Business and personal correspondence including letters from Ritter to his first wife, Frances Pratt, and to his second wife, Jane Ritter, written from Europe; biographical information; exhibition catalogs and clippings; schedules of art courses taught by Ritter; diaries, 1937-1953; essays, talks and writings; an address book; a high school yearbook; 5 sketches; and photographs of Ritter, his work and his family.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Ogunquit, Maine and New York, N.Y. Born 1906 (per U.S. Army discharge papers and family birthdate also cited as 1908). Died 1976.
Provenance:
Donated by Ritter, 1974 and 1979.
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 Laurel Gallery records measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1944 to 1951. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through scant correspondence, photographs, printed material, an exhibition inventory, and financial records.
Scope and Contents:
The Laurel Gallery records measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1944 to 1951. This small collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through scant correspondence, photographs, printed material, an exhibition inventory, and financial records.
The collection includes letters from artists and museums to gallery director Chris Ritter, and some to the gallery's co-director, Grace Borgenicht; writings on artists Milton Avery, Gabor Peterdi, and Leonard Pytlak. Financial records consist of tax records, notes, bills, price lists, artist agreements, an account book, and a sales book. Also present is an inventory from the exhibition, The New York Society of Women Artists (1947); a scrapbook and loose newspaper clippings; photographs of artists and works of art; a plan for the gallery's marketing, pricing, and financials by Chris Ritter; and photographs, notes, and drafts related to the gallery's quarterly, Laurels.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
The Laurel Gallery was founded in New York City in 1946 by painter, printmaker, and educator, Chris Ritter. The gallery, located at 108 East 57th Street, was an active supporter of contemporary American art. Ritter occasionally exhibited his own work in the Laurel Gallery, but mostly exhibited the work of other avant-garde artists, including Jimmy Ernst, Grace Borgenicht (Laurel Gallery's co-director), Claude Bentley, George Constant, Ibram Lassaw, and others. In addition to exhbitions, the gallery published four portfolios of artists' prints and a quarterly magazine. Ritter closed the gallery in 1952, around the same time Borgenicht opened the Grace Borgenicht Gallery.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by gallery founder Chris Ritter in 1974.
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.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- History Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York
Citation:
Laurel Gallery records, 1944-1951. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Woodbury, David O. (David Oakes), 1896-1981 Search this
Extent:
0.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
[ca. 1972]
Scope and Contents:
Untranscribed interviews conducted by Margot Phillips of, or about, Maine artists. Interviewees include: Conol C. Clark, John and Helen Dirks, Dewitt Hardy, Elyot Henderson, Roby Littlefield, Harmon Neill, Chris Ritter, Alden F. Shum and David Woodbury (2 interviews) regarding his father Charles H. Woodbury.
Also included are six pages of answers to questions asked of George Karfiol about his father Bernard, and a four page transcript of an interview of Peggy Bacon, December 2, 1971.
Provenance:
Donated 1988 by Margot Phillips.
Restrictions:
Untranscribed; use requires an appointment.
Dirks & Hardy interviews: ACCESS RESTRICTED; written permission required.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings and born-digital records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
The Artists' Questionanaires require permission from each artist before publishing, quoting, or reproducing. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Items created by Francis V. O'Connor: copyright held by Avis Berman. Artists' questionnaires: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from the individual artist. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Francis V. O'Connor papers, 1920-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
