Gloria Ross papers
name: label: Creator
content: Ross, Gloria F.
label: Names
content: Atelier Raymond Picaud
label: Names
content: Denver Art Museum
label: Names
content: Dovecot Studios
label: Names
content: Pace Editions (Firm)
label: Names
content: Pinton Atelier
label: Names
content: Temple Emanu-El (Bayonne, N.J.)
label: Names
content: Avery, Milton, 1885-1965
label: Names
content: Bearden, Romare (1911-1988)
label: Names
content: Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964
label: Names
content: Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011
label: Names
content: Motherwell, Robert
label: Names
content: Nevelson, Louise (1899-1988)
label: Names
content: Noland, Kenneth, 1924-
topic: label: Topic
content: Tapestry -- Design
label: Topic
content: Tapestry -- Production control
label: Topic
content: Tapestry -- Technique
label: Topic
content: Designers -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Navajo weavers
label: Topic
content: Women artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated in 2013 by the Gloria Ross estate via Michael I. Katz, executor, with assistance from the Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Program, University of Arizona, via Ann Lane Hedlund, director.
creator: label: Creator
content: Ross, Gloria F.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Gloria Ross papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of New York tapestry éditeur Gloria Ross measure 14.5 linear feet and date from circa 1924-1998. The bulk of the papers consist of project files that document her collaborations with artists to make tapestries of their paintings and collages. Also found are scattered biographical material, professional correspondence, exhibition files, professional activity files, personal business records, printed material, photographs, and artwork.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Gloria F. Ross (1923-1998) was a tapestry éditeur in New York, New York.

Ross was born Gloria Frankenthaler in New York in 1923. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1943 and married Alfred Ross. They had three children: Alfred, Beverly, and Clifford.  In 1954, Gloria Ross made her first needlepoint work from a design by her sister, abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler, and by the mid-1960s, she was exhibiting her tapestries and hooked rugs in New York. She established Gloria F. Ross Studio in 1966 and began regularly collaborating with artists such as Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, Jack Youngerman, and Jean Dubuffet to make their works into tapestries. She created business partnerships with weaving workshops in Scotland and France to produce the works. In 1973 she had her first exhibition at Pace Editions, Inc., beginning a long relationship with the gallery as her main sales agent. 

In 1979, Ross first traveled to the Navajo Nation to find weavers for a collaborative project with artist Kenneth Noland. She continued to visit the Southwest at least once a year until 1994, and she donated her collection of Navajo rugs and other textiles to the Denver Art Museum. Throughout the 1980s Ross traveled extensively for projects, exhibitions, and symposia. Her final commissioned project, completed in 1997, was a tapestry designed by artist Mark Podwol for Temple Emanu-El in New York. That same year she established the Gloria F. Ross Center for Tapestry Studies in Tucson, Arizona.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 14.5 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1924-1998
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.rossglor
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Paintings
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged as 9 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1926-1998 (5 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1965-1998 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-1998 (7.3 linear feet; Boxes 1-7, 14-15, 17-19, OVs 20, 22-24, Artifact)

Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1967-1994 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 17)

Series 5: Professional Activities, 1955-1997 (0.7 linear feet; Box 8)

Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1964-1998 (1.8 linear feet; Boxes 8-10, OV 21)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1970s-1990s (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 10-11, 14)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1924-1990s (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 11, 16)

Series 9: Artwork, circa 1970s-1990s (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 11-14, 17, 19)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed by Erin Kinhart in 2015.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Paintings
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of New York tapestry éditeur Gloria Ross measure 14.5 linear feet and date from circa 1924-1998. The bulk of the papers consist of project files that document her collaborations with artists to make tapestries of their paintings and collages. Also found are scattered biographical material, professional correspondence, exhibition files, professional activity files, personal business records, printed material, photographs, and artwork. 

Biographical material includes resumes and career summaries, as well as an interview of Ross on one videocassette, and a few Frankenthaler family documents. Correspondence is with artists, weavers, workshops, publications, and galleries and is  of a professional nature.  

Project files document Ross's collaborations with prominent artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Romare Bearden, Louise Nevelson, Milton Avery, Stuart Davis, and others. Project files may include correspondence, contracts, invoices, notes, photographs, yarn samples, and a few maquettes and cartoons. Also of note are extensive files regarding her collaborations with Navajo weavers to create tapestries based on geometric paintings by Kenneth Noland. Other project files include a commissioned tapestry for Temple Emanu-El in New York.

Exhibition files document various solo and group exhibitions of Gloria Ross tapestries and includes one videocassette from a 1978 exhibition. Records of her professional activities include her participation in symposia, lectures, and public events. Files may include correspondence, draft lectures, programs, and event publicity. Two short documentaries found on two videocassettes were produced for the Denver Art Museum. Personal business records  document Ross's business relationships with weaving workshops and art galleries, most notably Atelier Raymond Picaud, Pinton atelier, Edinburgh Tapestry Company (Dovecot Studios), and Pace Editions, the major sales agent of Gloria Ross tapestries. 

Printed material consists of catalogs, announcements, press releases, and other publications regarding exhibitions of Gloria Ross tapestries and Navajo tapestries. Photographs depict Ross, the Frankenthaler family, Ross's tapestries, weaving studios, and Navajo weavers. Artwork includes one painting by Paul Jenkins and unidentified textile and yarn samples.