The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
Scope and Contents note:
The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
Artists' files include biographical material; artists' statements; correspondence; sales and expense reports; lists and notes; guest lists; writings by others; receipts, invoices, and statements; printed material, including press releases, exhibition announcements, brochures, catalogues, clippings; and photographs of artwork and artists. Included are extensive files on Afro Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Robert Broderson, Anselmo Franesconi, Joseph Glasco, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Luciano Minguzzi, Ennio Morlotti, Bernard Perlin, Daniel Rice, and Bernard Rosenthal. There are also files on Jan Cox, Kay Sage, and Kazuo Wakabayashi.
Correspondence comprises the largest series in the collection and consists of general correspondence; correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States; and correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad. Letters focus on routine business matters, e.g., appraisals and sales, acquisitions, and organizing exhibitions at the Catherine Viviano Gallery and other venues.
General correspondence includes letters between Catherine Viviano and artists and their family members. Among the correspondents are: Mary Callery, Bernard Chaet, Piero and Virginia Dorazio, Jean Dubuffet, Dallas Ernst, Karl Fortress, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Sage Goodwin, Morris Graves, José Guerrero, Earle Ludgin, Joan Miro, Alfonso Ossorio, Dorothea Tanning, Stuyvesant Van Veen, Adja Yunkers and his wife, Dore Ashton, among others. Also found is Viviano's correspondence with clients, many of whom were prominent collectors, e.g., Richard Brown Baker, Carl and Joan Fisher, Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman, Joseph Hirschhorn, Marc Moyens, Vincent Price, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, Stanley Seeger, and Frederick and Dorothy Zimmerman. Of interest, are letters from Elizabeth Bishop inquiring about the purchase of a work of art from the gallery. Included are letters from art historians, museum directors, curators, representatives at other art-related institutions, and publishers including Walter Bareiss, Walter Barker, Dominque De Menil, Valentine Dudensing, William Eisendrath, S. Lane Faison, Emily Genauer, Bertram Goodhue, Erhard and Barbara Göpel, James Laughlin, Porter McCray, Abram Lerner, Doris Meltzer, Stephen Robson Miller, John Bernard Myers, Perry Rathbone, Belle Krasne Ribicoff, Meyer Shapiro, George Stout, and Curt Valentin.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States contains letters between Viviano and museum directors, curators, dealers, artists, and collectors pertaining to loans, shipping and delivery of artwork, appraisals and sales, and acquisitions. Files include substantive correspondence with the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Federation of the Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, the Barnes Foundation, Bristol Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Bundy Art Gallery, Carnegie Institute, City Art Museum of St. Louis, Cleveland Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Denver Art Museum, Des Moines Art Center, Detroit Institute of Arts, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Museum of Modern Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Wadsworth Atheneum, Walker Art Center, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Atkins Museum of the Fine Arts, World House Gallery, and Yale University Art Library.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad primarily concerns the lending of artwork for exhibitions, acquisition and sales; also included are letters requesting biographical information on artists. Letters between Catherine Viviano and representatives of Max Beckmann Gesellschaft Archiv and Galerie Gunther Franke contain provenance-related information on Beckmann's work.
Business records document the routine business operations of the gallery. Printed material includes an incomplete run of Catherine Viviano Gallery exhibition catalogues; invitations and announcements from other galleries and institutions; and miscellaneous printed material.
Photographs include three images of miscellaneous artwork used for art reference.
Arrangement note:
Records are generally arranged by material type and in chronological order thereafter. Artists' files and correspondence files are arranged in alphabetical order and materials within the folders are arranged chronologically
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Artists' Files, 1945-1986 (Boxes 1-3; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1985 (Boxes 3-6; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Business Records, 1949-1972 (Boxes 10-11; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1930-1990 (Boxes 11-13; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographs (1948-1954), undated (Box 14; 1 folder)
Biographical/Historical note:
Catherine Viviano (1889-1992) opened her gallery in 1949 on 42 East 57th Street in New York City. Specializing in contemporary American paintings and sculpture, the gallery featured younger American and European artists, e.g., Robert Broderson, Carlyle Brown, Jan Cox, Joseph Glasco, Peter Lanyon, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Bernard Perlin, Joseph Rollo, Bernard Rosenthal, and Kay Sage, among others. The gallery was also notable for introducing the work of Italian artists, who had been cut off from the American art scene during World War II, including Afro Basaldella and his brother Mirko Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Leonardo Cremonini, and Luciano Minguzzi.
