Catherine Viviano Gallery records, 1930-1990, bulk 1949-1978

This subseries contains Viviano's correspondence with artists and their family members, historians, clients, publishers, and individuals at museums, galleries, and non-profit arts organizations. Included are letters from Margaret Viviano, who worked closely with her sister Catherine in the gallery. There are files of Catherine Viviano's scattered correspondence, some of it personal. Materials include carbon copies, drafts, postcards, telegrams, and photographs of artwork. Also found are illustrated letters, holiday and greeting cards, many with original artwork.

Letters include detailed information on the gallery's general operations: acquisitions, sales, loans, shipping and delivery of artwork, insurance claims, and requests for biographical material on artists and permission to reproduce artwork. Letters also provide an overview of Viviano's efforts in promoting artists, developing relationships with clients and collectors, and organizing exhibitions. Among the artists frequently referred to in the correspondence are Afro and Mirko Basaldella, Max Beckmann, Renato Birolli, Robert Broderson, Leonardo Cremonini, Joseph Glasco, Luciano Minguzzi, Bernard Perlin, Faustus Pirandello, Bernard Rosenthal, and Kay Sage.

The bulk of the correspondence with artists represented by the gallery is found in the artists' files. Some of the names in general correspondence can also be found in correspondence with galleries, museums, and art-related institutions in the United States and abroad.

This subseries consists of the gallery's letters to representatives of museums, dealers, independent schools, universities, colleges, and non-for-profit institutions. Subjects discussed are market valuations and appraisals; acquisitions and sales; and loans of artwork for exhibitions.

Correspondence also includes memoranda, consignment agreements, loan forms, shipping and receipt of objects forms, lists of artwork with valuations and sale prices, insurance claim forms, ledger pages with sale prices of artwork, guest lists, press releases, printed material, clippings, exhibition announcements, invitations, and photographs of artwork.

Viviano maintained an ongoing correspondence with numerous public and university museums, galleries, and arts organizations in the United States. Of particular note, the correspondence with the Museum of Modern Art's (New York) Department of Circulating Exhibitions and Junior Council provides a rich source of information on acquisitions and sales from the 1950's through 1960's. Also found is correspondence pertaining to Catherine Viviano's involvement in professional associations.

This subseries contains letters between Catherine Viviano and museum directors, gallery owners, curators, publishers, and individuals affiliated with arts organizations in Europe, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. Included in the correspondence are loan forms, shipping receipts, bank slips, invoices, auction orders, insurance claims, press releases, and printed material. Correspondence concerns sales and appraisals; exhibition itineraries; and requests for biographical information.

Among the artists frequently cited in the correspondence are: Afro Basaldella, Joseph Glasco, Peter Lanyon, Luciano Minguzzi, Bernard Perlin, Bernard Rosenthal, and Kay Sage. Correspondence with Galerie Gunter Franke and Max Beckmann Gesellschaft Archiv provides sales information and detailed exhibition histories for individual works of art by Beckmann.