5.4 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 2 reels))
0.2 Linear feet (Addition)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1940-1979
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, printed material, photographs; and "birthday books" containing drawings and writings by artists sent to Neuberger on his 50th and 75th birthdays.
REEL NSM 1: A "Birthday Book," 1953, for Neuberger containing drawings, sketches and written birthday greetings from 38 artists, compiled by Mrs. Neuberger. Contributors include Alexander Calder, Byron Browne, George Constant, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Levine, Lyonel Feininger, Lee Gatch, Benjamin Kopman, Jonah Kinigstein, Karl Knaths, William Baziotes, Peter Hurd, Walter Quirt, Milton Avery, Ben Shahn, George L. K. Morris, Hans Moller, Guy Maccoy, Irene Rice Pereira, Max Weber, Stuart Davis, Charles Sheeler, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Darrel Austin, Philip Evergood, Saul Steinberg, Elliot Orr, and John Marin.
REEL 4588: A scrapbook containing illustrated birthday cards from artists sent to Neuberger on the occasion of his 75th birthday (1978). Included are cards from Nicolas Africano, Abe Ajay, John Baldessari, Romare Bearden, James Brooks, Les Levine, Judith Rothschild, Joan Snyder, and Alan Sonfist, and others.
UNMICROFILMED: Material relating to Neuberger's activities as an art collector, patron, and trustee consisting of: clippings, exhibiton catalogs and announcements; photographs; and correspondence with Leroy Lamis, Sidney Laufman, Paul David Magriel, Larry Rivers, Frank Roth, Jon Rudolf Schueler, Hudson Walker and Frederick Stallknecht Wight.
ADDITION: Correspondence with artists and other prominent people including: Edward Albee, Alexander Calder, Merce Cunningham, Lyonel Feininger, Henry Geldzahler, Henry Moore, Gerald Ford, Robert F. Kennedy, John V. Lindsay, George McGovern and Nelson Rockefeller. Also included are a letter from Mr. and Mrs. John Walker relating to their trip to Europe to return the "Mona Lisa" to the Louvre in 1963; printed material relating to Nelson Rockefeller; and four lists of art related papers remaining with Neuberger.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector, patron; New York, N.Y. Born 1903. A collector of primarily American art. President of the American Federation of the Arts, 1958-1968; a trustee and member of Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art; honorary trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; member of the executive committee of the Council of Friends, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; and many other positions and memberships. A large part of his private art collection was donated to the Roy R. Neuberger Museum of the State University of New York College at Purchase.
Provenance:
"Birthday books" on reels NSM 1 and 4588 lent for microfilming 1963 and 1992 by Neuberger. He donated the unmicrofilmed material in 1975 and 1993.
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.
Occupation:
Art patrons -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Art patronage -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Artists and patrons -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Reel 3471: 4 letters in which Sheeler discusses his wife Muysa's health; requests that Royce represent him at a John Marin opening; declines an invitation because he is on "the last lap of a painting which must be delivered to the Gallery..."; and tells of his plans to go to the Worcester Art Museum for the closing of an exhibit.
Reel D22: 2 letters in which Sheeler thanks Royce for visiting and reviewing two of his exhibits.
Biographical / Historical:
Relationship between Royce and the New York painter Charles Sheeler is unclear.
Provenance:
Donated 1961 by Doris Royce.
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.
An interview of Peter Agostini conducted in 1968, by Colette Roberts, for the Archives of American Art at 151 Avenue B, New York, New York.
