Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
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Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery
Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, Washington, DC
February 5 to September 27, 2010
The Morgan Library and Museum
225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY
June 3 to October 2, 2011
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
224 Benefit Street, Providence, RI
March 15 to June 16, 2013
This exhibition celebrates a common document–the list–as a key to the lives of some of the most celebrated artists of the last two centuries.
There are hundreds of thousands of lists in the Archives of American Art. This exhibition includes more than 70 examples from Leo Castelli’s to-do lists to Oscar Bluemner’s illustrated list of works of art.
Whether dashed off as a quick reminder or carefully constructed as a comprehensive inventory, this humble form of documentation provides insight into its maker’s personal habits and decision-making processes. Pablo Picasso itemized his recommendations for the 1913 Armory Show and Alexander Calder’s address book reveals the who’s who of the Parisian avant-garde in the early 20th century. In the hands of their creators, these artifacts sometimes become works of art in and of themselves.
A companion book to the exhibition, published by Princeton Architectural Press, includes an introduction by John W. Smith and an essay by Liza Kirwin. It is available for purchase in the museum store or through an online bookseller.
View Items from This Exhibition
Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
List of orders, 1946?
Creator: Margaret De Patta
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Alphabetical list of animals, ca. 1911
Creator: Paul Bransom
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
The bohemian dinner, 19--
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Costume list, 1948 Nov. 6
Creator: Leo Van Witsen
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Juta Savage letter to Dorothy Weiss, 1984 Oct. 6
Creator: Juta Savage
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
List of paintings and drawings destroyed by fire of Bob Thompson, 1977
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Adolf Ferdinand Konrad sketchbook of travels to Rome and Egypt, 1962-1963
Creator: Adolf Ferdinand Konrad
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
A list written by Pablo Picasso of European artists to be included in the 1913 Armory Show, 1912
Creator: Pablo Picasso
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Journal #98, 2002-2003
Creator: Janice Lowry
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Notes and sketches, between 1900 and 1935
Creator: Henry Ossawa Tanner
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Catlin's notebook #6, 183-
Creator: George Catlin
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
13 demands, 1969 Jan. 28
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Everett Shinn account book, 1908
Creator: Everett Shinn
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Reginald Marsh, New York, N.Y. letter to Lawrence Arthur Fleischman, 1953 June 10
Creator: Reginald Marsh
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Mel Bochner, New York, N.Y. letter to Ellen H. Johnson, 1972 Apr. 21
Creator: Mel Bochner
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Journal #102, 2003-2004
Creator: Janice Lowry
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Address list, ca. 1926-38
Creator: Alexander Calder
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
List of items at a Madison Square Garden antiques fair, ca. 1957
Creator: Joseph Cornell
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Eero Saarinen letter to Aline B. (Aline Bernstein) Saarinen, 1954
Creator: Eero Saarinen
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Exhibition checklist, 1951 May 14
Creator: Robert Rauschenberg
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Notes on "An idea", 19--?
Creator: Frederick Hammersley
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Frederick Hammersley collage An idea, 19--
Creator: Frederick Hammersley
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Marvin B. Lipofsky, Berkeley, Calif. letter to State University of New York at Binghamton, 1971 Oct. 15
Creator: Marvin B. (Marvin Bentley) Lipofsky
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
James Penney's New York Sketchbook, 1932
Creator: James Penney
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Enumerated sketches of ducks, 19--
Creator: Benson Bond Moore
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Illustrated list of works of art, 1932 May 18
Creator: Oscar Bluemner
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Journal #101, 11 June through 1 Sept. 2003
Creator: Janice Lowry
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Artist's chronology, ca. 1966
Creator: Ad Reinhardt
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Robert Morris, New York, N.Y. postcard to Samuel J. Wagstaff, Hartford, Conn., 1967 Feb. 13
Creator: Robert Morris
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Gordon Newton note to Samuel J. Wagstaff, 19--
Creator: Gordon Newton
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
A few of Summer's curses, 19--
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
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Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
A few of those things we never do, 19--
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
