1. Search and Browse Collections
  2. René Gimpel papers, circa 1890-1966, bulk 1902-1930s
  3. Series 1:René Gimpel Papers, circa 1890-1966

René Gimpel papers, circa 1890-1966, bulk 1902-1930s

Creator

Occupation

Make a Request

  • To request an appointment to view materials, make your selections using the checkboxes and click the "Reading Room" button. Please note, you will receive the full box.
  • To request reproductions, make your selections using the checkboxes and click the "Reproduction" button.
Select containers from the following list if you want to request them for reading room use or reproduction

Series 1:René Gimpel Papers, circa 1890-1966
0.4 Linear feet

The series includes an account of Gimpel by a fellow prisoner at Neuengamme concentration camp, and an account of Gimpel's death in 1945. Both accounts are in French.
One folder of letters to Gimpel contains copies and transcripts of letters from Bernard Berenson, Mary Cassatt, Claude Monet, Chaim Soutine, and Paul Verlaine. Correspondence includes original incoming letters and handwritten drafts and typescripts of Gimpel's outgoing letters with associates, collectors, and dealers. The correspondence documents certain sales and prospective sales, and Gimpels's efforts to maintain and further relationships with important clients such as Samuel H. Kress and Florence Libby, in considerable detail. Gimpel's letters to his parents in 1902-1904 are in French, and often contain family gossip or accounts of his day-to-day activities, but also refer to business interests and activities.
Lists comprise five lists of artwork with some prices and dimensions.
There are five photos of Gimpel, and three Gimpel family group photos. There are photos of Ernest Gimpel, including of him outside the Gimpel gallery storefront, and a photo of 3 men outside E. Gimpel & Wildenstein in 1919. Photos of others include Rose Adler, Parisian art dealer Jeanne Bucher, a Duveen family group, and Auguste Renoir, circa 1921. Photographs are copy prints.
Also found are photographs of artwork handled by Gimpel, photos of an unidentified exhibition, photos of the interior of an unidentified London gallery, and one of the interior of Rose Adler's apartment. There is also a photo from a Gimpel exhibition of Modern Book Bindings.
Printed material includes two exhibition catalogs, one at Galerie René Gimpel in circa 1937-1939, and one for a Monet exhibition at the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1957, that includes a description of Monet's Poplars on the Epte as told to Gimpel. Other printed material consists of a book club bulletin with an advertisement for and selection from Gimpel's Diary of an Art Dealer, first published in 1966.
Writings are by Gimpel and include typescripts for three plays, "Noblesse Oblige," "La Deco," and "Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere." There is also a list of Gimpel's "Aphorisms" on art.
DescriptionContainerSelect
Account of Gimpel's Death and Fellow War Prisoner's Description of Gimpel, 1944-1945
1
1
Correspondence, circa 1910-circa 1931
1
2
Correspondence, circa 1909
1
3
Correspondence, 1923-1924, 1927-1928
1
4
Correspondence, 1929-1931
1
5-6
Letters to Gimpel, circa 1917-circa 1924
1
7
Letters to Parents from Gimpel, 1903-1904
1
8-12
Lists, circa 1930s
2
1
Photographs of Artwork Handled by Gimpel, circa 1920s-circa 1930s
2
2
Photographs of Ernest Gimpel and Gallery, 1919
2
3
Photographs of Miscellaneous Artwork and Exhibitions, circa 1910-circa 1930s
2
4
Photographs of Others, circa 1890-circa 1930s
2
5
Photographs of René Gimpel, circa 1914-circa 1937
2
6
Photographs of René Gimpel and Others, circa 1890-circa 1915
2
7
Printed Material, Catalogue of René Gimpel Collections, "Tableaux et Sculptures (Art Ancien)", circa 1930s
2
8
Printed Material, Exhibition and Other Catalogs, circa 1937-1939, 1966
2
9
Writings, Aphorisms on Art, undated
2
10
Writings, Typescripts of Plays, 1919-1920
2
11
Writings, Typescripts of Plays, 1928 November-1933 January
2
12

Make a Request

  • To request an appointment to view materials, make your selections using the checkboxes and click the "Reading Room" button. Please note, you will receive the full box.
  • To request reproductions, make your selections using the checkboxes and click the "Reproduction" button.