Winthrop, Grenville Lindall, 1864-1943 Search this
Extent:
3.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketches
Etchings
Photographs
Date:
1862-1967
bulk 1920-1967
Summary:
The papers of New York art dealer, critic, and author Martin Birnbaum measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1862-1967, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920-1967. The papers document Birnbaum's association with the firm of Scott & Fowles, the lives and activities of his friends and colleagues, and his literary work, through biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, business records, printed material, a scrapbook, scattered artwork, and photographs of Birnbaum, friends and colleagues, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York art dealer, critic, and author Martin Birnbaum measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1862-1967, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920-1967. The papers document Birnbaum's association with the firm of Scott & Fowles, the lives and activities of his friends and colleagues, and his literary work, through biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, business records, printed material, a scrapbook, scattered artwork, and photographs of Birnbaum, friends and colleagues, and artwork.
Correspondence, primarily letters received by Birnbaum in New York, and throughout Europe from 1917-1960s, reflects Birnbaum's association with Scott & Fowles, particularly Stevenson Scott, and includes many details about the lives and activities of his correspondents, among them: artists Edward Bruce, Cecilia Beaux, Beniamino Bufano, Stephen C. Clark, Louise Dillingham, William Hunt Diedrich, Luis Fernandez, Herbert Haseltine, Jan Hoowij, Malvina Hoffman, Leonebel Jacobs, Lenard Kester, Lois Mailou Jones, Paul Manship, Gari Melchers, Maxfield Parrish, Charles S. Ricketts, William Rothenstein, John Singer Sargent, Janet Scudder, Carl Sprinchorn, Maurice Sterne, Albert Sterner, Carl N. Wertz, and Stanley Wilson. Also found is correspondence with art collectors and patrons including Mabel Choate, Edmund Davis, Reginald Davis, Henry P. McIlhenny, James Parmalee, Edith Wetmore, and Grenville Windall Linthrop, and museums including the Fogg Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then curator Gisela Marie Augusta Richter, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Correspondence with scholars, writers, and publishers including George Coedes, Edmund Dulac, Joseph Francis Charles Rock, Upton Sinclair and others, documents aspects of Birnbaum's literary and scholarly work.
Writings include drafts of The Last Romantic, including Upton Sinclair's revision, and some of Birnbaum's early published and unpublished writings, as well as notes on Aubrey Beardsley.
Business records include financial records such as bills, receipts, canceled checks and statements for sales of artwork, and scattered legal records.
A small amount of printed material primarily consists of programs for musical events which evidence Birnbaum's early success as a violinist, as well as scattered news clippings, 2 exhibition catalogs, and announcements for the publications of Angkor and the Mandarin Road and The Last Romantic. Additional printed material about Birnbaum can be found in the dismantled scrapbook, 1960-1961.
Artwork includes 2 etchings and a sketch by Birnbaum, bookplates by various artists, circa 10 sketches by other and unidentified artists, and 3 cards with original artwork.
Photographs include snapshots and portraits of Birnbaum and artists and friends, among them: Robert Chanler, Charles Despiau, Norman Douglas, Luis Fernandez, Herbert Haseltine, Augustus John, Paul Manship, Gari Melchers, Elie Nadelman, Albert Sterner, Stevenson Scott, and Grenville Lindall Winthrop. Also found is a photo of Birnbaum with Edward Bruce, Alfred Potterton, Leon Stein, and Maurice Sterne, circa 1915-1916, and photographs proposed for use in The Last Romantic, travel snapshots, and photos of artwork.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1890-1950s (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, OVs 4-5)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1862-1967 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1890-circa 1960 (0.45 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 4: Business Records, 1918-1967 (0.15 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1895-circa 1960 (0.15 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 6: Scrapbook, 1960-1961 (1 folder; Box 3)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1890-circa 1960 (0.15 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 8: Photographs, circa 1900-circa 1960s (0.3 linear feet; Box 3)
Biographical / Historical:
New York art dealer, critic, and author Martin Birmbaum (1878-1970) was the manager of the American branch of the Berlin Photographic Company in New York City from 1910–1916, and a longtime partner in the art firm Scott & Fowles. He spent the later part of his career building the Grenville Lindall Winthrop Collection, now at the Fogg Museum.
