The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Bernard J. Reis (1895-1978) was an accountant and art collector in New York, as well as the exector of Mark Rothko's estate.
Reis was born in New York City, in 1895. He received a degree in Commercial Science from New York University in 1915 and graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1918. He passed the New York State Bar Examination but was unable to complete the required one year clerkship as he was supporting his parents financially, and subsequently became a Certified Public Accountant in 1921.
Reis and his wife, Rebecca, built a collection of art in their home, which they opened for charity tours starting in 1948. During this time, Reis became acquainted with many individuals involved in the art world. He developed friendships with art collector Peggy Guggenheim and artists Marc Chagall and Mark Rothko. Reis served as a director for Art of This Century Films and the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation, as well as Guggenheim's personal financial advisor and confidant.
Following the death of Mark Rothko in 1970, Reis was named one of the executors of his estate. The estate was largely managed by the Mark Rothko Foundation, of which Reis was a director. Reis and the other executors entered into an agreement with Marlborough Gallery to sell Rothko's paintings, and in 1971, Mark Rothko's daughter, Kate, accused the estate and gallery of fraudulent practices and sued to release the estate from the sale agreement. The case was not fully resolved until after Reis's death in 1978.
The papers of New York accountant and art collector Bernard J. Reis measure 2.1 linear feet and date from circa 1913 to 1983. The papers document his friendships with artists, his role as accountant for Art of This Century and the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation, and executor of the Mark Rothko Estate. Included are biographical and family papers, correspondence, professional files, scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical and family papers includes a biographical essay, a caricature of Bernard Reis by Abe Birnbaum, documents regarding Rebecca Reis's 1963 cookbook and Barbara Reis Poe's art career, as well as memorabilia from tours of the Reis house and art collection.
Correspondence is with family, friends, and artists, such as Marc Chagall, Sir Herbert Read, and Robert Motherwell. Also found is correspondence with art organizations, galleries, and museums, including the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Modern Art.
A small set of professional files include copies of others' correspondence, miscellaneous legal documents and reports, Marlborough Gallery records from Reis's time as a New York Director, and copies of wills drawn up by Reis, including those of Edward Albee, Willem De Kooning, Peggy Guggenheim, Beverly Pepper, Abraham Rattner, Man Ray, and Larry Rivers.
Art of This Century and Peggy Guggenheim Foundation records are comprised of accountant's reports, an architect's essay, papers concerning exhibitions and films, a catalog of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Foundation dissolution documents, meeting minutes, gift agreements, and news clippings. Also included is correspondence between Peggy Guggenheim and Bernard and Rebecca Reis, correspondence between Peggy Guggenheim and her son, Sindbad Vail, and financial correspondence.
Mark Rothko Estate papers include administrative records, financial documents, inventories, sales records, papers concerning the Mary Alice "Mell" Rothko Estate, news clippings, and two scrapbooks. Also found are Mark Rothko's correspondence and estate correspondence. Of note are papers related to the Rothko estate trial.
Printed material consists of exhibition announcements and catalogs, copies of articles by Reis, news and magazine clippings, and printed materials regarding Marc Chagall.
Photographs depict Bernard Reis, Reis with wife Rebecca and friends, the Reis home and collection, and Reis at events. Also found are photographs of Peggy Guggenheim's Palazzo in Venice.
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an interview of Bernard Reis conducted June 3-10, 1976, by Paul Cummings. Bernard and Rebecca Reis papers, circa 1924-1985, are also located at the Getty Research Institute in California.
The collection was processed and described in a finding aid by Rebecca McCormick in 2017.
Bernard J. Reis papers, circa 1913-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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The papers were donated in 1979 and 1980 by Bernard J. Reis's widow, Rebecca G. Reis.
This series contains scattered biographical material and family papers. Found here are a biographical essay written by Reis, a birthday "report" given to him by friends and coworkers, and a caricature of Reis by Abe Birnbaum. Also included are clippings and correspondence associated with Rebecca Reis's 1963 cookbook,
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by last name. Persons with three or fewer pieces of correspondence are filed in the miscellaneous folders, which are also arranged alphabetically.
Reis's correspondence is with friends, colleagues, art associations, museums, and galleries. Also found are letters sent to Rebecca Reis after Bernard's death. Researchers should note that additional letters of significance are located in Art of This Century and Peggy Guggenheim Foundation records, Mark Rothko Estate papers, and the "Letters from Artists" scrapbook.
