Dorothy Dehner papers, 1920-1987, bulk 1951-1987

Series consists of scattered material shedding light on different aspects of Dehner's life and work. Included are various notes and lists created by Dehner consisting of information pertaining to her biography and career; a list of things that Dehner took with her when she left Bolton's Landing in 1951-1952; copies of selected clippings and typescript copies featuring press comments on Dehner's work in the mid-to late-1960s; proofs and copies of her biographical sketch in the publication, Who's Who; a photocopy of the honorary degree she received from Skidmore College; and a wedding announcement for her stepdaughter, Abby Mann Thernstrom.

Also found here is some material relating to David Smith, including a chronology submitted for Dehner's review and bearing her editing marks, a copy of Smith's last will and testament, a letter of introduction for Smith from Audrey McMahon of the College Art Association (dating from their trip to Europe in the mid-1930s), a name tag for Smith of unknown origin, and 3 photocopied reproductions of artwork by Smith.

Series has been digitized in entirety.

Series consists of Dehner's personal and professional correspondence, comprised of mostly incoming letters but also some early drafts or copies of outgoing letters in addition to some enclosures such as loan agreements, shipping receipts, manuscripts, and printed material. Correspondents include museums, galleries, art dealers, curators, scholars, students, artists, writers, friends, and relatives. Correspondence largely documents Dehner's various personal and professional relationships, her efforts to promote and exhibit her artwork and to facilitate art historical research (on David Smith, herself, and other artists), and her various creative activities.

Personal correspondents include David Smith, Smith's sister, Catherine, and his mother, Golda; Smith's second wife, Jean Smith Pond, and his two daughters, Rebecca and Candida; Dehner's second husband, Ferdinand Mann and stepdaughter, Abby (Mann) Thernstrom; friends and fellow artists, Edgar and Lucille Corcos Levy, Herman Cherry, and Louise Nevelson; and her heart surgeon, Elliott Hurwitt, among others. Dehner often established friendships with individuals who started out corresponding on a professional basis (such as curators, dealers, and students), so personal correspondence can often be found interspersed with professional correspondence.

Professional correspondence typically relates to the loan, exhibition, and sale of Dehner's work and the Smith work that Dehner owned. Notable exhibitions documented include the 1950s traveling show of her watercolors and drawings, and group and solo shows including at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Storm King Art Center, and Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. Also documented are Dehner's dealings with Mildred Constantine and Marian Willard (of the Willard Gallery), among others. Correspondence with curators, scholars, and students relates to research inquiries primarily about Smith, but also about Dehner herself and other artists of her era, such as John Graham, Irene Rice Pereira, and Louise Nevelson. Professional correspondence also concerns the editing and publication of the foreword she wrote for the re-issue of John Graham's System and Dialectics of Art, and the publication of her poems in the journal Tracks; certain matters pertaining to David Smith's estate, such as the disposition of some items belonging to Dehner and the controversial alteration of the painted surfaces of certain Smith sculptures carried out by executor Clement Greenberg; donations of art works to various institutions, including Dehner's effort to raise funds from Jan Matulka's former students to purchase and donate one of his paintings to the Guggenheim Museum; and the donation of her papers to the Archives of American Art, and subsequent permissions to access and publish from them.

Correspondence is typically arranged in alphabetical order according to name of correspondent. Some files contain the letters of various individuals and are arranged according to subject (e.g. "Various, Condolence Letters"). Letters from a correspondent with an unknown surname are arranged in a file according to first name, and unidentified letters and fragments are arranged in files at the end of the series. Related material can be found amongst business and financial papers.

Series has been digitized in entirety.

Series consists of sound recordings of three interviews with Dehner by Herman Cherry, Judith McCandless, and ---- Rapp, and an interview conducted for a documentary on David Smith. Also found here is a list of people who interviewed Dehner, and the transcript of an interview with K--- Osis.

Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

Series consists of the writings by Dorothy Dehner, including articles, poems, lectures and speeches, and other pieces. Writings document some of the influences on Dehner's art, some of her ideas about art in general and certain works in particular, and some of her other creative and more scholarly endeavors. Writings by others include instances of the scholarly interpretation of her work by others.

The bulk of this series has been digitized. Duplicates copies of writings with no annotations have not been digitized.

Series consists of papers relating to various art and personal business matters and to certain financial matters. Some material is organized loosely into gallery and organization files, which may contain records of consignments, loans, sales, and exhibitions including ones at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in 1962, Editions Alecto, Ltd. in 1964, and the Parsons-Dreyfuss Gallery in 1979. The series also includes a file for Willard Gallery which represented Dehner from the mid-1950s to the 1970s, and a file related to the Committee for the American Participation in the Triennale.

Material relating to more general art business consists of numerous handwritten and typed lists (of works, art sales, prices, exhibitions, art books donated to Skidmore College Library, etc.); visitor books for unidentified exhibitions in 1957, 1959, 1960, and 1963; shipping and delivery receipts; and handwritten documents authenticating certain David Smith works. Material relating to personal business and financial matters includes property and school tax records for Bolton's Landing; a receipt for payment by David Smith, presumably made to Dehner as part of their separation agreement; and an agreement by Dehner to sell certain sculptures by David Smith that she owned to Samuel Dorsky.

The bulk of this series has been digitized. Mailing lists have not been digitized.

Series consists of printed material collected and accumulated by Dehner, including exhibition catalogs, announcements, and invitations for her solo and group shows, clippings, art catalogs, programs, and miscellaneous printed material, pertaining to her own work, the work of David Smith, and, to a limited extent, the work of others. Clippings on Smith concern his death in 1965 and posthumous alterations to the painted surfaces of some of his outdoor sculptures (at the hands or through the negligence of Clement Greenberg, one of the executors of Smith's estate), which was a source of some controversy in the art world of the mid-1970s.

This series has been selectively digitized. For publications, only covers and relevant pages relating to Dehner may be digitized.

Art work consists of two undated etchings. One is an abstract by Dehner, which she gave, presumably as a gift, to Garnett McCoy, former Curator of the Archives of American Art. The second etching is of portraits of artists done by one another on one etching plate. Artists include Lucille Corcos by Dehner, David Smith by Lucille Corcos, Adolph Gottlieb by Edgar Levy, Edgar Levy by Esther Gottlieb, Dorothy Dehner by Adolph Gottlieb, and Esther Gottlieb by David Smith. A cat and alligator were drawn by Edgar Levy in the middle border. The etching is 91/100 and was printed by Michael Kirk on the Charles Brand Press in the Parsons School of Design Studios and seems to have also originally belonged to Garnett McCoy.

Series has been digitized in entirety.

Series consists of photographs of Dehner, her friend and mentor John Graham (taken by her in the Brooklyn apartment she shared with David Smith), and her second husband Ferdinand Mann (featured with others, including Fiorello LaGuardia, Arshile Gorky, and Henry Knight, at the opening of the W.P.A. Art Gallery), as well as photographs of Dehner works from the 1950s (assembled in an album or portfolio of "Recent Works") and some later works. Also found is an abstract photograph taken by David Smith circa 1934, one of several he created using the technique of double exposure.

Series has been digitized in entirety.