Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Archives related to: Esman, Betty 1904-1996

titleBetty Esman papers, 1926-1980.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionPrimarily correspondence, mail art, and printed material documenting Esman's career and her personal and professional relationships with artists Ray Johnson, Rufino Tamayo, Jacques Lipchitz and others.

REEL 4861: Included are: a resume; letters, 1936-1979 from Ulla and Jacques Lipchitz, James Johnson Sweeney of the Guggenheim Museum, Ben Shahn, Chaim Gross, and museums, galleries, publishers, and associations regarding personal relationships, travel, exhibitions, and sales. One file on Rufino Tamayo contains letters from Tamayo to Esman and printed material, 1956-1971, and two files contain undated mail art from Ray Johnson to Esman and others. Printed material, 1932-1980, includes exhibition announcements and catalogs, clippings, and autographed Abraham Walkowitz exhibition catalogs, 1944-1950. Photographs, many taken by Vernon Samuels, Esman's husband, are of Esman, friends, artists and works of art. Original works of art include handpainted cards from Yasu Kobashi, 1970, 1976 and undated, and an undated woodcut print by Tamayo.

ADDITION: A resume; five figure drawings by Esman, 1926-1928 and ca. 1939-1945; photographs, including 7 of Esman with Jacques Lipchitz and his family taken by Samuels, 3 of the old sculpture garden at MoMA, a signed photograph of Tamayo, 2 of Esman in her studio, and 2 of other artists taken by Samuels. Also included are a signed exhibition catalog, "Rufino Tamayo: Myth and Magic, and an article on Mexico's Tamayo Museum, Smithsonian Magazine, August 1975.
extent0.4 linear ft. (microfilmed on 1 partial reel) Addition: 0.2 linear ft. reel 4861
formatsCorrespondence Exhibition Catalogs Clippings Photographs
accessMicrofilmed portion must be consulted on microfilm. Use of unmicrofilmed portion requires an appointment and is limited to Washington, D.C. storage facility.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
acquisition informationMaterial on reel 4861 donated 1986-1989 by Esman; it was microfilmed in 1994 with funding provided by the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund. The remainder was donated October 1994 by Esman.
updated03/16/2023 10:29:50
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titleArist File: Esman, Betty
repositoryNational Portrait Gallery Library
descriptionFolder(s) may include exhibition announcements, newspaper and/or magazine clippings, press releases, brochures, reviews, invitations, illustrations, resumes, artist's statements, exhibition catalogs.
extent1+ folders (check with repository)
formatsEphemera
accessFolder(s) do not circulate. Folder(s) available for use only at the holding library
record sourcehttp://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Art-Design/artandartistfiles/
updated11/12/2014 11:30:05
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