Stendahl Art Galleries records
name: label: Creator
content: Stendahl Art Galleries
label: Names
content: Couvoisier Galleries
label: Names
content: Demotte, inc. (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art
label: Names
content: Wildenstein and Company (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Archipenko, Alexander, 1887-1964
label: Names
content: Beltrán-Masses, Federico, 1885-1949
label: Names
content: Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976
label: Names
content: Cantú, Federico, 1908-1989
label: Names
content: Charlot, Jean, 1898-1979
label: Names
content: De Creeft, José, 1884-1982
label: Names
content: Eddy, Jerome
label: Names
content: Feshin, Nikolaĭ Ivanovich, 1881-1955
label: Names
content: Gelhaar, Emil
label: Names
content: Genth, Lillian Mathilde, 1876-1953
label: Names
content: Gilbert, Arthur Hill, 1894-1970
label: Names
content: Guthrie, George B.
label: Names
content: Hansen, Armin C. (Armin-Carl), 1886-1957
label: Names
content: Kandinsky, Wassily, 1866-1944
label: Names
content: Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971
label: Names
content: Kleitsch, Joseph, 1885-1931
label: Names
content: Knight, Aston, 1873-1948
label: Names
content: Kronberg, Louis, 1872-1965
label: Names
content: Laurence, Sydney, 1868-1940
label: Names
content: Loeffler, Gisella, 1900-
label: Names
content: Montenegro, Roberto, 1887-1968
label: Names
content: Mérida, Carlos, 1891-1984
label: Names
content: Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988
label: Names
content: Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949
label: Names
content: Pach, Walter, 1883-1958
label: Names
content: Payne, Edgar A. (Edgar Alwin), 1882-1947
label: Names
content: Pearson, Ralph M., 1883-1958
label: Names
content: Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973
label: Names
content: Ritschel, William, 1864-1949
label: Names
content: Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957
label: Names
content: Rose, Ethel Boardman, 1871-1946
label: Names
content: Rose, Guy, 1867-1925
label: Names
content: Schofield, Walter Elmer, 1867-1944
label: Names
content: Siqueiros, David Alfaro, 1896-1974
label: Names
content: Stendahl, Earl L.
label: Names
content: Szecsi, Ladislas
label: Names
content: Wendt, William, 1865-1946
label: Names
content: Zuloaga, Ignacio, 1870-1945
topic: label: Topic
content: Latino and Latin American artists
label: Topic
content: Landscape painting
label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Stendahl Art Galleries records were donated by Alfred Stendahl in 1976. An album of clippings was donated by Stendahl in 1995 via Nancy Moure.
creator: label: Creator
content: Stendahl Art Galleries
setName: label: See more items in
content: Stendahl Art Galleries records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The records of the Los Angeles Stendahl Art Galleries measure 7.5 linear feet and date from 1907 to 1971. The collection is comprised of administrative and financial files, correspondence, exhibition files, and subject files on numerous artists, organizations, and other art-related topics. There is one scrapbook of clippings on the artist Edgar Payne.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Earl Stendahl established Stendahl Art Galleries in 1911 in Los Angeles, California. 

Earl Stendahl (1887-1966) came to Southern California from a small town in Wisconsin. He began showing young Los Angeles artists at his downtown restaurant, The Black Cat Café.  He opened his gallery in The Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard and organized shows focusing primarily on California Impressionists of the early twentieth century, including Edgar Payne, Guy Rose, William Wendt, Nicolai Fechin, and Joseph Kleitsch.  

Stendahl Art Galleries also began to sell European and Latin American modern art.  In 1939, Stendahl hosted one of only two non-museum exhibitions of Pablo Picasso's masterwork, Guernica, to benefit Spanish War orphans.

As early as 1935 Stendahl began promoting ancient artifacts from Mexico and Central America.  Stendahl's first client for pre-Columbian art and artifacts was noted collector Walter Arensberg.  Stendahl and the Arensburgs became friends and Stendahl helped the Arensburgs build one of the most significant collections in the U.S.  

The galleries are currently owned by Ronald W. Dammann, Stendahl's grandson.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- California
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7.5 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1907-1971
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.stenartg
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 4 series.

Series 1: Administrative and Financial Files, 1923-1957 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1923-1968 (2.0 linear feet; Box 1-3)

Series 3: Exhibition Files, circa 1921-1967 (0.4 linear feet; Box 3)

Series 4: Subject Files, 1907-1971 (4.6 linear feet; Box 3-8, OV 9)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2016 with funding from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care Pool Fund, using accelerated processing strategies implemented by the Archives to increase information about and access to more of our collections. The collection was prepared for digitization and the finding aid updated by Rihoko Ueno in 2024 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2024 and is available on the Archives of American Art website. 

Portions of the collection are available on 35 mm microfilm reels 2716-2725 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The records of the Los Angeles Stendahl Art Galleries measure 7.5 linear feet and date from 1907 to 1971. The collection is comprised of administrative and financial files, correspondence, exhibition files, and subject files on numerous artists, organizations, and other art-related topics. There is one scrapbook of clippings on the artist Edgar Payne.  

Administrative and financial files concern advertising, publicity, consignments, inventory, purchases, sales, leases, and biographical information on Earl Stendahl. 

The bulk of the correspondence is pre-World War II and is fairly extensive.  It is with artists, organizations, collectors, art historians,and galleries.  Signicant correspondents include Alexander Archipenko, Federico Beltran-Masses, Alexander Calder, Federico Cantú, Jean Charlot, Couvoisier Galleries, José de Creeft, Demotte Inc., Jerome Eddy, Lillian Genthe, Arthur Hill Gilbert, George B. Guthrie, Rockwell Kent, Louis Kronberg, Gisella Loeffler, Carlos Mérida, Isamu Noguchi, Walter Pach, Diego Rivera, Waler Elmer Schofield, David Alfaro Siquieros, Ladislas Szecsi, Wildenstein & Company, and many others. 

Files are found for about ten exhibitions, including Etching and Engravings by the Old Masters (1921), Airview Paintings (1930), American Landscape Art (1930), Arts of New Guinea (1964), and for exhibitions of Emil Gelhaar, Wassily Kandinsky, Sydney Laurence, and Roberto Montenegro. 

Subject files are found for numerous artists, art topics, galleries, and foundations.  Most of the files consist of printed materials, but there is correspondence and additional primary source material found in files for  Nicolai Ivanovich Feshin, the Thomas Gilcrease Foundation, Armin Hansen, Joseph Kleitsch, Aston Knight, José Clemente Orozco, Edgar Payne, Ralph M. Pearson, Pablo Picasso, William Ritschel, Diego Rivera, Ethel B. Rose, Guy Rose, Walter Elmer Schofield, David Alfaro Siquieros, Ladislas Szecsi, William Wendt, and Ignacio Zuloaga.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Stendahl Art Galleries records are also located at The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California.