Recent Acquisitions: The James Graham & Sons Gallery Records
Archives of American Art, New York Research CenterJune 2 - July 31, 2008
In 2007 and 2008 the Archives of American Art acquired the records of James Graham & Sons, one of the oldest continuously operating art galleries in the United States.
Founded by Samuel Graham, a Scottish immigrant, James Graham & Sons has been owned and operated by members of the Graham family for more than 150 years. Throughout its long history the firm has specialized in objects ranging from American and European Bronzes to American modernism to British ceramics.
The James Graham & Sons gallery records comprise 83 linear feet of documents dating from ca. 1911–2004. Materials include artists files, correspondence, financial records, inventories, exhibition records, photographs, scrapbooks, printed materials and miscellany regarding the operation of the gallery.
Special thanks to Priscilla Caldwell, Jay Grimm and Cameron Shay, as well as to professor Betsy Fahlman, whose 2007 history of the gallery was published in James Graham & Sons: A Century and a half in the Art Business.
Images from this Exhibition
Everett Shinn exhibition sign
Robert C. Graham Sr. first met Everett Shinn in 1945 when the artist was the last surviving member of “The Eight” and the fashion for his work, as well as his financial stability, had fallen precipitously. Graham subsidized Shinn and staged numerous exhibitions to resuscitate his reputation, including Half a Century of Everett Shinn's Oils and Pastels in November, 1952, just six months before the artist’s death.Shinn material in the current exhibition includes a brochure for the 1952 exhibition, this hand-colored gallery sign from an earlier exhibition of the artist’s work, and a telegram conveying best wishes for a Shinn opening at Graham signed cryptically, “The Clown.”
Elaine de Kooning sketching John F. Kennedy
A 1962 visit by Robert C. Graham Sr. and Thomas Hart Benton to the Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence, Missouri prompted Graham’s interest in presenting the Library with a contemporary portrait of President Kennedy, who was a friend since their days together at Choate.Graham selected gallery artist Elaine de Kooning, shown in this photograph sketching Kennedy late in 1962 at his family’s Florida home in West Palm Beach while he “read state papers, conferred with Washington bigwigs, jotted notes and talked on the phone.” The resulting series of 15 oils and 23 charcoal sketches were executed in de Kooning's characteristic Abstract Expressionist style.
With Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963, presentation of the portrait was delayed, and in December 1964 the paintings and sketches were shown at James Graham & Sons. Jacqueline Kennedy visited the exhibition and purchased four sketches. After the First Lady approved the final choice of the portrait, Graham presented it to the Truman Library in February, 1965.
Ad Reinhardt letter to Robert C. Graham Sr.
In 1955, upon taking occupancy of a gallery building on 1014 Madison Avenue, Robert C. Graham Sr. ventured into the field of abstract art with Albert Duveen, nephew of the famous 20th century gallery owner.A 1964 letter from Ad Reinhardt to Robert C. Graham Sr. proposes the simultaneous exhibition of his abstract paintings in four different venues, each show limited to a single color value. The exhibitions did eventually come to fruition in three venues (Graham, Stable Gallery and Betty Parsons Gallery) with Graham showing Reinhardt’s red paintings in March 1965.
Jennifer Lee ceramics
James Graham & Sons has been one of the leading galleries in America to specialize in fine period sculpture and objects, and many of the country’s most important examples trace their provenances to the firm, including 18th century American silver by Paul Revere and Jacob Hurd in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and western masterpieces in bronze by Frederick Remington which form the basis of the collections of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.Today the gallery is the only American venue to focus exclusively on British ceramic artists within the context of its contemporary program. This 1987 promotional brochure features the work of Jennifer Lee, a Scottish-born ceramicist who works in England.
