Collection Information
Size: 13 Linear feet
Summary: The records of the Washington, D.C. located Franz Bader Gallery measure 13.0 linear feet and date from 1925 to 1995. The materials document the gallery's history and administrative activities, the artists represented by the gallery, the exhibitions held at the space, and the life of Franz Bader. The collection comprises the personal papers of Franz Bader including files regarding his photography career; artist's files for Paul Arlt, David Becker, William Calfee, Un'ichi Hiratsuka, Robert Marx, Wang Ming, Naúl Ojeda, Prentiss Taylor, Alma Thomas, Lee Weiss, and others; and gallery files containing correspondence, exhibition records, client invoices and other administrative records, files on Inuit art and bark paintings, and a file for Whyte Bookshop and Gallery. Also found are inventory and sales records consisting of two card files, ledgers, stock and inventory lists, and a sales binder; printed and broadcast materials relating to exhibitions, Bader and his photography, events, and includes a video recording featuring the gallery on the show Around Town ; guestbooks which hold signatures and notes from gallery patrons; scrapbooks that include printed material related to the gallery's exhibitions, D.C.-based artists the gallery represented, and other gallery events; and photographs of Bader and others, the gallery space, works of art, and candid photographs from exhibition openings.
Biographical/Historical Note
The Franz Bader Gallery was an art gallery and bookshop in Washington D.C. operated by Franz Bader (1903-1994) under various names including Franz Bader Gallery, Franz Bader Inc., and Franz Bader Gallery and Bookshop. In 1953, Bader established the gallery at 1705 G Street Northwest, where he showed local and/or upcoming artists, as well as contemporary prints. The gallery moved in September 1964 to 2124 Pennsylvania Avenue and in October 1979 to 2001 I Street, where Bader remained until his retirement in 1985. The gallery continued on after his retirement, and moved location to 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1987, and to 1500 K Street in 1990. The final show held by the gallery was in 1995. Among the artists represented by the gallery and included in this collection are Alice Acheson, Anita Bucherer, Frank Bunts, Bernice Cross, Harry Irving Gates, Peter Milton, Michael Platt, Alma Thomas, Leonard Maurer, and others.
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Provenance
The scrapbooks, guestbooks, a small amount of printed material and correspondence, photographs of the Franz Bader Gallery, and honors for Bader were donated to the Archives of American Art by Virginia F. Bader, Franz Bader's wife, in 1995. The other material was donated by John Benjamin Dunn, lawyer for the gallery, in 2002.
Related Materials
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Franz Bader conducted by Julie Link Haifley in 1978.
Language Note
English .
Funding Note
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Smithsonian Women's Committee.