Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Phillips, Gifford
| title | Joann and Gifford Phillips papers, circa 1950-2011 |
| repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | Scrapbooks; correspondence; photographs of Richard Diebenkorn, Emerson Woelffer and Robert Motherwell; a 122 p. manuscript, undated, by Gifford Phillips describing his forty-year term as a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York; and a transcript of an interview with Joann and Gifford Phillips conducted by Donita Moorhus for the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. on March 3, 4, and 5, 2004 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Also included are appointment books and printed material about the careers of art collectors Joann and Gifford Phillips. Bio / His Notes: Art patrons, collectors; Santa Fe, N.M. |
| extent | 2.6 linear ft. |
| formats | Scrapbooks Correspondence Photographs Manuscript Ephemera |
| access | Use requires an appointment. Manuscript: Authorization to quote or reproduce for the purposes of publication requires written permission from Gifford Phillips, 3101 Old Pecos Trail #678 Santa Fe, N.M. 87505 |
| record link | n/a |
| record source | https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/joann-and-gifford-phillips-papers-13520 |
| acquisition information | Donated 2003- 2011 by Joann and Gifford Phillips. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:37 |
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| title | Morris Louis and Morris Louis Estate papers, circa 1910s-2007, bulk 1965-2000 |
| repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | Biographical material, correspondence, receipts, banking and tax records, notes, writings, printed material, photographs, and a sample of canvas reflect the career of Morris Louis. The remaining half, documenting the administration of his estate, includes general correspondence, notes, writings, clippings, photographs, interview transcripts, and business records. In the personal papers, biographical accounts, 1964-1966, outline the life histories of Morris and Marcella Louis. General correspondence, 1941- 1962, is primarily from colleagues, including Helen Frankenthaler and Clement Greenberg. There is a postcard from David Smith, 1962, and a letter from the André Emmerich Gallery enclosing pages from a guest book signed by Leonard Bocour, Donald Judd, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitsky, David Smith, and Frank Stella, among others. Business records consist of receipts, 1951-1963, for household expenses, studio rent, travel, shipment of art work, and Louis' art supplies, banking records, 1945-1964, such as deposit slips, bank statements, and cancelled checks, and tax records, 1951-1962. Seven notebooks, 1956-1962, record the payments, attendence, and addresses of Washington Workshop Center for the Arts students, studio rent, travel expenses, and brief annotations on Louis' art work. Notes also include lists of art work, 1960-1962, and a recipe card written by Louis. Writings consist of typescripts "Morris Louis" by Dan Robbins, and a dialogue with Dr. Ira Lewis. Printed material consists of clippings, 1950-1962, exhibition announcements and catalogs, 1937-1962, and brochures, 1950-1960, including one for the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts. There are also 5 photographs of the Rome-New York Art Foundation exhibition, 1960, and a sample of canvas labelled "No. 26 Dawn". Related to the estate are letters, 1962-1986, from Leonard Bocour, Helen Frankenthaler, Clement Greenberg, a family friend who relates an account of Louis' death, and others. In addition, correspondence is included in files on art historian Diane Upright (Headley) and attorney I.S. Weissbrodt, along with business records, notes, and printed material, and several letters from Louis and one from Frankenthaler in a file on the Bernstein family. The bulk of the estate records consist of files on 30 galleries and museums, among them the Andre Emmerich Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Israel Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art in Shiga, Japan, containing mostly correspondence, business records, printed material, notes, and a few photographs documenting exhibitions of works of art. Also found are transcripts of interviews about Louis, 1966-1979, with Leonard Bocour, Marcella Brenner, James Collins, John Elderfield, André Emmerich, Helen Frankenthaler, Michael Fried, Diane Headley, Joe Helman, Helen Jacobson, James Lebron, Kenworth Moffett, Gifford and Joann Phillips, Lawrence Rubin, Charles Schucker, Anne Truitt, and Nicholas Wilder, and one from an interview for National Educational Television with Brenner, Frankenthaler, Clement Greenberg, Helen Jacobson, and Kenneth Noland. Remaining estate records include files on the Morris Louis Film Project, 1979-1985, and the National Symposium of Art Museum Docents, 1983; miscellaneous notes, essays "As I Remember Morris Louis", by an unidentified author, and "Morris Louis: A Painter 'Recollected in Tranquility'" by Doris Margaret Thornton, 1972, clippings, 1966-1988, and an undated photograph of Louis. Other photographs are of the Brenners, Diane Upright Headley, James Lebron looking at Louis' work, 1980, and one of Roy Lichtenstein's variation on a Louis "Unfurled", 1973. Biographical and Historical Note Painter; Washington, D.C. Born 1912. Died 1962. Born Morris Louis Bernstein in Baltimore, Md. Attended the Maryland Institute from 1929 to 1933. He lived in NYC from 1936 to 1945, where he participated in the WPA Easel Painting Project, and adopted the name Morris Louis. In 1947, two years after returning to Baltimore, he married Marcella Siegel, an educator, and they moved to Washington, D.C. in 1952. Louis was influenced by the work of Helen Frankenthaler and he began creating his color-stained unprimed canvases categorized as Veils (1954- 1959), Florals (1959-1960), Unfurleds (1960), and Stripes (1961-1962). Through his colleague, Kenneth Noland, Louis met Clement Greenberg who was influential in popularizing Louis' work, which only began to gain notoriety at the time of his death from lung cancer in 1962. Marcella Louis became administrator of his estate of paintings, as a result of an agreement with his family, the Bernsteins. In 1964 she married scientist Abner Brener. |
