The papers of sculptor Arnold Rönnebeck and painter Louise Emerson Ronnebeck measure 4.24 linear feet and date from 1884-2002. The collection contains biographical material, family and professional correspondence, sketches and drawings, writings, a scrapbook, and printed material. There are also numerous photographic prints, copy prints, negatives, and 7 glass plate negatives of the Rönnebecks and their artwork, travels, family, and friends, including Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Alfred Stieglitz, and Tony Luhan.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of sculptor Arnold Rönnebeck and painter Louise Emerson Ronnebeck measure 4.24 linear feet and date from 1884-2002. The collection contains biographical material, family and professional correspondence, sketches and drawings, writings, a scrapbook, and printed material. There are also numerous photographic prints, copy prints, negatives, and 7 glass plate negatives of the Rönnebecks and their artwork, travels, family, and friends, including Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Alfred Stieglitz, and Tony Luhan.
Biographical materials include articles on the Rönnebecks by Betsy Fahlman, curriculum vitae, and documentation on the Emerson family. Correspondence is primarily between Arnold Rönnebeck to Louise, and also includes letters in German to Arnold's sister Irmgard Rönnebeck. Among the professional and personal correspondence from friends and family to both of the Rönnebecks are letters from Kenneth Hayes Miller to Louise Ronnebeck.
Writings include essay drafts, notes, and poetry by the Rönnebecks, including Arnold Rönnebeck's "Paint-As-You-Go Plan." There is a scrapbook of clippings covering Louise Ronnebeck's work. Additional printed material includes Christmas cards, clippings, and exhibition announcements and catalogs of both the Rönnebecks' work. Artwork consists of drawings and sketches by Arnold Rönnebeck.
Photographic materials include photographs of the Rönnebecks and their travels to Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, and Europe. The series also contains photos, copy prints, negatives, and 7 glass plate negatives of artist friends, and formal and informal documentation of their works of art and public and private art commissions.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1926-2002 (9 folders; Box 1, OV 7)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1909-1998 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1, 5)
Series 3: Writings, 1920-1944 (6 folders; Box 1, 5)
Series 4: Scrapbook, 1926-1966 (1 folder; Box 1)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1923-1999 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 6: Artwork, 1915-1950 (2 folders; Box 2, 5)
Series 7: Photographic Materials, 1884-1976 (2.6 linear feet; Box 2-6)
Biographical Note:
Sculptor Arnold Rönnebeck (1885-1947) was part of the "Stieglitz circle" and settled in Denver where he served as director of the Denver Art Museum from 1926-1931. Rönnebeck married Louise Emerson (1901-1980) in 1926. Emerson was a painter and muralist who worked on New Deal mural commissions in Colorado and Wyoming.
Arnold Rönnebeck was born in Nassau, Germany and was a noted sculptor and lithographer. From 1905 to 1907, Rönnebeck studied architecture at the Royal Art School in Berlin and spent a year studying sculpture in Munich. In 1908, he moved to Paris where he furthered his studies in sculpture under Aristede Maillol and Emile Bourdelle. From 1914 to 1918, Rönnebeck served as an officer in the German Imperial Army during World War I. In 1923, he emigrated to the United States where he became part of the Stieglitz circle.
In 1925, Rönnebeck visited Mabel Dodge Luhan at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico, where he met his future wife, the painter Louise Emerson, born Mary Louise Harrington Emerson in 1901. After their marriage, the Rönnebecks lived in Denver where Arnold Rönnebeck worked as director of the Denver Art Museum and continued to execute commissioned works, including bas reliefs, portrait busts, and sculptures. He died in Denver, Colorado in 1947. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Louise Emerson Ronnebeck continued to receive commissions for frescoes and murals in Colorado and Bermuda and died in Denver, Colorado in 1980.
Related Material:
Correspondence between Arnold Rönnebeck and Alfred Stieglitz and Marsden Hartley is located at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 2001 by Ursula Moore Works and Arnold Rönnebeck, the artists' daughter and son.
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.
Arnold Rönnebeck and Louise Emerson Ronnebeck papers, 1884-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the 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.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Stable Gallery records, 1916-1999, bulk 1953-1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Lichtenstein Foundation.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Charles Rand Penney Papers, 1923-1994, bulk 1945-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
Correspondence, a photograph, and invoices relating to Chester Dale's relationship with George Bellows and Dale's interest in Bellows' works of art.
Correspondence includes twelve letters between George Bellows and Chester Dale regarding Dale's patronage of Bellows and personal matters, 1919-1929. Also included is correspondence between Chester Dale and Marie Sterner, Alaric Simson, and W. Martin Griffith regarding works by Bellows, 1924-1930. Additional letters are from James Rosenberg and Julian Bowes to Dale pertaining to Bowes' portrait sculpture of Bellows, 1927. A photograph of the sculpture is included with the letters.
Seven invoices are from H.V. Allison and Sons to Chester Dale for purchases of works by Bellows, 1944-1956, and an invoice from C.W. Kraushaar Galleries to Dale for a Bellows lithograph, 1929.
Biographical / Historical:
Chester Dale (1883-1962) was an art collector in New York, N.Y. Dale collected 19th and 20th century art works.
Provenance:
Donated 2010 by Martha J. Fleischman, Archives of American Art trustee and benefactor, who purchased the collection at auction.
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.
These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after
approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no
manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead.
Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from
1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called
the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the
Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of
Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives;
two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents
of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded
to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice
since that time.
The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A.
Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard
Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas
R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.
Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White,
William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.
Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell,
Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin,
Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey,
Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull,
Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.
Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth,
Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel
Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton,
Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce,
Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R.
Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards
Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.
Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George
Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings,
John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius
Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley,
John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston
Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton
Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton,
Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson,
Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
Letters from sitters for Weill portrait busts, including several prominent political figures; sculpture; inventories; photographs; exhibition catalogs; and clippings.
A resume; a New Jersey Senate resolution honoring Weill and a photocopy of a certificate of appreciation from the Teaneck Township Council; correspondence with American Friends of the Hebrew University, Leonard Bernstein, philosopher Martin Buber, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Fiorello H. La Guardia, Golda Meir, National Portrait Gallery, Linus Pauling, Kalman Yaron of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and others; a handwritten draft of Weill's speech given at a 1983 reception in her honor; lists of Weill's sculpture and the collectors who own her works; exhibition catalogs; news releases; and magazine and newspaper clippings.
Also includes photographs of Martin Buber, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rudolph Serkin, and Elie Wiesel, and of Weill in her studio, as well as photos of her portrait busts of Rabbi Leo Baeck, Leonard Bernstein, Buber, Abraham Heschel, Fiorello H. La Guardia, King, Golda Meir, Linus Pauling, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wiesel and others, and her figural, architectural and ceremonial sculpture.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, educator; Teaneck, N.J.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Erna Weill.
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.
The papers of Una Hanbury measure 5.3 linear feet and date from 1910 to 1994, with the bulk of the material from 1966 to 1990. The collection documents the sculptor's career and the dispersal of her estate through business records, project files, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is also a small amount of material relating to her personal life including correspondence with friends and family and photographs from various stages of her life.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Una Hanbury measure 5.3 linear feet and date from 1910 to 1994, with the bulk of the material from 1966 to 1990. The collection documents the sculptor's career and the dispersal of her estate through business records, project files, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is also a small amount of material relating to her personal life including correspondence with friends and family and photographs from various stages of her life.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Personal Papers, 1926-1983 (Box 1; 4 folders)
Series 2: Business Records, 1965-1991 (Boxes 1-2; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Project Files, 1961-1992 (Boxes 2-3; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 4: Subject Files, circa 1924-1985 (Box 4, OV 7; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 5: Estate of Una Hanbury, 1990-1994 (Boxes 4-5; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1926-1990 (Box 5; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, 1910-1991 (Boxes 5-6, 0.3 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Una Hanbury (1904-1990) was a sculptor in Washington, D.C. and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hanbury was born in Middlesex, England, in 1904; the incorrect birth date of 1909 that she submitted to Who's Who and other biographical reference sources is cited in numerous published articles. Hanbury [née Rawnsley] exhibited artistic talent as a young child and received instruction from animal artist Frank Calderon. After graduation from London's Polytechnic School of Art, she studied for three years at the Royal Academy. Jacob Epstein was her most influential teacher.
