In 1958, Frederic Newlin Price donated circa 70 letters to the Archives of American Art and loaned material for microfilming on reels D321-D322. The remaining records were donated anonymously in 1968.
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels D321-D322, and N68-14-N68-15) including personal and business correspondence with artists and other records. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Portions of the collection were microfilmed as separate accessions on reels D42, 777-791, 3470 and 2840; these reels are no longer in circulation. All accessions were merged and minimally processed by Stephanie Ashley in 2011 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Ferargil Galleries records, 1900-1963. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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Frederic Newlin Price (1884-1963) opened Ferargil Galleries in 1915 at 24 East 49th Street and 607 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Art critic W. Frank Purdy (1865-1943)was the President of the Art Alliance of America in 1918 and director of the School of American Sculpture worked at the galleries as director of sculpture.
Named from a combination of "fer" (ferrous-iron) and "argil" (clay), Ferargil Galleries dealt in wrought iron, sculpture, paintings and prints, and focused on exhibitions of work by American artists such as George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Emil Carlsen, John Steuart Curry, Arthur B. Davies, W. Hunt Diederich, Thomas Eakins, Edward Hicks, Ernest Lawson, Albert P. Ryder and Grant Wood. Ferargil was also known for its representation of a group of contemporary watercolorists including Charles Dickinson, Phil Dike, Hardie Gramatky, Barse Miller, and Paul Sample.
In 1927 the business moved to 37 East 57th Street (later 63 East 57th Street) and housed a print room, a sculpture gallery with a fountain, and the main painting galleries.
In 1931 Price became the Director of the newly-formed Benjamin West Society at his alma mater, Swarthmore College. There, he promoted the arts at Swarthmore through annual lectures and exhibitions by contemporary artists and also acquired artwork for the college, primarily by Benjamin West. Price served as President of the American Art Dealers Association in the early 1930s and published a number of books and articles on artists including Arthur B. Davies, Walter Griffin, Eric Hudson, Ernest Lawson, Arthur P. Ryder and Horatio Walker.
Price closed Ferargil Galleries in 1955.
The Ferargil Galleries records date from circa 1900-1963 and document the activities of this New York gallery that dealt primarily in American contemporary art from shortly after its 1915 founding by Frederic Newlin Price (1884-1963) to it's closure in 1955. 18.7 linear feet of records include incoming and outgoing correspondence with artists, dealers, schools and colleges, and museums and other art institutions; artist files; estate and legal records including papers relating to the Arthur B. Davies estate; gallery business and financial records; printed material; scrapbooks; scattered personal papers of Price; artwork; and photographs of artists, exhibitions and artwork.
Correspondence is both incoming and outgoing and documents the day-to-day activities of the galleries, primarily from the 1920s to the 1950s. Significant correspondence with, or relating to, many of the artists represented by Ferargil Galleries can be found here including correspondence with Bartlett Arkell, Thomas Hart Benton, Randall Davey, Hunt Diedrich, Ernest Lawson, Agnes Potter Lowrie, Luigi Lucioni, Barse Miller, Maxfield Parrish, John Pike, Paul Sample, Wells M. Sawyer, Theodore van Soelen and many others.
Artist files consist primarily of material compiled about artists represented by Ferargil Galleries, including biographical information, press releases for exhibitions, and scattered price lists and information about individual works of art.
Estate and legal records include estate inventories for the estates of Lizzie P. Bliss, Arthur B. Davies, and Dan Fellows Platt, and document several legal actions involving Ferargil Galleries. Of particular significance are the records documenting Price's involvement with the estate of Arthur B. Davies, including correspondence with Davies's wife, Virginia, and sales and inventory records for Davies's artwork at Ferargil Galleries and elsewhere.
Business and financial records date primarily from the 1920s and document inventories, sales, insurance, shipping, and taxes for the bulk of the gallery's operating years.
Printed material contains Ferargail Galleries exhibition catalogs and announcements from 1918 to the 1950s in addition to scattered printed material from other galleries and one folder relating to Arthur B. Davies.
Scrapbooks provide a more comprehensive and detailed history of the gallery's exhibitions, through multiple news clippings of press coverage, in addition to catalogs, announcements, and photographs. Of particular note is a circa 1908 photograph of Arthur B. Davies taken by Gertrude Kasëbier.
Scattered personal records of Frederic Newlin Price document Price's work with the Benjamin West Society at Swarthmore College and further reveal Price's interests through an inventory of his art collection and drafts and copies of his writings on artists such as Arthur B. Davies, and on changing trends and tastes in the art world.
A small series of artwork includes 6 pencil sketches, a print, 3 plans, and an Arthur B. Davies exhibition catalog mock-up with pencil sketches, all by unidentified artists.
Gallery photograph files include some photos of artists such as Emil Carlsen, Leon Dabo, Lloyd Parsons, Natalie Van Vleck and Lois Williams, in addition to 13 folders of photos relating to collections and exhibitions, and photographs of artwork.
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Portions of this collection and material lent for microfilming is available on 35mm microfilm reels 777-791, 1008-1010, 1028-1032, 1604, 2804, D321-D322, and N68-14-N68-15 at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the collection as described in this finding aid does not reflect the order of the collection on microfilm.
The bulk of the correspondence (approximately 75 percent) is written to Frederic Newlin Price, W. Frank Purdy and Ferargil Galleries by artists, dealers, and museums and other art and educational institutions. Artist correspondence is well represented with a significant number of letters from, or relating to, artists represented by the gallery including Bartlett Arkell, Randall Davey, Hunt Diedrich, Ernest Lawson, Agnes Potter Lowrie, Barse Miller, Maxfield Parrish, John Pike, Paul Sample, Wells M. Sawyer, and many others. Some correspondence relating to Price's involvement with Swarthmore College can also be found here.
