Biographical/Historical note
The Guild Art Gallery was founded in 1935 by artists Anna Walinska and Margaret Lefranc (also known as Margaret Schoonover) and operated at 37 West 57th Street in New York City until 1937. Arshile Gorky held his first New York solo exhibition there. In 1935, the founders were quoted in
Art Digest
as stating that the new gallery "plans to exhibit, without charge, the work of contemporary artists, whether known or unknown; to develop, through a receptive audience, a better understanding of the creative expression and the problems of creative expression and the problems of contemporary society; and to illustrate the relationship of painting with the other arts." The gallery's opening exhibition featured both Walinska and Lefranc, as well as Boris Aronson, Don Forbes, Henry Major, Rosa Newman, Philip Reisman, Ben-Shmuel, Ary Stillman, and, notably, Arshile Gorky.
Arrangement note
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1935-1937 (11 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Exhibition records (2 folders; Box 1)
Series 3: Financial records, 1935-1937 (6 folders; Box 1)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1935-1937 (15 folders, Boxes 1-2)
Series 5: Artwork, circa 1935 (1 folder, Box 2)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1933-1937 (3 folders; Box 2)
Scope and Contents note
The records of the Guild Art Gallery measure 1.2 linear feet and date from circa 1933-1937. Operating in New York City between 1935-1937, the gallery was founded by artists Margaret Lefranc (also known as Margaret Schoonover) and Anna Walinska. Scattered records of the gallery include correspondence, including some with artists, exhibition files, financial records, a scrapbook and other printed materials, a drawing by Anna Walinska, and photographs of artwork and the gallery.
Correspondence is with artists, business associates, and museums. Correspondents include Alfred H. Barr, Alfred C. Barnes, Saul Baizerman, Cincinnati Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Paul Feeley, Arshile Gorky, Chaim Gross, Jean Liberte, Museum of Modern Art, Lloyd Raymond Ney, Philip Reisman, Theodore Roszak, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The collection also contains financial materials such as account ledgers, receipt journals, bank records, sales invoices, and insurance forms, as well as printed material consisting of a scrapbook, newspaper and magazine clippings, calendars of art events, and journals. Additionally, there is a pen and ink drawing by Anna Walinska and black and white copy prints of artwork and orignal snphotos of the gallery.
Margaret Lefranc (also known as Margaret Schoonover), co-founder of the Guild Art Gallery, donated the gallery records to the Archives of American Art in 1981.
Related Archival Materials note
Also found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are the Anna Walinska papers.
Processing Information note
The collection was processed to a minimal level and a finding aid prepared by Eden Orelove in 2016, with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The Archives of American Art has implemented minimal processing tactics when possible in order to increase information about and access to more of our collections. Minimal processing included arrangement to the series and folder levels. Generally, items within folders were simply verified with folder titles, but not arranged further. The collection was rehoused in archival containers and folders, but not all staples and clips were removed.
Image assets for this folder have not been fully processed.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