Born in Italy in 1899 and raised in Chicago, Catherine Viviano came to New York in the early 1930's to work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, where she remained for sixteen years before founding the Catherine Viviano Gallery.
In 1970, Catherine Viviano closed the gallery, though she continued to work from her home as an art dealer and consultant. She died of a stroke at the age of ninety-two in 1992.
Related Archival Materials note:
Among the other resources relating to Catherine Viviano Gallery in the Archives of American Art are the Kay Sage papers, 1925-circa 1985, bulk 1950-1965.
Provenance:
The Catherine Viviano Gallery records were donated in 2003 on behalf of Margaret Viviano, Catherine Viviano's sister, by her grandnephew, Peter C. Salerno, who had Power of Attorney for Margaret Viviano.
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.
An interview of Dorothea Tanning conducted 1990 July 11-November 5, by Barbara Shikler, for the Archives of American Art. Tanning discusses life in Illinois, New York, Arizona, and France. She recalls artists Max Ernst, Andre Breton, Julien Levy, George Balanchine, Yves Tanguy, and Kay Sage.
Biographical / Historical:
Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012) was a painter from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 16 min.
Provenance:
This interview is 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 administrators. Funding for this interview was provided by The John Sloan Memorial Foundation, Inc.
Restrictions:
Use requires an appointment.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
The letters relating to painter and sculptor Max Ernst's American citizenship status measure 0.01 linear feet and date from circa 1957. Correspondence is mainly between Ernst's wife Dorothea (Tanning) and attorney John Frank regarding Max Ernst's efforts to retain American citizenship, which was jeapordized by the McCarren Act and Ernst's extended periods of residence abroad. Many of the letters provide details of Ernst's career and give a chronology of his travels. Included is one letter from Max Ernst to John Frank. All of the documents in this collection are photocopies.
Scope and Contents:
The letters relating to painter and sculptor Max Ernst's American citizenship status measure 0.01 linear feet and date from circa 1957. Correspondence is mainly between Ernst's wife Dorothea (Tanning) and attorney John Frank regarding Max Ernst's efforts to retain American citizenship, which was jeapordized by the McCarren Act and Ernst's extended periods of residence abroad. Many of the letters provide details of Ernst's career and give a chronology of his travels. Included is one letter from Max Ernst to John Frank. All of the documents in this collection are photocopies.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Series 1: Letters Relating to Max Ernst's American Citizenship Status, circa 1957 (0.01 linear feet; 1 folder)
Biographical / Historical:
Max Ernst (1891-1976) was a German Surrealist painter and sculptor. He moved to New York in 1941, and married Dorothea Tanning in California in 1946. They lived in Sedona, Arizona, until 1953, after which they primarily lived in France.
Provenance:
Letters relating to Max Ernst's American citizenship status were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1982 by Jimmy Ernst, son of Max Ernst.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to 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 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.
Citation:
Letters Relating to Max Ernst's American Citizenship Status, circa 1957. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
This series consists of photocopies of correspondence and supporting documents regarding Max Ernst's American citizenship status. Correspondence is mainly between Ernst's wife Dorothea (Tanning) and attorney John Frank regarding Max Ernst's efforts to retain American citizenship, which was jeopardized by the McCarren Act and Ernst's extended periods of residence abroad. Many of the letters provide details of Ernst's career and give a chronology of his travels. Included is one letter from Max Ernst to John Frank.
