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Archives related to: Spaeth, Otto

titleEloise and Otto Spaeth papers, 1937-1983.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionScrapbooks, correspondence, exhibition files, photographs, and printed materials.

REEL D181: Scrapbooks containing correspondence, clippings, reviews, and photographs relating to the Dayton Art Institute and to the Religious Art Exhibition held there in 1944.

REEL 63: Correspondence concerning a Spaeth Foundation commission to Jacques Lipchitz for a bronze bust of John F. Kennedy. Correspondents include Lipchitz, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

REEL 1201: Correspondence concerning the Spaeth Foundation Religious Art Information Center; a Foundation prospectus; letters from Thomas Merton concerning his book on sacred art; correspondence dealing with the Annual Liturgical Congress Architectural Competition, an exhibition of architectural students' work, the Woodstock Center for Religion and Worship, and other aspects of art and religion.

REEL 1817 and scanned: Photograph of Alexander Brook taken by Peter A. Juley and Son.

UNMICROFILMED: Letters from Alexander Brook, Alexander Calder, William Congdon, Andre Girard, Edward Hopper, Walt Kuhn, Grant Wood, and others; correspondence concerning the American Federation of Arts, the Archives of American Art, Guild Hall, the Spaeth Foundation, UNESCO, and other art organizations; exhibition files of the AFA containing correspondence, printed material, and photographs;

files on the "Films on Art" project developed by Otto Spaeth; correspondence and a scrapbook of Otto Spaeth concerning the Liturgical Arts Society; a scrapbook on the Spaeth's art collection; printed material and photographs used in AMERICAN ART MUSEUMS;

photographs of paintings by John Singleton Copley, and other works of art and exhibition installations; Correspondence with Daniel Longwell, Harris K. Prior, and Thomas Brown Rudd regarding activities of the American Federation of Arts;

Correspondence and clippings, 1963-1966, regarding the Lipchitz bust of JFK; letters, 1981-1983, from critic John Russell, and art collectors, Gertrude Schweitzer, Robert Osborn and Jean de Menil;

and an exhibition catalog on Rico Lebrun, 1950; a letter to Otto Spaeth from Gala Dali regarding a loan of the painting "La Naissance du Noveau Monde," 1943; writings about Walt Kuhn, and an illustrated letter to Spaeth from Walt Kuhn.

Bio / His Notes:
Eloise O. Spaeth (1902-1998) was an art collector, writer and art patron from New York, N.Y. She and husband Otto Spaeth founded the Spaeth Foundation.

Location of Original: Reels 63 and 1201: Originals returned to lender, Eloise Spaeth, after microfilming
extent2.9 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 3 reels) reels D181,1201 and 63
formatsCorrespondence Scrapbooks Exhibition Files Photographs Clippings
accessUse requires an appointment.
record linkn/a
record sourcehttps://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/eloise-and-otto-spaeth-papers-9466
acquisition informationMaterial on reels 63 and 1201 lent for microfilming 1971 and 1977 by Eloise Spaeth. Unmicrofilmed material donated 1966-1988 by Spaeth. Material on reel D181 lent for filming 1965 and subsequently donated in 1977.
updated06/08/2023 16:42:13
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titleOtto Spaeth letters, 1953 and [undated].
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionA letter to Spaeth from Buffie Johnson offering Spaeth a choice of purchasing her painting "Forsythia" on paper or canvas; and a letter from Charles Sheeler regarding his visit to Meta-Mold and a television interview there. A carbon copy of a letter from Spaeth to Sheeler is also included.

Bio / His Notes: Collector.
extent3 items (on partial microfilm reel)
formatsMicrofilm Correspondence
accessPatrons must use microfilm copy.
record linkn/a
record sourcehttps://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/otto-spaeth-letters-5743
acquisition informationPossibly given to AAA by Otto Spaeth.
updated07/25/2023 06:49:28
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titleKatharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994, bulk, 1930-1994.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionThe papers of art historian, dealer, critic, and curator Katharine Kuh measure 12.1 linear feet and date from 1875-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930-1994.

Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence with family, friends and colleagues; personal business records; artwork by various artists; a travel journal; writings by Kuh and others; scrapbooks; printed material; photographs of Kuh and others; and audio recordings of Kuh's lectures and of Daniel Catton Rich reading poetry.

Biographical material consists of copies of Kuh's birth certificate, resumés, passports, award certificates, honorary diplomas, and address books listing information about several prominent artists and colleagues.

Four linear feet of correspondence offers excellent documentation of Kuh's interest in art history, her travels, her career at the Art Institute of Chicago, her work as a corporate art advisor, and as an author.

There are letters from her mother Olga Woolf, friends, and colleagues. There is extensive correspondence with various staff members of the Art Institute of Chicago, the First National Bank of Chicago, and The Saturday Review. Also of interest are letters from artists and collectors, several of whom became life-long friends including Walter and Louise Arensberg, Cosmo Campoli, Serge Chermayeff, Richard Cox, Worden Day, Claire Falkenstein, Fred Friendly, Leon Golub, Joseph Goto, David Hare, Denise Brown Hare, Jean Hélion, Ray Johnson, Gyorgy and Juliet Kepes, Len Lye, Wallace Putnam, Kurt Seligmann, Shelby Shackelford, Hedda Sterne, and Clyfford Still. Many letters are illustrated with original artwork in various media.

There are also scattered letters from various artists and other prominent individuals including Josef Albers, George Biddle, Marcel Breuer, Joseph Cornell, Stuart Davis, Edwin Dickinson, Joseph Hirshhorn, Daniel Catton Rich, and Dorothea Tanning.

