Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Buchholz Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
| title | Curt Valentin papers, 1937-1955. | repository | The Museum of Modern Art |
| description | The papers include Valentin's correspondence with the artists Paul Klee, Ludwig Kirchner, Hans Arp, Jacques Lipchitz, Gerhard Marcks, Lyonel Feininger, Max Beckmann, Alexander Calder, Mary Callery, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Marino Marini, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, and Pablo Picasso. There is also documentation relating to most of the exhibitions held at the Buchholz and Curt Valentin galleries. There is extensive correspondece with private collectors (including David Thomson and Douglas Cooper), other art dealers (Heinz Berggruen, Rolf Burgi, and D.-H. Kahnweiler), as well as institutions worldwide (museums, universities, etc.) which bought and borrowed art work from the Valentin Gallery. Biographical/historical note Curt Valentin was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1902. After completing his education, he became a dealer in modern art in Berlin. In 1934 he returned to Hamburg and worked in the Buchholz Gallery, owned by Karl Buchholz. This gallery comprised two businesses: a bookstore in the front, and, in the rear, an art gallery devoted to the modern art classified as "degenerate" by the Nazis. In 1937 Valentin emigrated to the U.S. with a sufficient number of modern German paintings to open a gallery under the Buchholz name in New York City. In 1951 the gallery was renamed the Curt Valentin Gallery. Widely respected as one of the most astute dealers in modern art, Valentin organized influential exhibitions and attracted major artists to his gallery. His enthusiasm for sculpture is revealed by the artists and exhibitions he selected. He also published several distinguished, limited-edition books in which the writings of poets and novelists were illustrated by a contemporary artists. Valentin died of a heart attact in Aug. 1954, while visiting Marino Marini in Italy. One year later the gallery was liquidated and some of the work from it was sold at a Parke-Bernet auction in Nov. 1955. Several of Valentin's artists, as well as his assistant, Jane Wade, joined the Otto Gerson Gallery, which, after Gerson's death in 1962, became the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery. Location MoMA Museum Archives Call Number Valentin papers |
| extent | 42 linear ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Photographs Financial Records |
| access | Access to the papers is restricted to serious scholars. Requests to consult the papers must be submitted in writing. |
| record link | http://www.moma.org/research/archives/EAD/Valentinf.html |
| record source | https://library.nyarc.org/permalink/01NYA_INST/ai54l4/alma991006755269707141 |
| finding aid | Finding aid available in the repository. |
| updated | 11/29/2022 15:49:50 |
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| title | Jane Wade papers regarding Curt Valentin, 1903-1971 | repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | 101 catalogs of exhibitions organized by Valentin at Galerie Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin, 1929, and at Buchholz Gallery in New York City, 1937-1948. Also found is one undated Christmas card. |
| extent | 0.4 linear ft. (on 1 microfilm reel) reel 5742 |
| formats | Exhibition Catalogs |
| access | Patrons must use microfilm copy. |
| record link | https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/AAA.wadejane.pdf |
| record source | https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/jane-wade-papers-regarding-curt-valentin-8601 |
| acquisition information | Donated 1977 by Jane Wade Lombard, a former employee of Valentin. |
| updated | 06/08/2023 16:42:15 |
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