf's work for the Freer Collection, and 2 personal letters to Florence Griswold, 1905-06. Also included are a diary for 1876, recording the progress of some of his paintings, detailing sketching trips around Boston and Vermont, and noting daily expenses; sketchbooks, 1885, 1905, 1913-14; photographs of his murals and paintings; snapshots of his friends and himself; and a scrapbook of clippings, 1905-1925.
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter, illustrator; New York City. One of The Ten American Painters. Worked in Southwest U.S. painting Zuni Indians 1881-1883; associated with artists' colonies in Old Lyme, Conn., and Cornish, N.H.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by Addison Metcalf, 1969.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The Emmet Family papers document the lives and careers of two generations of the Emmet family from New Rochelle, New York and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, whose artistic talents flourished during the later 19th through the mid-20th centuries. The collection dates from 1792 to 1989, with the bulk of the material dating from 1851-1989, and measures 9.1 linear feet. Through biographical material, two diaries, correspondence, writings and notes, exhibition files, business records, printed material, two scrapbooks, artwork, and photographs of family, friends, exhibitions, and artwork, the papers provide both a rich overview and detailed insights into the daily lives, relationships, and careers of many members of the family. The collection focuses in particular on sisters Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, their mother, Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, and their cousin Ellen Gertrude "Bay" Emmet, all noted painters and illustrators.
Scope and Content Note:
The Emmet Family papers document the lives and careers of two generations of the Emmet family from New Rochelle, New York and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The collection dates from 1792 to 1989, with the bulk of the material dating from 1851-1989, and measures 9.1 linear feet. Through biographical material, two diaries, correspondence, writings and notes, exhibition files, business records, printed material, two scrapbooks, artwork, and photographs of family, friends, exhibitions, and artwork, the papers provide both a rich overview and detailed insights into the daily lives, relationships, and careers of many members of the family. The collection focuses in particular on sisters Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, their mother, Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, and their cousin Ellen Gertrude "Bay" Emmet, all noted painters and illustrators, whose artistic talents flourished during the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries.
Biographical material consists of family trees and family histories; individual biographical accounts, award certificates, and documentation for Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and Wilfrid de Glehn; a diary titled "Sedgemere Diary" containing drawings and entries primarily by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, and a smaller diary which mentions Rosina's son, future playwright Robert Sherwood; a documentary by Nancy B. Doyle on two VHS videocassettes, entitled The Emmets: Portrait of a Family; and artifacts comprising a rear-view optical device and locks of hair from an early nineteenth century generation of the Emmet family.
Correspondence forms the bulk of the collection and illustrates the interaction between members of this large and influential family and their colleagues and friends, offering a wide-ranging view of life in the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, and through two World Wars. The series consists of letters between family members, primarily Julia Colt Pierson Emmet and her daughters, as well as cousins Henry James, Ellen "Bay" Emmet Rand, and Rosamond Sherwood, and friends Cecilia Beaux, Louis Bancel LaFarge, Frederick MacMonnies, Lucien Monod, Roger Quilter, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Emily and John Singer-Sargent, Violet Sargent Ormond, and Stanford White. Topics include experiences of the Emmets while studying art in Paris, Rosina's presentation at Queen Victoria's court, Lydia's work at the Columbia Exposition, Jane's marriage to Wilfrid de Glehn and her friendship with John Singer Sargent, portrait painting activities, the troubles of their friend Susy Metcalfe in her marriage to Pablo Casals, and the activities of Rosina's son, playwright Robert Emmet Sherwood, and friends Alfred Lund and Lynn Fontanne.
Writings and notes consist of scattered manuscripts and poems by family members, two notebooks, one identified as belonging to Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and typescripts about Wilfrid de Glehn following his death. Also found is a book, Out of Town, written and illustrated by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, and Edna St Vincent Millay's poem "Autum Daybreak" written in Millay's handwriting.
Exhibition files document an exhibition held at the Berkshire Museum/Danforth Museum in Pittsfield/Farmingham, Massachusetts in 1982 entitled The Emmets: A Family of Women Painters, and include two audio cassettes of recordings from the "Art for Lunch" series at the Berkshire Museum discussing the exhibition.
Business records include account books belonging to Lydia Field Emmet and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, both of which document income from artwork and other sources, and expenses; a contract for the reproduction of Lydia Field Emmet's artwork; and a document concerning ownership of property, possibly of Emmet family ancestors.
Printed Material consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and reproductions of artwork by Emmet family members and others.
