Archives of American Art

Benjamin F. Curtis papers

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.curtbenj
Creators:
Curtis, Benjamin F.
Dates:
1910-1925
Languages:
Undetermined
.
Physical Description:
16 Items
(partially filmed on 1 microfilm reel)
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Miscellaneous letters and photographs from the files of art photographer Benjamin F. Curtis of the firm of Curtis & Cameron, Inc. The items mainly relate to portrait painter John Singer Sargent.
Scope and Contents
Included are two letters to Curtis from Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, February 26 and March 2, 1925, regarding portraits of him by painters John Singer Sargent and Louis Potter, and a photo of each portrait, 1910 and undated, (one taken by Curtis & Cameron, Inc.). Eliot requests that Curtis' print of Sargent's portrait of him not be used in publication as it "looks to me like a picture of a complacent fop seven feet tall" and that he prefers Charles Hopkinson's portrait instead. Of the Louis Potter bust, he writes "my family say unanimously that it is a good looking man but that it is not I."
Scope and Contents
Also included are two letters, undated, from Isabella Stewart Gardner (another of Sargent's sitters) to "Dear Sir" and "Dear Mr. Sears"; an undated letter (plus typescript) to Mr. [Otto] Fleischner, Assistant Librarian of the Boston Public Library, from Sargent regarding a complaint about his murals in the library, writing that he does not want to get into an argument with a woman who considers his murals "a bewildering, crowded, rotten world of dogmas, distress and medievalism"; four photographs of Sargent, including a portrait of him at age eight, Sargent receiving an honorary doctorate at Harvard University in 1916, and one dated 1925, Montreal; a photo by Keystone View Co. of Sargent's painting "Artist Sketching," and two of portraits of Sargent by Raymond M. Crosby and an unidentifed artist.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Curtis was a fine arts photographer; Boston, Mass. with the firm of Curtis& Cameron, Inc.

Administration

Existence and Location of Copies
35mm microfilm reel 5050, frames 932-962 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated 1995 by John A. Parker, Benjamin F. Curtis' son-in-law.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Photographers -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Potter, Louis McClellan, 1873-1912 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fleischner, Otto, d. 1939 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Eliot, Charles William, 1834-1926 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gardner, Isabella Stewart, 1840-1924 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Parker, John A. (John Albert) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. National Park Service Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Curtis & Cameron, Inc Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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