Soon after completing her formal education, Una Rawnsley became Una Hanbury and devoted herself full-time to being a wife and mother. During World War II she left England for Bermuda and brought her family to the United States once the war was over. Hanbury settled in Washington, D.C., where she resumed her sculpting career, completing many large scale commissions for public buildings such as the Medical Examiners Building, Baltimore, and St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Springfield, Virginia, among others. She developed a fine reputation as a portrait sculptor, and commissions included busts of Rachel Carson, Enrico Fermi, Buckminster Fuller, Laura Gilpin, Richard Neutra, Georgia O'Keeffe, Robert Oppenheimer, S. Dillon Ripley, and Andrés Segovia. In addition, animals--particularly horses--were a favorite subject since childhood; sculptures were commissioned by several zoos, and horse portraits often were commissioned by owners.
In 1970, Una Hanbury relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she continued working well into old age and became a significant force in the art life of that region.
Provenance:
The Una Hanbury papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by the artist's daughter, Jillian Poole, in 1999 and 2006.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. 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.
The papers of New York sculptor Robert White measure 8.4 linear feet and 0.846 GB and date from 1889-2003, with the bulk of the material from 1915-2003. The collection documents White's varied career as a sculptor, educator, painter, and illustrator through biographical material; extensive correspondence; project files; personal business records; notes and writings; sketchbooks and sketches by Robert White and others; printed and digital material; audiovisual material; artifacts; and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York sculptor Robert White measure 8.4 linear feet and 0.846 GB and date from 1889-2003, with the bulk of the material from 1915-2003. The collection documents White's varied career as a sculptor, educator, painter, and illustrator through biographical material; extensive correspondence; project files; personal business records; notes and writings; sketchbooks and sketches by Robert White and others; printed and digital material; audiovisual material; artifacts; and photographs.
Scattered biographical materials include a curriculum vitae, documentation relating to White's service in the U.S. Coast Guard, a certificate of appreciation, and a memorial card for White's daughter, Natalie Laura White.
Correspondence contains primarily incoming letters from family and friends, and from clients, galleries, museums, arts organizations, students, and university administrators. Spanning over a seventy year period, family and friends correspondence centers on daily activities, events, and work. There is extensive correspondence from Robert White's parents, Lawrence Grant White and Bessie Chanler White and from Claire Nicolas White and her family. Other correspondents include Gil Franklin, Walker Hancock, Jim Harrison, Susan Hobbes, Willard R. Huntington, Ben LaFarge, Ward Lamb, Suzannah Lessard, Peter Matthiessen, Walker O'Cain, Mark and Katja Oxman, Frank C. Platt, Laura Spencer Pope, Paul and Ellen Resika, Paul Russotto, Sidney Simon, and William Styron, among others.
General correspondence mostly concerns White's commissions, teaching appointments, and his activities in professional organizations. Also included are letters from family members, friends, and colleagues. Frequent correspondents include: the American Academy in Rome, Amyas Ames, the Augustus Saint Gaudens Memorial, Century Association, Theodore Cremer, Davis Galleries, Patricia Fleischmann, Hugh Fosburgh, Rebekah Harkness Kean, David Garrard Lowe, National Academy of Design, Parsons School of Design, S. Dillon Ripley, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Steuben Glass, and the Suffolk Museum and Carriage House.
Project files contain materials on Robert White's exhibitions and his commissioned projects. Materials include letters, lists of artwork, notes, price lists, receipts, exhibition schedules, contracts, and loan agreements. Files document White's exhibits at the Davis Galleries, Elaine Benson Gallery, Graham Gallery, Graham Modern, Heckscher Museum, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Included are extensive files on White's commissions for the American Battle Monuments Commission, Peabody Museum, and Steuben Glass.
Personal business records include files on Robert White's association with the Augustus Saint Gaudens Memorial and the National Academy of Design; his teaching appointments at the Parsons School of Design, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; and his dealings with foundries. There are scattered files on the Whites' St. James, New York property and residence.
