Catherine Viviano Gallery records
name: label: Creator
content: Catherine Viviano Gallery
label: Names
content: American Academy of Arts and Letters
label: Names
content: American Federation of Arts
label: Names
content: Art Club of Chicago
label: Names
content: Art Institute of Chicago
label: Names
content: Barnes Foundation
label: Names
content: Brooklyn Museum
label: Names
content: Carnegie Institute
label: Names
content: City Art Museum of St. Louis
label: Names
content: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
label: Names
content: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts
label: Names
content: Des Moines Art Center
label: Names
content: Detroit Institute of Arts
label: Names
content: Fogg Art Museum
label: Names
content: Harvard University
label: Names
content: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
label: Names
content: Los Angeles County Museum
label: Names
content: Mary Washington College
label: Names
content: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
label: Names
content: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
label: Names
content: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
label: Names
content: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
label: Names
content: Philadelphia Art Alliance
label: Names
content: Santa Barbara Museum of Art
label: Names
content: University of Virginia
label: Names
content: Wadsworth Atheneum
label: Names
content: Walker Art Center
label: Names
content: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts
label: Names
content: World House Galleries
label: Names
content: Yale University. Art & Architecture Library
label: Names
content: Afro, 1912-1976
label: Names
content: Ashton, Dore
label: Names
content: Baker, Richard Brown
label: Names
content: Bareiss, Walter
label: Names
content: Barker, Walter
label: Names
content: Birolli, Renato, 1905?-1959
label: Names
content: Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-1979
label: Names
content: Broderson, Robert M, 1920-
label: Names
content: Callery, Mary, 1903-1977
label: Names
content: Chaet, Bernard
label: Names
content: Cox, Jan, 1919-1980
label: Names
content: Dorazio, Piero, 1927-
label: Names
content: Dorazio, Virginia Dortch
label: Names
content: Dubuffet, Jean, 1901-
label: Names
content: Dudensing, F. Valentine, 1892-1967
label: Names
content: Eisendrath, William N., 1903-
label: Names
content: Ernst, Dallas
label: Names
content: Faison, S. Lane (Samson Lane), 1907-2006
label: Names
content: Fleischman, Barbara
label: Names
content: Fleischman, Lawrence A. (Lawrence Arthur), 1925-1997
label: Names
content: Genauer, Emily, 1910-2002
label: Names
content: Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966
label: Names
content: Glasco, Joseph, 1925-1996
label: Names
content: Goodhue, Bertram Grosvenor, 1869-1924
label: Names
content: Graves, Morris, 1910-2001
label: Names
content: Guerrero, José, 1914-
label: Names
content: Göpel, Barbara
label: Names
content: Göpel, Erhard
label: Names
content: Hirschhorn, Joseph
label: Names
content: Lerner, Abe, 1908-
label: Names
content: Ludgin, Earle, 1898-1981
label: Names
content: Mabe, Manabu
label: Names
content: Manrique, César, 1920-
label: Names
content: McCray, Porter A., 1908-2000
label: Names
content: Meltzer, Doris, 1908-1977
label: Names
content: Menil, Dominique de
label: Names
content: Miller, Stephen Robeson
label: Names
content: Minguzzi, Luciano, 1911-
label: Names
content: Miró, Joan, 1893-
label: Names
content: Morlotti, Ennio, 1910-1992
label: Names
content: Moyens, H. Marc
label: Names
content: Myers, John Bernard
label: Names
content: Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990
label: Names
content: Perlin, Bernard, 1918-
label: Names
content: Price, Vincent, 1911-1993
label: Names
content: Pulitzer, Joseph, 1913-1993
label: Names
content: Rathbone, Perry Townsend, 1911-2000
label: Names
content: Ribicoff, Belle Krasne, 1924-
label: Names
content: Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979
label: Names
content: Rosenthal, Bernard M.
label: Names
content: Sage, Kay
label: Names
content: Seeger, Stanley J.
label: Names
content: Shapiro, Meyer
label: Names
content: Stout, George L. (George Leslie)
label: Names
content: Tanning, Dorothea, 1910-2012
label: Names
content: Valentin, Curt, 1902-1954
label: Names
content: Van Veen, Stuyvesant
label: Names
content: Viviano, Catherine, 1899-1992
label: Names
content: Wakabayashi, Kazuo
label: Names
content: Yunkers, Adja, 1900-1983
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art dealers -- New York (State)
label: Topic
content: Women art dealers
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting
label: Topic
content: Sculpture
label: Topic
content: Painting
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Catherine Viviano Gallery records were donated in 2003 on behalf of Margaret Viviano, Catherine Viviano's sister, by her grandnephew, Peter C. Salerno, who had Power of Attorney for Margaret Viviano.
creator: label: Creator
content: Catherine Viviano Gallery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Catherine Viviano Gallery records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Catherine Viviano (1889-1992) opened her gallery in 1949 on 42 East 57th Street in New York City. Specializing in contemporary American paintings and sculpture, the gallery featured younger American and European artists, e.g., Robert Broderson, Carlyle Brown, Jan Cox, Joseph Glasco, Peter Lanyon, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Bernard Perlin, Joseph Rollo, Bernard Rosenthal, and Kay Sage, among others. The gallery was also notable for introducing the work of Italian artists, who had been cut off from the American art scene during World War II, including Afro Basaldella and his brother Mirko Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Leonardo Cremonini, and Luciano Minguzzi.

