Wood, Charles Erskine Scott, 1852-1944 Search this
Extent:
0.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketches
Illustrated letters
Date:
1887-1931
Summary:
The John Gellatly letters received from artists measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1887 to 1931. Found within the collection are 120 letters to Gellatly from Emma and Abbott H. Thayer, Frederick S. Church, Irving Wiles, Albert Pinkham Ryder, C. E. S. Wood, and George Grey Barnard. Some of the letters contain sketches, particularly those from Church. Topics include the price and progress of artworks, requests for commissions, mutual friendships, and daily events. There are also two copies of the poem "The Flying Dutchman" by Albert P. Ryder.
Scope and Contents:
The John Gellatly letters received from artists measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1887 to 1931. Found within the collection are 120 letters to Gellatly from Emma and Abbott H. Thayer, Frederick S. Church, Irving Wiles, Albert Pinkham Ryder, C. E. S. Wood, and George Grey Barnard. Some of the letters contain sketches, particularly those from Church. Topics include the price and progress of artworks, requests for commissions, mutual friendships, and daily events. There are also two copies of the poem "The Flying Dutchman" by Albert P. Ryder.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 1 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: John Gellatly Letters Received from Artists, 1887-1931 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector John Gellatly (1853-1931) lived in New York City, N.Y. and established a real estate and insurance business in 1885. An art enthusiast, Gellatly furthered his interests by enrolling in classes. There, he would meet his future wife, the heiress Edith Rogers, whom he married in 1886. Together, they began collecting decorative art objects and contemporary paintings, including works by Albert P. Ryder, Abbott Thayer, and Childe Hassam. After Edith's death in 1917, Gellatly continued to collect art and eventually gifted the 1,640 objects and paintings in his collection to the Smithsonian in 1929. He died of complications from pneumonia in 1931.
Provenance:
The collection was initially bought by art historian Thomas Brumbaugh of Vanderbilt University from Walter R. Benjamin Autographs of Madison Avenue, and subsequently acquired in 1978 by the National Collection of Fine Arts, now the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Shortly thereafter, the letters were transferred to the Archives of American Art.
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.
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:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Sketches
Illustrated letters
Citation:
John Gellatly letters received from artists, 1887-1931. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
5 Microfilm reels (800 items on 5 microfilm reels)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1864-1942
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed American Academy of Arts and Letters records consist of artists' papers containing correspondence, notes, biographical material, exhibition catalogs, and other published material. Included is a volume of notes, drawings, and calculations made by George Bellows for a study of Jay Hambidge's theory of Dynamic Symmetry, as well as correspondence and biographical and critical material on George de Forest Brush, Childe Hassam, Francis D. Millet, Joseph Pennell, Elihu Vedder, and J. Q. A. Ward. The Hassam papers include letters from John Taylor arms, E. H. Blashfield, William Merritt Chase, Royal Cortissoz, J. Alden Weir, and Charles Erskine Scott Wood. All groups contain official Academy correspondence from its secretary Robert Underwood Johnson.
Biographical / Historical:
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is an honor society in New York comprised of artists, writers, architects, and composers. The Academy was created in 1904 by members of the National Institute of Arts and modeled on the Académie française. The Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and letters merged on December 30, 1976.
Provenance:
Lent to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1965. This is a collection of miscellaneous papers representing a gathering over the years of unsolicited documentary resources on American art given or addressed to the Academy.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Function:
Arts organizations -- New York (State)
Learned institutions and societies -- United States
An unfinished letter to Wood from Albert Pinkham Ryder, Oct. 2, 1899, in which Ryder comments on his painting, and updates Wood of his progress. In it he writes "an ounce of poetry added to a picture is worth many pounds of paint." Enclosed with the letter is a note to Wood "This is a letter I think he wrote you and forgot to mail years ago," presumably written by Louise Fitzpatrick. Also included is a clipping from THE SUN regarding a Ryder memorial exhibition, March 17, 1918, annotated "compliments of W.J. McGurie."
Biographical / Historical:
Wood was a painter, lawyer, and collector. He owned work by his friend Albert Pinkham Ryder.
Provenance:
Donated 1991 by Katherine Caldwell, Wood's stepdaughter.
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.
Wood, Charles Erskine Scott, 1852-1944 Search this
Extent:
167 Pages ((on 1 microfilm reel), ill., 24 cm.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
c1978
Scope and Contents:
Copy 439 of limited edition of 500. The book is inscribed "To my good friend Alex Parks, January 5, 1979 Erskine Wood."
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Erskine Scott Wood was a lawyer, painter, and good friend of J. Alden Weir. He painted with Childe Hassam. A Ryder painting "Jonah and the Whale," once owned by Wood is now in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art.
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
[s.l.] Wood, c1978
Provenance:
Microfilmed 1987 in association with the National Museum of American Art, which had borrowed the book from Mr. Alex Parks of Portland, Oregon, a senior partner in the law firm Wood started, and in which Erskine Wood practices.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
A letter from Wood to Prof. Post, January 7, 1927, in response to Post's request for information on Olin Levi Warner. Wood compares his friends Warner and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and encloses another letter which lists Warner's sculptures and offers other information.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, lawyer.
Provenance:
Donated July 1961 by Erhand Weyhe.
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.
Soldier to advocate : C.E.S. Wood's 1877 legacy : a soldier's unpublished diary, drawings, poetry, and letters of Alaska and the Nez Perce conflict / by George Venn