Notes and writings contain Robert White's diaries, artist's statements, notebooks, essays on art, lectures, and scattered notes. Also found are writings by Clare White and others.
Sketchbooks and loose sketches contain preliminary studies by Robert White and scattered sketches by others. Printed material houses newspaper clippings and periodicals; exhibition announcements, catalogs, brochures, and posters; press releases and newsletters; and miscellaneous printed material.
Artifacts include two printing blocks: a portrait sculpture of Stephanie White and a landscape image. Audiovisual material consists of a digital audio recording of a classroom lecture by Robert White at an unidentified venue.
Photographs house images of Robert White; his studio; and snapshots of family and friends, many unidentified. Also included are photographs and slides of artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1939-2002 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1923-2002 (Boxes 1-4; 3.8 linear feet)
Series 3: Project Files, 1952-2003 (Boxes 4-5, OV 10; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1889, 1946-2003 (Boxes 5-6, OV 10; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1915, circa 1946-2002 (Boxes 6-7; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 6: Sketchbooks and Sketches, circa 1965-1972 (Boxes 7, 9; 0.3 linear feet
Series 7: Printed Material, 1937-2003 (Boxes 7, 9; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Audiovisual Material, 1973 (ER01; 0.846 GB)
Series 9: Artifacts, circa 1965 (Box 7; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1940s-2001 (Box 8; 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Robert Winthrop White (1921-2002) lived and worked in St. James, New York and was primarily known as a sculptor and educator.
He was the son of the architect, Lawrence Grant White (1887-1956) and Bessie Chanler White. Stanford White (1853-1906), Robert's grandfather, was one of the founding partners in the prominent New York City architectural firm, McKim, White, and Mead.
As a youth, Robert White traveled to Munich, Germany to study woodcarving, sculpture, and painting. In 1935, he entered Portsmouth Priory School in Rhode Island. From 1938-1942, he was enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design, where his mentors were Walter Raemisch in sculpture and John Howard Benson in calligraphy. In World War II, White served as chief boatswain's mate in the United States Coast Guard and later worked in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). At the end of the war, White continued his training in sculpture and painting. In 1947, Robert White married Clare Nicolas, daughter of the painter and stained glass master, Joep Nicolas and the sculptor, Suzanne Nicolas.
Robert White, influenced by the classical techniques of the Renaissance artists, worked in various media, such as bronze, stone, plaster, terra-cotta, and wood. His subjects included portrait, figure, and life studies; animals; and dancers. Robert White also was an illustrator. He illustrated works by Laura Spencer Pope, William Styron, and others. White also illustrated two collections of his own poems, Casques and Dust and Palace: The Story of A Friendship that were privately published before his death in 2002.
Robert White held teaching positions at several universities and schools, including the Suffolk Museum of Art, the Parsons School of Design, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. From 1967-1987, White was an associate professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
White exhibited his work in museums and galleries in the United States and abroad, including Artists Choice Museum, Artist's Gallery, Benson Gallery, Boston Athenaeum, Gallery North, Hartwick College Museum, Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Patricia Fleischmann Gallery, Rijksakademie Van Beeldende, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the Suffolk Museum and Carriage House, among others. Robert White was represented by the Davis Gallery, Graham Gallery, and Graham Modern in New York City.
Robert White's private and public commissions included works for the American Battle Monuments Commission, Amyas Ames, Theodore Cremer, John Marquand, Peabody Museum, State University of New York, William Styron, and Xerox Corporation. His work can be viewed in the collections of the Boston Athenaeum, Brooklyn Museum, Civici Musei 3 Gallerie di Storia e Arte, Heckscher Museum, and the Rhode Island School of Design. Robert White was the recipient of the Laurel Gallery's "New Talent" exhibition prize, 1948; American Academy's Rome Prize, 1952-1954; and the Proctor Memorial Prize at the National Academy of Design, 1962, 1982. He was also awarded grants from the Tiffany Foundation, 1950 and the Fairfield Foundation, 1968. From 1952-1955, White was a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, where he also served as an artist-in-residence from 1969-1970. Robert White was a member of the American Academy in Rome, the Augustus Saint Gaudens Memorial, Century Association, and the National Academy of Design.
