Linda Farris Gallery records
name: label: Creator
content: Linda Farris Gallery
label: Creator
content: Farris, Linda, 1944-2005
label: Names
content: Barry, Lynda, 1956-
label: Names
content: Bruskin, Grisha, 1945-
label: Names
content: Clough, Charles, 1951-
label: Names
content: Landfield, Ronnie, 1947-
label: Names
content: Luce, Charles, 1947-
label: Names
content: Lucero, Michael, 1953-
label: Names
content: Markovitz, Sherry
label: Names
content: Nevelson, Louise (1899-1988)
label: Names
content: Noah, Barbara
label: Names
content: Pepper, Beverly
topic: label: Topic
content: Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
label: Topic
content: Art -- Washington (State) -- Exhibitions
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Washington (State) -- Seattle
label: Topic
content: Artists -- Northwestern States
label: Topic
content: Transcripts
label: Topic
content: Women art dealers
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Linda Farris Gallery records were donated to the Archives of American Art by owner Linda Farris in 1995 at the time she closed the gallery.
creator: label: Creator
content: Linda Farris Gallery
label: Creator
content: Farris, Linda, 1944-2005
setName: label: See more items in
content: Linda Farris Gallery records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The records of Seattle's avant-garde Linda Farris Gallery measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1969-1995.  The bulk of the records consist of artists' and exhibition files.  Also found are gallery business correspondence, administrative files, event files, reference files, records of sales, scattered legal files, the personal papers of gallery owner Linda Farris, and printed materials.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: The Linda Farris Gallery was Seattle's leading venue for contemporary art during its twenty-five years of operation.  

Linda Farris opened Gallery East in Bellevue in 1970, and a year later moved to Pioneer Square in Seattle, changing the name to Linda Farris Gallery in 1973.  The gallery continued to present contemporary art there until closing in December 1995.  Art dealer Linda Farris began representing a group of promising artists, all graduates of the University of Washington.  Greg Kucera of the Greg Kucera Gallery noted in an article for the Seattle Weekly, "Their work could be loosely seen as a movement, complete with aesthetic interrelationships, convenient marriages, an unintelligible manifesto in the form of Dennis Evans' quirky pronouncements…"  From the same article he states, "Her avant-garde gallery changed forever the nature of being an art dealer in Seattle."   It was among the three or four most influential galleries in the Pacific Northwest.  

The gallery held exhibitions of many nationally known contemporary artists, including Sam Francis, Louise Nevelson, and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as Northwest artists Jeffrey Bishop, Dennis Evans, Sherry Markovitz, Nancy Mee, Norie Sato, and Patti Warashina.  The latter group started with the gallery and remained loyal at the time of its closing in 1995.  

Art dealer, collector and free-lance curator Linda Bloch Farris (1944-2005), a native of San Francisco and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (1966), was an active participant in and style setter for the Seattle art world for the twenty-five years she was in business.  As a member of the art community she actively supported the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, Pilchuck Glass School, and Seattle Art Museum's Contemporary Art Council, and served on the boards of directors of Henry Art Gallery and Factory Visual Arts.  Farris curated "Eight Seattle Artists" in 1981 for the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art and "Self Portraits" in 1983 for the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.  She also led the movement to keep Henry Moore's "Vertebrae" from leaving Seattle, and instituted a series of talks, panel discussions, performances, and tours in her gallery, and in and around Seattle.       

This note draws heavily on the Archives of American Art's West Coast Regional Collector Paul Karlstrom's collection description written upon acquisition of the papers.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- Washington (State)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 11.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1969-1995
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.lindfarr
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Lectures
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Visitors' books
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 8 series.

Series 1:  Correspondence, 1975-1991, undated (Box 1; .7 linear feet)

Series 2:  Administrative files, 1970-1995, undated (Box 1-2, 14; 1 linear feet)

Series 3:  Artists and Exhibition files, 1969-1995, undated (Box 2-9, 15; 6.6 linear feet)

Series 4:  Events files, 1971-1990, undated (Box 9, 14; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 5:  Reference files, 1969-1994, undated (Box 9-10; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 6:  Financial, Sales and Legal files, 1970-1995 (Box 10; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 7:  Linda Farris Papers, 1972-1995 (Box 10-11; .9 linear feet)

Series 8:  Printed Materials, 1970-1995 (Box 11, 14; 0.5 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed to a minimal level and a finding aid was prepared by Valerie Vanden Bossche in 2013 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care Pool Fund.  The Archives of American Art has implemented minimal processing tactics when possible in order to increase information about and access to more of our collections.  Minimal processing included arrangement to the series, subseries and folder levels according to the original order.  Generally, items within folders were simply verified with folder titles, but not arranged further.  The collection was rehoused in archival containers and folders, but not all staples and clips were removed.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Lectures
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Visitors' books
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The records of Seattle's avant-garde Linda Farris Gallery measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1969-1995.  The bulk of the records consist of artists' and exhibition files.  Also found are gallery business correspondence, administrative files, event files, reference files, records of sales, scattered legal files, the personal papers of gallery owner Linda Farris, and printed materials.
  
Business correspondence is with galleries, dealers, publishers, museums, and other businesses.  Administrative files are varied and include advertising and promotion materials, exhibition schedules, mailing lists, guest books, a scrapbook, and gallery history.  

Artists' files are found for many contemporary American artists that interested Linda Farris or were represented by the gallery. The contents of each file vary but many include photographs and slides, writings, correspondence, and printed materials.  Files for Lynda Barry, Grisha Brusking, Charles Clough, Ronnie Landfield, Charles Luce, Michael Lucerno, Sherry Markovitz, Louise Nevelson, Barbara Noah, and Beverly Pepper are particularly rich. Exhibition files are for Linda Farris Gallery exhibitions and include printed materials, correspondence, loan and consignment agreements, and photographs. 

Event files cover anniversary celebrations, lectures, panel discussions, and receptions.  There are 17 sound cassette recordings of "Art Now" lectures and "Focus" panel discussions.   Scattered reference files contain collected materials on subjects of interest to the gallery.  There are scattered financial, sales, and legal files.  Sales records cover 1970-1979.  

Linda Farris' personal papers contain printed materials about her and the gallery and other materials concerning her professional and curatorial work outside of the gallery.  There is also a transcript of an oral history with Farris and a news interview. 

Photographs are scattered throughout adminstrative files, exhibition files, event files, and Linda Farris' personal papers.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: An oral history interview with Linda Farris conducted in 1975 by Sally Swenson, is located in the University of Washington University Libraries Digital Collections.