JOHN WHITE ALEXANDER'S (1856-1915) sketchbook is devoted to value studies of single figures. On each page he experimented with the arrangement of shapes and patterns of light and shadow in shallow space. His sitters are engaged in quiet, composed, interior activities, much in the way that Alexander withdrew into the private world of his sketchbook to meditate on the formal elements of light and composition.
John White Alexander Sketchbook, undated 5 1/4 x 8 1/2 in. Young man reading, ink wash and Chinese white over pencil on blue-gray paper. John White Alexander Papers, Archives of American Art.
Description of John White Alexander's Papers |
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| CREATOR: | Alexander, John White, 1856-1915. |
| TITLE: | John White Alexander papers, 1870-1942. |
| PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: | 10.0 linear ft. (on 7 microfilm reels) reels 1727-1731, 1807, and 3483 |
| BIO/HISTORICAL NOTE: | Portrait painter; New York, N.Y. Member of the Photo-Secession. |
| SUMMARY: | Biographical material; correspondence; writings; art works; scrapbooks; medals and awards; photographs; and printed material. |
| REELS 1727-1731: | Biographical sketches; an incomplete biography; typescript of De Witt Lockman's interview with Elizabeth Alexander, 1928; letters from Edwin Austin Abbey, Edwin Blashfield, John Burroughs, Andrew Carnegie, Timothy Cole, Frederic Crowninshield, Leon Dabo, Charles Dana Gibson, Lowell Birge Harrison, Thomas Alexander Harrison, George E. Hopkins, Henry James, John La Farge, Frank D. Millet, John Singer Sargent, Robert Louis Stevenson, Harry W. Watrous, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Woodrow Wilson and others; legal and financial papers; manuscripts of speeches by Alexander and of short stories by his wife. Also, lists of paintings and exhibitions; art works, including sketchbooks, sketches, prints, including wood engravings of his paintings and of his commercial illustrations for The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, done by various engravers, 1 engraving plate, and 1 etching plate by Mark Twain; exhibition posters; 8 scrapbooks; clippings; exhibition catalogs; printed miscellany; and medals & awards. Also included are Alexander's letters to the Col. Edward Jay Allen family and Edward E. Phelps about working in Harper & Bros. art department in New York and studying in Europe, and letters to his wife about painting Sarah Whitman's portrait, and some correspondence belonging to his wife. |
| REEL 1807: | Photographs of Alexander, his works, and his studios in New York, New Hampshire, and Paris. Included are a photograph of his New Hampshire studio by Jessie Tarbox Beals, portraits of Alexander by Curtis Bell (6), Zaida Ben-Yusuf (4), Elizabeth Buehrmann (4), Davis & Sanford (2), one is also microfilmed on reel 1817 (fr. 131) with Photos of Artists II., Aime Dupont (2), Miss Higgins (8), George Rockwood (4), and Napolean Sarony (6); photographs of Edwin Austin Abbey, William Merritt Chase, Robert Louis Stevenson, the National Academy of Design's annual dinner (1915), and several other Academy gatherings; and a photo of the Carnegie Institute Jury, 1913, by R. W. Johnston Studios, Pittsburgh. |
| REEL 3483: | Photographic copy prints made from 57 negatives (32 on glass), undated, of Alexander, his studio, his family, and of 20 paintings by him - 19 of them portraits. Sitters for the portraits include: Mrs. C. Leyard Blair, Mr. Bronson, William Bunker, Andrew Carnegie, William Denny, Col. George Haney, Professor Jillson, Mrs. G. B. Johnson, Richard McCurdy, Mr. George G. McMurtry, Dr. Rev. Patten, A Quiet Hour (a painting), Dorothy Roosevelt, Charles H. Russell, Geraldine Russell, Mrs. Homer Sage and son, Mrs. Stokes, Dr. Henry Van Dyck, Dudley E. Wartens, and Mary Waters. |
| RESTRICTIONS: | Patrons must use microfilm copy. |
| PROVENANCE: | Donated 1978 and 1981 by Irina Reed, Alexander's granddaughter. |
| FINDING AIDS: | A box and microfilm inventory for reels 1727-1731 and 1807 are available at AAA offices. |
| ADDITIONAL FORMS: | 35mm microfilm reels 1727-1731, 1807, and 3483 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. |
| CITE AS: | John White Alexander papers. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. |
| GENERAL NOTE: | Works of art by Alexander cataloged separately under Alexander. Works of art, primarily engravings, by others, cataloged under artists' name. Etching plate by Mark Twain cataloged separately. |
