Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Calvert Coggeshall Papers, 1920-1999, bulk 1965-1989, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.coggcalv
Creators:
Coggeshall, Calvert, 1907-1990
Dates:
1920-1999
bulk 1965-1989
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.7 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of Maine abstract painter and interior designer Calvert Coggeshall measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1920-1999, with the bulk of the material dating from 1965-1989. They consist of scattered biographical material, personal and business related correspondence, writings, exhibition files, design business files, printed material, and photographs of Coggeshall, his friends, and his work.

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
The papers of Maine abstract painter and designer Calvert Coggeshall measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1920-1999, with the bulk of the material dating from 1965-1989. They consist of biographical material, personal and business correspondence, personal writings, exhibition and business files, printed material, and photographs. The bulk of the material documents Coggeshall's professional work and his friendships with other artists.
Biographical material includes Coggeshall's personal address books and day planning notes, oral history transcripts, including an interview discussing his friendship with Walker Evans, a copy of his Guggenheim application and acceptance letters, and miscellaneous records.
Correspondence is predominantly in the form of cards, postcards, and short letters received from family and friends. These include correspondence from Coggeshall's father, children, his older grandchildren, and his mother-in-law, Frances Coralie Perkins. Other frequent correspondents include family friend Daphne Cox, artists Michael Lekakis, Loren McIver, Jack Tworkov, and museum director Gordon Washburn.
Personal writings consist of poetry notes and drafts and a short essay on church design.
Exhibition files concern Coggeshall's one man shows at the Betty Parsons Gallery during the 1970s and early 1980s, his retrospective at Bowdoin College in 1977, and his inclusion in shows at Artists Space, the Farnsworth Museum, and Jack Tilton Gallery.
Business files related to Coggeshall's interior design work consist of architectural renderings and blueprints, work proposals, invoices, and receipts. Some of the more significant projects include work done for Lisa de Kooning, Priscilla Morgan, Arthur Penn, and Shoji Sadao.
Printed material includes newspaper clippings, exhibition announcements from other artists, and a booklet showcasing abstract artists titled, "Artfully Taught."
Photographs are color and black and white prints of Coggeshall and his friends in his studio and outside his Newcastle, Maine residence. There are also black and white photographs of Coggeshall's early design work in furniture and fabric, as well as documentation of his gallery design work for the Albright Art Gallery.

Arrangement note

Arrangement note
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Material, 1960-1990 (Box 1, OV 3; 8 folders)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1920-1993 (Box 1, OV 3; 28 folders)
  • Series 3: Writings, 1965-1989 (Box 1; 5 folders)
  • Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1970-1992 (Box 1, OV 3; 12 folders)
  • Series 5: Business Files, 1973-1989 (Boxes 1-2, OV 4-5; 27 folders)
  • Series 6: Printed Material, 1950-1999 (Box 2, OV 3; 6 folders)
  • Series 7: Photographs, 1940-1985 (Box 2; 6 folders)

Biographical/Historical note

Biographical/Historical note
Calvert Coggeshall (1907-1990) worked as an abstract painter and interior designer primarily in Maine and New York City. From 1951 to 1978, he exhibited regularly with the Betty Parsons Gallery.
Born in Whitesboro, New York, Coggeshall started his career as an interior designer, working on commissions for clients in the New York City area. He later consulted on the interior designs for Henry Dreyfuss'line of cruise/cargo ships called American Export, popular from the 1940s through the 1960s. In the 1940s, he also worked with inventor Arthur Young to design interiors for the first full-sized scale of Bell helicopter models. By the 1950s, Coggeshall began splitting his time between painting and design work, though he continued to regularly consult and work on several architectural and interior design projects throughout the 1980s.
As a painter, his early monochromatic abstracts were influenced by his friend and abstract expressionist, Bradley Walker Tomlin. An early member of Betty Parson's stable of painters, Coggeshall was friends with other artists, including Jack Tworkov, Grace Hartigan, Katharine Kuh, Nora Sayre, Hedda Sterne, and Richard Tuttle. After summering and eventually moving to Newcastle, Maine in the 1960s, he began introducing color into his abstract paintings. and A major retrospective of his work was held at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine in 1977. In 1978, he received a Guggenheim fellowship in recognition of his work. Working out of his studios in Newcastle and Manhattan, Coggeshall continued producing abstract paintings into the late 1980s. Coggeshall died in 1990.

Administration

Author
Judy Ng
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The papers of Calvert Coggeshall were donated in 2006 by his son Tomlin Coggeshall.
Processing Information note
The collection was fully processed by Judy Ng in January 2011.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation note
Calvert Coggeshall papers, 1920-1999, bulk 1965-1989. 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.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Designers -- Maine Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Architectural drawings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Oral histories (document genres) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists' studios -- Photographs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Poets -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interior decorators -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Transcripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Maine Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Essays Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Blueprints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drafts (documents) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Poems Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Evans, Walker, 1903-1975 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jack Tilton Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lekakis, Michael, 1907- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists Space (Gallery) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Betty Parsons Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bowdoin College, Museum of Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Washburn, Gordon B. (Gordon Bailey), 1904-1983 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tworkov, Jack Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Penn, Arthur, 1922- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morgan, Priscilla Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Shoji, Sadao, 1937- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Perkins, Frances Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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