Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
8 Items
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1954-1957
Scope and Contents:
Letters from Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner, the first director of the Getty Museum, to his assistant, Mary E. Adams. Five letters from 1954 regard the opening of the museum; the remainder were written while Valentiner was director at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Included are typescripts of the letters.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary Adams was assistant to Wilhelm Valentiner at the J. Paul Getty Museum, in 1954. She is the wife of printmaker Clinton Adams. Art historian Wilhelm Valentiner was born in Karlsruhe, Germany. He served as Director, Detroit Institute of Art, 1924-1946, Director-Consultant, Los Angeles Museum of Art, 1946-1954, Director, J. Paul Getty Museum, Santa Monica, Calif., 1954, Director, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1955-1958. Editor, Art in America, 1913-1931, and was the author of books on Dutch painting and modern sculpture.
Provenance:
Donated 1997 by Mary E. Adams.
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 museum director Perry Townsend Rathbone measure 4.3 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1985. The papers document Rathbone's career as museum director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and his later work with Christie's New York office. Found within the papers are biographical materials, correspondence with friends and colleagues, writings, professional and project files, printed materials, and photographs, mostly of exhibitions.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of museum director Perry Townsend Rathbone measure 4.3 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1985. The papers document Rathbone's career as museum director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and his later work with Christie's New York office. Found within the papers are biographical materials, correspondence with friends and colleagues, writings, professional and project files, printed materials, and photographs, mostly of exhibitions.
Biographical materials contain curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, citations for honorary degrees and for Rathbone's appointment as Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, a passport, a transcript of an interview with Rathbone and articles written by others about Rathbone, including one by S. Lane Faison.
Correspondence is with Rathbone's friends and colleagues. Notable correspondents include Max Beckmann, Xavier Gonzalez, Hanns Swarzenski, Curt Valentin, Jane Sabersky, William R. Valentiner, and Marian Willard, among others. Rathbone knew several art historians and conservators who served in the U.S. Army as members of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, also known as the Monuments Men. Correspondence with these colleagues is arranged together as a subseries and includes correspondence with S. Lane Faison, Thomas Carr Howe, Lamont Moore, Charles Parkhurst, Andrew Ritchie, George Leslie Stout, and Otto Wittman. Most of the correspondence with other Monuments Men is post World War II.
Writings by Rathbone consist of student papers, typescript drafts of articles and entries for exhibition catalogs, notes and notebooks from European trips, and lectures.
Professional files encompass a range of documents related to Rathbone's museum directorships, projects, travels and professional affiliations. The folders about his work at the City Art Museum of St. Louis and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston include correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, press releases and notes. There are also folders on specific projects such as the renovation of the historic Dederer-Blodgett House and Rathbone's membership on various art commissions and committees. Also found within this series are correspondence, notebooks, receipts, itineraries and vouchers for Rathbone's business trips to Europe and other locations while working for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Printed materials include news clippings, articles, press releases, a few art magazines and exhibition catalogues, and invitations to events. There are also black and white photographs of exhibitions, including a Max Beckmann exhibit, and a few images of Rathbone.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1930-1982 (0.1 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1940-1985 (1.1 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 3: Writings, 1929-1967 (0.8 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1938-1984 (2 linear feet; Box 2-4, OV 6)
Series 5: Printed Materials, 1954-1975 (0.2 linear feet; Box 4-5, OV 6)
Series 6: Photographs, 1936-1972 (0.1 linear feet; Box 5)
Biographical / Historical:
Perry Townsend Rathbone (1911-2000) was a prominent museum director who worked primarily in Boston and New York City. He was an early supporter of German Expressionism in America.
Rathbone was director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis from 1940-1955, moving on to direct the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1954-1972, where he led a period of extensive reform. After retiring from the museum, he worked for one year for the Chase Manhattan Bank as an art consultant. Rathbone worked as director and senior vice president of Christies USA auction house from 1973-1987. After 1987, he continued working at Christies as a consultant.
Rathbone was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1911 and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Harvard College, majoring in Art History and graduating in 1933. He then completed the graduate "museum course" taught by Professor Paul Sachs in 1934. The Paul Sachs museum course was famous for cultivating future directors at some of this country's most prestigious museums. After Harvard, Rathbone was appointed as curator of Alger House (later renamed the Grosse Pointe War Memorial), a branch of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rathbone directed the ''Masterpieces of Art'' exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The success of the exhibit led to his appointment as director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri in 1940 at the age of 29, making him the youngest American museum director at the time.
