Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Arnold Herstand & Co. Records and the Arnold Herstand Papers, 1927-1995, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.arnohers
Creators:
Arnold Herstand & Company
Dates:
1927-1995
Languages:
Some material is in
Italian
and
French
.
Physical Description:
3.8 Linear feet
Repository:
The Arnold Herstand & Co. records and Arnold Herstand papers measure 3.8 linear feet and date from 1927-1995. The papers document Herstand's career as a university administrator, art dealer, and artist. The collection consists of biographical material; personal and professional correspondence; artist files of the Arnold Herstand & Co. gallery; lectures and writings by Herstand; artwork by Arnold Herstand and other artists; photographs of Herstand, friends, family, and Herstand's artwork; and printed material relating to the Arnold Herstand & Co. gallery and Herstand's artistic career. Also included are video recordings.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The Arnold Herstand & Co. records and Arnold Herstand papers measure 3.8 linear feet and date from 1927-1995. The papers document Herstand's career as a university administrator, art dealer, and artist. The collection consists of biographical material; personal and professional correspondence; artist files of the Arnold Herstand & Co. gallery; lectures and writings by Herstand; artwork by Arnold Herstand and other artists; photographs of Herstand, friends, family, and Herstand's artwork; and printed material relating to the Arnold Herstand & Co. gallery and Herstand's artistic career. Also included are video recordings.
Herstand's personal life is reflected through correspondence which includes letters between Herstand and his friends and family while stationed in Europe during World War II. Herstand's career as a university administrator is also well represented in the collection through correspondence, printed material including a poster and clippings, writings and lectures on art and education among other materials. The activities of the Arnold Herstand & Co. gallery (1983 to 1992) are well documented through artist files. These files include biographical notes on the artists, checklists, correspondence, price lists and printed material. The collection also offers a rich resource on Herstand's artistic activities through biographical and printed material including clippings, scrapbook, exhibition files, and artwork.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 8 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Material, 1927-1989 (Boxes 1, 5, OV 6; 0.2 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1944-1991 (Box 1; 0.6 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Lectures, Addresses, and Writings, 1960-1981 (Boxes 1-2; 4 folders)
  • Series 4: Artist Files, 1977-1995 (Boxes 2-3, 5, OV 6; 1.6 linear feet)
  • Series 5: Printed Material, 1940-1992 (Boxes 3, 5, OV 6; 0.4 linear feet)
  • Series 6: Artwork, 1948-1987 (Boxes 4-5; 0.2 linear feet)
  • Series 7: Photographs, 1949-1988 (Box 4; 3 folders)
  • Series 8: Video Recordings, 1988-1989 (Box 4; 3 items)

Historical Note

Historical Note
Arnold Herstand (1925-1989), university administrator, art dealer, and painter, opened the Arnold Herstand & Co. gallery (1983-1992) in New York City. Herstand was born in Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from high school in 1943, he was inducted into the army and served in Europe during World War II. Under the G. I. Bill, he studied painting in the studio of Fernand Léger in Paris from 1948 to 1949. Herstand received his B.F.A. from Yale University in 1952 and his M. A. from Columbia University in 1954. He was also a lecturer at City College of New York from 1952 to 1954. In 1952 Herstand joined the Fine Arts faculty at Colgate University, where he remained until 1963.
From 1963 to 1969, Herstand served as Director of the Minneapolis School of Art, where he met and married his second wife, Nancy McDermott Herstand. From 1969 to 1974, he served as President of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (formerly known as Minneapolis School of Art). In 1974, Herstand accepted the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the San Francisco Art Institute. He served there until 1976, when he resigned due to student and faculty discontent about his policies.
Throughout Herstand's career as a university administrator and educator, he continued his artistic activities and exhibited his paintings and prints in museums and galleries both in the United States and Europe. He held a solo exhibition at the Il Camino Art Gallery in Rome in 1962, and participated in many faculty shows while at the Minneapolis School of Art and Colgate University, as well as in numerous regional shows. Herstand gave lectures and interviews and published articles on education and art which appeared in publications such as Art Journal, Art News, Eastern Arts Quarterly, and Journal of General Education, among others. He also served on the Board of Directors for The Ben and Abby Grey Foundation and for the National Association of Schools of Art. Herstand was a member of many associations including the American Association of University Professors and the College Art Association.
In 1983, Herstand founded the Arnold Herstand & Co. gallery located at Fifty-Seventh Street in New York. Among the artists he represented were Pol Bury, Gonzalo Fonseca, Katsura Funakoshi, Jenny Lee, Ann McCoy, and Paul Rotterdam. The gallery also exhibited the works of many international artists including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jean Dubuffet, Pablo Gargallo, Rene Magritte, Roberto Matta, Isamu Noguchi, Pablo Picasso, and Joaquín Torres-García. The gallery was particularly strong in exhibiting modern European artists. After Herstand's death in 1989, his widow Nancy McDermott Herstand assumed the presidency of Arnold Herstand & Co. The gallery closed in 1992.

Administration

Author
Maneesha Patel and Carla De Luise
Provenance
Nancy McDermott Herstand donated the gallery records of Arnold Herstand & Co. in 1995, and donated Arnold Herstand's personal papers in 1997.
Alternative Forms Available
One videotape in the collection was digitized in 2010 and is available upon request from the Archives of American Art.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by intern Maneesha Patel in 2004 and Carla De Luise in 2006.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Arnold Herstand & Co. records and Arnold Herstand papers, 1927-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival video recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Terms of Use
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.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Works of art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
College administrators Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lectures Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World War, 1939-1945 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Video recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Herstand, Arnold, 1925-1989 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Minneapolis College of Art and Design -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
San Francisco Art Institute -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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