Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: De Herrera, Gloria, 1929-1985.
| title | Gloria de Herrera papers, 1936-1996 (bulk 1947-1985). | repository | The Getty Research Institute |
| description | The papers consist of ca. 750 items documenting De Herrera’s milieu and activities. Series I. Correspondence: ca. 180 letters and related items, of De Herrera or of James Byrnes acting on her behalf. Correspondents include Heinz Berggruen, James and Barbara Byrnes, Dominique Darbois, Lydia Delectorskaya, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning, Françoise Gilot, Adolfo Kaminsky, Edouard Loeb, Henri and Amélie Matisse, Pierre Matisse, Franz Meyer, Wolfgang Paalen and Man Ray. The series also contains letters by William Nelson Copley, as well as some from Russian correspondents whom De Herrera met in the Soviet Union in 1957. Series II. Documents: ca. 170 items, comprising De Herrera’s writings, records of her Matisse work and her work on Darbois’s Enfants du monde series, newspaper clippings, arrest records, passport fragments detailing her travels, medical reports and records from the end of her life. Of interest are drafts of ten short essays by William Nelson Copley regarding life in France in 1951, including a visit to Picasso’s studio in Vallauris. Series III. Artworks: 22 artworks, 68 photographs of artworks and 7 exhibition announcements. Includes drawings by Victor Brauner, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Roberto Matta and Bernard Pfriem, a watercolor by Franoise Gilot, and a very small oil painting by William Nelson Copley. Of particular interest are the Échantillons Matisse, a set of 72 fragments of unfaded gouached paper left over from her Matisse work, along with 10 full-sized gouached sheets. Photographs of artworks and exhibition announcements document works by Brauner, Calder, Copley, Joseph Cornell, Max Ernst, Gilot, Ynez Johnston, Henri Matisse, Matta, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Man Ray, Yves Tanguy and Dorothea Tanning. Series IV. Photographs: 244 photographs, 37 photocopies and 1 related item documenting De Herrera’s friendships, activities and interests, predominantly in Los Angeles and France. Most notably represented are Man Ray and his wife Juliet, William Nelson Copley, Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning; also included are Victor Brauner, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Eluard, Alberto Giacometti, Françoise Gilot, Wolfgang Paalen, Valentine and Roland Penrose, Pablo Picasso, Henri-Pierre Roché, Yves Tanguy, and Marcel Zerbib. Of special interest is De Herrera’s scrapbook, documenting her life from ca. 1950 to 1953, with views of Max Ernst’s homes in Sedona and St. Martin d’Ardèche, and snapshots from the visit to Picasso in Vallauris. Also of interest are photographs taken by De Herrera at a 1947 Just Jazz concert in Pasadena, featuring Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz musicians. Further included are a picture of De Herrera working on a Matisse collage, and images from De Herrera’s 1957 trip to the Soviet Union. Photographs documenting the Algerian revolution were likely taken by Dominique Darbois. Series V. Oversize materials: 7 items, including an oil painting by Copley entitled Gloria, a photographic reproduction of a Matisse drawing, and printed documents including a transcript of George Dondero’s 1949 Senate address, Modern art shackled to Communism. Series VI. Audiovisual materials: 3 items, a taped 1983 interview of De Herrera conducted by James B. Byrnes and a videotaped 1996 interview of Byrnes conducted by Dickran Tashjian. 1 computer disc contains the transcript of Byrnes interview with De Herrera. |
| extent | ca. 3 linear ft. (11 boxes) + ADDS (2 boxes) |
| formats | Correspondence Photographs Sound Recording Clippings Ephemera |
| access | Open for use by qualified researchers. |
| record link | http://archives2.getty.edu:8082/xtf/view?docId=ead/980024/980024.xml;query=;brand=default |
| record source | http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cat501310 |
| finding aid | Available online and unpublished finding aid available in the repository: folder level control. |
| acquisition information | James and Barbara Byrnes. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:29:54 |
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