Found at the end of the incoming correspondence is a folder relating to an exhibition "The Circus Comes to Ferargil Galleries," and a folder of circa 19 letters regarding the authentication and disposition of Gilbert Stuart's Lansdowne portrait of George Washington.
Outgoing correspondence consists primarily of copies of letters and memoranda written in response to the incoming material. The bulk of the outgoing correspondence ends in 1956 with one letter each from 1958 and 1963.
See Appendix for a partial list of correspondents in Series 1, noting illustrated letters.
Incoming correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent; outgoing correspondence follows, and is arranged chronologically.
Fo
Fo
Wo
Outgoing Correspondence
Artist files contain material compiled by the gallery about artists including biographical sketches, news releases concerning exhibitions, printed material such as pamphlets about artists and their work, mailing lists of people who were interested in specific artists, lists of artwork including price lists, and notes on individual artwork including documentation related to provenance, authenticity and appraisals. The series also contains several pieces of artwork including an original ink drawing by B. S. Carter, Jr., inscribed to Price; 2 watercolor sketches by Niclaus Koni; an ink sketch by John Pike; an etching of Robert Burns by an unknown artist, possibly William Simmons; and a pencil sketch probably by Albert Stuart.
Artist files are arranged alphabetically by name of artist.
Artists, E-F
This series includes Arthur B. Davies estate records consisting of correspondence with Davies family members, including Davies's wife Virginia, and others regarding the artist's estate and exhibitions of his work relating to his estate; sales vouchers, primarily for work from the Davies estate but also for sales pre-dating the artist's death in 1928; and inventories of Davies's works at Ferargil Galleries, in other museums and galleries, and with individuals.
Also found are transcripts and a telegram relating to the settlement of money for the purchase of Albert P. Ryder, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent paintings, by Charles Wharton Stork and Haverford College; a letter relating to a possible suit by Mrs. Marshall Field; inventories and appraisal of the Dan Fellows Platt estate; minutes of a meeting relating to Price selling paintings to Ferargil Galleries in exchange for company stocks; and an inventory of the Lizzie P. Bliss estate.
Records include inventories, invoices and receipts for artwork sold, presidents reports, statements of accounts, and insurance and tax records. Lists of artwork sold include information on prices and buyers, in addition to exhibition price lists, and lists of artwork received from clients. Notes and memoranda consist primarily of notes and press releases from other art organizations.
Shipping Records
Printed material consists primarily of catalogs for exhibitions at Ferargil Galleries and scattered announcement cards. Other printed material is also generally art-related, and includes material from other galleries, art institutions, and companies such as exhibition catalogs and reviews, as well as a folder of printed material relating to Arthur B. Davies (including an article by Royal Cortissoz and a Davies obituary) and a folder of press releases and other miscellanous information regarding exhibitions.
Scrapbooks include printed material and photographs. Printed matter primarily consists of news clippings in addition to exhibition catalogs (some annotated with prices), scattered correspondence, and other gallery documentation such as artist biographical material, press releases, exhibition lists, and exhibition guest signature lists. Photographs are primarily of artwork, with scattered photos of artists and exhibitions, including a photograph of Arthur B. Davies taken by Gertrude Kasëbier, circa 1908.
Correspondence found with scrapbooks includes a 1929 letter from Royal Cortissoz to Price expressing his opinion on the first part of Price's biography of Arthur B. Davies, a copy of which is attached to the letter. Also found is a 1952 letter from Boris Lovet-Lorski describing an accident involving a bronze sculpture that fell on him in his studio.
An attempt has been made to establish the original collation of the scrapbooks. There appears to have been one general scrapbook arranged by artist (which is incomplete), a group of smaller scrapbooks devoted to individual artists, a scrapbook for sculptors, and a scrapbook for paintings and other media (also incomplete entitled "Painting Publicity.") Found also is one exhibition scrapbook for the "New Collectors Exhibition" in 1940. Most of the photographs were removed from the scrapbooks during previous processing and are housed separately at the end of the series.
Within scrapbooks material is generally arranged alphabetically by artist. Various fragments, which were presumably housed in the general scrapbook, can be found at the end of the series.
(includes photo of Bemelmans)
(includes photo of Parsons)
(includes photos of Collette)
(2 photos of Crespi)
(includes circa 1908 photograph of Davies by Gertrude Kasëbier)
(includes photo of Dodd)
Ford, Lauren
Ford, Lauren
Ford, Lauren
Ford, Lauren
(includes photo of George)
(includes 2 photos of Gregory)
Includes photos of Ferargil Galleries exterior with Hesketh artwork in window display
(includes photo of Heuston and photo of Heuston and others in Egypt, 1942)
(includes photo of Hudson)
(includes 4 photos of King)
(includes 5 photos of Lovet-Lorski)
(includes photo of Munsell)
(includes photo of Paradise)
(includes photo of Sample)
(includes photo of Wheelock)
(includes photo of Williams)
This series documents Price's involvement with the Benjamin West Society at Swarthmore College and also contains an inventory of Price's art collection, and drafts, typescripts and published copies of some of Price's writings, including a biography of Arthur B. Davies.
This series consists of 6 pencil sketches, 1 print, and 3 plans, all by unidentified artists. Also found is a mock-up of an exhibition catalog of Arthur B. Davies sculpture and carvings with pencil sketches by an unidentified artist and price notes for each entry.
The series consists of the galleries photograph files containing primarily photographs of works of art, in addition to a few photographs of artists and of exhibitions and collections.
Photographs are arranged alphabetically within 3 categories: artists, exhibitions and collections, and artwork.