During World War II, Rathbone served in the U.S. Navy from late 1942-1945. He was a commissioned officer in charge of the Navy Art and Poster Section, Office of Public Relations in Washington, D.C. He supervised five Navy "combat artists," who painted naval battles and depicted the daily lives of soldiers. He also served as an officer in New Calcedonia. He separated from service as a Lieutenant Commander in late 1945. This collection does not contain records directly related to his military service. In 1945 Rathbone married Euretta de Cosson while on leave in Washington, D.C. They had three children together: Peter, Eliza, and Belinda.
Rathbone resumed his position as the director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis after the war. The Detroit Institute of Arts director William R. Valentiner introduced Rathbone to German Expressionism. Rathbone helped the German Expressionist painter Max Beckmann, labeled a ''degenerate artist'' by Hitler, and his wife immigrate to America and then arranged a teaching position for Beckmann at Washington University. Rathbone and Beckmann became close, and in 1948, Rathbone organized a Beckmann retrospective at the City Art Museum. Beckmann made a portrait of Rathbone and one of his wife Euretta. Rathbone gave the eulogy at Beckmann's funeral in 1950.
In 1955 Rathbone became the director of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. During his tenure there he expanded the museum by 80,000 square feet, doubled the staff, and oversaw the renovations of 57 of the Museum's 189 galleries. He mounted exhibitions of Rembrandt, Matisse, Modigliani, Cezanne, van Gogh and Courbet. The Boston Museum's first acquisitions of Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Constantine Brancusi, Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti and other works by 20th-century artists occurred under Rathbone's directorship. Rathbone also served as curator of paintings and wrote the catalog essays for many of the museum's exhibitions. Working with Frances Weeks Hallowell, he established the first "Ladies Committee" for the museum, which substantially increased membership. He was appointed as Chevalier de Légion d'Honneur by the French government in 1964.
In 1969, the Museum of Fine Arts purchased what was believed to be a Raphael portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga, 1505, from a Genoa art dealer. The work was meant to be the highlight of the museum's centennial celebration. However controversy arose when the Italian government alleged that the work was smuggled out of the country and the museum was forced to return the painting to the Italian government. The situation caused Rathbone to resign in 1972.
At the request of David Rockefeller, Rathbone became an art consultant to Chase Manhattan Bank for one year. In 1973, he became director of Christie's auction house in New York and senior vice president in 1977, working there until 1987, when he retired but still worked as a consultant.
Perry Townsend Rathbone died on January 22, 2000 at the age of 88.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds an oral history interview of Perry Townsend Rathbone conducted in 1975-1976 by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art's oral history program.
Provenance:
Perry Townsend Rathbone donated his paper to the Archives of American Art in 1977 and 1988.
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.
Topic:
Museum directors -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
Genre/Form:
Transcripts
Photographs
Interviews
Citation:
Perry Townsend Rathbone papers, 1929-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
106 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1974 Dec. 27-1976 Mar. 13
Scope and Contents:
An interview of William Milliken conducted 1974 Dec. 27-1976 Mar. 13, by Dennis Barrie, for the Archives of American Art. Milliken speaks of his family background and history; his childhood; his education, and studies at Princeton; his first position as Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum; his involvement with the Frick and the Cooper Union Museum; his appointment to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1919, and becoming its director in 1930. He recalls William R. Valentiner, Jacques Seligmann, Isabella Stewart Gardner, J.P. Morgan, Henry Frick and others.
Biographical / Historical:
William Milliken (1889-1978) was a museum director from Cleveland, Ohio. He was the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1930-1958.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hrs., 45 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' 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.
An interview of Richard Lippold conducted 1971 Dec. 1, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Lippold speaks of his family background and early life in Milwaukee; his early interests in art and music; early teachers; the impact of the Chicago World's Fair; studying industrial design at the Chicago Art Institute; designing machinery for an engineering firm; his travels in Mexico, Germany, and France; teaching at various institutions; his early sculptures; the development of his stylle; materials he uses; architectural commissions. He recalls Emiel Zettler, William R. Valentiner, John Cage, Jean Arp, Josef Albers, Ray Johnson, and Naum Gabo.
Biographical / Historical:
Richard Lippold (1915-2002) was a sculptor from Locust Valley, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hrs., 7 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' 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.
Biographical data; family and personal correspondence, with letters from Julie and Man Ray, William Valentiner, Wolfgang Paalen, Dorothy Miller, and others; published and unpublished writings on art and poetry; printed material; photographs of the Weschers (two by Dina Woelffer), Benny Goodman, Man Ray, Valentiner, and others, including a photograph of Julie Ray by Man Ray, and a photo of Constance Stothart by Man Ray, 1950; sketches; collages; and miscellany [ca. 700 study photographs, negatives and reproductions of works of art, and 19 negatives of the Weschers have not been microfilmed].
