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Ricky Gomez and Stephanie Ashley
Scope and Contents
The Koplin Gallery and Koplin Del Rio Gallery records measure 4.0 linear feet and date from 1973 to 2006. The records document the history of the gallery primarily through exhibition and artist files. Files are typically comprised of correspondence with artists, artist statements and resumes, loan agreements, exhibition material such as announcements, catalogs, and price lists, photographs and slides of artwork and exhibitions, printed material documenting exhibitions at the gallery as well as the wider careers of many of the artists that exhibited there, and sound and video recordings about some of the artists and their work. Five gallery files provide scattered documentation of the gallery's history, Martha Koplin's career, and the transition to Koplin Del Rio Gallery with Eleana Del Rio as director, and include photographs of artist openings and other events at the gallery and elsewhere.
Exhibition files document some of the group exhibitions, including a series of exhibitions of drawings, held at the gallery and exhibitions outside the gallery that Koplin Gallery contributed to such as a series of International Contemporary Art Fairs and Los Angeles International Art Invitationals.
Artist files document the gallery's relationship with many of the artists who exhibited there, and include records of solo exhibitions held at the gallery. Files include artist statements and resumes, slides of artwork and some installations at the gallery, printed material such as exhibition announcements, catalogs, press reviews of Koplin exhibitions, and wider press coverage of many artists' careers, and scattered sound and video recordings including some interviews with artists. Artists particularly well represented in the series include Sandow Birk, Joan Brown, James Doolin, Gisele Freund, Mineko Grimmer, Rico Lebrun, David Ligare, and Kerry James Marshall.
A small series of gallery files provides some documentation about Martha Koplin's founding vision for the gallery, her career as a gallery owner, speaker, and art juror, and Eleana Del Rio's involvement in and transition to director of the gallery. Also found are scattered correspondence about events, other event records, and some gallery press and publicity items. Two folders of snapshots are primarily of artist openings and other events at the gallery.
Language
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated 2007 and 2009 by Eleana Del Rio, gallery director and Martha Koplin, retired Koplin Gallery director.
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. The digitization of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum.
Processing Information
The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Ricky Gomez in 2021. The collection was prepared for digitization and the finding aid was updated by Stephanie Ashley in 2024 and was digitized in 2024 with Federal support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum.
