Dwight Blaney papers
name: label: Creator
content: Blaney, Dwight, 1865-1944
label: Names
content: Benson, Frank Weston, 1862-1951
label: Names
content: Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Massachusetts
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Maine
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Benjamin Blaney, Blaney's grandson, in 1990. In 1993, slides from a family photo album depicting the Blaney family on a trip to Bermuda were donated by Jeffrey Brown, who purchased the original album from the David Blaney estate.
creator: label: Creator
content: Blaney, Dwight, 1865-1944
setName: label: See more items in
content: Dwight Blaney papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney measure 3.3 linear feet and date from circa 1883-1944, with twenty slides of a family album dated circa 1993. The bulk of the material dates from circa 1883 to the 1920s. The collection includes scattered personal papers including pencil and pen sketches by Blaney and his brother Henry Blaney; three of Blaney's notebooks on art history; printed material including exhibition catalogs for Blaney and others; a scrapbook of news clippings about John Singer Sargent and photographs of artwork by Sargent; photographs including images of Blaney and his home, John Breck and his studio, and a portrait of John Singer Sargent; and one hundred and ninety-nine glass plate negatives, primarily of Blaney's artwork and interiors of his homes. Also found are three glass plate negatives of paintings by John Singer Sargent, and one glass plate of Sargent seated on Blaney's boat painting Blaney, who is painting on the shore.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney (1865-1944), studied at the Boston Art School from 1886 to 1888, and in 1891 traveled to Europe where he met his future wife, Edith Hill, and spent two years sketching and working as a tour guide. Blaney married Hill on his return to the United States and the couple settled in Boston, but also had a home on Ironbound Island in Maine's Frenchman Bay. Over time the family acquired the entire island and John Singer Sargent and other painters came to visit and paint there in the summer months.

Blaney was known for his Impressionist paintings in oil and watercolor, including landscapes, snow scenes, genre, and city views. He often visited Bermuda and was artistically inspired by the houses and the landscape there. Blaney was also an art collector and owned one of Monet's Haystacks series, in addition to being an active member of the Walpole Society which collected Americana. Blaney filled his homes with antique furniture, silver, pewter, and other decorative objects. 

John Singer Sargent was a guest of the Blaneys on Ironbound Island in the early 1920s, and painted Blaney in The Artist Sketching (1922). He also painted Woods in Maine on the island the same year.

In addition to painting and collecting, Blaney was a malacologist with a serious interest in documenting marine mollusk species.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3.3 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1883-1944
label: Date
content: circa 1993
label: Date
content: bulk circa 1883-1920s
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.blandwig
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Works of art
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Prints
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as five series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, circa 1883-circa 1920s (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, OV 4)

Series 2: Notebooks, circa 1920s (0.4 linear feet; Box 2)

Series 3: Printed Material, 1883-1927, 1944 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3)

Series 4: Scrapbook on John Singer Sargent, 1920s (0.2 linear feet; BV 5)

Series 5: Photographic Material, circa 1880s-1920s, circa 1993 (Boxes 3, 6-10)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The glass plate negatives were re-housed in 2015 with a grant from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Stephanie Ashley in 2018.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney measure 3.3 linear feet and date from circa 1883-1944, with twenty slides of a family album dated circa 1993. The bulk of the material dates from circa 1883 to the 1920s. The collection includes scattered personal papers including pencil and pen sketches by Blaney and his brother Henry Blaney; three of Blaney's notebooks on art history; printed material including exhibition catalogs for Blaney and others; a scrapbook of news clippings about John Singer Sargent and photographs of artwork by Sargent; photographs including images of Blaney and his home, John Breck and his studio, and a portrait of John Singer Sargent; and one hundred and ninety-nine glass plate negatives, primarily of Blaney's artwork and interiors of his homes. Also found are three glass plate negatives of paintings by John Singer Sargent, and one glass plate of Sargent seated on Blaney's boat painting Blaney, who is painting on the shore.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: Benjamin Blaney loaned materials for microfilming in 1990. Originals of loaned material, including letters from artists such as John Singer Sargent and Frank Benson, twenty one volumes of sketchbooks, a notebook, a journal, and a scrapbook, were returned to Blaney after microfilming and were not subsequently donated. Loaned material is available on reels 4405-4407 but is not described in the container listing of this finding aid.