Robert White continued to work on the family estate in St. James, New York until his death in 2002.
Provenance:
The Robert W. White Papers were donated in 2003 by Claire Nicolas White, widow of Robert White.
Restrictions:
Use of the 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.
Topic:
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of muralist and sculptor, Pietro Lazzari, measure 12.84 linear feet and date from 1878 to 1998. The papers document Lazzari's life and career through biographical material, correspondence, business records, notes, writings, artwork, photographs, and printed material.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of muralist and sculptor, Pietro Lazzari, measure 12.84 linear feet and date from 1878 to 1998. The collection documents Lazzari's life and career through biographical material, correspondence, business records, notes, writings, artwork, photographs, and printed material.
Biographical material includes biographical sketches and various identification documents. Correspondence comprises letters exchanged between Lazzari, family members, and colleagues and includes about a hundred letters concerning post office murals in several states.
Notebooks contain drawings and annotated diagrams in addition to notes on artwork and designs for inventions. Writings are both by and about Lazzari and include autobiographical material. Artwork includes sketchbooks, loose sketches, prints, and paintings.
Almost a quarter of the collection consists of photographs which include images of Lazzari, his family and colleagues, and gallery installations. Also found are photographs of several notable individuals.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as ten series according to material type. For each series, material within folders is arranged chronologically. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1880-1980 (box 1; 4 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1895-1998, undated (boxes 1-2; 1.7 linear ft.)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1925-1993, undated (box 2; 0.4 linear ft.)
Series 4: Notes, 1915-1979, undated (boxes 3, 13, OV 14; 1 linear ft.)
Series 5: Writings, 1910-1979, undated (box 4, 13; 0.4 linear ft.)
Series 6: Artwork, 1918-1979, undated (boxes 4-5, 13, OV 14; 0.9 linear ft.)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1905-1994, undated (boxes 5-8, 13, OV 14; 3.8 linear ft.)
Series 8: Photographs, 1878-1980, undated (boxes 8-13, MGP 1, MGP 4; 3.8 linear ft.)
Series 9: Motion Picture Film, undated (FC 15; 1 film can)
Series 10: Artifact, undated (box 12; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Pietro Lazzari was born in Rome, on May 15, 1898. At the age of 15, he was apprenticed to Roman sculptor, Jerace. Four years on the Italian front in World War I interrupted his studies, until he could return to the Ornamental School of Rome, where he received a Master Artist degree in 1922. Lazzari's first solo exhibition was at the Theatre of the Independents in Rome. He was also employed by newspaper Il Messaggero to illustrate articles with athletes' portraits.
Lazzari visited the United States in 1925, exhibiting in a group show at the New Gallery in the New York the following year. He also married American social worker Elizabeth Paine in 1926. After four more trips between the United States and Italy, he permanently settled in New York City in 1929. In addition to participating in major art exhibitions, he was hired by a New York newspaper to make courtroom sketches at the Lindbergh kidnapping trial. Divorcing his first wife in 1932, Lazzari married Evelyn Cohen in 1934, and became a U.S. citizen in 1936. Between 1936 and 1942, he worked on four post office murals for the U.S. Section of Fine Arts and began experimentation that led to his own method of painting in polychrome concrete.
In 1942, Lazzari moved to Washington, D.C. and participated in the war effort. He also taught painting and sculpture at The American University, and from 1948 to 1950, he headed the Art Department at Dumbarton College. In 1950, he received a Fulbright Fellowship for research in techniques of Etruscan Art.
Lazzari is known for his bronze busts of humanitarians, most notably Pope Paul VI, Adlai Stevenson, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Represented by the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, he was also very active in the Washngton, D.C. art community, where he was represented by the Caresse Crosby Gallery.
Pietro Lazzari died on May 1, 1979 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is one sound tape reel of a transcribed interview with Pietro Lazzari, conducted by Harlan Phillips in 1964.
Provenance:
The Pietro Lazzari papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1989 by Evelyn C. Lazzari, widow of Pietro Lazzari, and in 1998 by her estate.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
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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:
Portrait sculpture, American -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
