Christopher DeMairo
Scope and Contents
The Artists' Gallery records measure 6.6 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1967. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through adminstrative records, artist files, exhibition files, and printed material.
Administrative records include correspondence, gallery daybooks, inventories, meeting minutes of the gallery's board of directors, and two essay drafts; financial records consist of accounting books, sales records, receipts, invoices, payments, and a ledger; and museum and gallery files include papers and correspondence related to exhibitions, loans of artwork, and shipments of artwork. Several photographs of staff, artists, and the gallery interior are found here as well.
Artist files include biographical information and correspondence between artists, Federica Beer-Monti, and Hugh Stix concerning exhibitions, artwork shipments, prices, and some personal matters. Some files also include photographs, exhibition catalogs and announcements, newspaper clippings, artist books, and price lists.
Exhibition files include price lists, correspondence, drafts of publicity material, visitor guestbooks, and lists of exhibitions and exhibiting artists. Printed material includes Artists' Gallery's brochures, flyers, and other mailings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, as well as gallery scrapbooks comprised of exhibition ephemera, newspaper clippings, and some photographs; an essay published by gallery founder Hugh Stix; exhibition material, newsletters, and miscellaneous publications from other museums and galleries; and books on artists Henri Gaudier and Beauford Delaney.
Language
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Artists' Gallery records were donated and lent for microfilming in several installments from 1967 to 1998. Material on reels D313 and 79 were donated from 1967 to 1968 by Federica Beer-Monti; and she lent the Louis M. Eilshemius letters on reel N737 in 1968. The unmicrofilmed portion was donated in 1974 by Beer-Monti's niece, Greta Shapiro, who also lent the logbooks on reel 1042 for microfilming in 1976. In 1998, Shapiro's widower, Aaron, donated the material lent on reel 1042.
Separated Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel N737. Included are six letters, 1938-1939, from artist Louis M. Eilshemius to gallery director Federica Beer-Monti. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Funding
Sponsor
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Christopher DeMairo in 2021.