Mr. Agostini speaks of his childhood spent living throughout the five boroughs of New York; his interactions with clients of his father's acting employment agency; his early education in Catholic school and the creative freedom allotted by the nuns; his first feelings of isolation as an artist at the age of seven; the development of a sense of communication as the result of the loss of his mother at the age of three and time spent at a school for orphans; his early realization and vision of artistic destiny; his religious interests which lead to mysticism in his earlier work; his time spent working freely in the DaVinci Studio with Spaventa; the discovery by Hess of his works in Gallerie Grimaud; his attainment of the Longview Grant; his working experience throughout the Depression as part of the WPA casting plaster mannequins while working indirectly with Pollack as well as Marca Relli; his subsequent move to designing department store windows (use of Mondrian-like forms and lines); his feelings of his position as an observer; the importance of communication through art (communication without words); his rejection of the Abstract Expressionist group and choice of independence; the influence of the sculpture of Kolbe and Bache in the thirties; Clement Greenberg's distaste for his work; his feelings about the relative failure to sell his work due its unusual edginess and mystery; his role in the introduction of the work of contemporary European artists (Chausserian, Gauthier, Modrian) to the American group; his description of his own work as "traditionless"; his feelings of self-importance as one of the most original sculptors in the art world; his influence on the younger generation, particularly Marisol; the enslavement to originality that the younger generation faces; his attitudes towards American Art forms and their lack of rebellious spirit; the virtues of the American writers, such as Poe, Whitman, and Melville as American "knapsack" writers; his personal technique which places an emphasis on the "skin" or volume of something; his attempt to create quiet art, or art that merely indicates features; his frustration with teaching and the problems of regurgitated knowledge; the role of Meyer Shapiro in his teaching career at Columbia; the formation of the Club and its similarity to the Cubist's café scene; his opinions on the relationship of sex and sensuality in American art; his personal struggles, including the loss of his second wife and two of his brothers, in addition to the estrangement of his only daughter by his first wife; his feelings on the role of psycho analysis and personal history in a work of art; his present works which feature the "swell." For the majority of the second half of the interview Ms. Roberts asks Mr. Agostini to express his opinions on the work of: Kline; DeKooning; Duchamp; Oldenburg; La Tour; DeChirico; Maillol; Pompon; Rothko; Chardin; Cezanne; Giacometti; Reinhardt; Chryssa; Tony Smith; Segal; Lachaise; Zorach; Manship; Flannagan; Kelly; Lassaw; David Smith; Hare; Lipton; Ferber; Lippold; Roszak; Nakian; Noguchi; Hague; Kohn; di Suvero; Chamberlain; Kaprow; Sugarman; Stankiewicz; Bontecou; Scarpitta; Cornell; Keinholz; Rivera; Judd; Robert Morris; O'Keeffe; Samaras; Mark Tobey; Marin; Pollock; Hartley; Dove; Macdonald-Wright; Demuth; Sheeler; Hopper; Mirot; Matisse; DuBuffet.
Biographical / Historical:
Peter Agostini (1913-1993) was a sculptor from New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 28 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hrs., 37 min.
Transferred from 4 3" reels.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Biographical material; correspondence and greeting cards; writings; business records; printed material about the Lowenthal collection, exhibitions, and artists, photographs; scrapbooks; and sound recordings.
REEL 4904, frames 1-114: Thirty-nine greeting cards from artists, illustrated with original prints, drawings, and off-set reproductions. Included are 20 from Jose de Creeft and Lorrie Goulet, 8 from Abraham and Esther Rattner, 4 each from Chaim Gross and Milton and Sally Avery, 2 from Max Weber, and 1 from Jacob Lawrence.
REELS 4904 (fr. 126-end) - 4908: Biographical material includes a resume and transcripts for Edith Lowenthal, an obituary of Isadore Lowenthal, M.D., Milton's father, and clippings related to the Lowenthals. General correspondence, 1947-1991, is primarily with museums, university galleries, and publishers regarding loans and gifts of art work, contributions, lectures, travel, and permissions to reproduce for publication. In addition, there are a correspondence file, 1963-1990, with the Brooklyn Museum, regarding loans, contributions, and conservation work, and correspondence from artists, including letters, greeting cards, and announcements from Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Josef Presser, Abraham Rattner, Charles Sheeler, Max Weber, and others.
Writings and notes by Milton Lowenthal are about the role of the art collector, his thoughts on works of art and artists, and drafts of letters. Writings by others include Henry Miller's "The Rattner Portfolio" and Elizabeth McCausland's proposal for a Marsden Hartley catalog raisonne. Material relating specifically to the Lowenthal Collection includes lists, valuations, collection exhibition records, documentation of gifts, financial records, receipts, clippings, catalogs, and a 2 v. index of acquisitions. A file containing memorabilia relating to Stuart Davis includes clippings, an address book, printed materials, and notes.
Printed materials include clippings about artists, collectors, and other art related issues and exhibitions, exhibition announcements, and catalogs. Photographs are of artists and works of art. Files relating to the "Friends of the Whitney", ca. 1956-1961, include correspondence, by-laws, annual and other reports, statements, and catalogs of loan exhibitions. Scrapbooks (4 v.), 1942-1953, contain letters and greeting cards (many illustrated) from friends, artists and associates, clippings, exhibition announcements, and catalogs about artists, museums, and exhibitions.
Unmicrofilmed material consists of negatives, slides, and transparencies of works of art and 3 phonograph albums (78 r.p.m) of a radio interview with art collectors and a recording of a school performance by Stuart Davis' son.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collectors, benefactors of the Brooklyn Museum; New York, N.Y. Mr. Lowenthal was a lawyer whose clients included Stuart Davis.
