REEL 3621: aFive letters and a receipt from Mr. and Mrs. Saint-Gaudens in Windsor, Vt. to Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson in Canandaigua, N.Y, discussing employing Saint-Gaudens's student, John Flanagan, to obtain for Mrs. Thompson a copy of the "Discobolus" in the Louvre and the bust Saint-Gaudens is making of Mr. Thompson. The receipt is for the final payment for the bust. One letter is from Mrs. Saint Gaudens explaining that they will be unable to visit the Thompsons since Mr. Saint-Gaudens is unable to travel.
REEL D10: Three letters from Saint-Gaudens to Mr. Keep, June 6, 1891, asking him to visit the studio; to Florence Levy, June 29, 1901 and April 30, 1906, concerning photographs she requested of a portrait of Saint-Gaudens's son by John Singer Sargent; and to an unidentified individual, November 20, 1891.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; Windsor, Vt. Mrs. Frederick Thompson, the recipient of these letters, employed Saint-Gaudens to make a portrait medallion of her husband. The work is now in St. Anthony Hall, a fraternity house at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Saint-Gaudens died a year after completing this.
Provenance:
Material on reel 3621 lent for microfilming by S. Lane Faison, Director of the Williams College Museum of Art. Levy letters on reel D10 purchased with funds given by Charles Hamilton 1956. Other letters on reel D10 donated by Charles E. Feinberg, an active donor and friend of AAA.
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.
Levy, Florence N. (Florence Nightingale), 1870-1947 Search this
Extent:
6.6 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 5 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
1890-1947
Scope and Contents:
Letters, scrapbooks, subject files, and printed material, much of it related to her work as editor of American Art Annual and her guidebooks to art in New York.
REELS D43-D46: Scrapbooks, 1890-1920's, containing newspaper clippings and articles reflecting a wide variety of interests in the art world files of obituary notices collected for the American Art Annual; and subject files containing clippings, letters, pamphlets and handbooks on collectors and private collections, art work in and around New York, mural and fresco work in New York public buildings, and art in New York churches.
REEL N12: Correspondence, 1890-1947; minutes of American Art Annual, 1903-1914; writings on art education and other topics in the form of lectures, radio scripts, book reviews, and articles; clippings; and miscellany.
UNMICROFILMED Ca. 7000 file cards of biographical material used in compiling American Art Annual.
Biographical / Historical:
Editor and art historian; New York City. Founder and art editor of American Art Annual, 1898-1917. On staff of Metropolitian Museum of Art, 1908-1917. Director, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1922-1926. Author of Art in New York; a Guide to Things Worth Seeing (1916, 1922, and 1939).
Related Materials:
Florence Nightingale Levy papers, 1870-1947, are located at The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts.
Provenance:
Material on reels D43-D46 and unmicrofilmed material donated by the library of the Metropolitian Museum of Art, 1956-1961. Material on reel N12 was microfilmed in 1956 by the Archives of American Art with other art-related papers in the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library.
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 historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Editors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Artists -- United States -- Directories Search this
Correspondence of the Century Magazine and its predecessors, Scribner's Monthly, and St. Nicholas Magazine. Also included is material related to the Century War Series.
Among the correspondents are: Cecilia Beaux, James C. Beckwith, Samuel G. W. Benjamin, William M. Chase, William A. Coffin, Timothy Cole (98 letters), Charles C. Coleman, Royal Cortissoz, Kenyon Cox, Reginald C. Coxe, Christopher P. Cranch, Henry H. Cross, Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, Thomas W. Dewing, Alexander W. Drake, Wyatt Eaton, George W. Edwards, Frank E. Elwell, Gaston Fay, Harry Fenn, Mary H. Foote, William L. Fraser, Charles L. Freer, Daniel C. French, Frank French, Isabella S. Gardner, Jay Hambidge, Charles H. Hart, Arthur Hoeber, George Inness, Jr., August F. Jaccaci, Arthur I. Keller, Edward W. Kemble, Knoedler M. & Company, Christopher G. La Farge, John La Farge, Charles R. Lamb, Florence N. Levy, Frank J. Mather, Leila Mechlin, Gari Melchers, Francis D. Millet, Thomas Moran, Edward L. Morse, Hobart Nichols, Elizabeth Nourse, Thornton Oakley, Violet Oakley, Maxfield Parrish, William O. Partridge, Elizabeth R. Pennell (83 letters & 55p. handwritten article), Joseph Pennell, Henry R. Poore, Eva A. Remington, Henry Reuterdahl, Boardman Robinson, Henry Sandham, DeCost Smith, Jessie W. Smith, Albert E. Sterner, Alfred Stieglitz, William J. Stillman (ca. 95 letters), Lorado Taft, Henry O. Tanner, Abbott H. Thayer, Gerald H. Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, John C. Van Dyke, Douglas Volk, Irving R. Wiles, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
A quarterly publication on the arts and current affairs.
