Cleve Gray papers

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Cleve Gray papers

1933-2005

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw92d3d47d0-baa3-4085-80f2-9b5d1730c052

The Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005, measure 9.2 linear feet. Papers include biographical material, alphabetical files, writings, artwork, audio/visual records, artifacts, printed material, and photographs. Extensive alphabetical files contain personal and professional correspondence as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Especially well-documented are: Gray's involvement with the Vietnam movement; and <emph render="italic">Threnody</emph>, his best-known work composed of fourteen large panels lamenting the dead of both sides sides in Vietnam, commissioned by the Neuberger Museum of Art. Among the biographical material are award and membership certificates, biographical notes, and personal documentation. The alphabetical files contain Cleve Gray's personal and professional correspondence, as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Correspondence is with friends and family, colleagues, publishers, museum curators and directors, art dealers, collectors, and fans. Among the correspondents of note are: Jacques Barzun, James E. Davis, Naum Gabo, Louise N. Grace, Hans and Fridel Richter, and Jacques and Gaby Villon. Other substantial correspondence includes: Berry-Hill Galleries, Betty Parsons Gallery, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Jacques Seligmann and Co., Neuberger Museum of Art, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, and Rhode Island School of Design. Subject files mostly consist of correspondence, but include printed material and some photographs. Among the subject files are: Art Collection of Cleve and Francine Gray, Artist-Dealer Consignments and Visual Artists' Rights Act of 1989, Artists' Tax Equity Act of 1979, Promised Gifts to Museums, <emph render="italic">Threnody</emph>, Vestments, and Vietnam Protest. Of particular interest are files relating to the Estate of Hans Richter (Cleve Gray, executor), and Gray's research correspondence and illustrations for his <emph render="italic">Cosmopolitan</emph> article "Women-Leaders of Modern Art." Writings are manuscripts and drafts, research materials, notes, and miscellaneous writings by Cleve Gray and other authors. Those by Gray include articles and catalog introductions on a wide range of art-related topics, as well as book and exhibition reviews. Also found are a book proposal, texts and notes for lectures and talks, miscellaneous notes, poems, political statements, and student papers. Of particular interest are autobiographical notes in the form of a chronology that his biographer, Nicholas Fox Weber, cited as an "autochronology." Among the writings by other authors are pieces about Cleve Gray including Nicholas Fox Weber's manuscript <emph render="italic">Cleve Gray</emph>. A significant amount of material relates to three books edited by Gray: <emph render="italic">David Smith by David Smith: Sculpture and Writings</emph>, <emph render="italic">Hans Richter</emph>, and <emph render="italic">John Marin</emph>. Research material survives for an unpublished volume, <emph render="italic">Naum Gabo</emph>. Also included are notes relating to his translation of <emph render="italic">A l'Infinitif</emph> by Marcel Duchamp. Jane Daggett Dillenberger is represented by a lecture, "The Resurrection in Art." The remaining items by other authors are unsigned; of particular interest is a small notebook of reminiscences and notes about Jackson Pollock. Artwork by Cleve Gray consists mostly drawings and sketches, and a small number of paintings, prints, and watercolors. Works by other artists consist are an unsigned mobile of paper cut-outs, possibly by Alexander Calder, and a pencil drawing signed Dick (probably Richard Avedon). Audio recordings are a radio broadcast featuring Cleve Gray, several lectures by Gray on John Marin, and a lecture titled "Meaning in the Visual Arts." Other recordings are of Hans Richter and an interview with Jimmy Ernst conducted by Francine du Plessix Gray. Also found is a videocassette of "Glenville School Students at SUNY (Lincoln Center Activity)." Artifacts are a Chinese scroll representative of those that hung in Cleve Gray's studio, two of his paintbrushes, Aberdeen-Angus Breeders' Association blue ribbon, and Neuberger Museum of Art Lifetime Achievement Award. The vast majority of printed material - articles, clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, reproductions of art work, etc. - are about or by Cleve Gray. Miscellaneous items and publications mentioning Gray consist of annual reports, brochures, calendars, newsletters, programs, etc. Clippings about Vietnam and Vietnam protest memorabilia reflect his passionate involvement in the anti-war movement; a small number of these items mention Gray or were written by him. Photographs are of artwork, events, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects. Most of the art work appearing in the photographs is by Cleve Gray and includes images of destroyed paintings. Also found is an original print of <emph render="italic">Photo Abstraction</emph> by Gray, circa 1934. Of particular note are photographs of <emph render="italic">Threnody</emph>, among them preparatory drawings and views of the work in progress. Photographs of artwork by other artists include Louise N. Grace, Jacques Lipchitz, John Marin, Hans Richter, and Jacques Villon. Photographs of people are mainly portraits of Gray, and views of him with his wife and sons. Other individuals appearing in photographs are Hans Richter and some of Richter's descendants. Pictures of places consist of Gray's studio. Events are an unidentified exhibition opening. Miscellaneous subjects are mostly exhibition installations. Illustrations consist of photographs published in <emph render="italic">David Smith by David Smith: Sculpture and Writings</emph>. Also found are small number of negatives and color transparencies.