Born in Italy and raised in Chicago, Catherine Viviano came to New York in the early 1930s to work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, where she remained for sixteen years before founding the Catherine Viviano Gallery. Catherine Viviano closed her gallery in 1970, though she continued to work from her home as an art dealer and consultant.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 11.6 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1930-1990
label: Date
content: bulk 1949-1978
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.cathvivi
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Notes
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Records are generally arranged by material type and in chronological order thereafter. Artists' files and correspondence files are arranged in alphabetical order and materials within the folders are arranged chronologically

The collection is arranged as 5 series:

Series 1: Artists' Files, 1945-1986 (Boxes 1-3; 3.5 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1985 (Boxes 3-6; 5.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Business Records, 1949-1972 (Boxes 10-11; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1930-1990 (Boxes 11-13; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 5: Photographs (1948-1954), undated (Box 14; 1 folder)
processinfo: label: Processing Information note
content: The collection was processed by Joy Weiner in 2010.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: The records of the Catherine Viviano Gallery measure 11.6 linear feet and date from 1930-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1949-1978. Established in New York City in 1949, the gallery specialized in contemporary painting and sculpture primarily by American and European artists. The collection consists of artists' files; correspondence with artists, collectors, dealers, museum directors, curators, and publishers; business records; printed material; and photographs of artwork and artists. Also included are records relating to Catherine Viviano's activities as a private dealer and consultant after she closed the gallery in 1970.

Artists' files include biographical material; artists' statements; correspondence; sales and expense reports; lists and notes; guest lists; writings by others; receipts, invoices, and statements; printed material, including press releases, exhibition announcements, brochures, catalogues, clippings; and photographs of artwork and artists. Included are extensive files on Afro Basaldella, Renato Birolli, Robert Broderson, Anselmo Franesconi, Joseph Glasco, Manabu Mabe, César Manrique, Luciano Minguzzi, Ennio Morlotti, Bernard Perlin, Daniel Rice, and Bernard Rosenthal. There are also files on Jan Cox, Kay Sage, and Kazuo Wakabayashi.

Correspondence comprises the largest series in the collection and consists of general correspondence; correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States; and correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad. Letters focus on routine business matters, e.g., appraisals and sales, acquisitions, and organizing exhibitions at the Catherine Viviano Gallery and other venues.

General correspondence includes letters between Catherine Viviano and artists and their family members. Among the correspondents are: Mary Callery, Bernard Chaet, Piero and Virginia Dorazio, Jean Dubuffet, Dallas Ernst, Karl Fortress, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Sage Goodwin, Morris Graves, José Guerrero, Earle Ludgin, Joan Miro, Alfonso Ossorio, Dorothea Tanning, Stuyvesant Van Veen, Adja Yunkers and his wife, Dore Ashton, among others. Also found is Viviano's correspondence with clients, many of whom were prominent collectors, e.g., Richard Brown Baker, Carl and Joan Fisher, Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman, Joseph Hirschhorn, Marc Moyens, Vincent Price, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, Stanley Seeger, and Frederick and Dorothy Zimmerman. Of interest, are letters from Elizabeth Bishop inquiring about the purchase of a work of art from the gallery. Included are letters from art historians, museum directors, curators, representatives at other art-related institutions, and publishers including Walter Bareiss, Walter Barker, Dominque De Menil, Valentine Dudensing, William Eisendrath, S. Lane Faison, Emily Genauer, Bertram Goodhue, Erhard and Barbara Göpel, James Laughlin, Porter McCray, Abram Lerner, Doris Meltzer, Stephen Robson Miller, John Bernard Myers, Perry Rathbone, Belle Krasne Ribicoff, Meyer Shapiro, George Stout, and Curt Valentin.

Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions in the United States contains letters between Viviano and museum directors, curators, dealers, artists, and collectors pertaining to loans, shipping and delivery of artwork, appraisals and sales, and acquisitions. Files include substantive correspondence with the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Federation of the Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, the Barnes Foundation, Bristol Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Bundy Art Gallery, Carnegie Institute, City Art Museum of St. Louis, Cleveland Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Denver Art Museum, Des Moines Art Center, Detroit Institute of Arts, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Museum of Modern Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Wadsworth Atheneum, Walker Art Center, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Atkins Museum of the Fine Arts, World House Gallery, and Yale University Art Library.

Correspondence with museums, galleries, and art-related institutions abroad primarily concerns the lending of artwork for exhibitions, acquisition and sales; also included are letters requesting biographical information on artists. Letters between Catherine Viviano and representatives of Max Beckmann Gesellschaft Archiv and Galerie Gunther Franke contain provenance-related information on Beckmann's work.

Business records document the routine business operations of the gallery. Printed material includes an incomplete run of Catherine Viviano Gallery exhibition catalogues; invitations and announcements from other galleries and institutions; and miscellaneous printed material.

Photographs include three images of miscellaneous artwork used for art reference.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Archival Materials note
content: Among the other resources relating to Catherine Viviano Gallery in the Archives of American Art are the Kay Sage papers, 1925-circa 1985, bulk 1950-1965.