James Thrall Soby papers, 1930-1979.

ArchivalResource

James Thrall Soby papers, 1930-1979.

Papers include correspondence, research notes, ephemera and photographs of works by artists about whom Soby wrote, transcripts, an unpublished manuscript titled "French Romantic Art" (written in 1959), records relating to The Museum of Modern Art, the Smith College Museum of Art, Williams College, the disposition of the Kay Sage Tanguy estate, travel notebooks, diaries, family papers and photographs. The Soby Papers are of importance to historians involved in advanced research in 20th century art. Soby was influential, for example, in making Surrealism widely known to the American public; his notes, transcripts, early documentation (photographs, printed matter and ephemera) and correspondence with Gala Dali, Man Ray, André Breton, Yves Tanguy and Kay Sage (whose estate he administered), among others, constitute an important source for scholars, as does his extensive documentation on Bacon, Balthus, Giorgio de Chirico, Miró and Shahn. These papers are also of sociological importance, for as art critic of the Saturday Review of Literature, a periodical of the American intelligentsia during the1940s and 1950s, Soby wrote with a liberal mind untainted by politics. Typescripts and notes for many of these articles are included in Series III. The Soby Papers are important for an understanding of the Museum's history. For example, memoranda and correspondence in Series III clarify Soby's role in the reorganization of the Museum in the 1940s, when his sensitivity and expertise were crucial.

24 linear ft., 3 v.

Related Entities

There are 11 Entities related to this resource.

Miró, Joan, 1893-1983

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65c0rgj (person)

Spanish painter. From the description of Autograph letters signed (2) : Mallorca, to John Rewald, 1971 Dec. 26 and 1972 Oct. 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270871537 French painter. From the description of Aidez l'Espagne (poster), 1937. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83814624 ...

Dalí, Salvador, 1904-1989

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kt7fk1 (person)

Salvador Dalí (b. May 11, 1904, Figueres, Spain–d. January 23, 1989, Figueres Spain) was a prominent Spanish surrealist artist. Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931. Dalí's expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range ...

Museum of modern art New York, N.Y.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw68zh (corporateBody)

Died 1989. From the description of Archives pamphlet file : Titus, Roy V. : miscellaneous uncataloged material. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83119924 Art museum; New York, N.Y. From the description of Museum of Modern Art first loan exhibition : November 8th to December 7, 1929. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122557713 d. 2001. From the description of Archives pamphlet file : Matisse, Maria-Gaetana : miscellaneous uncataloged material. (Unk...

Balthus, 1908-2001

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz3kbn (person)

French painter. From the description of Autograph letter signed : Rome, to John Rewald, 1963 Jan. 29. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270870246 ...

Gris, Juan, 1887-1927

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pg1sb7 (person)

Spanish painter and lithographer. From the description of Autograph letter signed : [n.p.], to an unidentified recipient, [n.d.]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270870925 Spanish painter. From the description of Letters sent by Juan Gris, 1918-1924. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 79630325 ...

Bacon, Francis, 1909-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hm5w8x (person)

Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q240xn (person)

Painter, photographer; Roosevelt, N.J. From the description of Ben Shahn interview, 1964 Apr. 14 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82606033 Artist Ben Shahn was a Russian Jewish immigrant to New York. He apprenticed with a lithographer, studied at several New York colleges, and toured Europe, acquiring the skills to express his artistic ability. He is chiefly remembered as a muralist, painter, photographer, and printmaker, visually chronicling America during ...

Arp, Jean, 1887-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w66scp (person)

French artist and poet. From the description of Letters, 1942-1947. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 86093273 ...

De Chirico, Giorgio, 1888-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61k03qn (person)

Italian painter. From the description of Assortimento di verita (essay), ca. 1950. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81610064 Greek-born Italian painter. From the description of Assortimento di verità : autograph manuscript signed, [after 1943]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270870147 ...

Soby, James Thrall, 1906-1979

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64171dv (person)

Writer, critic; New Canaan, Connecticut. Died 1979. From the description of James Thrall Soby interview, 1970 July 7. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220190225 Author, art critic, editor, collector, patron, connoisseur, and MoMA director and trustee. From the description of James Thrall Soby papers, 1930-1979. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122484551 James Thrall Soby (1906-1979) was a writer and critic from New Canaan, Conn. From the descript...

Sage, Kay

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65x3j47 (person)

Painter; Woodbury, Conn. Born 1898 in Albany, N.Y. Married surrealist painter Yves Tanguay. Died 1963. From the description of China eggs / Kay Sage. 1955. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84558254 From the description of Kay Sage papers, 1925 - circa 1985 bulk 1950-1965. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220236569 Kay Sage was born Katherine Linn Sage in Albany, New York in 1898 to Ann and Henry Manning Sage, a state senator. After her parents divorced she ...