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Archives of American Art

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SNAC Resource ID: 6630516

Archives of American Art

Related Entities

There are 25 Entities related to this resource.

Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968

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Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (French:28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French-American painter, sculptor, chess player and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, conceptual art, and Dada, although he was careful about his use of the term Dada and was not directly associated with Dada groups. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of...

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Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956

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Weber, Nicholas Fox, 1947-....

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Rhode Island School of Design

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The Rhode Island School of Design Faculty originally comprised the RISD Director, the Department heads (Freehand Drawing and Painting; Decorative Design; Architecture; Mechanical Engineering; Modeling and Sculpture; and Children's Dept.), and the registrar as Secretary of the Faculty (1901-1934). At the request of faculty and instructors, the structure of the faculty was modified in 1934 to include all members of the teaching staff. From the guide to the Rho...

Gray, Cleve.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61g86qw (person)

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Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973

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Ernst, Jimmy, 1920-1984

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Painter, educator; New York, N.Y. Died 1984. From the description of Jimmy Ernst interview, 1974 Sept. 20. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220185787 Jimmy Ernst (1920-1984) was a painter and educator from New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with Jimmy Ernst, 1974 Sept. 20 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 495595156 ...

Gray, Francine du Plessix.

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American Catholic author; b. 1930. From the description of Francine du Plessix Gray collection, 1947-1994. (Boston University). WorldCat record id: 70958556 ...

Richter, Hans, 1888-1976

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German-born avant-garde artist and filmmaker. From the description of Hans Richter archive, 1916-1977. (Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)). WorldCat record id: 122594159 German painter and film-maker, who emigrated in 1931. He lived and worked first in the Soviet Union, then France and Switzerland before settling in the U.S. in 1941, where he taught from 1942-1956 at the Institute of Film Technique, New York City College. In 1958 he returned to Switzerland where he died. ...

Dillenberger, Jane

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Jane Dillengerger (1916- ) is an art historian, from Berkeley, Calif. From the description of Jane Dillenberger letter from Gertrude Vedder Booton, 1977 January 9. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 756820991 Art historian. From the description of Jane Dillenberger letter from Gertrude Vedder Booton, 1977 January 9. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122333425 ...

Villon, Jacques, 1875-1963

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Betty Parsons Gallery

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Berry-Hill Galleries

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Art gallery, New York, N.Y.; acquired a painting by Robert Havell, a painter and engraver, Tarrytown, New York, b. 1793, d. 1878. From the description of Photographs and clippings relating to Robert Havell's painting View of Sing Sing on the Hudson, [ca. 1970]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122291282 ...

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976

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Grace, Louise N.

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Davis, Jim, 1901-1974

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Gabo, Naum, 1890-1977

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Naum Gabo, born Naum Borisovich Pevsner, was a Russian sculptor. Gabo was educated in Russia and Munich before emigrating to Scandinavia in 1915. He then lived in Russia (1917-1922), Germany (19322-1932), France (1932-1935), and England (1936-1946) before emigrating to the United States in 1946 and settling in Connecticut. Gabo is known for his ties to the Constructivist movement. Gabo died in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1977. From the guide to the Naum Gabo papers, 1920-1980, (Beinec...

Marin, John, 1870-1953

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