Brents Carlton was a sculptor and painter who worked primarily in San Francisco, California.
Brents Carlton was born on October 31, 1903, in Roswell, New Mexico; his family later moved to Arkansas. In 1924, Carlton moved to San Francisco to attend the California School of Fine Arts for four years. From 1928 to 1929, he studied under a scholarship at the Art Students' League in New York, after which he returned to San Francisco and established his own studio at Polk Street. In order to support his family, Carlton was also employed as a pharmacist for 30 years.
In 1937, Carlton moved to a studio on Montgomery Street. In 1938, Carlton was commissioned to create four of his most notable works for the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940) on Treasure Island: two large cast concrete figures for the Fountain of Western Waters at the Court of Pacifica, and two 18-foot bas-relief figures for the façade of the California State Building. He married Jessie Bosworth in 1939 and they had a daughter Carrie.
In the mid-1940s, Carlton relocated to a new studio above the pharmacy on Mission Street, where he worked. Due to failing health in the late 1950s, Carlton switched from sculpture to painting. Brents Carlton died of cancer on September 6, 1962 in San Francisco. His works have been exhibited in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Oakland Art Gallery, and the San Francisco Museum.
The papers of sculptor and painter Brents Carlton measure 4.7 linear feet and 0.528 GB and date from 1903 through 2014. The collection consists of biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, notes, a scrapbook, exhibition files, art work, photographs, digital photographs, and printed material.
Biographical materials include several autobiographical accounts, school-related materials, a student card from the Art Students' League, and other identification cards.
Correspondence consists primarily of letters from family members and colleagues, including letters from Victor Arnautoff, H. Mallette Dean, Margaret De Patta, Eugen Neuhaus, Dale Nichols, and Judson T. Smith.
Personal business records include bank passbooks, pharmacy licensing records, receipts, income tax records, and ledgers of income, expenses, and art work sold.
Notes consists of Brents Carlton's address book, notebooks, and meeting minutes, as well as notes written by his daughter Carrie Carlton Helser.
There is one scrapbook. Exhibition files include correspondence, notes, photographs, and printed material related to the Golden Gate International Exhibition and other shows. There are also sketches, drawings, and prints by Carlton in the artwork series.
Photographic material includes an album, slides, negatives, and prints depicting Brents Carlton and his artwork, friends, family, and studios.
Printed material includes magazines, brochures, catalogs, and clippings.
A 2015 addition to the Brents Carlton papers includes additional biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, photographic material, and printed material.
The collection is arranged as 10 series. Series 10 consists of a 2015 addition to the papers that was not integrated into the other series, although there are similar types of materials.
The Brents Carlton papers were donated by the artist's daughter Carrie Carlton Helser in 1991 and 2015.
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Portions of this collection are available on 35 mm microfilm reels 5873-5874 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.
Brents Carlton papers, 1903-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The first accretion of the Brents Carlton papers was processed by Jean Fitzgerald in 2004. A 2015 addition of 2.1 linear feet was processed by Rihoko Ueno in 2016. Born-digital materials were processed by Kirsi Ritosalmi-Kisner in 2019 with funding provided by Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Biographical material consists of several autobiographical accounts, school-related material and miscellaneous identification cards.
Correspondence consists primarily of letters and greeting cards from family members and at least one letter each from colleagues including Victor Arnautoff, Margaret De Patta, Eugen Neuhaus, and Judson T. Smith. Letters are also found in the scrapbook filed in Series 5.
Oversized material housed in Box 6.
Personal business records consist of bank passbooks, pharmacy licensing records, ledgers of income and expenses, a ledger of art work sold, receipts for school, art sales, shipping, rent, utilities, and supplies, and income tax records.
Notes consist of an address book, notebooks recording friends' names and art media, minutes of meetings, and miscellaneous notes by Brents Carlton, in addition to one folder of notes by his daughter Carrie Carlton Helser on the subject of some murals he created for the Polo Club.
Oversized material housed in Box 6.
The scrapbook contains clippings, including Carlton's obituary, an exhibition catalog, and 14 letters from colleagues including Eugen Neuhaus and Dale Nichols.
Letters, notes, receipts, photographs, and printed material relating to Carlton's participation in exhibitions at art organizations and galleries.
Oversized blueprints housed in OV 8.
Art work by Carlton consists of 2 sketchbooks, drawings, prints, a tempera sketch, and Christmas cards. Art work by others includes woodcuts by H. Mallette Dean and a portrait drawing of Carlton by Victor Arnautoff.
Oversized drawings housed in Box 6.
Oversized drawing housed in OV 8.
Photographs are of Carlton, his family, friends, colleagues, studios, classrooms, and art work. There are also photographs of art work by others including Victor Arnautoff and Margaret De Patta.
Oversized photographs housed in Box 7.
Oversized album housed in Box 6.
Oversized photograph housed in Box 7.
Oversized material housed in Box 7.
Printed material consists of clippings, exhibition catalogs, brochures, and miscellaneous printed items.
A 2015 addition to the Brents Carlton papers also includes biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, exhibition files, and photographic material.
This series is arranged as 6 subseries:
Biographical material includes Brents Carlton's bibliography, curriculum vitae, certificates and licenses, a funeral guestbook, and assorted artifacts such as medals from art competitions, a printing block, and his signature seal.
This subseries includes family letters to Brents Carlton, as well as the correspondence of his daughter Carrie Carlton Helser's with museums, galleries, and others regarding Brents Carlton's artwork.
Personal business records consist of gallery sales, consignment agreements, and inventories of Brents Carlton's artwork categorized by their sales status.
The bulk of this subseries consists of material related to the Golden Gate International Exposition. There is also one folder of material on the Brents Carlton Retrospective at Atelier Dore. Exhibition files include correspondence, printed material, and documents related to the Art Treasures Restoration Project which was dedicated to the preservation of art from the Golden Gate International Exhibition.
Oversized material housed in Box 7.
Photographic material consists of photographs, slides, and negatives of Brents Carlton, family, friends, studios, residences, and artwork. There are several disbound binders that contain photographs of sculptures and art at each of Carlton's studios and the images are accompanied by information such as the title, date, medium, and size of each work. The titles in quotes reflect the original binder title.
"Art School" Binder
"Art School" Binder
"Mission Street and Ney Street" Binder
"Montgomery Street Studio" Binder
"Montgomery Street Studio" Binder
"Polk Street" Binder
"Polk Street" Binder
This series includes magazine and catalogs.