Boris Mirski Gallery records
name: label: Creator
content: Boris Mirski Gallery (Boston, Mass.)
label: Names
content: Aronson, David, 1923-2015
label: Names
content: Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000
label: Names
content: Bloom, Hyman, 1913-
label: Names
content: Geller, Esther
label: Names
content: Lebrun, Rico, 1900-1964
label: Names
content: Mazur, Michael, 1935-2009
label: Names
content: Mirski, Boris, 1898-1974
label: Names
content: Polonsky, Arthur
label: Names
content: Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969
label: Names
content: Siporin, Mitchell, 1910-1976
label: Names
content: Swan, Barbara, 1922-
label: Names
content: Zerbe, Karl, 1903-1972
topic: label: Topic
content: Expressionism (Art)
label: Topic
content: Jewish artists
label: Topic
content: Modernism (Art)
label: Topic
content: New York school of art
label: Topic
content: Sculptors
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Boris Mirski Gallery records were donated by Deborah Mirski Brown, Boris Mirski's daughter from 1989-1996, with additions in 2007 and 2017.
creator: label: Creator
content: Boris Mirski Gallery (Boston, Mass.)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Boris Mirski Gallery records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Boris Mirski Gallery records measure 6.2 linear feet and date from 1936-2000, bulk 1945-1972. They include gallery administrative files; artist files including correspondence, exhibition and loan paperwork as well as photographic documentation of artwork; gallery correspondence; financial materials including outgoing and incoming invoices and sales records; printed materials promoting the gallery and its artists; press materials; and a number of photographs of Boris Mirski at events and with others, as well as photographs of artwork. Artists particularly well represented in the collection include David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Hyman Bloom, Esther Geller, Rico Lebrun, Michael Mazur, Arthur Polonsky, Ben Shahn, Mitchell Siporin, Barbara Swan, and Karl Zerbe.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: The Boris Mirski Gallery (est.1944; closed 1979) was a gallery in Boston, Massachusetts owned and operated by Boris Mirski (1898-1974). The gallery evolved out of various businesses owned by Mirski from the late 1910s, including his first formal gallery established alongside a framing shop on Charles Street in Beacon Hill in 1927. The gallery moved to its final incarnation on the lower level of 166 Newbury in 1972, and closed in 1979 following the gallerist's death in 1974.

Boris Chaim Mirski, born 1898, immigrated to the United States at the age of fourteen, leaving behind his troubled youth as a Lithuanian Jew in a harsh political climate that included frequent pogroms. At the advice of his mother, an activist in the resistance, Boris acquired a number of marketable skills including metalwork and framing, which allowed him to establish a lucrative business while he developed opportunities to show art that interested him. Early in his career this included a home for non-western and "primitive" art styles from around the globe, as well as the work of emerging local artists. Mirski's gallery created opportunities for artists working against the generally conservative tradition of the Boston School, and helped establish an identity for the local avant-garde. The gallery program had strong ties with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston alumni and faculty, and frequently hosted exchange shows with New York City's Downtown Gallery, whose director Edith Halpert acted as a mentor. While exhibiting artists showed a range of sculpture, painting, and drawing at the gallery, there was a tendency towards highly expressive figurative artwork sometimes referred to as Boston Expressionism, often associated with the first generation Jewish American experience. Gallery artists included David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Hyman Bloom, Esther Geller, Rico Lebrun, Michael Mazur, Arthur Polonsky, Ben Shahn, Mitchell Siporin, Barbara Swan, and Karl Zerbe.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- Massachusetts
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 6.2 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1936-2000
label: Date
content: bulk 1945-1972
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mirsbori
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 6 series.

Series 1: Administrative Files, circa 1948-1995 (0.5 Linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Artist Files, circa 1945-2000 (2.7 Linear feet; Boxes 1-4, OV 7)

Series 3: Gallery Correspondence, circa 1936-1976 (1 Linear feet; Boxes 4-5)

Series 4: Financial Files, circa 1958-1974 (1.2 Linear feet; Boxes 5-6)

Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1944-1981 (0.7 Linear feet; Box 6, OV 8)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1945-1976 (0.1 Linear feet; Box 6)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Ryan Evans in 2018.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The records of the Boris Mirski Gallery, which showed the avant-garde art of the Boston Expressionist school, as well as New York and international modern art styles and non-western art, measure 6.2 linear feet and date from 1936-2000, bulk 1945-1972. They include gallery administrative files; artist files including correspondence, exhibition and loan paperwork as well as photographic documentation of artwork; gallery correspondence; financial materials including outgoing and incoming invoices and sales records; printed materials promoting the gallery and its artists; press materials; and a number of photographs of Boris Mirski at events and with others, as well as photographs of artwork. Artists particularly well represented in the collection include David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Hyman Bloom, Esther Geller, Rico Lebrun, Michael Mazur, Arthur Polonsky, Ben Shahn, Mitchell Siporin, Barbara Swan, and Karl Zerbe.

The administrative files cover a number of topics including documents related to various properties, mortgages, and insurance, copyrights, legal cases, administrative events, and select group exhibitions at the gallery.

The artist files document each gallery artist's exhibition history in the gallery and include correspondence with the artist as well as files documenting significant outside exhibitions, projects and the placement of artworks. While exhibiting
artists showed a range of sculpture, painting, and drawing at the gallery, there was a tendency towards
highly expressive figurative artwork sometimes referred to as Boston Expressionism, often associated with
the first generation Jewish American experience. 

The gallery correspondence, primarily with patrons and institutions, is arranged alphabetically with select regular correspondents of the gallery having their own file, in addition to a folder of holiday cards. 

The financial files include both outgoing and incoming transactions as invoices and sales records, organized by patron or vendor.

The printed materials are a records of the printing activities of the gallery as well as a press archive, with select printed materials from outside the gallery reflecting the activities of the gallery and gallery artists. 

The photographic materials include both images that include the gallerist as well as images that document artworks.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Related materials include Archives of American Art's Oral history interview with Boris Mirski, 1973 June 19.