Two scrapbooks contain a combination of drawings, primarily by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, reproductions of artwork, and photographs.
Artwork includes drawings and sketchbooks by Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn Ellen Emmet Rand, and other Emmet relatives, illustrating the early development of their talent.
Photographs are of family members, including Julia Colt Pierson Emmet and William Jenkins Emmet, their daughters Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn and husband Wilfrid de Glehn, Rosina Emmet Sherwood and husband Arthur Murray Sherwood, and Robert Emmet Sherwood as a young man. Also found are photos of friends Richard Harding Davis, Frederick MacMonnies, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens; a series of photographs of the installation at Arden Galleries, New York (1936) for the exhibition Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures by Five Generations of the Emmet Family; and photographs of artwork by Emmet family members.
Arrangement:
The Emmet family papers are arranged as nine series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1855-1988 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 10, OV 12)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1792-1985 (6.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-7)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1870s-1981 (11 folders; Box 7)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1947-1983 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Series 5: Business Records, circa 1799-1945 (7 folders; Box 8)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1872-1989 (0.35 linear feet; Boxes 8, 10)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1870-1890 (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 8, 10)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1850-circa 1920 (0.35 linear feet; Boxes 8, 10)
Series 9: Photographs, circa 1870s-circa 1950s (1 linear foot; Boxes 8-9, 11)
Biographical Note:
The Emmet family, descended from patriot Thomas Addis Emmet, brother of Irish martyr Robert Emmet, counts many physicians, lawyers, and writers (including cousin Henry James) among its ranks. Although evidence of artistic talent existed in several previous generations, it flourished during the later 19th through the mid-20th centuries in the professional portraiture of sisters Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and their cousin Ellen "Bay" Emmet Rand.
The eldest daughter of Julia Colt Pierson Emmet (1829-1908), herself a talented illustrator who had studied under Daniel Huntington, Rosina "Posie" Emmet (1854-1948) studied under William Merritt Chase at his Tenth Street Studio in New York and under Robert-Fleury at the Academie Julian in Paris. Before her marriage to Arthur Murray Sherwood in 1887, Rosina established a studio in New York and continued to submit illustrations to various publications. During her marriage, she slowed her creative activities, until financial reverses dictated her return to her career around the turn of the 20th century. Her daughter Rosamond Sherwood (1899-1990) was also a portrait painter. Her son, Robert Emmet Sherwood (1896-1955) became a four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
Lydia Field Emmet (1866-1952) studied under Collin, Bouguereau, MacMonnies, and Robert-Fleury at the Academie Julian. Upon her return to New York, Lydia continued her studies under Chase, Kenyon Cox, H. Siddons Mowbray, and Robert Reid at the Art Students League, as well as at Chase's Shinnecock Summer School of Art. She established her portrait studio in New York City and began spending summers at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where she built her home, "Strawberry Hill," in 1905. Best known for her portraits of children, Lydia's subjects were members of the socially prominent families of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.
The youngest sister, Jane Erin Emmet (1873-1961), also studied with Chase in New York, and in Paris. In 1904, she married British landscape painter Wilfrid Von Glehn, who had visited the United States with his friend John Singer Sargent. (The Von Glehns' surname was changed to De Glehn, in 1919.) Settling in London, Jane continued her painting, befriended many artists and composers, and accompanied her husband and Sargent on several art-related journeys through Europe.
The Emmet sisters' cousin, Ellen Gertrude "Bay" Emmet (1875-1941), studied in New York at the Art Students League and under Frederick MacMonnies in Paris, becoming a National Academician in 1934. She married William Blanchard Rand in 1911 and settled in Salisbury, Connecticut. After the stock market crash of 1929, Bay's portraits of prominent society figures provided most of her family's income.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel 4544) including one scrapbook, compiled by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, consisting of portrait sketches, drawings of her dogs, genre scenes, travel views, and photographs of travels, friends, actors, and the ship "Scythia,". Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
In 1988-1991, the bulk of the Emmet family papers were donated by Rosamond Sherwood, daughter of Rosina Emmet Sherwood (via Katharine Emmet Bramwell of New York), by Rosamond Sherwood's estate (via F. Douglas Cochrane, executor, from Boston), and by Rosamond's nieces, Virginia Sherwood and Julia Shipway. Additionally, one scrapbook was lent for microfilming in 1990 and subsequently donated by Mrs. Earl Maize. Douglas Cochrane then loaned another scrapbook for microfilming (reel 4344) in 1991 which was returned to Mrs. Earl Maize.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of New York and California based interior designer, architect, collector and painter Lockwood de Forest measure 3.8 linear feet and date from 1858 to 1980, bulk dates 1870 to 1930. The collection includes correspondence, writings, diaries, journals, exhibition files, personal business records, printed material, sketchbooks, drawings, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York and California based interior designer, architect, collector and painter Lockwood de Forest measure 3.8 linear feet and date from 1858 to 1980, bulk dates 1870 to 1930. The collection includes correspondence, writings, diaries, journals, exhibition files, personal business records, printed material, sketchbooks, drawings, and photographs.
