Richard Artschwager papers, 1959-2013

Richard Artschwager's correspondence is with museums, galleries, artists, art historians, academic institutions, collectors, and publishers. Subjects include the scheduling of exhibitions, loans, preparation of catalog essays; speaking engagements and teaching positions; Artschwager's participation in art-related events; and requests for reproduction rights, provenance and biographical information. Also included are letters by Artschwager that discuss his work and the work of other artists. Among the correspondents are Lawrence Alloway, Gagosian Gallery, Galerie Franck + Schulte, Galerie Neuendorf, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Ivan Karp, Kunsthalle Basel, Leo Castelli Gallery, Mary Boone Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Modern Art, Ingrid Schaffner, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Letters from artists include Bill Copley, Eric Fischl, Ray Johnson, Louise Lawler, Gerhard Mack, and Betty Woodman. Found are scattered letters from John Baldesarri, Damien Hirst, Dorothea Rockburne, Ed Ruscha, and Holly Solomon. Also included are a few letters illustrated by Artschwager. There are letters from Ann Sebring Artschwager acting on behalf of her husband.

Many of the letters have attachments, e.g., curricula vitae and artist's statements; business related material, e.g., informational sheets, scattered price lists, receipts, consignments; layouts of exhibition space; and printed material including clippings, exhibition announcements and invitations, and reviews; and photographs and digital photographs of artwork. The folders labeled "First Names" contain mostly postcards and thank you notes from people who signed off with the given name and did not include a surname. Some of the correspondence is in German.

Letters are filed alphabetically by the personal or corporate name. Correspondence with individuals is generally filed according to the name of the organization with which they were associated.

Commercially produced holiday and greeting cards, correspondence that only included first names, and correspondence where names were illegible were grouped together towards the end of the series and arranged chronologically.

The bulk of this series has been scanned. Birthday and greeting cards were not scanned. Other materials that were not scanned include duplicates, blank pages, and blank versos of photographs.