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Kim L. Dixon
Scope and Contents
The records of the Gertrude Kasle Gallery of Detroit measure 8.1 linear feet and date from 1949-1999, with the bulk of the records dating from 1964-1983. The collection documents the establishment and operations of this contemporary American art gallery and consists of artists files, business and administrative files, exhibition files, photographic materials, and interviews and lectures in the form of sound recordings.
The bulk of the records consist of Artists' Files that document the professional and personal relationships Kasle fostered with the artists represented by the gallery, including sales and exhibitions. The files contain a wide variety of materials and the amount of documentation for each artist also varies. Typically the files contain personal and business correspondence, sales documentation, exhibition photographs, photographs of works of art, family photographs, photographs of the artist, exhibition announcements and catalogs, other printed materials, greeting cards, and other documents. Some of the artists well-represented in the files include Lee Bontecou, Wilhem De Kooning, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Brenda Goodman, Robert Goodnaugh, John Goodyear, Adolph Gottlieb, Philip Guston, Grace Hartigan, Ray Johnson, Robert Motherwell, Robert Natkin, Lowell Nesbitt, Claes Oldenburg, Charles Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Julius Schmidt, Babe Shapiro, Michael Todd, and Jack Tworkov. Additional general information about exhibitions is found in Series 3, Exhibition Files and additional photographs are filed in Series 4, Photographic Material.
Gallery and personal business and administrative files house documents relating to the founding and incorporation of the gallery and general operations, as well as some of Gertrude Kasle personal business files. Also found in this series are files related to fine art prints and the gallery's business relationship with Universal Limited Art Editions.
Scattered exhibition files are found for a few of the gallery's exhibitions and also include general exhibition related files, such as clippings, announcements, guest lists, and schedules. Most of the information about the gallery's exhibitions is found in the Artists Files. Photographs and slides are found throughout the collection, particularly in the Artists Files, but Series 4, Photographic Materials houses an extensive collection of slides documenting art work by artists represented by the gallery. There is also an autographed photograph portrait of Lowell Nesbitt.
Sound recordings are of interviews and lectures. Interviews are with Tatyana Grosman, Lowell Nesbitt, Paul Jenkins, and Bill Tall. There are recorded lectures by Paul Jenkins and Jack Tworkov. The sound recordings are on both audio cassette reel to reel tapes. Transcripts are not available.
Language
English
Provenance
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in 1976 and 1982 by Mrs. Gertrude Kasle. A third accession was donated by the Cincinnati Art Museum in 2002.
Related Material
Also available at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Gertrude Kasle conducted by Dennis Barrie on July 24, 1975.
Processing Information
Material from the 1976 and 1982 accessions was microfilmed on reels 5003-5005. The 2002 accession was merged with the previously microfilmed records and the entire collection was processed by Kim L. Dixon in 2007.