Overview
Collection Information
Size: 300 Items, (on partial microfilm reel)
Summary: Letters from artists, including Kenyon Cox, Elihu Vedder, John Sartain, Rembrandt Peale, Joseph Pennell, Albert Bierstadt, Timothy Cole, and many others. Also included is an artist autograph collection collected by Ben Austin, Esq. Many of the letters are addressed to James D. Gill, a gallery owner whose gallery suffered a fire, regarding the status of paintings and offering condolences.
Biographical/Historical Note
Businessman, and book and manuscript collector; Detroit, Mich. and Florida. Died in 1988.
Provenance
Lent for microfilming 1968 by Charles Feinberg, an active donor and friend of AAA. Fifteen of the letters microfilmed were subsequently bought at auction by AAA in 1968, including one letter from Cox, three from Fielding, three from Johnson, five from Sargent, and two from West. All except for one (Johnson) have been remicrofilmed and cataloged individually. Feinberg also donated additional letters to AAA during the 1950s and 1960s; these have been cataloged separately.
Language Note
English .
Location of Originals
- Originals returned to Feinberg after microfilming. All subsequently sold at auction by Parke-Bernet, sale no. 2676, April 2-3, 1968; fifteen letters purchased by AAA at auction.
- Letters from Cox (1/2/19), Fielding (3/23/31-4/29/31), Johnson (5/10/46 and undated), Sargent (1/19/87, 3/13, 5/24, 7/25, and undated), and West (1812, and 4/15/15): Originals in Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C.
