Dorothy Dehner papers
name: label: Creator
content: Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994
label: Names
content: Philadelphia Art Alliance
label: Names
content: Willard Gallery
label: Names
content: Graham, John, 1887-1961
label: Names
content: Matulka, Jan, 1890-1972
label: Names
content: Smith, David, 1906-1965
topic: label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Authors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women sculptors
label: Topic
content: Women printmakers
label: Topic
content: Women authors
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Dorothy Dehner papers were donated from 1967-1987 in increments by Dorothy Dehner. Dehner also loaned material for microfilming between 1967 and 1977, some of which was subsequently donated. The art work in the collection most likely belonged to Garnett McCoy originally, and was included in the collection during processing in 2005.
creator: label: Creator
content: Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994
setName: label: See more items in
content: Dorothy Dehner papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of sculptor Dorothy Dehner measure 4 linear feet and date from 1920 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1987. The collection documents Dehner's life, work, and professional and personal relationships, with particular focus on her mid-to-late career. Papers include extensive correspondence, business and financial papers, sound recordings and transcripts of interviews, writings by Dehner and others, printed material documenting Dehner's career, scattered photographs, two etchings, and scattered personal papers and material relating to David Smith.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Dorothy Dehner was an abstract sculptor of the New York school who was also an accomplished painter, printmaker, author, and educator.

Dehner was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1901. Her father died when she was about ten and the family moved to Pasadena, California in 1915. After the death of her mother and sister, she was raised by her mother's sister, Aunt Florence. Dehner was exposed to art as a child, receiving instruction in drawing and painting. She studied drama for a year at UCLA in 1922-1923 before moving to New York with the intention of pursuing a theatrical career. In 1925, she traveled alone to Europe, where she visited Italy, Switzerland, and France and where she began to draw seriously.

Upon her return to New York, Dehner enrolled in the Art Students League intending to study sculpture, but, uninspired by the work of William Zorach's sculpture class, ended up studying drawing with Kimon Nicolaides instead. In 1926, she met fellow artist David Smith in the rooming house they shared. At her suggestion, he too enrolled in the Art Students League. In 1927, they were married.

At the League, Dehner and Smith studied with the modernist painter, Jan Matulka, and befriended Weber and Thomas Furlong, through whom they met the Russian painter and theoretician, John Graham. Graham introduced them to the avant-garde art world and had a profound influence on Dehner and Smith and their work. Other young artists they befriended at this time included Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, and Edgar and Lucille Corcos Levy. In 1929, after a visit to the Furlong's summer home in upstate New York, Dehner and Smith bought a farm in Bolton Landing, which became their permanent home in 1940 and was later named Terminal Iron Works. They spent eight months in the Virgin Islands, in 1931-1932, where Dehner painted abstract still lifes of shells and marine life. In the fall of 1935, they traveled to Europe, where they met up with Graham in Paris, spent five months in Greece, and toured the Soviet Union, with other stops along the way.

During her years at Bolton Landing (from 1940 to 1950), Dehner progressed in her work, producing a series of paintings titled Life on the Farm and embarking upon a series of abstract geometric drawings in ink and watercolor. In 1943, she had a joint exhibition with Smith at the Albany Institute of History and Art. Three years later, she participated in the annual exhibition of Audubon Artists and was awarded a first prize for drawing, and in 1948, she had her first one-woman show at Skidmore College. 

Dehner left Bolton Landing in 1950 (she was divorced from Smith two years later) and returned to school, earning her degree from Skidmore College in 1952. She moved back to New York City, and supported herself over the next several years by teaching at various schools, including the Barnard School for Girls. She had her first solo exhibition in the city at the Rose Fried Gallery in 1952, and studied engraving at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17. At this point, Dehner started making sculpture, first experimenting in wax and then casting her wax sculptures in bronze. In 1955, she began working at the Sculpture Center, and from this point on, focused mainly on sculpture with occasional forays in drawing and printmaking. In addition to works in bronze, she went on to create sculptures in wood (during the 1970s) and steel (during the 1980s).

In 1955, Dehner married the New York publisher, Ferdinand Mann. That same year, she joined the Willard Gallery, run by Marian Willard. She had her first exhibition of drawings there in 1955 (which led to a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago) and her first sculpture show there in 1957. Dehner continued to show at the Willard Gallery regularly until 1976. Over the next several decades, Dehner's work was frequently exhibited in solo and groups exhibitions at museums and galleries across the country, and was acquired for both public and private collections.