Other Title:
Century Company collection (NYPL microfilm title)
Provenance:
Microfilmed 1956 by the Archives of American Art with other art-related papers in the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library. Included in the microfilming project were selected papers of the Art Division and the Prints Division.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Levy, Florence N. (Florence Nightingale), 1870-1947 Search this
Extent:
1 Item ((on partial microfilm reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
[undated]
Scope and Contents:
Beard writes about himself and his work, apparently in response to a series of questions previously posed by Levy.
Biographical / Historical:
Illustrator, painter, caricaturist, teacher; New York, N.Y. Beard was a founder of the American Boy Scouts, and was an author of several books on nature subjects. He also illustrated for several national magazines.
Provenance:
Purchased 1956 by the Archives of American Art from Charles Hamilton Autographs.
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:
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of the painter, muralist, and illustrator John White Alexander measure 11.9 linear feet and date from 1775 to 1968, with the bulk of materials dating from 1870 to 1915. Papers document Alexander's artistic career and many connections to figures in the art world through biographical documentation, correspondence (some illustrated), writings, 14 sketchbooks, additonal artwork and loose sketches, scrapbooks, photographs, awards and medals, artifacts, and other records. Also found is a souvenir engraving of a Mark Twain self-portrait.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of the painter, muralist, and illustrator John White Alexander measure 11.9 linear feet and date from 1775 to 1968, with the bulk of materials dating from 1870 to 1915. Papers document Alexander's artistic career and many connections to figures in the art world through biographical documentation, correspondence (some illustrated), writings, 14 sketchbooks, additonal artwork and loose sketches, scrapbooks, photographs, awards and medals, artifacts, and other records. Also found is a souvenir engraving of a Mark Twain self-portrait.
Biographical Information includes multiple essays related to Alexander, his family, and others in his circle. Also found is an extensive oral history of Alexander's wife Elizabeth conducted in 1928. Correspondence includes letters written by Alexander to his family from New York and Europe at the start of his career, and later letters from fellow artists, art world leaders, and portrait sitters of Alexander's. Significant correspondents include Charles Dana Gibson, Florence Levy, Frederick Remington, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, John La Farge, Francis Davis Millet, and Andrew Carnegie. Correspondence includes some small sketches as enclosures and illustrated letters.
Certificates and records related to Alexander's career are found in Associations and Memberships, Legal and Financial Records, and Notes and Writings, which contain documentation of Alexander's paintings and exhibitions. Scattered documentation of Alexander's memberships in various arts association exists for the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy in Rome, the National Academy of Design, the Onteora Club in New York, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany, the Ministère de L'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts, the Union Internationale des Beaux Arts et des Lettres, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Notes and Writings include speeches written by Alexander, short stories and essays written by his wife, and articles by various authors about Alexander. Extensive documentation of the planning and construction of the Alexander Memorial Studio by the MacDowell Club is found, along with other awards, medals, and memorial resolutions adopted by arts organizations after Alexander's death.
Artwork includes fourteen sketchbooks with sketches related to Alexander's commercial illustration and cartooning, murals, paintings, and travels. Dozens of loose drawings and sketches are also found, along with two volumes and several dozen loose reproductions of artwork, among which are found fine prints by named printmakers. Many sketches are also interspersed throughout the correspondence. Eight Scrapbooks contain mostly clippings, but also scattered letters, exhbition catalogs, announcements, invitations, and photographs related to Alexander's career between 1877 and 1915. Additional Exhibition Catalogs and later clippings, as well as clippings related to the career of his wife and other subjects, are found in Printed Materials.
The collection is arranged into 11 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Information, circa 1887-1968 (Box 1, OV 23; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1870-1942 (Box 1; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Associations and Memberships, circa 1897-1918 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 4: Legal and Financial Records, 1775, 1896-1923 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, circa 1875-1943 (Boxes 1-2; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Awards and Memorials, circa 1870-1944 (Box 2, OV 24; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1875-1915 (Boxes 2-3, 6, 14-16, OV 23; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, circa 1877-1915 (Boxes 17-22; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 9: Printed Materials, circa 1891-1945 (Boxes 3-4, OV 23; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1870-1915 (Boxes 4-8, MGP 1-2, OV 25-43, RD 44-45; 4.2 linear feet)
Series 11: Artifacts, circa 1899-1915 (Box 6, artifact cabinet; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
John White Alexander was born in 1856 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. He was orphaned at age five and taken in by relatives of limited means. When Alexander left school and began working at a telegraph company, the company's vice-president, former civil war Colonel Edward Jay Allen, took an interest in his welfare. Allen became his legal guardian, brought him into the Allen household, and saw that he finished Pittsburgh High School. At eighteen, he moved to New York City and was hired by Harper and Brothers as an office boy in the art department. He was soon promoted to apprentice illustrator under staff artists such as Edwin A. Abbey and Charles Reinhart. During his time at Harpers, Alexander was sent out on assignment to illustrate events such as the Philadelphia Centennial celebration in 1876 and the Pittsburgh Railroad Strike in 1877, which erupted in violence.
