Renate Ponsold Motherwell papers
name: label: Creator
content: Ponsold, Renate
label: Names
content: Long Point Gallery (Provincetown, Mass.)
label: Names
content: Ashton, Dore
label: Names
content: Motherwell, Robert
label: Names
content: Nevelson, Louise (1899-1988)
label: Names
content: Simon, Sidney, 1917-1997
topic: label: Occupation
content: Photographers -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown
label: Topic
content: Women photographers
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Renate Ponsold Motherwell papers were donated in 2023 by the Estate of Renate Ponsold Motherwell via Lise Motherwell, estate representative.
creator: label: Creator
content: Ponsold, Renate
setName: label: See more items in
content: Renate Ponsold Motherwell papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of photographer Renate Ponsold Motherwell measure 22.3 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 2021 with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1960 to 2012. The collection highlights Ponsold's career as a prolific portraitist who photographed artists including Robert Motherwell and members of the Longpoint Gallery. The collection comprises biographical materials, correspondence, professional files, printed materials, and 17.6 linear feet of photographic materials.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Renate Ponsold Motherwell (1935-2023) was a photographer in Greenwich, C.T. and Provincetown, M.A.­ Ponsold was born in 1935 in Halle, Germany. WWII was difficult on the Ponsold and her family. They had to move multiple times and her little brother died of illness. After the war, Ponsold attended Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photografie in Munich. As a graduation gift, Ponsold's father gave her a trip to New York. Instead of returning to Germany, she ended up staying in New York to start her photography career. In 1972, she married artist Robert Motherwell to whom she was married until his death in 1991. The couple split their time between Greenwich and Provincetown. She became a member of the Long Point Gallery in Provincetown in 1995. Ponsold died in 2023.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 22.3 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1900-2021
label: Date
content: bulk circa 1960-2012
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mothrena
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 5 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1951-1998 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 1, 21)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1959-2021 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1)

Series 3: Professional Files, circa 1970-2014 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1958-2012 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 1)

Series 5: Photographic Material, circa 1900-2018 (17.6 linear feet; Boxes 1)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2024.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of photographer Renate Ponsold Motherwell measure 22.3 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 2021 with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1960 to 2012. The collection highlights Ponsold's career as a prolific portraitist who photographed artists including Robert Motherwell and members of the Long Point Gallery. The collection comprises biographical materials, correspondence, professional files, printed materials, and 17.6 linear feet of photographic materials.

Biographical materials consist of 7 annotated calendars, student artwork and art history class notes, writings about Ponsold, and 44 datebooks dating from 1951 to 1997. Correspondence is with Christo, Carl Andre, Elise Asher, Amat, Will Barnet, Wolf Kahn, Jack Lenor Larsen, Duane Michaels, Norman Mailer, Eileen Pei, Jack Tworkov, Tabitha Ververs, and Dore Ashton, and members of the Longpoint Gallery including Fritz Bultman, Paul Resika, and Sidney Simon. 

Ponsold's professional files include exhibition records, writing, photo project files, exhibition histories, lists of portraits and posters, lists of photos for publications, permissions for reproductions of Ponsold's photos, material for the Apropos exhibition catalog, and material relating to a book on Robert Motherwell by Mary Ann Caws. Found in printed materials are clippings, announcements and catalogs for Ponsold's exhibitions, as well as Robert Motherwell exhibitions, journals and newsletters, and a calendar featuring photos by Ponsold. 

Photographic materials consist of prints, negatives, snapshots, slides, transparencies, and glass plate negatives. The series measures 17.6 linear feet and is divided into groups for Renate Ponsold and Robert Motherwell, houses and studios, family and personal photographs, portraits, places, contact sheets, and other material. Portraits included are of Joseph Albers, Louis Armstrong, Brassai, Leo Castelli, Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, John Cage, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Andre Emmerich, Duke Ellington, Harrison Ford, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Clement Greenberg, David Hockney, Lee Krasner, Louise Nevelson, Natasha and Maximilian Schell, Elie Weisel, and Andy Warhol, among others.