Birnbaum immigrated to the United States from Hungary as a child. He was an accomplished violinist who studied at City College of New York, and graduated with a law degree from Columbia University in 1901, but developed a life-long interest in art during visits to Europe. As manager of the Berlin Photographic Company he had great success in staging art exhibitions at the company's New York galleries, which led him to a junior partnership in the Fifth Avenue firm of art dealers, Scott & Fowles. Birnbaum traveled widely and built relationships with many of the prominent artists and art collectors of his day and, in addition to the Grenville Lindall Winthrop collection, was influential in developing other important art collections including those of Edward Davis, Reginald Davis, and Henry P. McIlhenny.
Birnbaum wrote widely about his experiences and encounters in the world of wealthy socialites, literary salons, artists, art patrons, and collectors in publications such as Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (Berlin Photographic Co., 1911), Oscar Wilde: Fragments and Memories (J.F. Drake, Incorporated, 1914) , Vanishing Eden:Wanderings in the Tropics (New York: William E. Rudge's Sons, 1942), Angkor and the Mandarin Road (Vantage Press, 1952), and The Last Romantic (Twayne Publishers, 1961). He died in 1970 at the age of 92.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels N698, N698A-N698B) including correspondence, bookplates, sketches, newspaper clippings, and a list of books containing ornamental drawings and illustrations. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Material on reels N698, N698A-N698B were lent for microfilming by Martin Birnbaum in 1967. The rest of the collection was donated in an anonymous gift in 1970 and by Martin Birnbaum's great-nephew, Jerome Ziegler, in 1975.
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.
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:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
United States of America -- New York -- Nassau County -- Old Westbury
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets, photocopies of articles and other information.
General:
The landscaping for Groton Place was designed in the 1930s by Umberto Innocenti and Richard K. Webel, featuring uninterrupted axial passages with stopping places but no feeling of enclosure. Since then the trees on the property have matured, the serpentine yew hedge has filled in, and the original oval rose garden has been converted to flowering shrubs. A ha-ha separates the house and the ornamental gardens from horse pastures. A pinetum shades the rectangular swimming pool, and woodlands on the property are filled with native trees and shrubs. A mature cedar allée leads to the stables, the one example of a passage that ends in a structure. Architects McKim, Mead & White designed a house and outbuildings at Groton Place in 1912, but that house was razed in 1948 and another Georgian house on the property built in the 1930s is the residence of the current owners.
In 1968 a parcel of 250 acres of land was sold to a golf club, and the remaining 108 acres of Groton Place were placed in a conservation easement for protection.
Persons associated with the garden include William Willis (deed holder, 1700s); members of the John Titus and Jacob Hicks families (former owners, 1700s-circa 1895); Robert Dudley Winthrop (former owner, 1895); Beekman Winthrop (former owner, 1912); Grenville L. Winthrop (former owner, 1940); Robert W. Winthrop (former owner, 1943-1997); Henry Renwick Sedgwick (architect, 1932); McKim, Meade & White (architects of former house and stables, circa 1912); Umberto Innocenti (d. 1968) & Richard K.Webel (d. 2000)(landscape architects, 1930s).
Related Materials:
Groton Place related holdings consist of 2 folders (14 35mm. slides (photographs))
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
Winthrop, Grenville Lindall, 1864-1943 Search this
Winthrop, Grenville Lindall, 1864-1943 -- Art collections Search this
Extent:
2 Pages
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
1933 Apr. 30
Scope and Contents:
Pach writes to Winthrop asking permission to see Winthrop's collection because it contains "certain things of particular interest for my study and my painting ... Meier-Graefe [Julius Meier-Graefe] told me of seeing a David [Jacques Louis David] at your house ... and Childe Hassam, when lunching with us, spoke with enthusiasm of what he had seen when visiting you. David is of especial interest to us."
Biographical / Historical:
Pach: Artist, critic, historian, writer, art consultant, curator; New York, N.Y. Instrumental in organizing the Armory Show, 1913. Winthrop: patron; New York, N.Y. His collection, left to Harvard University, included early American portraits, drawings by English and French artists, and Chinese sculpture.
Related Materials:
Papers of Walter Pach, 1885-1956, are also located at the Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives.
Provenance:
Donated 1993 by Paul B. Franklin, who found the letter glued into a book he purchased which was once owned by Grenville Winthrop.
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.
A private passion : 19th-century paintings and drawings from the Grenville L. Winthop Collection, Harvard University / edited by Stephan Wolohojian, with the assistance of Anna Tahinci
A catalogue of the collection of prints from the Liber studiorum of Joseph Mallord William Turner, formed by the late Francis Bullard, of Boston, Massachusetts, and bequeathed by him to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
Ancient Chinese jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University : [exhibited ... January 22-March 18, 1975] / Max Loehr, assisted by Louisa G. Fitzgerald Huber