Biographical / Historical:
Paul Wescher (1896-1974) was an art historian and administrator in Santa Monica, Calif. He and his wife Mary collected pre-Columbian art and 20th century painting. Mary's first husband was Herbert Stothart, who won an Academy Award for the musical score for "The Wizard of Oz."
Provenance:
Donated 1977 by Mary Wescher.
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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- California -- Santa Monica Search this
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
74 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1981 August 11-19
Scope and Contents:
An interview of William Bostick conducted 1981 August 11-19, by Mary Chris Rospond, for the Archives of American Art.
Bostick speaks of his childhood; his early interest in art; his education at the Carnegie Institute and the Detroit Academy of Art; studying at Cranbrook Academy with Zoltan Sepeshy and Maija Grotell; the beginning of his career in commercial art; his early museum career; becoming administrator of the Detroit Institute of Arts; the ART QUARTERLY; the growth of the Detroit Institute's collection and its administrative history; some of the Institute's more important exhibitions; his own artistic style and methods; the Scarab Club and the Founders Society. He recalls E.P. Richardson and William R. Valentiner.
Biographical / Historical:
William Bostick (1913-2007) was an art administrator from Detroit, Michigan.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav file. Duration is 4 hr., 18 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art museums -- Michigan -- Detroit
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
The papers of art historian and museum director Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner measure 6.9 linear feet and date from 1853 to 1977. Found within the collection are biographical materials, including information on the Lepsius and Valentiner families; correspondence with family, friends, art collectors, and art historians; seven diaries; additional writings and notes; printed materials; three clippings scrapbooks; artwork in the form of prints and woodcuts; and photographs of Valentiner and his family and friends, including two photograph albums.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian and museum director Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner measure 6.9 linear feet and date from 1853 to 1977. Found within the collection are biographical materials, including information on the Lepsius and Valentiner families; correspondence with family, friends, art collectors, and art historians; seven diaries; additional writings and notes; printed materials; three clippings scrapbooks; artwork in the form of prints and woodcuts; and photographs of Valentiner and his family and friends, including two photograph albums.
Biographical materials include certificates, membership cards, a curriculum vitae, and genealogical information on the Valentiner and Lepsius families.
Correspondence includes letters in German from Valentiner's parents, siblings, extended family members, and his wife and daughter. General correspondence includes letters and cards in German and English from art historian mentors and peers, including Wilhelm von Bode, Cornelius Hofstede de Groot, Carl Heise, and Herman Colenbrander, as well as art collectors and friends, including John McIlhenny, Andrew Mellon, Edsel Ford, Maria Sarre, and Helen Wills Moody Roark.
Seven diaries dated 1910-1939 were written in German, some of which also contain sketches, photographs, and other enclosures. Additional writings and notes consist of autobiographical writings, numerous essays, lectures, and monographs on Italian and Dutch art and artists, and reports and lectures on exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Lecture seminar notes appear to have been written while Valentiner was a student in Germany, and materials related to Arbeitsrat für Kunst date from the period after Valentiner's military service when he served as a chairman to the newly formed Working Council for the Arts, prior to his return to America in 1921.
Printed material includes bulletins, exhibition catalogs, clippings, and three clippings scrapbooks, which document Valentiner's professional career in New York and Detroit.
Photographic materials are of Wilhelm Valentiner, his immediate and extended family members, and his friends. Photos of Valentiner are from his youth, military service in Germany, and his personal and professional career in the U.S. Photographs of friends include art scholars, collectors, and family friends, including Maria Sarre, Helen Wills Moody Rorke, and Anne Morgan, the daughter of Pierpoint Morgan. There are also a handful of reproductions of artwork used as scholarly references in his writings. The two photo albums focus on Valentiner's family and friends from his youth in Germany, and Valentiner with family members later in his life.
Artwork in the collection consists of prints from a page in a German book, a bookplate, and two woodcuts by unidentified artists.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1853-1976 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1860-1974 (3.4 linear feet; Box 1-4)
Series 3: Diaries, 1910-1939 (7 folders; Box 3)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, 1890-1970 (1.7 linear feet; Box 4-6, 9)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1915-1977 (0.2 linear feet; Box 6)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1908-1933 (0.4 linear feet; Box 6, 9)
Series 7: Photographic Materials, 1840-1970 (0.8 linear feet; Box 6-8)
Series 8: Artwork, 1890-1960 (3 folders; Box 8)
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian and museum director Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner (1880-1958) lived in New York City, N.Y., Detroit, Michigan, and Raleigh, North Carolina and was known for his leadership and collection development during his tenure at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Valentiner was born in Karlsruhe, Germany to Karl Wilhelm Valentiner, a professor of astronomy at Heidelberg University, and his wife, Anna Lepsius Valentiner. The youngest of four children, Valentiner attended the University of Leipzig and continued studies in art history at the University of Heidelberg, where he received his doctorate in 1905 under the mentorship of Henry Thode. His relationship with Thode and with fellow students Edwin Redslob and Hermann Voss would eventually lead to lifelong friendships with a network of European scholars and historians, including Wilhelm von Bode and Cornelius Hofstede de Groot.
Upon von Bode's recommendation to J.P. Morgan, then President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Valentiner joined the staff of the Metropolitan in 1908 as the curator for Decorative Arts. In 1913, he founded the journal Art in America, where he would remain as editor until 1931. At the onset of World War I, Valentiner returned to Germany to enlist and served until the war's end, at which point he spent a brief period working at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum and participated in the Arbeitsrat für Kunst, a new group that questioned the traditional relationship between artists and established art institutions. Though shortlived, his participation as a chairmen for the Working Council for the Arts introduced him to leading German artists and architects, including Walter Gropius, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Käthe Kollwitz, and Lyonel Feininger. At this time, he also met his future wife, Cecelia Odefay, who he married in 1919.
In 1921, Valentiner returned to the U.S. and was asked to serve as a collecting advisor to the Detroit Institute of Arts. In 1924, he was appointed the Institute's director, a position he held until his retirement in 1944. During his tenure, he oversaw the opening of a new wing, the first acquisition of pre-Columbian and African art, the strengthening of Chinese and Islamic art collections, significant acquisitions of European Modernists, and the development of the museum's education and conservation divisions.
In 1937, Valentiner founded the Art Quarterly journal for the College Art Association, which he edited until 1949. After his retirement from the Institute, Valentiner was called from retirement to serve as director for the Los Angeles County Museum and the Getty Museum in California, and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. Valentiner died from complications of pneumonia in 1958.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Mary E. Adams letters from Wilhelm Valentiner and an oral history interview with Mary and Clinton Adams conducted by Paul Karlstrom, April 24, 1998. The North Carolina Museum of Art also holds papers of Wilhelm Valentiner, most of which are also available at the Archives on microfilm reels D31 and 2140-2144.
Separated Materials:
In 1981 and earlier, the Archives microfilmed the William R. Valentiner papers that were on deposit from the North Carolina Museum of Art onto reels D31 and 2140-2144. The papers were returned to the North Carolina Museum of Art, but the microfilm is still available for use at the Archives research centers and for interlibrary loan.
Reel D31 includes diary entries, 1914-1957, describing Valentiner's service in the German army, 1914-1918, with the War Information Office in Berlin, the overthrow of the monarchy and German politics, relations between Germany and Russia and communist activity in Germany, the administration of Berlin museums and radical artists' activities, his work with the L.A. County Museum, Detroit Institute of Fine Arts, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and private collectors, impressions of friends, including Henry Ford, Carl Hamilton, the Hohenzollerns, Franz Marc, Rainer Maria Rilke, Walter Rathenau, Helen Wills, Benjamin Altman, J. Pierpont Morgan, and recollections of women art collectors, including Mrs. August Belmont, Rita Lydig, and Mrs. Leonard Thomas. A very small portion of the filmed materials may be found among the Valentiner papers at the Archives, but most of the materials were returned to the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Loaned materials on reels 2140-2144 consist of 26 diaries, 1904-1958; autobiographical writings; manuscripts and lectures by Valentiner; correspondence with family, friends, authors, museums, galleries, and dealers, including Harry Bertoia, Charles Culver, Lyonel and Julia Feininger, Walter Gropius, Paul and Mary Weschler, and Morris Graves; and a scrapbook containing clippings, drafts of speeches, and invitations.
Provenance:
From 1972 to 1977, Valentiner's papers were gathered from various sources by historian Margaret Sterne who was researching and writing a biography of Valentiner. Sterne died just prior to publication and the papers were sorted by Archives' staff and returned to the lender when known. After publication of the biography, the bulk of the papers were returned to their respective lenders (primarily the University of North Carolina) and the remaining papers were sorted and accessioned by the Archives. Donors are listed as unknown or anonymous.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archvies' 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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
20 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 10 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1920-1982
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence; biographical material; artists files; files on organizations; business and financial records; photographs; writings and notes; diaries; scrapbooks; appointment calendars; exhibition catalogs and announcements; printed material; and miscellany.