Provenance:
Donated 1993 by Louis M. Bernstein, Mrs. Lowenthal's nephew, except for illustrated greeting cards on reel 4904, frames 1-114, which were received as a loan for microfilming.
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.
Research files, photographs and slides, notes, and writings relating mainly to her work on Charles Sheeler, her interest in abstract expressionism, artists Clyfford Still, Arshile Gorky, Robert Jay Wolff, George McNeil, Mark Tobey, Arthur Dove, G. L. K. Morris, Carl Holty, Irene Rice Pereira, Charles G. Shaw, and Georgio Cavallon, and to "emblem books." There are typescripts of her dissertation on Sheeler, "Non-representational Painting in the U.S., 1930-1945," on 1930's Formalism, "A History of American Abstract Artists Association," and "The Mythical Character of Contemporary Art History."
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian; Buffalo, N.Y.
Provenance:
Bequeathed by Dochterman; received in 1968.
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.
Ledgers detailing the art purchases of John Quinn. Entries include the Association of American Painters and Sculptors listing purchases from the Armory Show, February to June 1913, of works by Cezanne, Renoir, Raymond Villon-Duchamp, Andre Derain, Jules Pascin, Odilon Redon, Walt Kuhn, Jacques Villon and others. Also entered are purchases from Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Secession Gallery for paintings by Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Severini and Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Purchases from art dealers include M. Knoedler & Co. (for works by Morton Schamberg), Montross Gallery (for works by Arthur B. Davies, Maurice Pendergast, Walt Kuhn, Charles Sheeler, Max Weber), William Macbeth Gallery, Durand Ruel & Sons, and Ambroise Vollard.
Other entries of note include those for Jacob Epstein, one for Tiffany Studios detailing extensive refurbishing and refinishing of numerous items of furniture, and one for the Penguin Club enumerating the cost incurred for the installation of the VORTICIST EXHIBITION.
Biographical / Historical:
Art patron and lawyer; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1986 by Thomas F. Conroy, Quinn's nephew by marriage. Mr. Conroy intends to donate these papers to the New York Public Library where the John Quinn Memorial Collection is housed.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Brief note from Charles Sheeler to Frank Crowninshield stating that Sheeler read the proof of Crowninshield's piece that was to be published in Vogue. There is an Illegible note in pencil on reverse side.
Biographical / Historical:
Sheeler was a painter, lithographer, photographer; Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.; Crowninshield was an editor at Vogue.
Provenance:
Donated 2004 by David Dufour who acquired the note on eBay.
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 panel discussssion, an interview and 5 lectures sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Included are a panel discussion "Is it just paint? The Figure in Contemporary Painting," with participants Rackstraw Downes, Frank H. Goodyear, Alex Katz, Kenworth Moffett, Linda Nochlin and Neil Welliver; an interview "Drawing Confronts Modernism: A Conversation with Jim Dine," conducted by Clifford Ackley; two lectures delivered for the "American Artists & the Advant Garde" series, including Theodore Stebbins' "Arthur G. Dove: An American Master" and John Paul Driscoll's "The Art of Charles Sheeler: To Make a Poem Again"; and 3 lectures delivered by Paula Cooper, Alan Fink, and Arnold Glimcher as part of "The Dealer's Eye" lecture series, moderated by William J. Burback.
Provenance:
Donated 1983-1984 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Restrictions:
Stebbins lecture: ACCESS RESTRICTED; written permission required.
Dine interview: ACCESS RESTRICTED written permission required.
2 Microfilm reels (558 items on 2 microfilm reels)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1912-1982
bulk 1917-1982
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed Walter and Louise Arensberg papers contain correspondence (1917-1982) with Marcel Duchamp (1917-1968), Beatrice Wood (1952-1982), Charles Sheeler (1953-1955), and others. A few letters are illustrated or include photographs, poetry, and printed material. Some correspondence with Marcel Duchamp is in French. Also included in the papers are a list of art in the Arensberg collection (1951), compiled for a tax return; poetry and essays by the psychiatrist E. E. Southard; and notes and scripts for skits and pantomimes by Guillaume Apollinaire.
Biographical / Historical:
Walter (1878-1954) and Louise Arensberg (1879-1953) were art collectors in New York, New York and Los Angeles, California. Walter Arensberg was also a poet and art critic.
