Papers concerning Freer's art collecting activities, including correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, and photographs. In addition to Freer's own correspondence, the papers include correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler and of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, correspondence of Freer's assistant Katharine Nash Rhoades, and correspondence regarding Freer's bequest to the Smithsonian Institution.
Correspondence, ca. 1860-1921, includes Freer's correspondence, 1876-1920, with artists, dealers, collectors, museums, and public figures; 30 v. of letterpress books containing copies of letters sent, 1892-1910; correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler, and his wife Beatrix, 186?-1909, with Lady Colin Campbell, Thomas R. Way, Alexander Reid, Whistler' mother, Mrs. George W. Whistler, and others; correspondence of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, 1904-1913, regarding works in Canfield's collection; and correspondence of Freer's assistant, Katharine Nash Rhoades, 1920-1921, soliciting Freer letters and regarding the settlement of his estate.
Also included are twenty-nine pocket diaries, 1889-1890, 1892-1898, 1900-1919, recording daily activities, people and places visited, observations, and comments; a diary kept by Freer's caretaker, Joseph Stephens Warring, recording daily activities at Freer's Detroit home, 1907-1910;
Inventories, n.d. and 1901-1921, of American, European, and Asian art in Freer's collection, often including provenance information; vouchers, 1884-1919, documenting his purchases; five volumes of scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeill Whistler, 1888-1931, labeled "Various," "Peacock Room," "Death, etc.," "Paris, etc.," and "Boston...London" ; three volumes of newsclippings, 1900-1930, concerning Freer and the opening of the Freer Gallery of Art;
correspondence regarding Freer's gift and bequest to the Smithsonian Institution, 1902-1916; and photographs, ca. 1880-1930, of Freer, including portraits by Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen, Freer with others, Freer in Cairo, China and Japan, Freer's death mask, and his memorial service, Kyoto, 1930; photographs of artists and others, including Thomas Dewing, Ernest Fenellosa, Katharine Rhoades taken by Alfred Stieglitz, Rosalind B. Philip, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Abbott H. Thayer, Dwight Tryon, and Whistler; and photographs relating to Whistler, including art works depicting him, grave and memorial monuments, works of art, the Peacock Room, and Whistler's memorial exhibition at the Copley Society.
Among Freer's correspondents are: Otto Bacher, Bernard Berenson, Siegfried Bing, Laurence Binyon, W.K. Bixby, Sigisbert Chretien Bosch-Reitz, Charles H. Caffin, Colin Campbell, Richard Canfield, William Merritt Chase, Frederick Stuart Church, Alfred Vance Churchill, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Arthur Wesley Dow, Ernest Fenollosa, Albert Gallatin, John Gellatly, Frederick W. Gookin, Sadakichi Hartmann, Frank J. Hecker, Dikran Kelekian, M. Knoedler & Co., Berthold Laufer, Lien Hui Ching Collection, W.A. Livingstone, Frederick McCormick, Bunkio Matsuki, Gari Melchers, Agnes Meyer, Eugene Meyer, Charles Moore, Yozo Nomura, Rosalind Birnie Philip, Charles A. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Stephens Warring, Thomas Way, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, Charles Walcott of the Smithsonian Institution, Beatrix Whistler, James McNeill Whistler, K.T. Wong, Yamanaka & Co., and Seaouke Yue.
Arrangement:
All correspondence except letterpress books: arranged alphabetically by correspondent; letterpress books are chonological.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector; Detroit, Michigan. Collected Asian, American, and European art, including a large collection of works by James McNeill Whistler. Founded the Freer Gallery of Art, which is now part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Provenance:
Selected for microfilming from the Charles Lang Freer papers at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Microfilmed 1992 by the Archives of American Art with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Fellowships and Grants Research Resources Program. Portions of the correspondence and the letterpress books were previously filmed by the Freer in the 1970 (AAA reels 77, 453-456, and 1217-1232); those reels have been replaced by this microfilming project. See Finding Aid for information on papers not selected for microfilming.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Illustrated catalogue of ancient Chinese and Japanese paintings, screens, prints, Chinese porcelains, wood carvings, and gold lacquers from the collection of ... Bunkio Matsuki of Boston, Mass. ... : to be sold February 25th and 26th, 1910 ... / the Anderson Auction Company
Catalogue of arms and armor of old Japan : examples of the famous Miyochin's, and others celebrated for their work in metals : also sword guards, knife handles, pewter, carvings, brocades and other objects of interest to amateurs and connoisseurs :gathered on a recent visit to Japan by Bunkio Matsuki
Title:
Arms and armor of old Japan and other ancient objects of interest
Catalogue of arms and armor of old Japan : examples of the famous Miyocin's, and others celebrated for their work in metals : also important Chinese carved screen, cloissoné, Japanese temple and palace carvings, and other objects of interest to amateurs and connoisseurs : gathered on a recent visit to Japan by Bunkio Matsuki
Catalogue of ancient and medieval pewters of China and Japan, old wood carvings, rare helmets & famous blades also stone garden ornaments and other objects of interest : gathered on a recent visit to Japan by Bunkio Matsuki
Catalogue of ancient Chinese tapestries, porcelains and pottery, wood carvings, armor, helmets, blue and white porcelains, stone garde ornaments and old Japanese prints
Art of old Japan, rare specimens of pewter, carvings in jade and other stones and wood. Many lanterns from famous palace and temple grounds, fine gold lacquers and other scarce objects : selected by the well-known Japanese connoisseur Bunkio Matsuki
Catalogue of rare objects in wood, pewter and brass illustrating the art of old japan to be sold at unrestricted public sale by order of Mr. Bunkio Matsuki
Catalogue of rare objects in brass, leathers, and wood illustrating the art of old Japan : to be sold at unrestricted public sale by order of Mr. Bunkio Matsuki
Descriptive catalogue of an important keramic collection of Japanese and Chinese pottery, porcelain, bronzes, lacquers, brocade, prints, embroideries, kakemono, screens, ethnological and buddhist objects selected by Mr. Bunkio Matsuki of Kobe, Japan, and Boston
Descriptive catalogue of an important collection of Japanese and Chinese pottery, porcelain, bronzes, brocades, prints, embroideries, kakemono, screens, ivories and gold lacquers selected by Mr. Bunkio Matsuki of Kobe, Japan, and Boston