Personal business records include a list of artwork, Olga Woolf's will, inventories of Kuh's personal art collection, miscellaneous contracts and deeds of gift, receipts for the sale of artwork, files concerning business-related travel, and miscellaneous receipts.

Artwork in the collection represents a wide range of artist friends and media, such as drawings, watercolors, paintings, collages, and prints. Included are works by various artists including lithographs by David Hare and a watercolor set, Technics and Creativity, designed and autographed by Jasper Johns for the Museum of Modern Art, 1970.

Notes and writings include annotated engagement calendars, travel journals for Germany, a guest book for the Kuh Memorial gathering, and many writings and notes by Kuh for lectures and articles concerning art history topics.

Of interest are minutes/notes from meetings for art festivals, conferences, and the "Conversations with Artists Program (1961). Also found are writings by others about Kuh and other art history topics.
Six scrapbooks contain clippings that document the height of Kuh's career as a gallery director and museum curator. Scrapbook 6 contains clippings about Fernand Léger, the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953.

Additional printed material includes clippings about Kuh and her interests, a comprehensive collection of clippings of Kuh's articles for The Saturday Review, exhibition announcements and catalogs, calendars of events, programs, brochures, books including Poems by Kuh as a child, and reproductions of artwork.

Of particular interest are the early and exhibition catalogs from the Katharine Kuh Gallery, and rare catalogs for artists including Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Stanley William Hayter, Hans Hofmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Kline, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Pablo Picasso.

Photographs provide important documentation of the life and career of Katharine Kuh and are of Kuh, family members, friends, colleagues, events, residences, and artwork. Several of the photographs of Kuh were taken by Will Barnet and Marcel Breuer and there is a notable pair of photo booth portraits of Kuh and a young Ansel Adams.

There are also group photographs showing Angelica Archipenko with Kuh; designer Klaus Grabe; painters José Chavez Morado and Pablo O'Higgins in San Miguel, Mexico; Kuh at the Venice Biennale with friends and colleagues including Peggy Guggenheim, Frances Perkins, Daniel Catton Rich, and Harry Winston; and "The Pre-Depressionists" including Lorser Feitelson, Robert Inverarity, Helen Lundeberg, Arthur Millier, Myron Chester Nutting, and Muriel Tyler Nutting.

Photographs of exhibition installations and openings include views of the Katharine Kuh Gallery; Fernand Léger, Man Ray, and László Moholy-Nagy at the Art Institute of Chicago; and Philip Guston, Jimmy Ernst, Seymour H. Knox, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. There are also photographs depicting three men posing as Léger's "Three Musicians" and the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to the Art Institute of Chicago. There is a photograph by Peter Pollack of an elk skull used as a model by Georgia O'Keeffe.

Additional photographs of friends and colleagues include Ivan Albright, Alfred Barr, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Willem De Kooning, Edwin Dickinson, Marcel Duchamp, Claire Falkenstein, Alberto Giacometti, poet Robert Graves with Len Lye, Philip Johnson, Gyorgy and Juliet Kepes, Carlos Mérida, José Orozco, Hasan Ozbekhan, Pablo Picasso, Carl Sandberg, Ben Shahn, Otto Spaeth, Hedda Sterne, Adlai Stevenson, Clyfford Still, Mark Tobey, and composer Victor Young.

Photographs of artwork include totem poles in Alaska; work by various artists including Claire Falkenstein, Paul Klee, and Hedda Sterne; and work donated to the Guggenheim Museum.

Four audio recordings on cassette are of Katharine Kuh's lectures, including one about assembling corporate collections, and of Daniel Catton Rich reading his own poetry. There is also a recording of the Second Annual Dialogue between Broadcasters and Museum Educators.

Bio / His Notes:
Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) was an art consultant, curator, and critic working in Chicago and New York City.

Additional forms:
Portions of this collection are available on 35mm microfilm reels 265, 267, 2225-2227, and 2288 at Archives of American Art offices, and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the collection as described in this finding aid may not reflect the order of the collection on microfilm.

Cite as:
Katharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994, bulk 1930-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
extent12.1 linear ft
formatsBusiness Papers Personal Papers Correspondence Clippings Works of Art
accessUse of original papers requires an appointment. Entire collection (excluding art work from Art Institute of Chicago): Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires permission; obtain additional information from AAA Reference staff.
record linkhttps://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/AAA.kuhkath.pdf
record sourcehttps://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/katharine-kuh-papers-9951
finding aidonline and in repository
acquisition informationDonated 1971-1994 by Katharine Kuh and the Katharine Kuh estate. In addition, 147 works of art determined to have been made expressly for Kuh, or dedicated to her, were donated 1995 by the Art Institute of Chicago, which had received them from the Kuh estate along with other works of art in Kuh's collection. Loc. of Assoc. Material: Additional Katharine Kuh papers also located at: Yale University.
updated06/09/2023 15:39:51
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titleCharles Sheeler and Otto Spaeth, ca. 1953
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionSheeler and Otto Spaeth pictured with one of Sheeler's paintings. Handwritten note on verso reads: Otto and Sheeler with Sheeler that was in exhibition.

Bio / His Notes: Painter; Irvington on Hudson; New York.
extent1 photographic print : b&w ; 21 x 26 cm.
formatsPhotographs Electronic Resource
accessAvailable on the repository's website: http://sirismm.si.edu/aaa/newPOA/AAA_miscphot_8608.jpg.
record linkn/a
record sourcehttps://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/charles-sheeler-and-otto-spaeth-2544
acquisition informationPossibly donated by Eloise Spaeth, 1966. Microfilmed 1973 with Photographs of Artists Collection I and scanned in 2003.
updated07/25/2023 06:52:03
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