Lockwood de Forest's professional correspondence includes letters regarding de Forest's wood carving business in India. Notable correspondents from friends and colleagues include Stewart Culin, Alfred Korzybski, and Purushottam M. Hutheesing & Sons. Also included are two letter books which contain copies of letters written by de Forest. There is a fair amount of correspondence with family members, especially de Forest's parents, his brother Robert, and his wife Meta Kemble. There are also a few folders of Meta Kemble de Forest's correspondence with family.
Writings include drafts of Lockwood de Forest's book Indian Domestic Architecture, along with essays and notes. Essays by de Forest are on assorted topics such as art, education, museums, furniture construction, and psychic research. There is also a draft of a Lockwood de Forest biography by Anne Lewis.
Diaries and journals kept by Lockwood de Forest and his wife Meta focus on travels abroad to Europe, the Middle East, and India.
Exhibition files consist of materials related to a Lockwood de Forest exhibition (1976) at the Heckscher Museum in New York and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California. Documentation includes correspondence, exhibition lists, inventories, and loan forms.
Personal business records include a wide range of financial and legal records. Financial records consist of ledgers, account records, receipts, invoices, and shipping records. Legal records include contracts, certificates, and deeds related to assets, properties, and businesses.
Printed material consists of exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs, magazines, books, announcements, event invitations, and clippings. Most of the material is about Lockwood de Forest, but there are some clippings and publications about his brother Robert and other subjects.
There are numerous sketchbooks usually depicting places de Forest visited in Europe and the Middle East. There are also a few loose drawings.
Photographs are of Lockwood de Forest, his wife, family, friends, colleagues, paintings, houses, wood carvings, and art objects.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1858-1931 (0.9 linear feet; Boxes 1, 4)
Series 2: Writings, 1881-1976 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, OV 5)
Series 3: Diaries and Journals, 1868-1890 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 4: Lockwood de Forest Exhibition Files, 1974-1978 (0.1 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1869-1931 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2, OV 6)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1867-1980 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 7: Sketchbooks and Drawings, 1869-1881 (0.4 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 8: Photographs, circa 1870-circa 1932 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3)
Biographical / Historical:
Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932) was an architect, interior designer, collector, landscape painter, and writer based in New York City and Santa Barbara, California.
Lockwood de Forest was born in New York City in 1850. His parents were Julia Weeks and Henry Grant de Forest. He was one of four children. In 1869, he went to Rome, Italy and began studying art under the tutelage of the American painter Frederic Edwin Church whom he met during his trip. Church continued to be de Forest's mentor after they returned to America. De Forest set up a studio in New York City and first exhibited his work in 1872. From 1875-1878, he went on two more trips abroad to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
In 1878, de Forest cofounded Associated Artists in New York along with Louis C. Tiffany, Candace Wheeler, and Samuel Coleman. The design firm closed around 1882 but was tremendously influential. He married Meta Kemble the same year that he began Associated Artists and the couple traveled to India where they stayed for the next two years. During that trip, de Forest met philanthropist Muggunbhai Hutheesing and together they established a woodcarving company and supplied Associated Artists with furniture and architectural objects.
Around 1882, De Forest opened his own business in New York City that managed the design and production of furniture and architectural accents, along with importing similar objects from India. In 1887, he purchased a house on 7 East 10th Street that he elaborately decorated with furnishings from India.
De Forest began spending winters in Santa Barbara, California starting in 1889. He eventually purchased a house and relocated there around 1922. While in California, he resumed painting with fervor and created many landscapes of the West Coast shorelines. De Forest died in Santa Barbara in 1932.
