Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Byron Gallery Records, circa 1950s-1991, bulk 1960-1971, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.byrogall
Creators:
Byron Gallery
Dates:
circa 1950s-1991
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
16.3 Linear feet
Repository:
The records of New York Byron Gallery measure 16.3 linear feet and date from circa 1950s-1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-1971. The records document the gallery's representation and exhibition of Surrealist and contemporary American artists, as well as the occasional pre-Columbian and Old Masters artwork. Found are over ten linear feet of artists and subject files, fifty-seven exhibition scrapbooks, exhibition catalogs, and sales records. There are also exhibitions catalogs of the Milan Galleria Dell'Arieti.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The records of New York Byron Gallery measure 16.3 linear feet and date from circa 1950s-1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-1971. The records document the gallery's representation and exhibition of Surrealist and contemporary American artists, as well as the occasional pre-Columbian and Old Masters artwork. Found are extensive artists and subject files, exhibition files and scrapbooks, exhibition catalogs, and sales records. There are also exhibitions catalogs of the Milan Galleria Dell'Arieti.
Artist and subject files comprise over one-half of the records and contain business correspondence, sales information, photographs and transparencies, catalogs, and exhibit reviews for each artist either represented or sold by the gallery, or participated in an exhibition organized by the gallery. Particularly rich files are found for Alcopley, Stephen Antonakos, Alexander Calder, Pietro Consagra, Giorgio De Chirico, Max Ernst, Pedro Friedeberg, Sam Gilliam, Mathias Goeritz, Sarah Grilo, Roberto Sabastiano Matta, Clement Meadmore, Constantino Nivola, Sylvia Sleigh, Paul Talman, and Jack Youngerman.
Fifty-seven exhibition scrapbooks in binder sleeves represent a complete documentary record of Byron Gallery exhibits from 1963-1970. The scrapbook contain a wide variety of materials, including correspondence, catalogs, price lists, installation photographs and slides, printed reproductions of exhibited art work, and newspaper clippings and reviews. Additional printed materials include exhibition catalogs and invitations. There is also a near-complete run of catalogs from the Galleria Dell'Arieti, a contemporary gallery in Milan, Italy, 1961-1970.
Financial and business records are contained in a series of invoices from 1963-1971, and a card file of artwork sold or returned.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Artist and Subject Files, circa 1950s-1991, undated (Box 1-10, 17; 10.2 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Exhibition Scrapbooks, 1963-1970 (Box 11-14, 17; 4.1 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Printed Material, 1961-1970 (Box 15; 0.5 linear foot)
  • Series 4: Invoices, 1963-1971 (Box 15; 0.5 linear foot)
  • Series 5: Card Files, circa 1960s-1970s (Box 16; 1 linear foot)

Historical Note

Historical Note
The Byron Gallery was founded in 1961 by Charles Byron (b. 1918) and located on Madison Avenue in New York, New York. The gallery primarily showed Surrealist masters and up-and-coming contemporary American painters and sculptures, as well as an occasional ancient and Old Masters exhibit.
Among the artists represented by the gallery were Alcopley, Herbert Bayer, Albert Kotin, Clement Meadmore, Richard Merkin, Constantino Nivola, Brian O'Doherty, and Hans Richter. Additional artists handled by the gallery or given shows were Max Ernst, Sam Gilliam, Robert Sebastian Matta, Renee Magritte, Sylvia Sleigh, and Jack Youngerman. The gallery also sold work by artists represented by other galleries, or from the secondary market.
Several prescient group shows were organized by the gallery, including the Box Show in 1965, featuring the work of over 100 artists, including Arakawa, Lee Bontecou, Chryssa, Joseph Cornell, Alcopley, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Edward Kienholz, Sol Lewitt, Louise Nevelson, Constantino Nivola, Robert Rauschenberg, Michell Stuart, and Andy Warhol. The Paris Review show in 1965 was another stellar event, with contributions from Richard Anuszkiewicz, Allan D'Arcangelo, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Indiana, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, Lindner, Richard Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, Estaban Vicente, and Andy Warhol. In 1964, the gallery also organized an exhibition of over 40 American landscape artists, American Landscapes. The gallery also exhibited two shows based on Pre-Columbian objects, and, in the late 1960s, held two major exhibitions, 400 Years of Italian Art: Florentine Relief Fund Art Show (1967) and Greek Gold Exhibition (1967-1968).

Administration

Author
Sarah Haug
Provenance
The Byron Gallery papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by gallery owner Charles Byron in 1999.
Processing Information
The collection was inventoried, arranged, and minimally processed in 2001 by a volunteer and a finding aid was created by Sarah Haug in 2009.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Byron Gallery records, circa 1950s-1991, bulk 1960-1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Surrealism Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Antonakos, Stephen, 1926-2013 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Chirico, Giorgio, 1888- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ernst, Max, 1891-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Consagra, Pietro, 1920- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Copley, Alfred L. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Goeritz, Mathias, 1915-1990 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Galleria dell'Ariete Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Friedeberg, Pedro, 1937- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nivola, Costantino, 1911-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meadmore, Clement Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gilliam, Sam, 1933-2022 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Matta Echaurren, Roberto Sebastián, 1911- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Grilo, Sarah Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Youngerman, Jack, 1926-2020 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Talman, Paul Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sleigh, Sylvia Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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