Dorothy Dehner papers

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Dorothy Dehner papers

1920-1987

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94755f855-b54f-4a52-a95c-a8c0d6e92ba7

The papers of Dorothy Dehner measure approximately 4.5 linear feet and date from 1920 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1987. The collection documents the life and work of the sculptor. Papers include extensive correspondence, business and financial papers, writings, interviews, printed material, photographs, student papers, one item of art work, and scattered personal papers and material relating to David Smith.Comprising a series of biographical material are interviews (mostly untranscribed), personal papers such as notes on Dehner's biography and career, list of things taken from Bolton Landing, recipes, and a wedding announcement for her stepdaughter, Abby Mann Thernstrom, and material relating to David Smith such as a copy of his last will and testament, a letter of introduction (dating from their trip to Europe in the mid-1930s), and a chronology of Smith's life.Correspondence consists of numerous letters and enclosures concerning both professional and personal matters. Correspondents include artists, museums, galleries, art dealers, researchers, curators, friends, and relatives. Correspondence documents Dehner's various personal and professional relationships, the active role she played in promoting and exhibiting her art work, as well as the key role she played in fostering art historical research (on David Smith, herself, and other artists of her era), and her many other creative activities, including her various writing efforts.Found amongst Dehner's business and financial papers are records relating to various galleries and/or exhibitions, including the Willard Gallery and exhibitions at the Philadelphia Art Alliance and Parsons-Dreyfuss Gallery, and to various projects, such as the Committee for the American Participation in the Triennale and the Great Southwest Industrial Park, as well as scattered records relating to personal business matters and finances, such as lists, tax records, authentication of art works, and sales agreements.Dehner's writings include poems (including one dated from high school and drafts of ones published in <emph render="italic">Tracks</emph>), various pieces on John Graham (including versions of a memoir, which were published as a foreword to the re-issue of <emph render="italic">System and Dialectics of Art</emph> and as an article in <emph render="italic">Leonardo</emph>) and on David Smith (including articles on their first meeting and on Smith's 1940 work, "Medals for Dishonor"), lectures and speeches, and various pieces on art and other topics. Writings shed light on other aspects of Dehner's creativity and concern. Also included are writings of others, some of which shed light on Dehner's life and work.Also found amongst Dehner's papers are printed material, including exhibition catalogs, announcements, and clippings (on herself and Smith, and to a limited extent, on other artists); an undated etching by Dehner which seems to have originally belong to Garnett McCoy, former Curator of the Archives; and photographs of Dehner, her second husband, Ferdinand Mann, John Graham, and various works of art, as well as an abstract photograph by David Smith, dating from circa 1934.

eng,

Archives of American Art

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6630456

Archives of American Art

Related Entities

There are 12 Entities related to this resource.

Corcos, Lucille, 1908-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6001hcb (person)

Lucille Corcos was born in New York City in 1908. She worked as an an artist and illustrator for national magazines such as Life and Vogue and had her art work exhibited in museums throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. She wrote and illustrated five children's books and illustrated both children's and adult books.Biographical source: Something About the Author, Volume 10, p. 27-28. From the description of Lucille Corcos Papers 1952-1965. (University of Minnesota, M...

Levy, Edgar.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xs6xxp (person)

Painters; New York, N.Y. Lucille Corcos, an illustrator also, died in 1973. Edgar Levy was born in 1907; death date not found. From the description of Edgar Levy and Lucille Corcos papers, 1928-1975. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122545768 ...

Graham, John, 1887-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61z4wrx (person)

Jack Mayer was an art dealer and owner of Gallery Mayer, New York, which handled the work of painter John Graham. Graham, born Ivan Gratsianovitch Dombrovski in Kiev, Russia in 1886 (baptised in 1881, hence the use of that year on many authoritative sources), came to N.Y. in 1920 and was a central figure among American avant-garde artists, especially from the late 1920s to 1940s. Graham was also a collector of African art which inspired an interest in primitivism in his work. Graham moved to Mex...

Gottlieb, Esther

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z6255n (person)

Esther Dick Gottlieb was married to artist Adolph Gottlieb. From the description of Oral history interview with Esther Dick Gottlieb, 1981 Oct. 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 646400468 ...

Mann, Ferdinand.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m64bbm (person)

Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6765r2z (person)

Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974) was a painter from New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with Adolph Gottlieb, 1967 Oct. 25. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 646398642 Painter; New York, N.Y. From the description of Adolph Gottlieb papers, 1929-1967. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122545836 From the description of Adolph Gottlieb interview, 1967 Oct. 25 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82919384 ...

Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z89z42 (person)

Married to David Smith. From the description of Correspondence to Edward F. Fry, 1969-1970. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 212070485 Sculptor, painter, printmaker; New York, N.Y. Dehner was married to sculptor David Smith. [Dehner died in 1994.]. From the description of Oral history interviews with Dorothy Dehner, 1965 Oct.-1966 Dec. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220185543 Sculptor; New York, N.Y. Dehn...

Philadelphia Art Alliance

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t54h89 (corporateBody)

Willard Gallery

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qk26w3 (corporateBody)

Art gallery; New York, N.Y. Founded 1936 by Marian Willard as East River Gallery. In 1938 changed to Neumann-Willard Gallery, then later became the Willard Gallery ca. 1945. Gallery remains in operation and still has possession of original documents lent to and filmed by the Archives as of 1992. From the description of Willard Gallery records, 1917-1973. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84162911 ...

Dorothy Dehner

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sw0qd0 (person)

Dorothy Dehner was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1901. Her father died when she was about ten and the family moved to Pasadena, California in 1915. After the death of her mother and sister, she was raised by her mother's sister, Aunt Florence. Dehner was exposed to art as a child, receiving instruction in drawing and painting. She studied drama for a year at UCLA in 1922-1923 before moving to New York with the intention of pursuing a theatrical career. In 1925, she traveled alone to Eu...

Smith, David, 1906-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63r0v2k (person)

Sculptor; Bolton Landing, N.Y. From the description of David Smith interview, 1964 Oct. 25. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80437636 Sculptor. Studied painting at the Art Students League in New York City between 1927 and 1932. Smith began working with sculpture around the time of leaving the League. In 1940 he moved to upstate New York where he remained until his death in 1965. Retrospective exhibitions of Smith's work at the Museum of Modern Art in 1957, and at the Fogg Art ...

Graham, John 1881-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v14vfm (person)

Painter, collector; New York and Mexico. Born Ivan Gratsianovitch Dombrovski in Kiev, Russia. His birthday is listed as 27 December, 1886 but after 1917 Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar changing the date to 7 January, 1887. He moved to New York in 1920, changing his name to John Dabrowsky Graham. He was a central figure among American avant-garde artists, especially from the late 1920's - 1940's. His understanding of cubism and surrealism made him a link to the Euro...