Related Materials:
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives holds the Arensberg Archives, 1905-1957. The Huntington Library holds the Walter Arensberg letters, 1927-1954.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1985 by the Francis Bacon Library and Foundation, Claremont, Calif. Most, or perhaps all, of the microfilmed material was subsequently physically transferred from the Francis Bacon Foundation to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1996 and formally given to the Museum in 2001 by the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, which had received it as part of a larger gift from the Francis Bacon Foundation in 1995.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Archivist of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 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.
An interview of Charles Sheeler conducted by Martin L. Friedman on 1959 June 18 for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Sheeler (1883-1965) was a painter from Irvington, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded 1 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 10 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Postcards and letters from Helen W. Henderson, Robert and Beatrice Locher, Arnold Ronnebeck, Charles and Katharine Sheeler, Florine Stettheimer, Susan Watts Street, William Carlos Williams, Marsden Hartley, Henry McBride, Georgia O'Keeffe and others; postcards and letters to his mother Agusta Demuth, from Charles while in Paris, 1921; photos of Demuth and others; photographs of Demuth's childhood sketchbook containing 27 drawings of flowers, birds, insects, and animals; 3 photos of landscapes in oil; and a pamphlet by Henry C. Demuth tracing the history of Demuth Tobacco Shop, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Material on frames 2-129 lent for microfilming by collector Pauline Stauffer; Frames 130-230 by Harris C. Arnold, Demuth family attorney, 1981.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
A letter to Spaeth from Buffie Johnson offering Spaeth a choice of purchasing her painting "Forsythia" on paper or canvas; and a letter from Charles Sheeler regarding his visit to Meta-Mold and a television interview there. A carbon copy of a letter from Spaeth to Sheeler is also included.
Biographical / Historical:
Collector.
Provenance:
Possibly given to AAA by Otto Spaeth.
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.
Letters assembled from various sources written by Charles Sheeler. Included are four letters and a postcard to Dr. Helen W. Boignon, a collector and owner of a Sheeler painting; four, 1957-58, to George M. Craven, a graduate student in art history; and ten, 1939-1957 and undated, to the poet William Carlos Williams, a friend of Sheeler.
In the letters to Boignon, Sheeler thanks her for praising his work, and briefly describes projects he's working on, such as the commission for General Motors with the architect Eero Saarinen. He writes Craven in response to a research paper on photography in the 1930s (also included) which Craven had sent earlier, and regarding his exhibitions. In the more lengthy letters to Williams, he discusses poetry, his work, and activities, mentioning in one his stay in Maine at John Marin's house where Herbert Seligmann was a neighbor.
Curator, and gallery director Thomas S. Holman's research materials on Reginald Marsh, 1970-1989, measure 1.8 linear feet. Research materials consist of correspondence, notes, printed material, writings, and images accrued during the course of exhibition research that Holman pursued while he was curator of collections at the Minnesota Museum of American Art and director of the Bell Gallery, Brown University. Reginald Marsh research, mainly conducted from 1982-1983, comprises the vast majority of the collection. In addition, there are research files for proposed Charles Demuth and Charles Sheeler exhibitions. Grant research compiled in 1989 concerns a mural exhibition.
Scope and Contents:
Curator, and gallery director Thomas S. Holman's research materials on Reginald Marsh, 1970-1989, measure 1.8 linear feet. Research materials consist of correspondence, notes, printed material, writings, and images accrued during the course of exhibition research that Holman pursued while he was curator of collections at the Minnesota Museum of American Art and director of the Bell Gallery, Brown University. Reginald Marsh research, mainly conducted from 1982-1983, comprises the vast majority of the collection. In addition, there are research files for proposed Charles Demuth and Charles Sheeler exhibitions. Grant research compiled in 1989 concerns a mural exhibition.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 1 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Research Files, 1970-1989 (Boxes 1-3; 1.8 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian Thomas S. Holman has been a curator at the Norton Museum of Art and Minnesota Museum of American Art, and served as executive director of The Hudson River Museum and Marietta/Cobb Museum. He is now an art advisor and lives in New York City.
Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) was best known for his paintings of life in New York City during the Great Depression. Subjects included crowds on city streets and at Coney Island, women, hobos on the Bowery, vaudeville and other popular entertainments.
Provenance:
Donated by Thomas S. Holman in 2013.
Restrictions:
Use of original material requires an appointment.
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:
Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Gallery directors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Charles Sheeler papers, circa 1840s-1966, bulk 1923-1965. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Charles Sheeler papers, circa 1840s-1966, bulk 1923-1965. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
