Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Catherine Viviano Gallery records, 1930-1990, bulk 1949-1978, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.cathvivi
Creators:
Catherine Viviano Gallery
Dates:
1930-1990
bulk 1949-1978
Languages:
Some records are in
French
,
German
,
Italian
,
Portuguese,
and
Spanish
.
Physical Description:
11.6 Linear feet
Repository:
The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
Artists' files include biographical material; artists' statements; correspondence; sales and expense reports; lists and notes; guest lists; writings by others; receipts, invoices, and statements; printed material, including press releases, exhibition announcements, brochures, catalogues, clippings; and photographs of artwork and artists. Included are extensive files on Afro Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Robert Broderson, Anselmo Franesconi, Joseph Glasco, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Luciano Minguzzi, Ennio Morlotti, Bernard Perlin, Daniel Rice, and Bernard Rosenthal. There are also files on Jan Cox, Kay Sage, and Kazuo Wakabayashi.
Correspondence comprises the largest series in the collection and consists of general correspondence; correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States; and correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad. Letters focus on routine business matters, e.g., appraisals and sales, acquisitions, and organizing exhibitions at the Catherine Viviano Gallery and other venues.
General correspondence includes letters between Catherine Viviano and artists and their family members. Among the correspondents are: Mary Callery, Bernard Chaet, Piero and Virginia Dorazio, Jean Dubuffet, Dallas Ernst, Karl Fortress, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Sage Goodwin, Morris Graves, José Guerrero, Earle Ludgin, Joan Miro, Alfonso Ossorio, Dorothea Tanning, Stuyvesant Van Veen, Adja Yunkers and his wife, Dore Ashton, among others. Also found is Viviano's correspondence with clients, many of whom were prominent collectors, e.g., Richard Brown Baker, Carl and Joan Fisher, Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman, Joseph Hirschhorn, Marc Moyens, Vincent Price, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, Stanley Seeger, and Frederick and Dorothy Zimmerman. Of interest, are letters from Elizabeth Bishop inquiring about the purchase of a work of art from the gallery. Included are letters from art historians, museum directors, curators, representatives at other art-related institutions, and publishers including Walter Bareiss, Walter Barker, Dominque De Menil, Valentine Dudensing, William Eisendrath, S. Lane Faison, Emily Genauer, Bertram Goodhue, Erhard and Barbara Göpel, James Laughlin, Porter McCray, Abram Lerner, Doris Meltzer, Stephen Robson Miller, John Bernard Myers, Perry Rathbone, Belle Krasne Ribicoff, Meyer Shapiro, George Stout, and Curt Valentin.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States contains letters between Viviano and museum directors, curators, dealers, artists, and collectors pertaining to loans, shipping and delivery of artwork, appraisals and sales, and acquisitions. Files include substantive correspondence with the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Federation of the Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, the Barnes Foundation, Bristol Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Bundy Art Gallery, Carnegie Institute, City Art Museum of St. Louis, Cleveland Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Denver Art Museum, Des Moines Art Center, Detroit Institute of Arts, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Museum of Modern Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Wadsworth Atheneum, Walker Art Center, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Atkins Museum of the Fine Arts, World House Gallery, and Yale University Art Library.
Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad primarily concerns the lending of artwork for exhibitions, acquisition and sales; also included are letters requesting biographical information on artists. Letters between Catherine Viviano and representatives of Max Beckmann Gesellschaft Archiv and Galerie Gunther Franke contain provenance-related information on Beckmann's work.
Business records document the routine business operations of the gallery. Printed material includes an incomplete run of Catherine Viviano Gallery exhibition catalogues; invitations and announcements from other galleries and institutions; and miscellaneous printed material.
Photographs include three images of miscellaneous artwork used for art reference.