REELS D351-D358: Biographical material; personal and business correspondence with family, artists, museums, and art organizations; 62 artists files containing photos of works of art, printed material, and correspondence; files on the American Federation of the Arts, Artists Equity Association, the Walker Foundation, and other organizations; business and financial records; material relating to Walker's work with Elizabeth McCausland in her studies of Marsden Hartley; printed material; and photos of Walker, his family, and miscellaneous works of art. Among the correspondents are: Berenice Abbott, Ben Benn, Theodore Brenson, Gene Charlton, Philip Evergood, Joseph Hirsch, Mervin Jules, Carl Sprinchorn, Harry Sternberg, and others.
REEL 130: Correspondence with Eugenia M. Fuerstenberg, Oct. 8, 1940-Sept. 25, 1941, concerning the consignment and sale of ca. 400 Alfred Maurer paintings owned by Mrs. Fuerstenberg. One letter is from Parke-Bernet Galleries, declining to handle the paintings.
REEL 1535: 4 volumes of a diary, 1929, 1930, 1942, and 1945. The first two volumes were kept while Walker was a graduate student at Harvard, the 1942 volume covers exhibitions and artists, including Marsden Hartley, and the 1945 volume details Walker's travels in Europe after World War II. Also included are 7 letters, a valentine, and two post cards from his wife, Ione G. Walker, and a 1967 letter from Hans van Weeren-Griek.
UNMICROFILMED: Correspondence with Henry Botkin, Philip Evergood, Susan Fuller, Marsden Hartley, Harry Sternberg and other artists and gallery directors; letters and poems by Harry Kemp, 1948-1955; essays by Walker on Joshua B. Cahn and Marsden Hartley; a report on the Walker Art Center by William Valentiner, 1930; notes from meetings, galleries and art associations; a silk screen by Seong Moy; financial records; 2 diaries, 1938-1939; 2 appointment calendars, 1950-1951; 8 school notebooks; 3 scrapbooks; exhibition catalogs; clippings; and photos of Walker and artists Cameron Booth, Byron Browne, Gladys Rockmore Davis, Carl Gaertner, Dorothea Greenbaum, Mervin Jules, Herman Maril, Dickson Reeder, Henry Schnakenberg, Miron Sokole, Harry Sternberg, Jean Tingley and Clifford West.
Biographical / Historical:
Collector and administrator; New York, N.Y.; d. 1976.
Provenance:
Material on reels D351-D358 & unmicrofilmed donated 1966-1982 by Hudson D. and Ione G. Walker; material on reel 1535 lent for microfilming 1979 by Ione G. Walker, widow of Walker; material on reel 130 donor unspecified.
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.
Occupation:
Administrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview of S. Morton Vose conducted 1986 July 24-1987 April 28, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Vose speaks of the pervasive effect of his family's art gallery upon his life; studying languages at Harvard College; his affiliation with the gallery from 1927 on; the increasing emphasis on American painting during his career at the Vose Gallery, and the gradual de-emphasis on European work. He reminisces about some Vose Gallery clients, especially Maxim Karolik, and some art dealers; he discusses a traveling exhibition he was involved in; he speaks of the gallery's relations with prominent museum personnel, such as William Reinhold Valentiner and E.P. Richardson. Vose also discusses the pitfalls of appraising art collections, his father's last years, and the firm's move, and his recent work on a dictionary of American painters. He recalls William Morris Hunt, Thomas Robinson, Leopold Seyffert, Catherine Morris Wright, Maxim Karolik, Elizabeth Paxton, Paul Sample, John Whorf, Hermann Dudley Murphy, Winslow Homer, James Fitzgerald, Arthur Healey, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Seth Morton Vose (1909-2007) was an art dealer and art historian from Brookline, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 25 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Occupation:
Art historians -- Massachusetts -- Brookline Search this
Art dealers -- Massachusetts -- Brookline Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
0.2 Linear feet ((on partial microfilm reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1927-1959
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence.
REEL 3465: Correspondence with Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner, mainly regarding the restoration and conservation of art works; a letter from Eduard Plietzsch; a letter from the North Carolina Museum of Art regarding an exhibition honoring Valentiner; and a 230-p. transcript of 11 lectures for Suhr's class "The Technique of the Old Masters and Problems of Restoration and Preservation." Suhr writes about the history of painting techniques and materials, restoration principles and techniques, preservation and forgeries.
