Notebooks compiled by Fletcher listing prints by artists John Castigan, John Flannagan, Ruth Gannett, Gordon Grant, Norman Kent, Troy Kinney, Clare Leighton, Barry Moser, Chauncey Ryder, Benton Spruance, Walter Tittle and Keith Shaw Williams; and research material on Gerald Leslie Brockhurst and Benton Spruance. Brockhurst material includes correspondence, biographical sketches, notes, lists of works, a draft of Fletcher's catalog Complex Simplicity: Gerald Leslie Brockhurst and his Graphic Work, printed material, reproductions and photographs of work, and photographs of Brockhurst, his models and others;
the Spruance material includes an obituary, 2 letters to Spruance from Carl Zigrosser, 1934, and letters between others regarding the sale of his prints; a typescript by Fletcher, "In My Orb of Gold: The Life and Work of Benton Spruance," 1980; writings by Spruance; printed material, 1929-1986, including exhibition catalogs and announcements, newspaper clippings, and other printed material; and photographs of Spruance and his works of art.
Biographical / Historical:
Priest, art historian; Connecticut. Taught at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Author of a catalog raisonne on Gerald Leslie Brockhurst's etchings.
Related Materials:
Notes of William Dolan Fletcher, 1971, are also located at the Fairfield Historical Society Library.
Provenance:
Donated 1990 James J. Gentile, a friend of Fletcher, and executor of his estate. The material on Benton Spruance was donated by Robert M. Vogel, 1991, who received it from Fletcher's estate; the notebook on Keith Shaw Williams was donated by William Greenbaum, 1991, who also received it from Fletcher's estate.
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 scattered papers of painter Ernest Lawson measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1907 to 1967. The papers consist of family correspondence with daughter Margaret, and between Margaret and her mother Ella Lawson; a dismantled scrapbook containing exhibition announcements, catalogs, and clippings; and a 1937 photograph of a group of artists at a dinner at the Salmagundi Club honoring Lawson along with a photograph of a work of art by Lawson signed by the numerous artists attending the dinner, including Victor C. Anderson, George Elmer Browne, Gordon Grant, Eugene Higgens, Ivan G. Olinsky, Eugene Speicher, Guy Wiggens, and Keith Shaw Williams, among others.
Scope and Contents:
The scattered papers of painter Ernest Lawson measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1907 to 1967. The papers consist of family correspondence with daughter Margaret, and between Margaret and her mother Ella Lawson; a dismantled scrapbook containing exhibition announcements, catalogs, and clippings; and a 1937 photograph of a group of artists at a dinner at the Salmagundi Club honoring Lawson along with a photograph of a work of art by Lawson signed by the numerous artists attending the dinner, including Victor C. Anderson, George Elmer Browne, Gordon Grant, Eugene Higgens, Ivan G. Olinsky, Eugene Speicher, Guy Wiggens, and Keith Shaw Williams, among others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 1 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Ernest Lawson papers, 1907-1967 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1, OVs 2-4)
Biographical / Historical:
Ernest Lawson (1873-1939) was painter active in New York City and member of the group of American early modernist painters known as "The Eight."
Lawson returned to the United States in 1896 and transitioned from his Impressionist style to a Realist style, painting primarily cityscapes. Lawson had his first solo exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1907 and won a prize for a winter landscape. Lawson joined the group painters that would become known as "The Eight," whose members included Robert Henri, William Glackens, John Sloan, George Luks, Everett Shinn, Arthur B. Davies, and William Prendergast. These painters protested that the exhibition system in New York was a closed system that did not welcome change and modern style. In 1908, Macbeth Galleries staged the seminal show of the "The Eight."
Lawson married Ella Holman and they had two daughters Margaret and Dorothy. Lawson tragically drowned in Florida in 1939.
Provenance:
Margaret Lawson Bensco donated her father's papers in 1976. In 1985, Lawson's granddaughter Alice Simon donated the 1937 photograph of artists at the Salmagundi Club and the photograph of a work of art by Lawson signed by numerous artists.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Research Center in Washington, D.C. 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.
Biographical sketches; 2 National Academy of Design certificates, 1942; correspondence, 1920-1950, with parents, friends and colleagues including F. Luis Mora, Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Chauncey F. Ryder; a journal, 1931-1950, listing sales and exhibitions, and recording his activities and impressions of places and people, such as John Taylor Arms, Ernest David Roth, Chauncey Foster Ryder and Stow Wengenroth; writings about art education, technique and Col. Albert Duane Shaw (with 2 letters to Shaw); printed material, 1939-1949; and 5 photographs, including 2 of Williams and one of a self-portrait.
Also included is a scrapbook, 1 v., ca. 1927- 1950, containing exhibition notices, notices of classes taught, clippings, tearsheets, reproductions, and photographs of art work by Williams and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, watercolorist, printmaker; New York, N.Y. Williams was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and trained in art at the National Academy of Design, the summer school of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Art Students League, and in Paris at L'Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. In 1929 he was made director of the art school of the Brooklyn YWCA, and by the 1930s was also an instructor at the Grand Central School of Art, NYC. By the 1930s, he was noted as a portrait painter.
Provenance:
Donated 1990 by the William Dolan Fletcher Estate via executor, James J. Gentile, except for the journal and the scrapbook, which were donated 1991 and 1997, respectively, by William Greenbaum, who had purchased them from the Fletcher estate. Fletcher, a priest and art historian, obtained the material while researching Williams. A notebook on Williams' work kept by Fletcher was also donated by Greenbaum, and was placed with the William Dolan Fletcher papers.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Watercolorists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
