Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records, 1859-1984, bulk 1900-1949

This series contains a variety of materials relating to exhibitions and sales of Walt Kuhn's artwork between 1920 and 1958. Files for the Harriman and Durand-Ruel galleries also document selected exhibits of other artists and other activities of these galleries.

Documentation for exhibitions that took place in the 1920s is sparse; included are catalogs, announcements, inventories, and receipts for exhibitions at M. de Zayas Gallery, Montross Gallery, Beaux Arts Galerie, Grand Central Art Galleries, M. Knoedler and Co., the Arts Club of Chicago, Albert Roullier Galleries, and Anderson Galleries.

From 1930 onwards, exhibitions are more thoroughly documented. Records of exhibitions typically include announcements, marked catalogs, guest lists, diagrams showing the arrangement of art work in the galleries, letters detailing the production of the show or responding to the show, press coverage, and summary documents showing attendance figures and sales. For some exhibitions, there are also photographs and guest books.

Because of Kuhn's long relationship with the Marie Harriman Gallery, files contain a variety of unique materials. Included is correspondence concerning exhibits of André Derain, Pablo Picasso, and Demetrius Galanis in the early 1930s. Also found are detailed regional reports on museums and private collectors throughout the United States and their relative interest in modern art. Other items include vouchers for sales of Kuhn's artwork, a 1931 cartoon by Kuhn of himself with Marie Harriman in Europe; a photographic portrait of Harriman by Berenice Abbott and another by Underwood and Underwood; and a transcript of a 1931 radio address given by Marie Harriman.

The series is arranged by gallery or exhibition in rough chronological order. The Western Traveling Exhibition files are further broken down by venue and arranged in the order in which the exhibition traveled.

Additional materials relating to the galleries and exhibitions named in this series can be found elsewhere in the collection. Exhibitions before 1920 are discussed in some detail in Walt Kuhn Letters to Family from those years. Additional exhibition catalogs and announcements are found in Printed Materials, and correspondence with galleries exists in General Correspondence. See individual series descriptions for more details.

See the Index for a list of selected correspondents from series 4.3 General Correspondence with cross-references to this series and 4.5: Provenance Files.

This series has been scanned in entirety, with the exception of an oversized plan of the Marie Harriman Gallery and the 2015 addition.