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M. Knoedler & Co. records
2012.M.54
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Table of contents
Description
The records of M. Knoedler & Co.
document the business of the prominent American art dealer from the mid-19th century to
1971. The archive traces the development of the once provincial American art market into one
of the world's leading art centers and the formation of the private art collections that
would ultimately establish many of the nation's leading art museums, such as the Frick
Collection and the National Gallery of Art. It contains crucial provenance information on
numerous artworks in private and public collections in the United States. The archive
includes stock books, sales books and commission books; correspondence with collectors,
artists, art dealers and other associates; photographs of the artworks sold by the gallery;
records from the firm's offices in London, Paris and other cities; exhibition files; framing
and restoration records, and records of the firm's Print Department.
Background
M. Knoedler & Co. was a successor to the New York branch of Goupil & Co., an
extremely dynamic print-publishing house founded in Paris in 1827. Goupil's branches in
London, Berlin, Brussels, and The Hague, as well as New York, expanded the firm's market in
the sale of reproductive prints. The firm's office in New York-an initiative of Léon Goupil,
the son of Adolphe Goupil, Théodore Vibert, and the agent William Schaus-was established in
1848 at 289 Broadway on the corner of Duane Street near City Hall.
Extent
3042.6 Linear Feet
(5554 boxes, 17 flat file folders)
Restrictions
Contact Library Reproductions
and Permissions.
Availability
Open for use by qualified researchers, with the following exceptions. Boxes 77, 262-264,
1308-1512, 1969-1974, 3592-3723 are restricted due to fragility. Box 4468 is restricted
until 2075.