The New Arts records measure 1.3 linear feet and date from 1950 to 1979. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through correspondence, exhibition files, printed material, artists' files, and more.
Scope and Contents:
The New Arts records measure 1.3 linear feet and date from 1950 to 1979. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through administrative records and artists' files. Administrative records include artwork authentification records, correspondence with museums, galleries, and private collectors, exhibition files, ephemera from exhibitions held elsewhere, and editions of the Contemporary Arts Council calendar. Artists' files consist of correspondence, price lists, photos of artwork and installations, exhibition ephemera, reviews, some resumes, and more. Artists covered include Forrest Bess, James Boynton, Lawrence Calcagno, Joseph Cornell, Max Ernst, Walter Kuhlman, Peter Plagens, Hassel Smith, Richard Steinberg, and Jean Varda.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as two series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1952-1970 (Box 1; .4 linear feet)
Series 2: Artists' Files, 1950-1979 (Box 1-2, OV 3; .9 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The New Arts was founded in 1956 in Houston, Texas by Kathryn Swenson. The gallery was initially established to exhibit and sell pre-Columbian artwork, the bulk of which came from Andre Emmerich's private collection. Swenson asked friend and museum specialist Jermayne MacAgy to help with the exhibition display, and then sometime in the next two years, the gallery began to show established local artists. Pre-Columbian shows persisted throughout The New Arts' existence, but the gallery shifted its focus towards exhibiting a wide range of contemporary painters and sculptors by the late 1950s. Artists exhibited at The New Arts include Jack Boynton, Forest Bess, Hassel Smith, Max Ernst, Walter Kuhlman, Lawrence Calcagno, Joseph Cornell, Peter Plagens, and Jean Varda.
The New Arts closed in 1974.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Marc Moldawer, Kathryn Swenson, and Robert Wilson conducted by Sandra Curtis Levy, August 15, 1984.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 1979 by gallery owner and director Kathryn Swenson.
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.
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.
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- Texas
Citation:
The New Arts records, 1950-1979. 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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Perry Townsend Rathbone, 1975 Aug. 8-1976 Sept. 24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Perry Townsend Rathbone conducted 1975 Aug. 8-1976 Sept. 24, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Perry speaks of his childhood in New York City and upstate New York; his parents; his education at Harvard University; his experience taking a museum course with Paul Sachs at Harvard; working in the education department and under William Valentiner at the Detroit Institute of the Arts during the Depression; assisting Valentiner in organizing the 1939 World's Fair art exhibitions; directing the St. Louis Museum of Art; funding strategies and practices for art museums; working for the Combat Artists' Program in the military during World War II; leaving St. Louis to direct the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; initiating museum membership programs and women's committees in St. Louis and Boston; leading the American Association of Museum Directors; traveling to Washington, DC to advocate for art museums during the 1969 income tax reform committee sessions; retiring early from the Boston Museum; assuming the directorship of Christie's in New York; notable acquisitions throughout his career; relationships with museum donors and boards of trustees; and exhibitions including Westward the Way, Mississippi Panorama, Sport in Art, European Masters of the 20th century, Art of Ancient Peru, Gold of Ancient Americas, and Masterpieces of Primitive Art. Perry also recalls Donald Oenslager, Bud Reed, John Mason Brown, Arthur Pope, Paul Sachs, Edward Forbes, William Valentiner, John Newberry, Louis LaBeaume, Lionberger Davis, Meyric Rogers, Curt Valentin, Max Beckmann, Henry McIlhenny, Joseph Pulitzer, Charles Norgle, Lansing Thoms, Etta Steinberg, Richard Weil, Gertrude Townsend, John W. Coolidge, Harold Edgell, W.G. Constable, Henry Rossiter, Gertrude Townsend, Carl Zahn, Hanns Swarzenski, Dows Dunham, Richard McLanathan, Walter Whitehill, Tenley Albright, Maxim Karolik, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Walter Chrysler, George Seybolt, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Perry Townsend Rathbone (1911-2000) was a museum director from New York, N.Y. He was a curator at the Detroit Institute of Art, 1936-1940, director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis, 1940-1955, and director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1955-1972. At the time of the interview, Rathbone was director of the auction house, Christie's USA (1973-1977). He went on to become senior vice-president from 1977-1987, and a consultant beginning in 1987.
General:
Originally recorded on 11 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 20 digital wav files. Duration is 16 hr., 43 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
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.
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:
The New Arts records, 1950-1979. 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.