REEL 2804: A photocopy of an illustrated letter, March 27, 1937 from Lyonel Feininger.
UNMICROFILMED: A photocopy of a letter, Oct. 9, 1944 from Lyonel Feininger.
Biographical / Historical:
Conservator, educator, painter.
Provenance:
Provenance unknown.
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.
The papers of art historian E. P. Richardson measure 28.7 linear feet and date from 1814-1996, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1921-1996. Within the papers are scattered biographical materials; acquisition files for Richardson's personal art collection; professional and personal correspondence with colleagues, art historians and critics, artists, museums, galleries, and dealers; numerous writings, including manuscripts and research files for his published books, articles, and lectures; general research notebooks and files compiled by Richardson on a wide variety of art-related topics and artists; professional and committee files; as well as a smaller amount of Constance C. Richardson's papers.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian E. P. Richardson measure 28.7 linear feet and date from 1814-1996, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1921-1996. Within the papers are scattered biographical materials; acquisition files for Richardson's personal art collection; professional and personal correspondence with colleagues, art historians and critics, artists, museums, galleries, and dealers; numerous writings, including manuscripts and research files for his published books, articles, and lectures; general research notebooks and files compiled by Richardson on a wide variety of art-related topics and artists; professional and committee files; as well as a smaller amount of Constance C. Richardson's papers.
Biographical materials include certificates, awards, and honorary degrees, membership information, personal and family photographs, a few sketches, and a transcript of an oral history Interview with E.P. Richardson conducted by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1982.
There are acquisitions files for the Richardsons' personal art collection that invoices, photographs, correspondence with galleries and collectors, appraisals, price lists, and artwork examination forms.
Correspondence is with colleagues, art dealers, collectors, museums and museum curators, foreign scholars, organizations, galleries, artists, art historians and critics, publishers, editors, librarians, friends, and family. Topics regard purchasing art for various collections, consultations about art and collecting including authentications and attributions, publishing, general art history, lectures, and personal matters, among other topics. There is correspondence with the Archives of American Art, Castano Galleries, Lawrence Fleischman, James Thomas Flexner, Alfred V. Frankenstein, George Croce, Walter Heil, Earl Krentzin, Wilmarth Lewis, Russel Lynes, John Francis McDermott, Philadelphia Museum of Art, J. Hall Pleasants, Anna Rutledge, Charles Sellers, Smithsonian Institution, Regina Soria, Victor Spark, William Stevens, Robert Vose, William Woolfenden, and many others. Scattered correspondence with artists is with Isabel Bishop, Louis Bouche, William Bostick, Eve Garrison, Edward Hopper, Irene Jungwirth, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Hughie Lee-Smith, Reginald Marsh, Gerald Mast, Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, Walt Speck, and John Wedda, among many others. The greatest extent of correspondence is with Andrew Wyeth, Harold Cohn, and Frederick Simper. There is also personal correspondence with family and friends, and between E.P. and Constance Richardson.
E.P. Richardson's prominence as an art historian, writer, and expert on collecting is well documented through his prolific writings. Materials include drafts, notes, typescripts, and outlines for articles, exhibition catalog essays, and lectures. Also found are research files and publishing documentation for Richardson's books, including Washington Allston: A Study of the Romantic Artist in America (1948), Painting in America (1956), Charles Willson Peale and his World (1983), and American Romantic Painting (1944). There are also miscellaneous notes and four diaries. Two of the diaries comment on the social and cultural life of Detroit; the authenticity of paintings; Richardson's reflections on contemporary American painting, thoughts about museums, dealers, artists, and art historians (especially Wilhelm R. Valentiner); and travel.
Notebooks compiled by Richardson on a wide variety art-related topics cover nearly six decades. There are also numerous research files organized Richardson about individual artists and art history. And, the art collector files contain reference materials about art collectors and their collections including Lamont du Pont Copeland, Michael W. Freeman, Nelson Rockefeller, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Allen, and the Marquis de Somerlous. There are three index card file boxes containing bibliographic data on published books and articles.
Professional and committee files document Richardson's professional and consulting work for the Art Quarterly, Detroit Institute of Arts, National Collection of Fine Arts, the National Portrait Gallery, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the John D. Rockefeller III collection, Winterthur Museum, the White House, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Constance C. Richardson's papers include business and professional correspondence with various institutions, most extensively with the Macbeth Gallery. In addition, there is a smaller amount of personal correspondence, photographs and slides of her artworks, printed materials, two illustrated notebooks on her work, and miscellaneous notes. Also included is Constance's artist palette.