Collection Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to 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 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:
Letters Relating to Max Ernst's American Citizenship Status, circa 1957. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection is open for research. Access to 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 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:
Letters Relating to Max Ernst's American Citizenship Status, circa 1957. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of art historian, dealer, critic, and curator Katharine Kuh measure 12 linear feet and date from 1875-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930-1994. The collection documents Kuh's career as a pioneer modernist art historian and as the first woman curator of European Art and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence with family, friends and colleagues; personal business records; artwork by various artists; a travel journal; writings by Kuh and others; scrapbooks; printed material; photographs of Kuh and others; and audio recordings of Kuh's lectures and of Daniel Catton Rich reading poetry.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of art historian, dealer, critic, and curator Katharine Kuh measure 12 linear feet and date from 1875-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930-1994. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence with family, friends and colleagues; personal business records; artwork by various artists; a travel journal; writings by Kuh and others; scrapbooks; printed material; photographs of Kuh and others; and audio recordings of Kuh's lectures and of Daniel Catton Rich reading poetry.
Biographical material consists of copies of Kuh's birth certificate, resumés, passports, award certificates, honorary diplomas, and address books listing information about several prominent artists and colleagues.
Four linear feet of correspondence offers excellent documentation of Kuh's interest in art history, her travels, her career at the Art Institute of Chicago, her work as a corporate art advisor, and as an author. There are letters from her mother Olga Woolf, friends, and colleagues. There is extensive correspondence with various staff members of the Art Institute of Chicago, the First National Bank of Chicago, and The Saturday Review. Also of interest are letters from artists and collectors, several of whom became life-long friends including Walter and Louise Arensberg, Cosmo Campoli, Serge Chermayeff, Richard Cox, Worden Day, Claire Falkenstein, Fred Friendly, Leon Golub, Joseph Goto, David Hare, Denise Brown Hare, Jean Hélion, Ray Johnson, Gyorgy and Juliet Kepes, Len Lye, Wallace Putnam, Kurt Seligmann, Shelby Shackelford, Hedda Sterne, and Clyfford Still. Many letters are illustrated with original artwork in various media.
There are also scattered letters from various artists and other prominent individuals including Josef Albers, George Biddle, Marcel Breuer, Joseph Cornell, Stuart Davis, Edwin Dickinson, Joseph Hirshhorn, Daniel Catton Rich, and Dorothea Tanning.
Personal business records include a list of artwork, Olga Woolf's will, inventories of Kuh's personal art collection, miscellaneous contracts and deeds of gift, receipts for the sale of artwork, files concerning business-related travel, and miscellaneous receipts.
Artwork in the collection represents a wide range of artist friends and media, such as drawings, watercolors, paintings, collages, and prints. Included are works by various artists including lithographs by David Hare and a watercolor set, Technics and Creativity, designed and autographed by Jasper Johns for the Museum of Modern Art, 1970.
Notes and writings include annotated engagement calendars, travel journals for Germany, a guest book for the Kuh Memorial gathering, and many writings and notes by Kuh for lectures and articles concerning art history topics. Of interest are minutes/notes from meetings for art festivals, conferences, and the "Conversations with Artists Program (1961). Also found are writings by others about Kuh and other art history topics.
Six scrapbooks contain clippings that document the height of Kuh's career as a gallery director and museum curator. Scrapbook 6 contains clippings about Fernand Léger, the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953.
Additional printed material includes clippings about Kuh and her interests, a comprehensive collection of clippings of Kuh's articles for The Saturday Review, exhibition announcements and catalogs, calendars of events, programs, brochures, books including Poems by Kuh as a child, and reproductions of artwork. Of particular interest are the early and exhibition catalogs from the Katharine Kuh Gallery, and rare catalogs for artists including Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Stanley William Hayter, Hans Hofmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Kline, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Pablo Picasso.
Photographs provide important documentation of the life and career of Katharine Kuh and are of Kuh, family members, friends, colleagues, events, residences, and artwork. Several of the photographs of Kuh were taken by Will Barnet and Marcel Breuer and there is a notable pair of photo booth portraits of Kuh and a young Ansel Adams. There are also group photographs showing Angelica Archipenko with Kuh; designer Klaus Grabe; painters José Chavez Morado and Pablo O'Higgins in San Miguel, Mexico; Kuh at the Venice Biennale with friends and colleagues including Peggy Guggenheim, Frances Perkins, Daniel Catton Rich, and Harry Winston; and "The Pre-Depressionists" including Lorser Feitelson, Robert Inverarity, Helen Lundeberg, Arthur Millier, Myron Chester Nutting, and Muriel Tyler Nutting.
