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INVENTORY OF THE MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS REGARDING AMBROISE
VOLLARD, 1890-1939, bulk 1890-1910
2001.M.24
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Title: Miscellaneous papers
regarding Ambroise Vollard
Dates: 1890-1939
Dates: 1890-1910
Collection number: 2001.M.24
Collector:
Getty
Research Library
Extent:
6 linear feet (11
boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Libary
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Abstract: Collection comprises original and photocopied
letters and records related to the French art dealer Ambroise Vollard and the
artists he represented.
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Language: Collection
material is in French.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Miscellaneous papers regarding Ambroise Vollard, 1890-1939, bulk
1890-1910, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no.
2001.M.24.
The collection was assembled from various sources by Gerrard White,
who also made the transcriptions in the collection. Acquired by the Getty
Research Library in 2004.
Processed by J. Gibbs and Lily Tsukahira.
Biographical / Historical Note
Ambroise Vollard, the pioneer French art dealer, patron and publisher, can be said to
be the first of the ‘modern’ art dealers. Malcolm Gee calls Vollard the “most
notable contemporary art dealer of his generation in France.” Born 1867 in
Réunion, he moved to Paris to study law in 1890 and soon began buying and
selling prints and drawings. After working at L'Union Artistique for Alphonse
Dumas, Vollard set up his own business and in 1894 opened a gallery near the
Opéra on the Rue Laffitte, then the center of the Paris art business.
Vollard organized Cézanne's first one-man exhibit and, as was his
habit, bought works directly from the artist, building a collection of enormous
value. He also bought work from van Gogh, Gauguin, Bonnard, Denis, Redon,
Vuillard, Derain, Rouault, Vlaminck, Rousseau, Picasso, Maillol, and Matisse,
often holding back the work for years to take advantage of rising prices.
Vollard is also known for his print publishing business (1890s through
1900) and for establishing the genre of the illustrated art book (livre
d'artiste). After 1915 Vollard launched over 40 publishing
projects with artists, many of which were incomplete when he died in 1939.
Vollard wrote several books on artists (Cézanne, Renoir, Degas, among them) as
well as his memoir, published in English with the title
Recollections of a Picture Dealer (1936,
1978).
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection comprises original and photocopied letters and records
related to the art dealer Ambroise Vollard and the artists he represented. Also
included are transcriptions of photocopied materials.
Included are: 83 items of correspondence, 3 documents, 18 b&w
photographs, 12 publications, 1 sketchbook, 2 watercolors, and 1 lithograph.
The photocopies of stockbooks, account books, and correspondence, were made
from original materials, some of which are now in the Musee D'Orsay. The
transcriptions were made by Gerrard White from the photocopies.
Correspondence centers on artists Paul Gauguin, Georges Rouault,
Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Daniel de
Monfreid, Henri Gabriel Ibels, and Maurice Denis; prominent critics such as
Felix Feneon, Roger Marx, Andre Mellerio, Gabriel Mourey, and Jules Laforgue;
dealers such as Vollard, Edouard Kleinmann, and Durand Ruel; collectors such as
Chaudet, Gabriel Frizeau, and Alexandre Natanson; publishers such as Floury and
Marty; and the print dealer André Clot.
This collection was assembled by Gerrard White from various sources
including Maurice Malingue, the family of André Mellerio, Baron Benys Cochin,
the heirs of André Clot, John Rewald, and Vollard heir Lucien Sébastien.
Arrangement
Arranged in 5 series:
Correspondence concerning Paul Gauguin, 1897-1917
Other correspondence, 1891-1939
Correspondence regarding Vollard's painters and the art
market, 1887-1924
Ambroise Vollard dealer's records and related records in
other repositories, ca. 1894-1935
Catalogues, monographs and exhibition documentation
Bonnard, Pierre
Clot, André
Denis, Maurice,
1870-1943
Frizeau,
Gabriel
Fénéon, Félix,
1861-1944
Floury, Henri
Gauguin, Paul,
1848-1903
Ibels, Henri-Gabriel,
1867-1936
Kleinmann,
Edouard
Laforgue, Jules
Marty, Andre,
1857-
Marx, Roger
Mellerio, André, b.
1862
Monfreid, Daniel de,
1856-1929
Mourey, Gabriel,
1865-1943
Natanson, Alexandre, d.
1936
Rouault, Georges,
1871-1958
Steinlen, Théophile
Alexandre, 1859-1923
Vollard, Ambroise,
1867-1939
Galerie
Durand-Ruel
Galerie Vollard
Art—Collectors and
collecting—History
Art—Marketing—History
Art
dealers—France—Paris
Artists—France—Paris
Artists' illustrated books
Collectors and
collecting—France—History
Letters
(correspondence)
Photographic
prints
Photographs,
Original
Prints
Monfreid, Daniel de,
1856-1929
Steinlen, Théophile
Alexandre, 1859-1923
Vollard, Ambroise,
1867-1939
Vuillard, Edouard,
1868-1940