Provenance:
The Lockwood de Forest papers were donated in 1982 by Mrs. Lockwood de Forest III, daughter-in-law of Lockwood de Forest.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Architects -- California -- Santa Barbara Search this
Interior decorators -- California -- Santa Barbara Search this
Painters -- California -- Santa Barbara Search this
Topic:
Architects -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Interior decorators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The Raymond Ciarrocchi papers measure 0.9 linear feet and date from 1953-2010. Correspondence and business records document Ciarrocchi's traveling exhibition, "The Nijinsky Series," and his relationships with Tibor de Nagy Gallery and Fischbach Gallery. Also found are four sketchbooks, a thesis about American landscape painting in which Ciarrocchi figures prominently, printed material, and photographs of Ciarrocchi.
Scope and Contents note:
The Raymond Ciarrocchi papers measure 0.9 linear feet and date from 1953-2010. Correspondence and business records document Ciarrocchi's traveling exhibition, "The Nijinsky Series," and his relationships with Tibor de Nagy Gallery and Fischbach Gallery. Also found are four sketchbooks, a thesis about American landscape painting in which Ciarrocchi figures prominently, printed material, and photographs of Ciarrocchi.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1964-2009 (Box 1; 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 2: Letters, 1971-2010 (Box 1; 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 3: Writings, 1980 (Box 1; 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1971-1999 (Box 1; 0.2 linear ft.)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1971-2009 (Boxes 1-2, OV 3; 0.2 linear ft.)
Series 6: Sketchbooks, 1953-1956 (Box 2; 0.2 linear ft.)
Series 7: Photographs, 1963-1994 (Box 2; 1 folder)
Biographical/Historical note:
Landscape painter Raymond Ciarrocchi (b. 1933) has spent much of his life in New York City, exhibiting regularly and teaching at Parsons School of Design, Columbia University, and the Baruch College of City University.
A native of Chicago, he studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Washington University (B.A.), and Boston University (M.F.A.). Beginning in 1971, Tibor de Nagy Gallery presented seven solo exhibitions of Ciarrocchi's work; after 1985 he was represented by Fischbach Gallery. Typically, he works in oil on canvas, though he has produced several monotype series, including one featuring Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.
Provenance:
The Raymond Ciarrocchi papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Raymond Ciarrocchi in 2011.
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:
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Scrapbook of Irving Wiles containing many original letters and sketches glued in place; sketchbook of Robert Henri with loose sketches and one notebook containing some original sketches, also photocopies of sketches already removed, names of pupils, dates and amounts paid; letters, many illustrated, to William Merritt Chase from Robert Blum; a sketchbook of John F. Kensett; a copy of a book, RIP VAN WINKLE, illustrated by Everett Shinn.
Biographical / Historical:
Galleries founded in 1916 in Brussels and London; in 1923 in New York City. Active as of 1983. Chapellier Galleries collected primarily important American paintings 1840-1940, and represented virtually all significant American painters of the period in their collections. The Chapellier Galleries sometimes acted as sole agents for the works in artists' estates; the Robert Henri estate, a notable example.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1968 by the Chapellier Galleries.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The papers of sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh measure 0.8 linear feet and date from circa 1860 to 1991, with the bulk of material dating from 1890 to 1955. The scattered papers document the personal life and career of Bessie Potter Vonnoh, and, to a lesser degree, her husband, painter Robert William Vonnoh. Found within the papers are Vonnoh family correspondence, including letters between Bessie and Robert, and professional and personal correspondence, primarily Bessie's. The collection also contains scattered biographical materials, photographs of the Vonnohs, a photograph album, photographs of artwork, clippings, exhibition catalogs, and other printed material.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh measure 0.8 linear feet and date from circa 1860 to 1991, with the bulk of material dating from 1890 to 1955. The scattered papers document the personal life and career of Bessie Potter Vonnoh, and, to a lesser degree, her husband, painter Robert William Vonnoh. Found within the papers are Vonnoh family correspondence, including letters between Bessie and Robert, and primarily Bessie's professional and personal correspondence. There is one folder of correspondence of Robert William Vonnoh. Bessie's correspondents include Daniel Chester French, Hamlin Garland, Rupert Hughes, Archer Huntington, Larkin G. Mead, Jean Francois Raffaelli, Cornelia Otis Skinner, and others. Robert's correspondents include Charles M. Carter, Daniel Chester French, William M. R. French, and Charles Vezin. The collection also contains scattered biographical materials, photographs of Bessie Potter Vonnoh and Robert William Vonnoh, a photograph album, photographs of artwork, clippings, exhibition catalogs, and other printed material.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1922-1955 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1863-1985 (Box 1; 11 folders)
Series 3: Photographs, circa 1860-1950 (Box 1-2; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1901-1991 (Box 2; 9 folders)
Biographical Note:
Bessie Potter Vonnoh (1872-1955) was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Alexander and Mary McKenney Potter. In 1874, after the death of her father, her family moved to Chicago. Also at this time, she suffered from a series of illnesses that she did not recover from until she was ten. In school she enjoyed clay-modeling class and decided at an early age that she wanted to be a sculptor. Beginning in 1890 she studied with Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago and later became one of his assistants (known as the "White Rabbits") for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. She was also given her own commission for the Illinois building at the fair. After this success, Vonnoh opened her own studio in Chicago and made plaster figurines of society women, friends, and their children. She visited New York and took her first trip to Paris in 1895, visiting the studios of many eminent sculptors such as Auguste Rodin. Her work was influenced by the American Impressionist movement, depicted in one of her most famous works, Young Mother. This piece was exhibited in the National Sculpture Society exhibition of 1898 and led to several public sculpture commissions.
