Guild Art Gallery records
name: label: Creator
content: Guild Art Gallery
label: Names
content: Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948
label: Names
content: Lefranc, Margaret, 1907-1998
label: Names
content: Menkes, Sigmund, 1896-1986
label: Names
content: Ney, Lloyd Raymond, 1893-1964 or 5
label: Names
content: Walinska, Anna, 1906-1997
topic: label: Topic
content: Women art dealers
label: Topic
content: Jewish artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Margaret Lefranc, co-founder of the Guild Art Gallery, donated the records to the Archives of American Art in 1981.
creator: label: Creator
content: Guild Art Gallery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Guild Art Gallery records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The records of New York's Guild Art Gallery measure 1.0 linear feet and date from circa 1933-1937. Records document the operation of the gallery for the duration of its existence from August 1935-1937, through correspondence, including some with artists, exhibition files, business and financial records, printed material, a scrapbook, a sketch by Anna Walinska, and photographs of artwork and the gallery.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Founded by painter Anna Walinska (1906-1997) and painter and illustrator Margaret Lefranc (1907-1998), the Guild Art Gallery opened in August 1935 at 37 West 57th Street in New York. Both women were of Russian Jewish heritage and had studied art in Paris. They met through their parents, who were neighbors in New York City. Walinska and Lefranc were known for their promotion of modern art and the Guild Art Gallery was the venue for Arshile Gorky's first solo exhibition in the city. The gallery was also committed to promoting Jewish artists during a time of growing antisemitism at home and abroad.   

In 1935 Walinska and Lefranc were quoted in Art Digest as stating that their plans for the new gallery were to  "exhibit, without charge, the work of contemporary artists, whether known or unknown; to develop, through a receptive audience, a better understanding of the creative expression and the problems of creative expression and the problems of contemporary society; and to illustrate the relationship of painting with the other arts." The gallery's opening exhibition featured work by both Walinska and Lefranc, as well as by Boris Aronson, Don Forbes, Henry Major, Rosa Newman, Philip Reisman, Ben-Shmuel, Ary Stillman, and, notably, Arshile Gorky. Gorky's first solo exhibition in New York was subsequently held at the gallery in December 1935.

Walinska's interest in promoting Jewish artists is evidenced in records of a 1936 letter writing campaign to seek prospective Jewish clients for the work of School of Paris painter Sigmund Menkes and, in particular, his painting The Torah. Walinska wrote in her letters "It seems to me in view of the fact that a renewed interest in Jewish culture has been awakened by recent world events, that effort should be made towards a development and conservation of Jewish Art." Jewish artists were represented in three-quarters of the gallery's inaugural exhibition season, and consistently thereafter. 

Walinska and Lefranc initially sponsored lectures on modern art to generate income but outgoing 1936 letters indicate the gallery was struggling financially and Walinska and Lefranc sought support from prominent and wealthy figures in the art and business worlds such as Winslow Ames, George Gershwin, Juliana Force, A. Conger Goodyear,  William Randolph Hearst, Albert C. Barnes, and Alfred H. Barr.

After almost two years in operation, the Guild Art Gallery closed in 1937.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
label: Function
content: Artist-run galleries -- New York (State)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1933-1937
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.guilart
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 7 series.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1935-1937 (10 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1935-1937 (5 folders; Box 1)

Series 3: Business and Financial Records, 1935-1937 (13 folders; Box 1)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1935-1937 (7 folders, Box 1)

Series 5: Scrapbook, 1935-1937 (4 folders; Box 1)

Series 6: Sketch and Photographs, circa 1933-1937 (4 folders; Box 1)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed to a minimal level and a finding aid prepared by Eden Orelove in 2016, with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The collection was further processed by Stephanie Ashley in 2023 and was digitized in 2023 with funding provided by Rosina Rubin.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2023 and is available on the Archives of American Art website. Materials which have not been digitized include blank pages, blank versos of photographs, and duplicates. In some cases only relevant pages of publications have been digitized.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The records of New York's Guild Art Gallery measure 1.0 linear feet and date from circa 1933-1937. Records document the operation of the gallery for the duration of its existence from August 1935-1937, through correspondence, including some with artists, exhibition files, business and financial records, printed material, a scrapbook, a sketch by Anna Walinska, and photographs of artwork and the gallery. 

Correspondence is with artists, business associates, and museums, and in particular records the gallery's efforts to build a client base, establish financial security, and foster the market for modern art. Of note is more detailed documentation of the gallery's representation of painter Lloyd Ney, and records documenting Walinska's attempt to promote the work of Sigmund Menkes which are indicative of the extent to which the gallery was concerned with the development and promotion of art by Jewish artists.

Exhibition files including announcements, catalogs, and price lists, printed material including press clippings, and a dismantled scrapbook of printed material, primarily document the exhibition history of the gallery and provide details of its focus on modern art and the extent of the publicity the gallery received.

Business and financial records provide a variety of ways to examine the gallery's day-to-day operations and accounts. In addition to artist account ledgers and agreements, this series records balances, charges, deposits, and receipts and includes two notebooks with handwritten accounts of activities at the gallery for 1937. 

Additionally, there is a pen and ink sketch by Anna Walinska, black and white copy prints of artwork by gallery artists, and a few original photos of the gallery's interior and exhibitions.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Also found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are the Anna Walinska papers, 1927-2002.