Eva Lee Gallery records
name: label: Creator
content: Eva Lee Gallery
label: Names
content: Korvettes
label: Names
content: New Art Circle
label: Names
content: Albers, Josef
label: Names
content: Benn, Ben, 1884-
label: Names
content: Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975
label: Names
content: Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976
label: Names
content: Christo, 1935-
label: Names
content: Corinth, Lovis, 1858-1925
label: Names
content: Cornell, Joseph
label: Names
content: Dalí, Salvador, 1904-1989
label: Names
content: Feininger, Lyonel, 1871-1956
label: Names
content: Grosz, George, 1893-1959
label: Names
content: Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943
label: Names
content: Hopkins, John
label: Names
content: Indiana, Robert, 1928-2018
label: Names
content: Lee, Eva, 1924-1973
label: Names
content: Lieberman, Harry, 1880-1983
label: Names
content: Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973
label: Names
content: Loewe, Frederick
label: Names
content: Magritte, René, 1898-1967
label: Names
content: Marin, John, 1870-1953
label: Names
content: Mommer, Paul
label: Names
content: Nesbitt, Lowell, 1933-1993
label: Names
content: Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber)
label: Names
content: Odets, Clifford, 1906-1963
label: Names
content: Ritchie, Andrew Carnduff
label: Names
content: Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969
label: Names
content: Simpson, Merton D. (Merton Daniel), 1928-
label: Names
content: Valentin, Curt, 1902-1954
label: Names
content: Vasarely, Victor, 1906-1997
label: Names
content: Weber, Max, 1881-1961
topic: label: Topic
content: Works of art
label: Topic
content: Women art dealers
label: Topic
content: Pop art
label: Topic
content: Surrealism
label: Topic
content: Modernism (Art)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Eva Lee Gallery records were donated in 1973 by Eva Lee through Eloise Spaeth, and in 1978 by Neal Richmond of the Paul Klapper Library, Queens College, Flushing, New York, who had been asked to disperse Lee's gallery records following her sudden death in 1973. A photocopy of the Korvettes Art Galleries Auction Catalog was donated by Eva Lee in 1970.

Lee's records also contained financial files belonging to art dealer J. B. Neumann and his New Art Circle Gallery, whose estate she had worked on in 1966.
creator: label: Creator
content: Eva Lee Gallery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Eva Lee Gallery records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The scattered records of the New York contemporary American art Eva Lee Gallery measure 4.0 linear feet and date from 1921-1973. Artist files contain provenance notes, photographs of artwork, records of sales and consignments, exhibition catalogs from other galleries, and reference information on numerous contemporary artists, many represented by the gallery. There are also scattered letters and artwork from artists, scattered sales records of J.B. Neuman's New Art Circle Gallery, and a photocopy of an auction catalog for Korvettes Art Galleries in Douglastan, New York. A significant amount of information is found within the collection about Alexander Calder, Lovis Corinth, Salvadore Dali, Lyonel Feininger, George Grosz, Robert Indiana, Harry Lieberman, Rene Magritte, John Marin, Lowell Nesbitt, Ben Shahn, Victor Vasarely, and Max Weber.
bioghist: label: Historical Note
content: Eva Lee was born circa 1924. She fled from Nazi Germany to the United States, where she founded Eva Lee Gallery, Inc in 1959. Located in Great Neck, New York, the Eva Lee Gallery specialized in modern art and handled the work of many prominent artists including Alexander Calder, Lyonel Feininger, George Grosz, Marsden Hartley, Jacob Lawrence, Ben Shahn, and Max Weber. The gallery was in operation through the first half of 1973.

Eva Lee died suddenly on November 4, 1973 in Terre Haute, Indiana, while undergoing unspecified medical treatment.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1921-1973
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.evalee
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Watercolor drawings
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 5 series:

Series 1: General Artist Files, 1923-1972 (Boxes 1-2; 1.3 linear feet)

Series 2: Notebooks of Artist Files, 1929-1973 (Boxes 2-3; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 3: Financial Artist Files, 1921-1970 (Boxes 3-4; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 4: Eva Lee Gallery Consignment and Sales Artist Files, 1960-1972 (Box 4; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 5: Photocopy of Korvettes Art Galleries Auction Catalog, 1970 (Box 4; 1 folder)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The papers received a preliminary level of arrangement after donation and the Korvettes Art Galleries Auction Catalog was microfilmed onto reel 2. In 2007, the collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Jean Fitzgerald. The collection was digitized in 2015 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
altformavail: label: Alternative Forms Available
content: The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2015 and is available on the Archives of American Art's website. Materials which have not been scanned include blank pages, blank versos of photographs, and duplicates. In some cases, exhibition catalogs and other publications have had their covers, title pages, and relevant pages scanned.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Watercolor drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The scattered records of the New York contemporary American art Eva Lee Gallery measure 4.0 linear feet and date from 1921-1973. Artist files contain provenance notes, photographs of artwork, records of sales and consignments, exhibition catalogs from other galleries, and reference information on numerous contemporary artists, many represented by the gallery. There are also scattered letters and artwork from artists, scattered sales records of J.B. Neumann's New Art Circle Gallery, and a photocopy of an auction catalog for Korvettes Art Galleries in Douglastan, New York. 

The records are comprised of artists' files arranged into four categories established by the gallery: general artists' files; notebooks of artists' files; financial artists' files; and consignment and sales artists' files. General artists' files contain background and reference information on numerous contemporary artists, performers, and art-related organizations. More information exists for Alexander Calder and Harry Lieberman than the other names represented in the general files. Lee also arranged provenance notes and photographs of artwork into notebooks, presumably including many of the artists represented by the gallery. There is a significant amount of material in the notebooks on Alexander Calder, Robert Indiana, Lowell Nesbitt, Ben Shahn, Victor Vasarely, and Max Weber. 

Financial artists' files contain correspondence with artists and patrons concerning the sale of artwork by both the Eva Lee Gallery and J. B. Neumann of the New Art Circle Gallery, scattered artwork, printed material, photographs of artists, and checks signed by Neumann and endorsed by miscellaneous artists. Eva Lee worked on the estate of J. B. Neumann and collected and interspersed his files with her own. These files include letters from Josef Albers, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander Calder, Christo, Joseph Cornell, Robert Indiana, and a postcard of Calder's studio from Ben Shahn. There are also watercolor sketches by Clifford Odets, an exhibition catalog autographed by Ben Shahn, and photographs of Marsden Hartley, Jacques Lipchitz, composer Frederick Loewe, Paul Mommer, Mert Simpson, and Curt Valentin with Andrew Ritchie. 

Eva Lee Gallery artists' consignment and sales files primarily contain photographs of artwork and notes concerning sales of specific artwork by the Eva Lee Gallery. Also found in these sales files are scattered letters, receipts, and printed material. There is a significant amount of material for Ben Benn, Alexander Calder, Lovis Corinth, Salvadore Dali, Lyonel Feininger, George Grosz, Marsden Hartley, John Hopkins, Rene Magritte, and John Marin. It is assumed that Eva Lee separated the two latter sets of artists' files containing sales records.

Also found in the collection is a photocopy of the Korvettes Art Galleries auction catalog, which lists artwork sold at a 1970 auction liquidating the holdings of the Douglaston, New York gallery.