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Catalog Data

Creator:
D'Harnoncourt, Rene, 1901-1968  Search this
Subject:
Fosado, Víctor  Search this
Durieux, Caroline  Search this
d'Harnoncourt, Sarah  Search this
Covarrubias, Miguel  Search this
Klumb, Henry  Search this
Alvarez Bravo, Manuel  Search this
Marriott, Alice  Search this
Tantaquidgeon, Gladys Iola  Search this
United States. Indian Arts and Crafts Board  Search this
American Federation of Arts  Search this
Art in America  Search this
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Sarah Lawrence College  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Sketches
Scrapbooks
Drawings
Place:
Mexico -- description and travel
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
2.4 Linear feet
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as seven series. Series 1: Biographical Material, 1925-circa 1978 (5 folders; Box 1) Series 2: Correspondence and Memoranda, 1929-1981 (5 folders; Box 1) Series 3: Writings, 1928-circa 1970s (0.4 linear feet; Box 1, OV 4) Series 4: Printed Material, 1921-1979 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, OV 4) Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1930-1933 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2) Series 6: Artwork and Artifacts, circa 1926-circa 1950s (3 folders; Box 3) Series 7: Photographs, 1930-1983 (0.25 linear feet; Box 3, OV 4)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Summary:
The papers of Austrian born curator, lecturer, and museum director, René d'Harnoncourt (1901-1968), document d'Harnoncourt's activities, primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly as they relate to Mexican and Native American art. D'Harnoncourt's career, including his arrival in Mexico in 1925, his curation of the exhibitions, Mexican Art (1930-1932), and Indian Art of the United States (1941), and his work for the Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board from 1937-1944, are documented in small amounts of biographical material and correspondence, published writings, printed material, scrapbooks, photographs of d'Harnoncourt and colleagues, and photographs of works of art. The collection also contains a drawing of d'Harnoncourt, and photocopies of caricatures of d'Harnoncourt and others.
Citation:
René d'Harnoncourt papers, 1921-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Portions of the collection and material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels 2919-2931 and 3830-3831 and at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Funding:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Use Note:
Reels 2919-2931: Authorization to publish requires written permission from Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. MoMA requires full citation to include microfilm reel and frame numbers, and reference to MoMA as the owner of the Rene d'Harnoncourt papers. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Related Materials:
An oral history of René d'Harnoncourt, interviewed by Isabel Grossner in 1968, can be found at Columbia University, Oral History Research Office, 801 Butler Library, 535 West 114 Street, New York, NY 10027. The bulk of René d'Harnoncourt's papers are in the Museum Archives of the Museum of Modern Art. The Museum's 59.25 linear feet document, in particular, d'Harnoncourt's years with the Museum from 1944-1968. That collection also includes papers donated by Sarah d'Harnoncourt which relate to d'Harnoncourt's time in Mexico, from 1925-1932, and his work in the United States from 1933-1944. While these holdings may overlap occasionally with the papers in the Archives of American Art (some items at the Archives of American Art, for instance, may be photocopies of originals at the Museum), the bulk of the Archives' d'Harnoncourt papers appear to be distinct from those at the Museum.
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 2919-2931) including papers generated by d'Harnoncourt during his professional affiliation with the Museum of Modern Art, such as, personal files, three appointment notebooks, professional files including Latin American correspondence, exhibition files, files documenting outside affiliations, and departmental and special event files. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Biography Note:
Austrian born curator, lecturer, and museum director, René d'Harnoncourt (1901-1968), was an authority on Native American art and Mexican arts and crafts. He curated and toured with a traveling exhibition, Mexican Art , from 1930-1932, guest curated the exhibition, Indian Art of the United States , for the Museum of Modern Art in 1941, served on the Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board from 1937-1944, and was Director of the Museum of Modern Art from 1949-1968.
Language Note:
The collection is in English and Spanish.
Provenance:
D'Harnoncourt's widow, Sarah d'Harnoncourt, donated the René d'Harnoncourt papers to the Archives of American Art in 1975, 1981, and 1984. An additional eleven linear feet of material was lent by the Museum of Modern Art's for microfilming in 1983.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Art museum directors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art, Mexican  Search this
Art, Aboriginal Australian  Search this
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Latino and Latin American artists  Search this
Indian art -- Exhibitions  Search this
Cave paintings -- Austrailia  Search this
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art, Latin American  Search this
Theme:
Latino and Latin American  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)5462
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209237
AAA_collcode_dharrene
Theme:
Latino and Latin American
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209237