Of note is correspondence with friends and artists, including Marc Chagall, William Congdon, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, and Laurence Vail, as well as other notable members of the art world, such as Sir Herbert Read. This series also contains correspondence from art organizations, art associations, museums, and galleries, including the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Fogg Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Walters Art Gallery.
(Oversized item housed in OV 3)
Chagall, Marc and Haggard, Virginia
(Includes Joseph and Jean (Erdman) Campbell)
(Includes Paul Jenkins, Frederick J. Kiesler, Franz Kline, Abraham Rattner, Larry Rivers, Peter Selz)
(Includes Gore Vidal)
(Oversized item from Box 1, Folder 11)
This series contains documentation of Reis's professional career, including copies of Walter De Maria and William Randolph Hearst's correspondence, a file on Cambridge art gallery Kettle's Yard, miscellaneous legal documents and reports, and Marlborough Gallery records from Reis's time as the New York director.
Also found are copies of wills drawn up by Reis. Included are the wills of Edward Albee, Willem de Kooning, Alexander Eliot, Jane Winslow Eliot, Peggy Guggenheim, Adele M. Hatfield, William R.H. Hatfield, Josephine Johnson, Lester Johnson, Ludwig L. Lawrence, Conrad Marca-Relli, Edward Meneeley, Ray Parker, Beverly Pepper, Curtis G. Pepper, James Donald Prendergast, Abraham Rattner, Esther Rattner, Man Ray, Larry Rivers, and Albert Vanderburg.
This series includes documentation of Reis's friendship with Peggy Guggenheim, his involvement with her gallery, Art of This Century, and with the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation. It is comprised of Art of This Century accountant's reports, an essay by Art of This Century architect Frederick J. Kiesler, papers concerning Art of This Century exhibitions and films, a catalog of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Peggy Guggenheim Foundation dissolution documents, foundation meeting minutes, papers concerning the transfer of the foundation's holdings to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, papers referencing gifts to museums, and news and magazine clippings. Also found are correspondence between Peggy Guggenheim and Bernard and Rebecca Reis, correspondence between Peggy Guggenheim and her son, Sindbad Vail, and assorted financial correspondence.
This series contains incorporation documents, by-laws, meeting minutes, and treasurer's reports for the Mark Rothko Foundation, bills, receipts, contracts, financial reports, inventories, sales records, papers concerning the Mary Alice "Mell" Rothko Estate, medical, insurance, and social security records, tax documents for the estate and Rothko family, news and magazine clippings, and two mixed media scrapbooks. Also found in this series are Mark Rothko's correspondence, correspondence regarding the Rothko Chapel and gift to the Tate Gallery, and general estate correspondence. Of note are papers related to the Rothko trial, including appendix, briefs, the court's ruling, exhibits, injunction opposition and motion to stay documents, memoranda and notes, and a transcript of Rebecca Reis's testimony.
(Includes letters from Mark Rothko)
(Includes letters from Mark Rothko)
Printed material consists of exhibition announcements and catalogs, including a folder of catalogs from Marc Chagall's exhibitions. Also found are copies of articles by Reis, news and magazine clippings, printed materials regarding Marc Chagall, and miscellaneous printed material, such as festival schedules and book excerpts.
(Oversized item housed in OV 3)
(Oversized item from Box 2, Folder 21)
Photographs depict Bernard Reis, the Reis home and collection, and Reis with his wife Rebecca and friends, many of whom were well-known figures in the art world. Included are photographs of Reis at art conferences, exhibition openings, and meeting President Lyndon B. Johnson. Of note are photographs of Bernard and Rebecca Reis's trips to Italy and to Peggy Guggenheim's Palazzo in Venice.
(Oversized item housed in OV 3)
(Includes Max Ernst, Amédée Ozenfant)
(Includes Mark Rothko, Theodoros Stamos)
(Includes Helen Frankenthaler, Clement Greenberg)
(Includes Beverly Pepper)
(Includes Piero Dorazio, Julie Ray, Barbara Reis Poe, Arlette Seligmann, Laurence Vail, Adja Yunkers; Oversized items housed in OV 3)
(Includes Albert Lasker, Jacques Lipchitz, Frank and Susan Lloyd, Beverly Pepper, Kurt Seligmann, Jean Varda)
(Oversized items housed in OV 3)
(Oversized items from Box 2, Folders 37, 45, and 48)