Alexander carefully saved money from his illustration work and traveled to Europe in 1877 for further art training. He first enrolled in the Royal Art Academy of Munich, Germany, but soon moved to the village of Polling, where a colony of American artists was at its peak in the late 1870s. Alexander established a painting studio there and stayed for about a year. Despite his absence from the Munich Academy, he won the medal of the drawing class for 1878, the first of many honors. While in Polling, he became acquainted with J. Frank Currier, Frank Duveneck, William Merritt Chase, and other regular visitors to the colony. He later shared a studio and taught a painting class in Florence with Duveneck and traveled to Venice, where he met James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
Alexander returned to New York in 1881 and resumed his commercial artwork for Harpers and Century. Harpers sent him down the Mississippi river to complete a series of sketches. He also began to receive commissions for portraits, and in the 1880s painted Charles Dewitt Bridgman, a daughter of one of the Harper brothers, Parke Godwin, Thurlow Weed, Walt Whitman, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Alexander met his wife Elizabeth, whose maiden name was also Alexander, through her father, James W. Alexander, who was sometimes mistaken for the artist. Elizabeth and John White Alexander married in 1887 and had a son, James, in 1888.
Alexander returned to the United States nearly every summer while based in Paris, and among his commissioned paintings were murals for the newly-constructed Library of Congress, completed around 1896. In 1901, the Alexanders returned to New York permanently. The demand for portraits continued, and he had his first solo exhibition at the Durand-Ruel Galleries in 1902. Around 1905 he received a commission for murals at the new Carnegie Institute building in Pittsburgh for the astounding sum of $175,000. He created 48 panels there through 1908. During this period, the Alexanders spent summers in Onteora, New York, where Alexander painted his well-known "Sunlight" paintings. There they became friends and collaborators with the actress Maude Adams, with Alexander designing lighting and stage sets, and Elizabeth Alexander designing costumes for Adams' productions such as Peter Pan, the Maid of Orleans, and Chanticleer. The couple became known for their "theatricals" or tableaux, staged at the MacDowell Club and elsewhere, and Elizabeth Alexander continued her design career when her husband died in 1915.
Alexander left several commissions unfinished upon his death at age 59, including murals in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Alexander held a memorial exhibition at Arden Galleries a few months after his death, and a larger memorial exhibition was held by the Carnegie Institute in 1916. Alexander won dozens of awards for artwork in his lifetime, including the Lippincott Prize at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1899, the Gold Medal of Honor at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, the Gold Medal at the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1901, and the Medal of the First Class at the Carnegie Institute International Exhibition in 1911. In 1923, the Alexander Memorial Studio was built at the MacDowell colony in New Hampshire to honor his memory.
Provenance:
Papers were donated in 1978 and 1981 by Irina Reed, Alexander's granddaughter and in 2017 by Elizabeth Reed, Alexander's great grandaughter.
Restrictions:
Use of the original papers requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and not served 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:
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Portrait painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
John White Alexander papers, 1775-1968, bulk 1870-1915. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Exhibition of war portraits : signing of the Peace treaty, 1919, and portraits of distinguished leaders of America and of the allied nations painted by eminent American artists for presentation to the National Portrait Gallery / organized by the National Art Committee
Author:
Levy, Florence N (Florence Nightingale) 1870-1947 Search this
National Gallery of Art (U.S. : 1906-1937) Search this
Exhibition of war portraits; signing of the Peace treaty, 1919, and portraits of distinguished leaders of America and of the allied nations painted by eminent American artists for presentation to the National Portrait Gallery; organized by the National Art Committee
Author:
Levy, Florence N (Florence Nightingale) 1870-1947 Search this
The Hudson-Fulton celebration. Catalogue of an exhibition held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art commemorative of the tercentenary of the discovery of the Hudson river by Henry Hudson in the year 1609, and the centenary of the first use of steam in the navigation of said river by Robert Fulton in the year 1807 ... New York, September to November, MCMIX
Author:
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) Search this
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold 1880-1958 Search this
The Hudson-Fulton celebration. Catalogue of an exhibition held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art commemorative of the tercentenary of the discovery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson in the year 1609, and the centenary of the first use of steam in the navigation of said river by Robert Fulton in the year 1807 ... New York, September to November, MCMIX
Author:
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) Search this
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold 1880-1958 Search this