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian, museum director, and writer E. P. (Edgar Preston) Richardson (1902-1985) served as director of the Detroit Institute of Arts (1945-1962) and Winterthur Museum (1963-1966). He was also a board member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1966-1977 and, in 1954, co-founded the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
E. P. Richardson was born in 1902 in Glens Falls, New York and died in Philadelphia in 1985. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1925 and studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for the three years following graduation. In 1930 he became educational secretary at the Detroit Institute of Arts, was quickly named assistant director in 1933, and served as director from 1945 to 1962. He left Detroit to take the position of director of the Winterthur Museum, where he remained until 1966.
Richardson married Constance Coleman in 1931. Born in Berlin, Germany in 1905, Constance Coleman Richardson was an award-winning and widely exhibited realist style painter of American landscapes. She gave up painting in the 1960s and died in 2002.
While at the Detroit Institute of Arts, E. P. Richardson co-founded the Archives of American Art with Lawrence Fleischman, and served as the Archives' first director. Richardson was also art advisor to John D. Rockefeller III for over ten years, editor of Art Quarterly from 1938 to 1967, and a member of various boards, including the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian Arts Commission, and the National Portrait Gallery. He authored numerous books including ones on artists Washington Allston and Charles Willson Peale, and The Way of Western Art: American Romantic Painting (1939), Painting in America: The Story of Four Hundred and Fifty Years (1956), A Short History of Painting in America (1963), and American Art, an Exhibition of the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, 3d (1976).
Related Materials:
Related collections among the holdings of the Archives of American Art include an interview with E.P. Richardson dated February 6, 1978 conducted by Linda Downs; and several miscellaneous manuscripts that include an E.P. Richardson Letter to Rockwell Kent, June 15 1959; E.P. Richardson letters to Lawrence Arthur Fleischman, May 13, 1962 and August 22 1954; and a Yasuo Kunioshi letter to E.P. Richardson, July 25 1948.
Additional E.P. Richardson papers are found at the Detroit Institute of Arts and in the archives of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel D46) including E.P. Richardson's research material on Jeremiah P. Hardy. These materials are housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Edith Wilkinson first donated a letter to E. P. Richardson from herself in 1957. E.P. Richardson donated papers to the Archives of American Art in 1958 and 1960 and lent materials for microfilming in 1961. Addition material was donated by Constance Richardson in 1985, and by Martha Fleischman in 2003.
Restrictions:
Use of original material requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact References 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.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
2.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1958-1973
Summary:
The records of Detroit's J.L. Hudson Gallery measure 2.8 linear feet and date from 1958 to 1973. The collection comprises administrative records consisting of card files, early gallery records, and a few other administrative files; correspondence with artists and galleries; artist files for Romare Bearden, Childe Hassam, Isamu Noguchi, and others; exhibition files for the gallery's first exhibition, The W.R. Valentiner Memorial Exhibition (1963-1964), and several other exhibitions held at the gallery; client files documenting business transactions with numerous organizations, galleries, and art schools; and printed materials consisting of exhibition catalogs, announcements, and posters for J.L. Hudson Gallery and other galleries.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Detroit art gallery J.L. Hudson Gallery measure 2.8 linear feet and date from 1958 to 1973. The collection comprises administrative records consisting of card files, early gallery records, and a few other administrative files; correspondence with artists and galleries; artist files for Romare Bearden, Childe Hassam, Isamu Noguchi, and others; exhibition files for the gallery's first exhibition, The W.R. Valentiner Memorial Exhibition (1963-1964), and several other exhibitions held at the gallery; client files documenting business transactions with numerous organizations, galleries, and art schools; and printed materials consisting of exhibition catalogs, announcements, and posters for J.L. Hudson Gallery and other galleries.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as six series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1960-1970 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1963-1971 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Artist Files, 1963-1973 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1958-1972 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 5: Client Files, 1962-1972 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Series 6: Printed Materials, circa 1965 (5 folders; Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
The J.L. Hudson Gallery (est. 1963-1974) was a commercial art gallery in Detroit, Michigan. The gallery was founded in 1963 by Joseph L. Hudson, the president of the Detroit based J. L. Hudson Company, who had an interest in bringing high quality art to Detroit. Albert Landry, who had previously owned a gallery in New York, was hired as the gallery's first director. The gallery, located in the downtown branch of Hudson's, opened on November 18, 1963 with an exhibition of the W. R. Valentiner Collection. Although the gallery had some exhibitions which included 18th and 19th century art, it concentrated primarily on the 20th century, bringing the work of the best contemporary artists to Detroit. Oscar Piagentini succeeded Landry as gallery director in 1967. The gallery closed in 1974.
