Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Artists' Gallery Records, 1929-1967, in the Archives of American Art

Summary
Collection ID:
AAA.artigall
Creators:
Artists' Gallery (New York, N.Y)
Dates:
1929-1967
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
6.8 Linear feet
Repository:
The Artists' Gallery records measure 6.6 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1967. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through adminstrative records, artist files, exhibition files, and printed material.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
The Artists' Gallery records measure 6.6 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1967. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through adminstrative records, artist files, exhibition files, and printed material.
Administrative records include correspondence, gallery daybooks, inventories, meeting minutes of the gallery's board of directors, and two essay drafts; financial records consist of accounting books, sales records, receipts, invoices, payments, and a ledger; and museum and gallery files include papers and correspondence related to exhibitions, loans of artwork, and shipments of artwork. Several photographs of staff, artists, and the gallery interior are found here as well.
Artist files include biographical information and correspondence between artists, Federica Beer-Monti, and Hugh Stix concerning exhibitions, artwork shipments, prices, and some personal matters. Some files also include photographs, exhibition catalogs and announcements, newspaper clippings, artist books, and price lists.
Exhibition files include price lists, correspondence, drafts of publicity material, visitor guestbooks, and lists of exhibitions and exhibiting artists. Printed material includes Artists' Gallery's brochures, flyers, and other mailings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, as well as gallery scrapbooks comprised of exhibition ephemera, newspaper clippings, and some photographs; an essay published by gallery founder Hugh Stix; exhibition material, newsletters, and miscellaneous publications from other museums and galleries; and books on artists Henri Gaudier and Beauford Delaney.
Arrangement
Arrangement
The collection is arranged as four series.
  • Series 1: Administrative Records, 1936-1965 (Box 1-2, 7; 1.6 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Artist Files, 1929-1967, bulk 1936-1962 (Box 2-4, 7-8; 1.8 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1936-1962 (Box 4, 7, OV 9; 1.1 linear feet)
  • Series 4: Printed Material, 1931-1967 (Box 5-7; 2.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
The Artists' Gallery was established by Hugh Stix in 1936 in New York City. The goal of this non-profit gallery was to provide unknown or little-known artists a space to exhibit their work to gain public notoriety or be taken up by a commercial gallery. Stix hired Federica Beer-Monti, an Austrian socialite who was friends and acquaintances with many European artists, as director of the gallery. The painters and sculptors exhibited by the Artists' Gallery were voted on and selected by a rotating committee. Exhibitions were given without charge to the artist, and artists received the entire sale price of their work if sold. Some notable artists who exhibited at the Artists' Gallery included Josef Albers, Saul and Eugenie Baizerman, Byron Browne, Louis Eilshemius, Ben-Zion, Aristodemos Kaldis, De Hirsh Margules, and Hans Boehler. The gallery discontinued operations in the summer of 1962.
Administration
Author
Christopher DeMairo
Sponsor
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Existence and Location of Copies
Portions of the collection are available on 35mm microfilm reels D313, 79, and 1042 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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Artists' Gallery records were donated and lent for microfilming in several installments from 1967 to 1998. Material on reels D313 and 79 were donated from 1967 to 1968 by Federica Beer-Monti; and she lent the Louis M. Eilshemius letters on reel N737 in 1968. The unmicrofilmed portion was donated in 1974 by Beer-Monti's niece, Greta Shapiro, who also lent the logbooks on reel 1042 for microfilming in 1976. In 1998, Shapiro's widower, Aaron, donated the material lent on reel 1042.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Christopher DeMairo in 2021.
Separated Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel N737. Included are six letters, 1938-1939, from artist Louis M. Eilshemius to gallery director Federica Beer-Monti. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Preferred Citation
Artists' Gallery Records, 1929-1967. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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
Art -- United States -- Exhibitions Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists -- United States Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gallery directors Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art galleries -- New York (State) -- New York Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Albers, Josef Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Altoon, John, 1925- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baizerman, Eugenie, 1899-1949 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baizerman, Saul, 1889-1957 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barrer-Russell, Gertrude Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beer-Monti, Federica, b. 1876 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bowden, Harry, 1907-1965 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chafetz, Sidney Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Feldman, Walter, 1925-2017 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fromboluti, Sideo, 1921- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Giobbi, Edward Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Golub, Leon, 1922-2004 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Grillo, John, 1917- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Johnson, Lester, 1919-2010 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kaldis, Aristodimos, 1899-1979 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kruger, Louise, 1924- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Leepa, Allen, 1919-2009 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Loberg, Robert Warren, 1927-1999 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Margo, Boris, 1902-1995 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Margules, De Hirsh, 1899-1965 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meert, Joseph, 1905-1989 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Smithson, Robert Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stix, Hugh Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tofel, Jennings, 1891-1959 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weissauer, Rudolf, 1924- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Repository Contact
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions