Business and Estate Records
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Davis, Gene, 1920-1985
setName: label: See more items in
content: Gene Davis papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.6 Linear Feet (Boxes 3-5, 17, OV 20)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1942-1990
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.davigene, Series 4
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Arrangement is alphabetical, with major headings grouping gallery, museum, and estate records. Additional material related to many of the transactions documented here, particularly related to sales and exhibitions, are found in series 2, Correspondence. Photographs of artwork and exhibitions are in series 7, Photographs.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Series contains business records related to Davis's art career, including records of artwork, prices, sales, contracts, financial and legal records, gallery and museum files, records related to the construction of Davis's home studio in 1970, and a few teaching records. In general, records from Davis's lifetime are found throughout the series and records created after Davis's death in 1985 are filed under Estate of Gene Davis. An exception is the Charles Cowles Gallery and Hokin Gallery files, which contain records of the estate inventory, sales, and loans. Records filed under Estate of Gene Davis mainly reflect Florence Davis's efforts to document the works of her husband, and to manage their exhibition, promotion, and sale after April 1985. Gallery files contain inventory lists, sales records, and some correspondence and span Davis's career. Museum files typically contain loan agreements, shipping records, insurance appraisals, records related to gifts and purchase of artwork, and invoices for artwork reproductions. Private sales include records of sales made directly by Davis to individual and corporate buyers, including his large-scale installation at Neiman Marcus in Boca Raton, Florida. Davis's exhibition Child and Man: A Collaboration (1983), which featured children's art juxtaposed with his own and curated by Washington Project for the Arts, is documented in a series of files for each of the five venues. The construction of Davis's home studio is documented with architectural drawings, correspondence, invoices, and 13 super 8 mm film reels shot by Davis.