Arrangement note

Arrangement note
Records are generally arranged by material type and in chronological order thereafter. Artists' files and correspondence files are arranged in alphabetical order and materials within the folders are arranged chronologically
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Artists' Files, 1945-1986 (Boxes 1-3; 3.5 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1985 (Boxes 3-6; 5.5 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Business Records, 1949-1972 (Boxes 10-11; 1.0 linear feet)
  • Series 4: Printed Material, 1930-1990 (Boxes 11-13; 1.6 linear feet)
  • Series 5: Photographs (1948-1954), undated (Box 14; 1 folder)

Biographical/Historical note

Biographical/Historical note
Catherine Viviano (1889-1992) opened her gallery in 1949 on 42 East 57th Street in New York City. Specializing in contemporary American paintings and sculpture, the gallery featured younger American and European artists, e.g., Robert Broderson, Carlyle Brown, Jan Cox, Joseph Glasco, Peter Lanyon, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Bernard Perlin, Joseph Rollo, Bernard Rosenthal, and Kay Sage, among others. The gallery was also notable for introducing the work of Italian artists, who had been cut off from the American art scene during World War II, including Afro Basaldella and his brother Mirko Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Leonardo Cremonini, and Luciano Minguzzi.
Born in Italy in 1899 and raised in Chicago, Catherine Viviano came to New York in the early 1930's to work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, where she remained for sixteen years before founding the Catherine Viviano Gallery.
In 1970, Catherine Viviano closed the gallery, though she continued to work from her home as an art dealer and consultant. She died of a stroke at the age of ninety-two in 1992.

Administration

Author
Joy Weiner
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The Catherine Viviano Gallery records were donated in 2003 on behalf of Margaret Viviano, Catherine Viviano's sister, by her grandnephew, Peter C. Salerno, who had Power of Attorney for Margaret Viviano.
Processing Information note
The collection was processed by Joy Weiner in 2010.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation note
Catherine Viviano Gallery records, 1930-1990, bulk 1949-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Access note
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.

Related Archival Materials note
Among the other resources relating to Catherine Viviano Gallery in the Archives of American Art are the Kay Sage papers, 1925-circa 1985, bulk 1950-1965.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art dealers -- New York (State) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women art dealers Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Collectors and collecting Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculpture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painting Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wakabayashi, Kazuo Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wadsworth Atheneum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Viviano, Catherine, 1899-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Van Veen, Stuyvesant Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Yale University. Art & Architecture Library Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World House Galleries Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Harvard University Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
University of Virginia Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Shapiro, Meyer Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Seeger, Stanley J. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Santa Barbara Museum of Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sage, Kay Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Valentin, Curt, 1902-1954 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tanning, Dorothea, 1910-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stout, George L. (George Leslie) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Price, Vincent, 1911-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pulitzer, Joseph, 1913-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Perlin, Bernard, 1918- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Philadelphia Art Alliance Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rosenthal, Bernard M. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rathbone, Perry Townsend, 1911-2000 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ribicoff, Belle Krasne, 1924- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morlotti, Ennio, 1910-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Walker Art Center Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Moyens, H. Marc Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Myers, John Bernard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McCray, Porter A., 1908-2000 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Menil, Dominique de Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meltzer, Doris, 1908-1977 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Miller, Stephen Robeson Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Miró, Joan, 1893- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Minguzzi, Luciano, 1911- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hirschhorn, Joseph Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Los Angeles County Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lerner, Abe, 1908- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mabe, Manabu Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ludgin, Earle, 1898-1981 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mary Washington College Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manrique, César, 1920- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Glasco, Joseph, 1925-1996 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Goodhue, Bertram Grosvenor, 1869-1924 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Graves, Morris, 1910-2001 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Guerrero, José, 1914- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Göpel, Barbara Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Göpel, Erhard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Eisendrath, William N., 1903- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ernst, Dallas Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Faison, S. Lane (Samson Lane), 1907-2006 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fleischman, Barbara Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fleischman, Lawrence A. (Lawrence Arthur), 1925-1997 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fogg Art Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Genauer, Emily, 1910-2002 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chaet, Bernard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
City Art Museum of St. Louis Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Callery, Mary, 1903-1977 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-1979 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Broderson, Robert M, 1920- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dorazio, Virginia Dortch Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dubuffet, Jean, 1901- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Detroit Institute of Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dorazio, Piero, 1927- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brooklyn Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Des Moines Art Center Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cox, Jan, 1919-1980 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Federation of Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Academy of Arts and Letters Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Afro, 1912-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Birolli, Renato, 1905?-1959 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barnes Foundation Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barker, Walter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bareiss, Walter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baker, Richard Brown Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ashton, Dore Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art Club of Chicago Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carnegie Institute Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art Institute of Chicago Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dudensing, F. Valentine, 1892-1967 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Yunkers, Adja, 1900-1983 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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