Provenance:
The J.L. Hudson Gallery records were donated by former gallery director, Joy Emery, as a representative for the J.L. Hudson company in its donation of the material.
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.
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 -- Michigan
Citation:
J.L. Hudson Gallery records, 1958-1973. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
0.3 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 21 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1882-1979
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, annual reports and bulletins, scrapbooks, photographs, catalogs, clippings and a telegram.
REELS D1-D3: Annual reports, 1890-1919, and bulletins, 1891-1952.
REELS D10A-D20: Scrapbooks, 1882-1957.
REEL 911: Correspondence of William Valentiner concerning C.S. Price murals. Correspondents include George H. Field, Assistant to the Administrator, Federal Works Agency, Holger Cahill, Gladys M. Everett, Field Representative, and Robert Tyler Davis of the Portland Art Museum. Valentiner writes in an attempt to transfer two of Price's WPA murals promised to the Portland Art Museum, where they had been allocated by the Federal Works Agency, to the DIA. His bid is unsuccessful, as Davis won't release them.
REELS 1892-1897: 21 scrapbooks containing clippings, press releases, and other printed material.
REEL 3482: A letter to M.D. Ferry, Jr., December 21, 1932 and to Clyde Burroughs, January 21, 1933, from F. Ernst Zimmerman of Zimmerman Gallery, Boston, offering several Winslow Homer paintings for sale.
REEL 3894: A telegram regarding a New York Statue Commission.
UNMICROFILMED: Photographs of installations and one of Mrs. Edsel Ford (Eleanor Ford); clippings, a furniture catalog and an exhibition catalog for "For Modern Living," 1949, at the D.I.A.
Biographical / Historical:
Art museum; Detroit, Michigan. Incorporated 1885 as Detroit Museum of Art and name changed to Detroit Institute of Arts in 1919.
Material on reels D1-D3, D10A-D20 and 1892-1897 lent for microfilming 1953-1979 by Detroit Institute of Arts. Material on reels 911, 3482, 3894 and unmicrofilmed donated 1959-1972 by the DIA.
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.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
2 Microfilm reels
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1919-1931
Scope and Contents:
Papers relating to Cret's position as architect of the Detroit Art Institute. Included are correspondence with Clyde H. Burroughs and Ralph H. Booth of the Detroit Arts Commission, architect Albert Kahn, art historian William H. Valentiner, and builders Bryant and Detwiler Co.; and design and construction files, 1920-1929, containing construction progress reports, memoranda, specifications, schedules, and contracts.
Biographical / Historical:
Architect; Philadelphia, Pa. Born in France. Architect of Folger Shakespeare Library, Detroit Institute of Arts.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1980 by the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
7.1 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
[ca.1940 -2000]
bulk 1960-1990
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material; personal letters and notecards; business correspondence and printed material related to Byrnes' work as director of the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art (now the New Orleans Museum of Art) and the North Carolina Museum of Art; personal and professional photographs; printed material, photographs, and writings by Byrnes concerning Man Ray; and documentation of three art appraisals conducted by Byrnes. There is additional material (1.0 linear ft.) on Byrnes' friend and mentor Wilhelm R. Valentiner, including correspondence, financial records, Valentiner estate papers, and writings by Byrnes including a draft of the manuscript, "Memoir of Valentiner."
Biographical / Historical:
Museum director, fine arts appraiser, Los Angeles, Calif., Raleigh, N.C., and New Orleans, La.; b. 1917. Byrnes was also executor of the Valentiner estate.
Provenance:
Donated 2003 and 2005 by James and Barbara Byrnes.
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.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Container:
Box 2, Folder 34
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1920-1922
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archvies' Washington, D.C. Research Center. 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:
Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner papers, 1853-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Container:
Box 2, Folder 35
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1935-1940
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archvies' Washington, D.C. Research Center. 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:
Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner papers, 1853-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Container:
Box 2, Folder 36
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1929-1936
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archvies' Washington, D.C. Research Center. 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:
Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner papers, 1853-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Container:
Box 2, Folder 37
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1906-1907
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archvies' Washington, D.C. Research Center. 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:
Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner papers, 1853-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Container:
Box 2, Folder 38
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1905-1939
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archvies' Washington, D.C. Research Center. 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:
Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner papers, 1853-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
