Archives of American Art

John Sennhauser papers

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.sennjohn
Creators:
Sennhauser, John, 1907-1978
Dates:
1931-1990
Languages:
Achinese
.
Physical Description:
335 Items
Reel N70-33
1.5 Linear feet
Unmicrofilmed
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
REEL N70-33: Correspondence with the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, the Guggenheim Foundation (John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation), letters, among them 2 concerning the death of Otto Botto; catalogs, photographs; and a scrapbook.
Scope and Contents
UNMICROFILMED: Biographical material; letters from galleries, museums, and others; sketchbooks and sketches; financial records; photographs of Sennhauser and photos, negatives and slides of works of art; an inventory of art works (3 x 5 card file); financial records; clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements and other printed material.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Painter and designer; New York, N.Y. Born 1907 in Rorschah, Switzerland. Died 1978. Sennhauser was an abstract artist who began to explore non-objectivity as a mode of expression in the late 1930s. He joined the American Abstract Artists in 1945 and pursued that direction in his work until the late 1950s when he returned to representation. Trained at the Royal Academy in Venice, he immigrated to the United States from Switzerland in 1928 at age twenty-one. In New York he took up romantic urban street subjects, but while a student at the Cooper Union Art School his interests shifted to geometric forms. In 1943 he joined the staff of the Museum of Non-objective Painting as lecturer and preparator and his own inclinations towards abstraction were thereby reinforced.

Administration

Existence and Location of Copies
35mm microfilm reel N70-33 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Existence and Location of Originals
Reel N70-33: Originals returned to John Sennhauser after microfilming.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Material on reel N70-33 was lent for microfilming 1970 by John Sennhauser. In 2002 an additonal 1.2 feet was donated by the John Sennhauser Trust.

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
Painting, Abstract Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- California Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Botto, Otto, 1903-1967 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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