Photographs of exhibition installations and openings include views of the Katharine Kuh Gallery; Fernand Léger, Man Ray, and László Moholy-Nagy at the Art Institute of Chicago; and Philip Guston, Jimmy Ernst, Seymour H. Knox, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. There are also photographs depicting three men posing as Léger's "Three Musicians" and the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to the Art Institute of Chicago. There is a photograph by Peter Pollack of an elk skull used as a model by Georgia O'Keeffe.
Additional photographs of friends and colleagues include Ivan Albright, Alfred Barr, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Willem De Kooning, Edwin Dickinson, Marcel Duchamp, Claire Falkenstein, Alberto Giacometti, poet Robert Graves with Len Lye, Philip Johnson, Gyorgy and Juliet Kepes, Carlos Mérida, José Orozco, Hasan Ozbekhan, Pablo Picasso, Carl Sandberg, Ben Shahn, Otto Spaeth, Hedda Sterne, Adlai Stevenson, Clyfford Still, Mark Tobey, and composer Victor Young.
Photographs of artwork include totem poles in Alaska; work by various artists including Claire Falkenstein, Paul Klee, and Hedda Sterne; and work donated to the Guggenheim Museum.
Four audio recordings on cassette are of Katharine Kuh's lectures, including one about assembling corporate collections, and of Daniel Catton Rich reading his own poetry. There is also a recording of the Second Annual Dialogue between Broadcasters and Museum Educators.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series. Undated correspondence, artwork, and photographs of individual artists are arranged alphabetically. Otherwise, each series is arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1945-1992 (Box 1; 16 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1908-1994 (Boxes 1-5, 13-14, OV 15; 4.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1941-1989 (Box 5; 19 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, 1931-1986 (Boxes 5, 13-14, OVs 15-23; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1914-1994 (Boxes 5-7; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1935-1953 (Box 7; 8 folders)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1916-1992 (Boxes 7-10, 13, OV 22; 3.0 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1875-1993 (Boxes 10-13; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 9: Audio Recordings, 1977 (Box 12; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) worked primarily in the Chicago area as an modern art historian, dealer, critic, curator, writer, and consultant. She operated the Katharine Kuh Gallery from 1935-1943 and was the first woman curator of European and Art and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Katharine Kuh (née Woolf) was born on July 15, 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of the three daughters of Olga Weiner and Morris Woolf, a silk importer. In 1909, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois. While traveling with her family in Europe in 1914, Katharine contracted polio, causing her to spend the next decade in a body brace. During this time of restricted movement, she developed an interest in art history through the collecting of old master prints.
After her recovery, Katharine Woolf attended Vassar College where one of her professors, Alfred Barr, encouraged her to study modern art. She graduated from Vassar in 1925 and received a master's degree in art history from the University of Chicago in 1929. Later that year, she moved to New York to pursue a Ph.D. in Renaissance and medieval art at New York University.
In 1930, Katharine Woolf returned to Chicago and married businessman George Kuh and began to teach art history courses in the suburbs of Chicago. After divorcing George Kuh in 1935, she opened the Katharine Kuh Gallery, the first gallery devoted to avant-garde art in Chicago. It was also the first gallery to exhibit photography and typographical design as art forms, and featured the work of Ansel Adams, Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, and Man Ray, among others. From 1938 to1940, Kuh was the Visiting Professor of Art at the University School of Fine Arts, San Miguel, Mexico.
After the Katharine Kuh Gallery closed in 1943, Kuh was hired by museum director Daniel Catton Rich to fill a position in public relations at the Art Institute of Chicago. During the following years, Kuh edited the museum's Quarterly publication, took charge of the museum's Gallery of Interpretive Art, and began a long term relationship with Rich. In 1946, Kuh was sent on a special mission for the U. S. Office of Indian Affairs to make a detailed study of Native American totemic carvings in Alaska.