In addition to her art work, Dehner was also a published poet and writer. She wrote the foreword to the 1971 re-issue of John Graham's System and Dialectics of Art, and an essay on David Smith's "Medals for Dishonor," which was published in Art Journal in 1977. Two of her poems, "Past Tense" and "Two Lines," appeared in the journal Tracks in 1977.

Dehner continued to work into her nineties, and passed away in 1994.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1920-1987
label: Date
content: bulk 1951-1987
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.dehndoro
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The Dorothy Dehner papers are arranged into 8 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1935-1982 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1927-1987 (Boxes 1-3; 2.2 linear feet)

Series 3: Interviews and Transcripts, 1963-1981 (Boxes 3-4; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, 1920-1987 (Box 3; 0.25 linear feet)

Series 5: Business and Financial Records, 1940-1987 (Box 3; 0.25 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1940-1987 (Boxes 3, 5; OV 6; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Art Work, circa 1930s-circa 1960s (Box 5, OV 6; 0.05 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, 1930s-1986 (Box 5; 0.15 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The Dorothy Dehner papers were typically microfilmed in the order they were loaned and/or donated; material comprising the last donation made in 1987 was never microfilmed. Portions of the collection received a preliminary level of processing after dontaion. The microfilmed and unmicrofilmed portions were integrated, the collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Jennifer Meehan in 2005-2006 with funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The collection was further processed and prepared for digitization by Stephanie Ashley and was digitized in 2023 with funding provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and The Walton Family Foundation.
altformavail: label: Alternative Forms Available
content: The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2023 and is available on the Archives of American Art website. Items not digitized include duplicates, blank versos of photographs, and some printed material such as the full text of publications of which only covers, title pages, and relevant pages have been digitized.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of sculptor Dorothy Dehner measure 4 linear feet and date from 1920 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1987. The collection documents Dehner's life, work, and professional and personal relationships, with particular focus on her mid-to-late career. Papers include extensive correspondence, business and financial papers, sound recordings and transcripts of interviews, writings by Dehner and others, printed material documenting Dehner's career, scattered photographs, two etchings, and scattered personal papers and material relating to David Smith.

Comprising a series of biographical material are personal papers such as notes on Dehner's biography and career, a list of things taken from Bolton Landing, and material relating to David Smith including a copy of his last will and testament, a letter of introduction (dating from their trip to Europe in the mid-1930s), and a chronology of Smith's life.

Correspondence consists of numerous letters and enclosures concerning both professional and personal matters. Correspondents include artists, museums, galleries, art dealers, researchers, curators, friends, and relatives. Correspondence documents Dehner's various personal and professional relationships, the active role she played in promoting and exhibiting her art work, as well as the key role she played in fostering art historical research on David Smith, herself, and other artists of her era, and her many other creative activities, including her various writing efforts.

Interviews include sound recordings of four interviews with Dehner, and a recording of an interview conducted with her for a documentary on David Smith. Also found is a transcription of an interview for which there is no recording.

Writings shed light on other aspects of Dehner's creativity and concerns. Dehner's writings include poems, such as one dated from high school and drafts of poems published in Tracks); and various pieces on John Graham. These include versions of a memoir, which were published as a foreword to the re-issue of System and Dialectics of Art, and as an article in Leonardo). Also found are writings on David Smith, including articles recalling Dehner's first meeting with him, and on Smith's 1940 work "Medals for Dishonor;" lectures and speeches; and various writings on art and other topics. Writings by others include essays on Dehner by Joan Marter and Judith McCandless.


Dehner's business and financial records document transactions with various galleries and art organizations and include records of loans, exhibitions, and sales through files for the Parsons-Dreyfuss Gallery, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Willard Gallery, and others. The series also includes scattered records relating to personal business matters and finances, such as Dehner's lists of artwork loaned, exhibited, and sold, receipts, tax records, and exhibition visitor books.


Printed material includes exhibition catalogs and announcements for Dehner's group and solo shows, and clippings on Dehner and a few other artists including David Smith. Artwork consists of two etchings, and photographs include photographs of Dehner, her second husband Ferdinand Mann, John Graham, and various works of art. Also found is an abstract photograph by David Smith, dating from circa 1934.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Material
content: Other resources in the Archives relating to Dorothy Dehner include oral history interviews with Dehner, October 1965 and December 1966, and a photograph of Dehner by Dena, 1966.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Material
content: The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reels D298 (portions), D298A, 1269 (portions) and 1372, including photographs of Dorothy Dehner and David Smith, sketchbooks, correspondence between Dehner and Smith, an inventory, and some printed material. Loaned materials were returned to the lender after filming and are not described in the collection Container Listing.