Sylvan Cole Gallery Records and Sylvan Cole Papers, 1935

Collection Information

Size: 29.4 Linear feet

Summary: The Sylvan Cole Gallery records and Sylvan Cole papers measure 29.4 linear feet and date from 1935 to 2004, with the bulk of the records dating from 1959 to 2003. The records shed light on the gallery's operations through administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, institution and museum files, gallery and dealer files, client and collector files, financial records, and appraisal and legal records. The collection also includes papers of Sylvan Cole, including material generated during his career as president and director of Associated American Artists Gallery; an appraiser of fine-art prints; and an authority on twentieth-century American prints. Some personal material is present as well.

Biographical/Historical Note

The Sylvan Cole Gallery was founded in 1984 in New York City by Sylvan Cole (1918-2005). The gallery specialized in twentieth-century fine art prints, including lithographs, etchings, screenprints, and woodcuts by European and American artists. Cole started the gallery after his career as the director of the Associated American Artists Gallery (AAAG), an organization that helped transform the commercial print industry in the United States. The Sylvan Cole Gallery exhibited the work of number of artists including Stanley William Hayter, Raphael Soyer, Martha Bloom, Grant Wood, Stuart Davis, and John Taylor Arms. In addition to the individual artists exhibited, the Sylvan Cole Gallery also held group shows of U.S. and European prints; and exhibited at art fairs held in New York, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Provenance

The Sylvan Cole Gallery records and Sylvan Cole Papers were donated by Sylvan Cole in 2003.

Related Materials

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Sylvan Cole conducted by Avis Berman, 2000 June-October.

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.