In 1899 Bessie Potter Vonnoh moved to New York City and married Impressionist painter, Robert William Vonnoh (1858-1933). They lived in New York and maintained a summer home in Lyme, Connecticut. During her career she received many awards for her works at international exhibitions, including two bronze medals at the Paris Exposition in 1900. Other landmark events included a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 1913 and membership into the National Academy of Design in 1921 - the first female sculptor accepted as a permanent member. Vonnoh's work was very well received by the public, and in the 1920s she began working on a larger scale, creating large fountains, such as the Frances Hodgson Burnett Memorial Fountain in Central Park, New York, and other decorative garden figures. Robert Vonnoh died in 1933 and, in 1948, she married Dr. Edward Keyes. Bessie Potter Vonnoh died in New York City in 1955 at the age of 82.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 1995 by Lulette Jenness Thompson, a cousin of Bessie Potter Vonnoh.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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.
Correspondence, sketchbooks, diaries, writings, printed material, photographs, and scrapbooks.
REEL 1033: Letters, including 2 from George Bellows and 17 from Eugene Speicher.
REELS 1118-1119: Biographical data and certificates; correspondence with many American artists; a European diary, 1909; writings, lectures and notes by and about Rosen; records of his paintings; sketches and sketchbooks; scrapbooks; exhibition catalogs, clippings and art school catalogs; and reproductions of portraits of Rosen.
REEL 1130: Photographs of Rosen as a young man, teaching and working, and with friends. Other photographs include the Carnegie Institute Jury, 1931; Rosen's friends, many of whom are American artists at Woodstock; Seminole Indians and a mural in Florida; and people and houses in Texas.
Photographs of artists include George Bellows, Ernest Blumenschein, Dennis Burlingame, Jo Cantine, John Carroll, Konrad Cramer, Andrew Dasburg, Randall Davey, Buckminster Fuller, Wendell Jones, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Henri E. Le Sidaner, Jonas Lie, Eugene D. Ludins, Ethel Magafan, Henry Mattson, Henry McFee, Paul Nash, Homer Saint-Gaudens, Judson Smith, Eugene Speicher, John Striebel, and Carl Walters.
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter, printmaker, instructor; Woodstock, N.Y. Studied at the National Academy of Design with Chase and DuMond. Associate Member and Academician, National Academy of Design. Painted murals for the United States Post Offices in Beacon and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and Palm Beach, Fla.
Provenance:
Material on reel 1033 lent for microfilming by Katherine Rosen Warner, Rosen's daughter, 1975. Other material donated by Warner, 1975.
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:
Landscape painters -- New York -- Woodstock Search this
Topic:
Artists -- United States -- Photographs Search this
Landscape painting -- New York (State) Search this
Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- Florida -- Palm Beach -- Photographs Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Unstretched oil sketches; printed materials; photographs; correspondence; sketchbooks; and a book of watercolors.
REEL D9: Correspondence, undated and 1851-1888, with family members, and 2 letters from Jervis McEntee; 2 account books, undated and 1875-1879, containing sketches; 4 sketchbooks by Tubby, 1882, 1882-1884, 1887, and an undated sketchbook containing drawings from Kingston, New York; one book of watercolors entitled "Spring Song", by Lillie R. Hopkins, a relative of Tubby; and one clipping. Four miscellaneous notes and cards have not been filmed.
REEL 3832: Three photographs, one of Tubby and one each of his parents; a brochure, "Pictures from the Great Love-Mother's Book of Life"; and 7 unstretched oil sketches on canvas.
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter; Born in London. Moved to New York State. Was a painter of the Hudson River school.
