Collection Information
Size: 1.3 Linear feet
Summary: The New Arts records measure 1.3 linear feet and date from 1950 to 1979. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operations through correspondence, exhibition files, printed material, artists' files, and more.
Biographical/Historical Note
The New Arts was founded in 1956 in Houston, Texas by Kathryn Swenson. The gallery was initially established to exhibit and sell pre-Columbian artwork, the bulk of which came from Andre Emmerich's private collection. Swenson asked friend and museum specialist Jermayne MacAgy to help with the exhibition display, and then sometime in the next two years, the gallery began to show established local artists. Pre-Columbian shows persisted throughout The New Arts' existence, but the gallery shifted its focus towards exhibiting a wide range of contemporary painters and sculptors by the late 1950s. Artists exhibited at The New Arts include Jack Boynton, Forest Bess, Hassel Smith, Max Ernst, Walter Kuhlman, Lawrence Calcagno, Joseph Cornell, Peter Plagens, and Jean Varda.
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Provenance
The collection was donated in 1979 by gallery owner and director Kathryn Swenson.
Related Materials
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Marc Moldawer, Kathryn Swenson, and Robert Wilson conducted by Sandra Curtis Levy, August 15, 1984.
Language Note
English .
Funding Note
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.