| extent | 6.3 linear ft. (on 7 microfilm reels) reels 4988-4994 |
| formats | Microfilm Correspondence Financial Records Legal Papers Writings |
| access | Patrons must use microfilm copy. |
| record link | https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/AAA.louimorr.pdf |
| record source | https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/morris-louis-and-morris-louis-estate-papers-7040 |
| finding aid | Finding aid available at AAA offices. |
| acquisition information | The Morris Louis and Morris Louis Estate papers were donated by Marcella Brenner in several installments in 1976, 1986, and 1988. Subsequent donations in 2009 and 2012 were donated by Marcella Brenner via Ann M. Garfinkle, Executor. The Anita Faatz interviews were donated in 1976 by Marcella Brenner. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:37 |
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| title | Maurice Tuchman interviews, 1976. |
| repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | A collection of interviews of thirteen persons associated with the painter Richard Diebenkorn, including Diebenkorn's wife, his friends, as well as collectors, art historians, and others. The interviews were conducted in conjunction with the 1977 exhibit, "Richard Diebenkorn: Paintings and Drawings, 1943-1976" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Biographical and Historical Note Maurice Tuchman is curator of 20th Century art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. |
| extent | 15 sound cassettes. |
| formats | Interview Sound Recording |
| access | Requires an appointment for use at storage. |
| record source | http://www.siris.si.edu/ |
| acquisition information | Donated 1988 by Maurice Tuchman. General Note: Paul Kantor and Phyllis Diebenkorn tapes are broken and cannot be used. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:37 |
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| title | [Oral history] Interviews with Gifford Phillips and Joann Phillips, 2004. |
| repository | Phillips Collection Library and Archives |
| description | Gifford Phillips discusses his memories of visiting Duncan and Marjorie Phillips as well as Laughlin Phillips and his sister Mary Marjorie Phillips. He describes the visits of artists and writers such as John Marin and Gertrude Stein and remembers trips to Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, where the Phillipses maintained a summer home. Gifford Phillips discusses how he introduced his uncle to the work of Richard Diebenkorn and Mark Rothko. He discusses his observations about how Marjorie Phillips directed the museum following Duncan Phillips's death in 1966, and the directorship of Laughlin Phillips, who worked to transform the museum from a private institution into a public museum. Phillips discusses his uncle's interest in politics and mentions some of Duncan and Marjorie Phillips's friendships with journalists, including Walter Lippman, Scotty Reston, and Marquis Childs; senators, including William Fulbright and Mike Monroney, and others active in political life, such as Joe Alsop and Stewart Alsop. Gifford Phillips discusses members of the board that he felt made particular contributions, particularly in the 70s and 80s. He discusses the gifts of works of art that he made to The Phillips Collection, including works by Cézanne, Richard Diebenkorn, Thomas Downing, Bill Jensen, Helen Frankenthaler, and Joan Snyder. He describes his collecting interests over the past 50 years, as well as the influence that critic Clement Greenberg had on his development as a collector. Phillips discusses the concept of the Center for Study of Modern Art at The Phillips Collection. He describes works of art in his personal collection by artists such as Ken Price, Hassell Smith, Joanna Pousette-Dart, Joan Snyder, Paul Reed, and Terry Winters. Joann Phillips describes her visits with Duncan and Marjorie Phillips as well as some of the guests that the Phillipses entertained, including Walter Lippman, Marquis Childs, Michael Straight, Richard Diebenkorn, and Clement Greenberg. She describes her correspondence with Marjorie Phillips as well as her thoughts about the gifts that she and Gifford Phillips made to The Phillips Collection. Subjects: Phillips, Gifford Interviews. Phillips, Joann Interviews. Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966. Phillips, Marjorie, 1895-1985. Phillips, Laughlin. Diebenkorn, Richard, 1922-1993. Phillips Collection. Art Collectors and collecting. Oral histories. aat |
| extent | 6 sound cassettes (ca. 60 min. each) : analog. |
| formats | Sound Recording |
| record source | http://www.phillipscollection.org/search/more-info.aspx?fn=/tlc/html/filepcl00000411.html |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:42 |
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| title | Approaches to art collecting oral history transcript / Gifford Phillips ; interviewed by George M. Goodwin, [1979]. |
| repository | University of California, Los Angeles |
| description | Transcript of a 5.75-hour interview completed under the auspices of the UCLA Oral History Program. Phillips discusses his early interest in art, the influence of his uncle, Duncan Phillips, on his life, and the development of his and his wife’s collections. Biographical Note Art collector, magazine publisher, and businessman. Also forms part of: Oral History collection, Dept. of Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Los Angeles. Location: YRL Special Collections Stacks Call Number: 300/ 217 |
| extent | 170 leaves, bound |
| formats | Transcript Interview |
| access | Quotation, publication or reproduction permitted, subject to University policy. User must acknowledge the UCLA Dept. of Special Collections. Audiotape recordings also may be accessed in the UCLA Dept. of Special Collections by special arrangment. |
| record source | http://catalog.library.ucla.edu/ |
| finding aid | Volume includes index. |
| acquisition information | [Los Angeles] : Oral History Program, University of California, Los Angeles, c1985. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:42 |
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