Provenance:
Donated 1956-1958 by Miss Gertrude O. Tubby, daughter of Joseph Tubby.
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.
The papers of landscape painter and educator Reuben Tam measure 9.2 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2006. The papers document his career as a painter in New York, Maine, and Hawaii through biographical material; correspondence with family, friends, art organizations, schools, and galleries; diaries, poetry, and other writings; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material; photographs; artwork, including seventeen sketchbooks; and eight scrapbooks.
There is a 1.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes 34 sketchbooks, circa 1940-1974, by Tam from his time in New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska and Canada.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of landscape painter and educator Reuben Tam measure 9.2 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2006. The papers document his career as a painter in New York, Maine, and Hawaii through biographical material; correspondence with family, friends, art organizations, schools, and galleries; diaries, poetry, and other writings; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material; photographs; artwork, including seventeen sketchbooks; and eight scrapbooks. There is a 1.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes 34 sketchbooks, circa 1940-1974, by Tam from his time in New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska and Canada.
Biographical material includes school documents, records of his tenure as an instructor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School, artwork consignment and sales records, and slides and accompanying audio cassette recording of the "Reuben Tam Show" about his work as an artist on Monhegan Island, Maine.
Correspondence is with family, fellow artists, including William Kienbusch and Hyde Solomon, as well as art organizations, schools, and museums, such as Brooklyn Museum of Art School, Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Maine Coast Artists group, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Also found is correspondence with the three galleries which represented his work: Downtown Gallery, Alan Gallery, and Coe Kerr Gallery.
The collection includes five bound diaries as well as diary entries written by Reuben Tam on loose sheets of paper, primarily documenting the 1940s. Other writings include drafts of poetry, one notebook, miscellaneous notes, and essays by others.
Printed material consists of school publications, exhibition catalogs and announcements for solo and group shows, brochures, flyers, magazines, bulletins, and news clippings. Eight scrapbooks found in this collection also include newspaper clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, as well as event invitations, membership cards, and letters, documenting 40 years of Reuben Tam's career.
Photographs are of Reuben Tam, Tam with friends and family, and artwork. One photograph album contains photographs from Tam's visits to Maine from 1946 to 1948, and includes photographs of fellow artists Hyde Solomon, Carl Nesjar, Dorothy Andrews, and William Kienbusch. Artwork in the collection includes prints, drawings, and watercolors as well as seventeen large sketchbooks documenting the coastal landscape of Monhegan Island, Maine.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1934-1993 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-2006 (Box 1-4; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Diaries, 1932-1974 (Box 4-5; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1939-1987 (Box 5; 7 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1935-1997 (Box 5-6, 9; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1930-1990 (Box 6-7, 9; 1.0 linear foot)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1936-1975 (Box 7, 9-10, OV 11; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1938-1978 (Box 7-8; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 9: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1940-1974 (Box 12, OV13; 1.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Reuben Tam (1916-1991) was a landscape painter and educator in New York, Maine, and Hawaii. Tam was born in Kapaa, Hawaii, in 1916. He received a degree in education in 1937 from the University of Hawaii and was briefly a public school teacher before attending graduate courses at the California School of Fine Arts. In 1941 he moved to New York and took courses in art history and philosophy at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University. Tam became affiliated with the Downtown Gallery in 1945 and was a prolific exhibitor in national and regional shows, winning critical praise as an abstract landscape painter. In 1948 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and first exhibited in the National Academy's annual exhibition in 1947.
Tam was an instructor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School from 1946 to 1974. While there he taught advanced studies in painting and was chairman of the graduate painting department. He also served as a visiting professor at Oregon State University, Haystack, and Queens College, CUNY.
Beginning in 1948, Tam and his wife, Geraldine, spent summers at their home and studio on Monhegan Island, Maine. Tam's work was deeply influenced by coastal landscapes both in Maine and in his native Hawaii. In 1981 he and his wife moved back to Kapaa, Hawaii, where he continued to paint and exhibit his new works until his death in 1991.
Related Materials:
Reuben Tam papers, 1958-1966, are also located at Syracuse University.
Provenance:
Scrapbooks were lent for microfilming in 1970 by Reuben Tam and were subsequently donated in 2009 along with additional papers by Geraldine King Tam, Reuben Tam's widow. 34 additional sketchbooks were donated in 2020 by the Geraldine King Tam Trust, via Cindy King, trustee and niece of Geraldine King Tam.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Reuben Tam papers, 1931-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing and digitization of the Reuben Tam papers received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
