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Ritchie, Andrew Carnduff. Andrew C. Ritchie records, 1942-1949.

Title: Andrew C. Ritchie records, 1942-1949.

Administrative records and correspondence of Andrew Carnduff Ritchie, art director of the Albright Art Gallery from mid-1942 to July 1, 1949. This material continues the general file of correspondence documenting the Gallery's development that comprises Record Group 2. It includes Ritchie's correspondence as well as records of his predecessor, Gordon Washburn, dating from early 1942, and those of his successor, Edgar Schenck, in late 1949, Ritchie took a leave of absence from the Gallery from about June 1945 to May 1946. During this period the curator of education Katherine E. Neilson, assumed the acting directorship, and records from this period are included here . The addition to the staff of Charles P. Parkhurst as assistant curator during the period 1946-47 accounts for other material in this series. Beginning with the records of 1947, correspondence, reports and notices of Buffalo Fine Arts Academy directors and committees are arranged in Record Group 2. (Prior B.F.A.A. records and correspondence are found in Record Group 1, Series 2). Principal correspondence in this collection falls into three main categories. First, correspondence with other museum administrations documents a large number of loans from the Albright Art Gallery permanent collection for inclusion in exhibitions. Other correspondence with museums concerns administrative policies, including surveys of institutional practices in American museums; these records document decision-making. The third principal category of correspondence is that of art dealers, usually offering works of art for purchase consideration, but sometimes also documenting loans to exhibitions at the Albright and at private dealer galleries. Also found during processing were a selection of letters from artists, including occasional letters from Yves Tanguy, British artist Edmond Kapp, Josef Albers, and Charles Burchfield, to name a few. Of these letters, those from Kapp and Albers include the most significant or interesting details. Correspondence during the war years documents the Gallery's participation in the war effort, and the extent to which the war permeated nearly every civilian activity and institution. Restrictions on the public's use of automobiles, and increased work-hours in factories had significant effects on museum attendance. The Gallery staff played interesting roles in local war organizations, including the Buffalo War Council and the local American Red Cross. Exhibitions also changed to accommodate new public interests in military life and weaponry. Major permanent collection acquisitions during Ritchie's directorate include: Daumier's Laundress on the Quai D'Anjou; Reynold's Cupid as Link Boy and other gifts of 18th century English paintings with funds from the Knox family; Seurat's Le Chahut; and Gauguin's Yellow Christ. Significant Room of Contemporary Art purchases include Bracque's Still Life; Tanguy's Indefinite Divisibility; and Mare Chagall's Acrobat. In addition to these acquisitions, the Albright improved the permanent collection by deaccessioning a number of lesser quality artworks at auction in 1943. Records of this event will be found in Record Group 4. Significant exhibitions during this period included the first Charles Burchfield Retrospective (1944), the Maillol Memorial Exhibition (1945), Contemporary British Painting and Sculpture (1946), and the industrial arts exhibition, Good Design is Your Business (1947). Ritchie's curatorial correspondence about exhibitions is included in Record Group 3.

ArchivalResource: 23 manuscript boxes (11 linear ft.)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/660831436 View