In 1949, Kuh persuaded Mr. and Mrs. Walter Arensberg of Los Angeles to exhibit their collection of modern art, creating the first post-war exhibition of modern art in Chicago. She published her first book Art Has Many Faces in 1951, and in the following year, she began writing art criticism for The Saturday Review. In 1954, Kuh was appointed the first woman curator of European Art and Sculpture at the Art Institute. She assembled the American contribution for the Venice Biennale in 1956 and during these years, Kuh helped acquire many of the works of modern art currently in the museum's collection.
A year following Daniel Catton Rich's 1958 resignation from the Art Institute of Chicago, Kuh also resigned and pursued a career in New York as an art collection advisor, most notably for the First National Bank of Chicago. In 1959, Kuh was made art critic for The Saturday Review, and she continued to publish books, including The Artist's Voice in 1962, Break-Up: The Core of Modern Art in 1965, and The Open Eye: In Pursuit of Art in 1971.
Katharine Kuh died on January 10, 1994 in New York City.
Provenance:
The Katharine Kuh papers were donated in several installments from 1971 to 1989 by Katharine Kuh and in 1994 by her estate. Artwork was donated in 1995 by Kuh's former employer, the Art Institute of Chicago.
Restrictions:
Authorization to quote, publish or reproduce requires written permission until 2019. Contact the Archives of American Art Reference Services department for additional 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 painter, writer, and dancer George Deem measure 18.2 linear feet and 10.71 GB and date from 1904-2015, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-2008. The collection documents Deem's path from Midwestern farm child to New York City artist and teacher who specialized in recreating works of great masters, especially Johannes Vermeer. Correspondence, exhibition files, subject files, project files, writings by and about Deem, printed and digital material and photographic materials all show the trajectory of Deem's development as an artist.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, writer, and dancer George Deem measure 18.2 linear feet and 10.71 GB and date from 1904-2015, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-2008. The collection documents Deem's path from Midwestern farm child to New York City artist and teacher who specialized in recreating works of great masters, especially Johannes Vermeer. Correspondence, exhibition files, subject files, project files, writings by and about Deem, printed and digital material and photographic materials all show the trajectory of Deem's development as an artist.
Biographical materials include resumes, an address book, appointment books, birth and death certificates, obituaries and memorial tributes, passports, family histories, jury summons, grant applications, military and educational records.
Correspondence is with family, friends, colleagues, curators, and art dealers. Much of the professional correspondence concerns commissions and reproduction permission requests. Among the correspondents are: Benny Andrews, Mieke Bal, Ulla Dydo, John Evans, Simone Fattal, Lee Guilliat, Vitaly Komar, and Dorothea Tanning. Correspondence with Walter Liedtke, Charles Molesworth, Robert Rosenblum, Arthur K. Wheeler, and Patricia William discusses proposed exhibitions and writings by Deem and others about his work.
Writings include some of Deem's classroom lectures, poems, and short pieces that appeared in independent literary arts publications.
Subject files document Deem's dealings with art consultants and galleries regarding placement of his work, participation in benefit auctions, and gifts of his artwork to the New Britain Museum of American Art. There is extensive correspondence with Allan Stone Gallery, Nancy Hoffman Gallery, and Pavel Zoubok Gallery. Deem's participation in mail art exhibitions is documented by exhibition announcements and correspondence. Also found is mail art correspondence from Richard Copy, Ray Johnson, Jean-Noel Lazlo, Antonio Sassu, Sam Wiener and others: some pieces are copies. The bulk of the project files chronicle Deem's artistic output. Information sheets and photographic materials provide provenance and source references for over 500 works. Files also document commissions undertaken by Deem including book projects, and set designs for dance and theater workshops. Exhibition files document solo and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad.
