Mercury Galleries records
name: label: Creator
content: Mercury Galleries (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Anton, Harold
label: Names
content: Ben-Zion, 1897–1987
label: Names
content: Harris, Louis, 1902-1970
label: Names
content: Kerkam, Earl, 1891-1965
label: Names
content: Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
topic: label: Topic
content: Abstract expressionism
label: Topic
content: Surrealism
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Bernard B. Braddon, co-owner of Mercury Galleries, in 1981.
creator: label: Creator
content: Mercury Galleries (New York, N.Y.)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Mercury Galleries records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The records of Mercury Galleries measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1943. The collection sheds light on the gallery's brief existence through correspondence, printed material including exhibition catalogs, announcements, press releases, and newspaper clippings, photographs of artwork, one transcript from a radio discussion, and flyers from WPA art tours.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Mercury Galleries was established in 1938 in New York, New York, by Sidney Paul Schectman (also known as Paul Kollmer) and Bernard Braddon. The gallery exhibited contemporary drawings, paintings, and sculptures and was known for its abstract expressionist and surrealist art shows.

Cornell graduates Schectman and Braddon opened Artmart Galleries in late 1937 in the loft of a building owned by family. They priced contemporary art between $5 and $50 regardless of who created it and any artist could exhibit and sell their original work there for a fee. Artists who exhibited there included Cleo Hartwig, Stanley William Hayer, and many more. Schectman and Braddon repeated this business model at Mercury Galleries the following year, and later organized the Circuit Art Association using the same idea.

Located in close proximity to the Whitney Museum, Mercury held The Ten: Whitney Dissenters (1938), featuring artists Adolph Gottlieb, Ralph Rosenborg, Mark Rothkowitz (Rothko), Ben-Zion, Joe Solman, Nahum Tschacbasov, Lou Schanker, Louis Harris, Earl Kerkam (guest), and Ilya Bolotowsky. Schectman, Braddon, and Louis Harris (a member of The Ten) broadcast a radio discussion titled "What's Wrong with American Art," in support of the show. The exhibition catalog foreword was written jointly by Schectman, Braddon, and Rothko. 

Another notable Mercury Galleries group show was Visions of Other Worlds (circa 1937-1940), with works by surrealist painters Joan Miro, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst and others, African sculpture, and drawings by patients of psychiatric institutions in France. Schectman and Braddon were introduced to African art through visiting exhibitions and by the collector Ladislos Segy.

In addition to those mentioned above, other artists exhibited at Mercury during its short existence included Henri Matisse, Zoltan Hecht, Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dali, poet Rachel Mack Wilson, Hananiah Harari, and John Rood.

The gallery closed in 1940.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.2 Linear feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1937-1943
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mercgall
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Christopher DeMairo in 2022.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Portions of the collection are available on 35mm microfilm reels 3890 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The records of Mercury Galleries measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1943. The collection sheds light on the gallery's brief existence through printed material including exhibition catalogs, announcements, press releases, and newspaper clippings, correspondence with artists, museums, and galleries, photographs of artwork, one transcript from a radio discussion, and flyers from WPA art tours.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Bernard Braddon and Sidney Paul Schectman conducted by Avis Berman, October 9, 1981.