A Finding Aid to the Xavier Gonzalez Papers, 1908-1997, in the Archives of American Art

Summary
Collection ID:
AAA.gonzxavi
Creators:
Gonzalez, Xavier, 1898-1993
Dates:
1908-1997
Languages:
The collection is in
English
and
Spanish
.
Physical Description:
14.1 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of Xavier Gonzalez, a New York and Massachusetts painter, sculptor, educator, and owner of the Wellfleet Art Gallery, measure 14.1 linear feet and date from 1908 to 1997. The collection consists of biographical materials, correspondence, writings, project files, business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
The papers of Xavier Gonzalez, a New York and Massachusetts painter, sculptor, educator, and owner of the Wellfleet Art Gallery, measure 14.1 linear feet and date from 1908 to 1997. The collection consists of biographical materials, correspondence, writings, commission project files, business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographs, and artwork.
Biographical materials include an address book and calendars, awards, passports, resumes, student rosters, and legal documents. Correspondence is with family, friends, and colleagues regarding Gonzalez's work and art school in Wellfleet, his uncle and artist Jose Arpa, and other personal and professional activities. Manuscripts for Notes About Painting, unpublished books, and various essays by Gonzalez, along with manuscripts by other authors are in writings.
Commission project files are found for a U.S. Bicentennial monument, murals in New York and Texas, paintings commissioned by the Department of the Interior and Life magazine, and educational aids for the U.S. Navy.
Business records include sales and inventory records for Gonzalez's Wellfleet Art Gallery, The Spanish Institute, and other galleries. Printed materials consist of printed representations of artwork, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, invitations, press releases, and books including He Who Saw Everything, The Epic of Gilgamesh, illustrated by Gonzalez.
The collection also includes 72 numbered scrapbooks that contain sketches, printed materials, project plans, photographs, writings, correspondence, and business records. One of the scrapbooks contains a notebook labeled "Notes of Paris, Visits with Picasso, 1936-1938". Photographs are of Gonzalez, his artwork and studio, his family and friends, Ethel Edwards, student artwork, composer Aaron Copeland, museum director Philip R. Adams, and Art Students League director Stewart Klonis. Artwork includes illustrated notes to Ethel Edwards, folded and cutout paper projects, and pencil and painted sketches.
Arrangement
Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 9 series.
    Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1932-1992 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1930s-1995 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
  • Series 3: Writings, 1948-1993 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2, 14)
  • Series 4: Project Files, 1942-1987 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3, OV 22)
  • Series 5: Business Records, 1949-1997 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 3, OV 22)
  • Series 6: Printed Materials, 1928-1990s (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 4-5, OV 22)
  • Series 7: Scrapbooks, circa 1911-1980s (5.4 linear feet; Boxes 5-9, 14-20, OV 21)
  • Series 8: Photographs, 1908-1990s (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 9-12, 14)
  • Series 9: Artwork, circa 1950s-1980s (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 12-14)
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Xavier Gonzalez (1898-1993) was a painter, sculptor, and educator who was active in New York, NY and Wellfleet, Massachusetts.
Gonzalez was born in Almeria, Spain and came to the United States at the age of 19. While working odd jobs in Chicago, he attended the Chicago Art Institute. Throughout his career, Gonzalez completed numerous commissions including murals in Texas and New York, a monument for the 1976 bicentennial celebration in New York, paintings for the Department of the Interior, and paintings of Egypt's Old Kingdom for Life magazine. During World War II, he designed posters and maps for the Navy. After the war, Gonzalez opened the Wellfleet Art Gallery with his wife, artist Ethel Edwards, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The gallery served as an exhibition space, studio, and art school where Gonzalez taught summer classes.
Gonzalez died in New York in 1993.
Administration
Author
Sarah Mundy
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Xavier Gonzalez first loaned the Archives of American Art material for microfilming in 1968, most of which was included in the later 1999 gift. Gonzalez also donated a small amount of papers in 1971. Additional materials were donated by the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University in 1984 and 1992, and by the estate of Ethel Edwards Gonzalez in 1999.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2016 with funding from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care Pool Fund, using accelerated processing strategies implemented by the Archives to increase information about and access to more of our collections. For this collection, accelerated processing included arrangement to the series, subseries and folder levels, adhering to the creator's original arrangement as much as possible. Generally, folder contents were simply verified with the original folder titles, but items within folders were not arranged further. All materials were rehoused in archival folders and boxes for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed.
Existence and Location of Copies
Portions of this collection are available on 35 mm microfilm reels N70-16 and 858 and 3814 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Separated Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reels N68-113, N69-42, N69-43, and N70-53. Most of this material was included in subsequent gifts, but a comparison of the film and papers was not completed. Loaned materials not donated at a later date remain with the lender and are not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Using the Collection
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.
Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Preferred Citation
Xavier Gonzalez Papers, 1908-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Related Materials
Also found at the Archives of American Art are the papers of Xavier Gonzalez's wife, Ethel Edwards.
More Information
Keywords
Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Egypt -- description and travel Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Massachusetts Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Travel sketches Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketches Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists' studios -- Massachusetts Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Spanish Institute (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arpa Perea, José, 1858-1952 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Edwards, Ethel, 1914-1999 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Osver, Arthur, 1912-2006 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Adams, Philip Rhys, 1908-1993 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
https://www.aaa.si.edu/