Eighty years of Johnson's general correspondence primarily consists of personal letters with friends, family, and fellow artists. There is also a substantial amount of correspondence with her son, Alfred Dasburg. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1906 to 1919.
Because Alfred spent most of his childhood living in Taos with his father, Andrew Dasburg, or away at school or camp, Johnson's correspondence with her son provides very candid and detailed accounts of her daily activities. The letters discuss her current artwork, news from her friends and relatives, and her travels, including her stay in Taos, New Mexico in 1919. Also included are numerous letters written during her stay in a mental hospital from 1937 to 1938. Many of her later letters to Alfred include reminiscences of her youth and extensive self-analysis.
General correspondence with other family and friends is extensive and most often discusses social events, news of family and friends, and other daily activities of the writer. Family correspondence includes numerous letters between Johnson and her siblings, especially her brother Van Cleve Johnson. Grace Mott Johnson corresponded with numerous painter and sculptor friends whom she met at the Art Students' League and in Woodstock, New York. Some of these include Marion Bullard, Russell Cowles, John F. and Margaret Carlson, Florence Ballin Cramer, Florence Lucius, Walter Frankl, Lila Wheelock Howard, with whom she shared a studio for a period of time, Thomas Hunt, Henry Lee McFee, Morgan Russell, Mary Riley, Lee Simonson, Lindsey Morris Sterling, and Alice Morgan Wright. Johnson was also close friends with the Davidson family, and found here is her correspondence with the sculptor Jo Davidson and his two sisters Ray and Rose. Other notable correspondence is with friend Vera Spier Kuhn, wife of artist Walt Kuhn, art patron Mable Dodge Luhan, journalist John Reed, gallery owner William Macbeth, and her psychiatrist Abraham Brill. Also found is a small amount of correspondence documenting Johnson's civil rights activities, including letters from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
This subseries also includes the correspondence of Frances H. Johnson, Grace Mott Johnson's aunt, also known as Aunt Fanny, with whom she was very close. Found here are postcards and letters from family and friends as well as numerous letters between Frances and Grace Mott Johnson, including several detailed letters from Grace describing her time in Taos.
See Appendix B for a select list of correspondents from Series 2.2.
Appendix B: Correspondents from Series 2.2: Grace Mott Johnson Papers, General Correspondence:
Barclay, Jessie: 1909
Bercinsky, David: 1911, 1929, undated
Bercinsky, Rachel: 1906, 1908
Bigelow, Poultney: 1910, 1911, undated
Borglum, Gutzon: 1908
Bradenburgh, Margaret Caspar: 1908, 1910, 1911, 1915, 1916, 1919, 1940
Brill, Abraham A.: 1919, 1921, 1935, 1937-40, 1948
Bullard, Eleanor: 1909
Bullard, Marion: 1911, 1912, undated
Cahen, J. B.: 1907
Carlson, John F. & Margaret: 1907-1913, 1921, 1947
Comeau, Martin F.: 1943, 1944
Cook, Charles Bayley: 1911
Cowles, Russell: 1909
Cramer, Florence Ballin: 1907-1912, 1947, undated
D'Andrea, Cecelia (Cecil): 1907, 1912, 1921
Dasburg, Margaret: 1908, 1909, 1912, undated
Dasburg, Matilda: 1940
Davidson, Jo: 1906-1910
Davidson, Ray: 1906-1914, 1930, 1932, 1938, 1940-1942, 1951
Davidson, Rose: 1906-1913
de Kerstrat, Yvonne: 1909
Debling, Anna J.: 1909
Denman, George: 1917
Doepel, C. Henry: 1922
Drew, Aline: 1937, undated
Durgy, Caroline R.: 1908
Eberle, A.: 1930
Edson, Helen: 1908
Ennis, C.: 1910
Frankl, Walter H.: 1915, 1918, 1919, undated
Friends Intelligencer -- : 1936
Frost, Chris: 1914
Gardin, Laura: 1908
Geiger, Mary: 1914, 1922
Gilbert, Carl H.: 1927
Harls, E. B.: 1908
Holden, C.: 1950
Howard, Lila Wheelock: 1908-1911, 1914, 1918, 1923, undated
Humphrey, T. F.: 1910
Hunt, Dorothy: 1911
Hunt, Thomas: 1908 (illustrated letter)
Hutchinson, Mary: 1937
Illava, Agatha: 1933
Isler, Jacques: 1933
Jackson, Harrison S.: 1935
Johnson, Alfred: 1907, 1908, 1911, 1914-1916
Johnson, Francis: 1937, 1947
Johnson, Mark: 1904, 1906, 1909, 1918, 1954
Johnson, Van Cleve: 1904, 1908-1918, 1938, 1942, 1947, undated
Kalish Pharmacy: 1910
Kleinert, H.: 1923
Kuhn, Vera Spier: 1908-1912
Labaree, Mary Fleming: 1931
Lane, Mrs. Franklin: 1933
Law, Ellen M.: 1910, 1912, 1922
Lincoln University: 1931
Lucius, Albert: 1922
Lucius, Florence (Floss): 1908-1915, undated
Luhan, Mabel Dodge: 1919, 1924, 1933
Macbeth, William: 1911
Macomb, Edith: 1920
Macrum, Mrs. George: 1947
Magee, R.: 1909, 1910
Martin, Daniel S.: 1891
McFee, Henry Lee: 1912, 1914, undated
McKenzie, Ilya: 1909-1911
Miles, John E.: 1938
Milner, H. W.: 1910
Morgan, Helen: 1907, 1908, 1911, 1912
Morrell, Edith: 1910, 1911, undated
Morton-Morris, Mrs. John: 1946
Mott, Cora E.: 1908
Mott, Jane: 1910
Mott, Laura: 1894, 1906-1908
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: 1935-1937, 1940, undated
National Association of Woment Painters and Sculptors: 1937
The New York News -- : 1935
Noyes, Minnie A.: 1916
Odok, Effiom: 1938
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts: 1913
Pfeiffer, J.: 1912
Potterat, Mathilda: 1910, 1912
Radcliffe, C. M. R.: 1912
Raub, Ida: 1922
Reed, John: 1916
Reynolds, William E.: 1922
Riley, Mary: 1909-1911, undated
Rogers, Julia J.: 1911
Rosenberg, Elfie Cahen: 1904-1912, 1926
Russell, Morgan: 1908
Schlisinger, Gisela: 1907
Schuyler, Josephine: 1933
Scott, Leon W.: 1935
Sholtz, David: 1935
Simkins, Martha: 1913
Simonson, Lee: 1912, 1914-1917, 1928, undated
Smith, S. Archibald: 1920
Spanish and Indian Trading Co.: 1926
Sterling, Lindsey Morris (Sally): 1908-1912
Sutherland, Arthur: 1936-1939
Teague, Cecil: 1911
Teague, Walter: 1911
Wardwell, James: 1909
Watkins, Mary Jane: 1930
Weeks, Henry de F.: 1910
Weigand, Margarith: 1909-1914
White, Mrs. John K.: 1908
Wright, Alice Morgan: 1907, 1908, 1910, 1930
Yaldo, Margaret: 1917-1919
Collection Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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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:
Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson papers, 1833-1980 (bulk 1900-1980). 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.