Printed material includes books by Deem, exhibition catalogs, reviews, and reproductions. In addition, there are articles and academic papers about Deem and his work. Photographic materials include photographs, digital prints and transparencies; subjects include Deem, family, friends, travels, studio, exhibition installations, and his artwork.
The addition to the George Deem papers consists of scattered biographical materials, correspondence, project and subject files, printed and digital material, and photographic materials. The bulk consists of writings, including a memoir of his early days in New York. Twenty-three notebooks include notes and drafts of writings about his artwork; activities and meetings with colleagues and friends are also recorded. Among the photographic materials are five photograph albums - four are devoted to George Deem, his family, and friends; the fifth houses photographs of Deem's artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-circa 2013 (Boxes 1-2; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1954-2013 (Boxes 2-6; 4.8 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1978-2012 (Box 6; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Subject Files, circa 1960-circa 2013 (Boxes 6-8; 1 linear feet)
Series 5: Project Files, 1952-circa 2013 (Boxes 8-13, Box 20; 5.0 linear feet, ER01-ER02; 3.60 GB)
Series 6: Exhibition Files, 1960-circa 2013 (Boxes 13-15; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1966-circa 2013 (Boxes 15-16, OV 21; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, 1904-circa 2013 (Boxes 16-17, Box 20; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 9: Addition to the George Deem Papers, 1957-2015 (Boxes 17-19; 1.8 linear feet, ER03-ER04; 7.12 GB)
Biographical / Historical:
George Deem (1932-2008), a New York City based painter was best known for his original reinterpretations of the works of master painters. Raised on an Indiana farm, Deem showed an early interest in art and after graduating from Vincennes University in 1952 enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His studies were interrupted by service in the U.S. Army. He completed his program at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1955.
After moving to New York City in 1958, Deem worked in the display department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while continuing to paint original works after hours. His work was first exhibited at Barnard College, and in 1963 he had his first one man show at the Allan Stone Gallery, which represented him throughout his career. Later he also was affilated with Nancy Hoffman Gallery and Pavel Zoubok Gallery.
Deem travelled abroad, spending considerable time in Italy where he was influenced by classical art and architecture and began painting realistic figural images. He was interested in reinventing and reconstructing the art of the past, borrowing from artists such as Vermeer, Caravaggio, Goya and Millet. Deem produced a series of paintings relating to Vermeer's work, finally writing a book about this endeavor, Art School and How to Paint a Vermeer. Deem also wrote poetry, was involved in set design, and danced at Bennington College and other venues.
Deem's work was acknowledged in the academic world and he served as artist in residence or visiting artist at MacDowell Colony, Illinois State University, and other institutions. His work appeared in museum exhibitions in the United States and abroad, and is included in the permanent collections of museums including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, New Britain Museum of American Art, and Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, as well as in private collections.
George Deem died in 2008 of lung cancer in New York City.
Provenance:
The George Deem papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2013 and 2015 by Ronald Vance, executor of the George Deem estate.
Restrictions:
Use of original material 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.
Occupation:
Dancers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Dorothea Tanning. Dorothea Tanning postcard to Joseph Cornell, 1955 January. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Tanning. Dorothea Tanning letter to Joseph Cornell, 1949 January 3. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Tanning. Dorothea Tanning postcard to Joseph Cornell, 1952 July 11. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Tanning. Dorothea Tanning to Joseph Cornell, 1947 April 29. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Tanning. Dorothea Tanning to Joseph Cornell, 1948 March 3. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Tanning and John Jonas Gruen. Interview with Dorothea Tanning, 1987 January 22. John Jonas Gruen and Jane Wilson papers, 1909-2016. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Tanning. Dorothea Tanning postcard to Joseph Cornell, 1965 Sep. 21. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Tanning. Dorothea Tanning postcard to Joseph Cornell, 1949 August 4. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Dorothea Tanning, 1990 July 11-November 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Dorothea Tanning : hail, delirium! : a catalogue raisonné of the artist's illustrated books and prints, 1942-1991 / edited by Roberta Waddell and Louisa Wood Ruby ; with an essay by Donald Kuspit ; chronology and commentaries by Dorothea Tanning
