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Wagstaff (Samuel) Papers
2005.M.46
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Title: Samuel Wagstaff papers
Date (inclusive): 1796-1987 (bulk
1952-1986)
Number: 2005.M.46
Creator/Collector:
Wagstaff, Samuel J., Jr.,
1921-1987
Physical Description:
96 Linear Feet
(126 boxes, 5 rolls, 19 flatfiles)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The papers document Sam Wagstaff's
activities as curator and collector, with a focus on his collections and collecting
processes. The papers are rich in correspondence and include letters from artists,
photographers and cultural institutions. Original photographs and non-photographic original
artworks are included, as well as slides, negatives, postcards, film reels, prints and
drawings.
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Language: Collection material is in
English.
Biographical / Historical Note
Curator and visionary photography collector Samuel Wagstaff Jr. was born 1921, in New York
City. The son of a lawyer from an old New York family and fashion designer Olga Piorkowska,
Wagstaff graduated from Yale University and served in the Navy during World War II. After
the war and a short career in advertising he studied Renaissance art at New York
University's Institute of Fine Arts under the mentorship of Richard Offner. In 1959 he
received a David E. Finley art history fellowship at the National Gallery of Art. He assumed
a curatorial position in contemporary art at the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1961 to 1968 and
then at the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1968 to 1971. At both institutions Wagstaff
pursued his interest in the avant garde and helped promote the careers of artists such as
Michael Heizer, Tony Smith, Gordon Newton and Richard Tuttle.
In addition to his curatorial work, Wagstaff was a noted collector. He originally
concentrated on avant-garde paintings. Following his return to New York in the 1970s, he
turned his attention to photography, with an initial focus on nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century French, British and American photography. Influenced by his long-term
partner, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Wagstaff's collecting later shifted toward more
daring and contemporary photography. At a time when scholarship on the subject was limited,
Wagstaff promoted the significance of photography in lectures, on panels, and famously on
the Dick Cavett television show. Wagstaff loaned works from his photography collection for
national and international exhibitions, often served as a freelance curator, and regularly
responded to requests for curatorial advice. In 1977 his own press published
A Book
of Photographs from the Collection of Sam Wagstaff
.
When Wagstaff's photography holdings numbered more than 2,500 masterworks, he sold the
collection to the J. Paul Getty Museum and focused on building a collection of 19th-century
American silver. The New York Historical Society exhibited more than 100 examples from his
silver collection in 1987, the last show curated by Wagstaff. His silver collection was sold
at auction following his death. Wagstaff died in 1987.
Open for use by qualified researchers with the following exceptions. Film reels are
unavailable until reformatting is complete.
Contact
Library Reproductions
and Permissions
.
Samuel Wagstaff papers, 1796-1987 (bulk 1952-1986), The Getty Research Institute, Los
Angeles, Accession no. 2005.M.46
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2005m46
Acquired from the Mapplethorpe Foundation in 2005.
The Samuel Wagstaff papers were initially processed and a preliminary inventory was made by
Rheim Alkahdi in 2009. Laura Schroffel completed processing the collection and created a
finding aid under the supervision of Andra Darlington in 2011.
Sam Wagstaff postcard collection, ca. 1880-1980, Accession no. 96.R.13*.
Some books were transferred to the Getty Research Library general collection and may be
found by searching the
library catalog for the Samuel Wagstaff Source Collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Samuel Wagstaff papers document his activities as curator and collector, with a focus
on his collections and collecting processes. The papers are rich in correspondence and
include letters from artists, photographers and staff from cultural institutions. Also
included are original photographs, both contemporary and historic, as well as
non-photographic original artworks. Among other materials are slides, negatives, postcards,
film reels, prints and drawings.
Series I is a collection of snapshots by Wagstaff, including color photographs (sometimes
housed in albums), color negatives, color slides, black-and-white contact prints and
black-and-white negatives. The collection highlights cultural institutions, landmarks, urban
and industrial landscapes, various exteriors and city inhabitants. New York City is featured
heavily. London, Paris, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Detroit are also documented. This series
is also rich in portraiture, including nudes, self-portraits, portraits of Robert
Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith and others.
Series II traces the development of Wagstaff's various collections through correspondence,
receipts and other documentation, and also includes original works of art by Dan Basen,
Robert Morris and Gordon Newton. The focus of the series is Wagstaff's collections of
photography, silver, postcards, and contemporary art, but items from his less-known
collections of prints, flowers, currency and postage are also included. Correspondents
represented in this series include artists Agnes Martin, Michael Heizer, Alan Saret, Tony
Smith and H.C. Westermann. Letters received, receipts and papers in this series often
provide substantial provenance information related to items in Wagstaff's collections. The
papers include information on photographs and other materials now owned by the Getty
Museum.
Series III contains family photographs, including pictures of Wagstaff at various ages, and
members of his immediate and extended family. The series also contains assorted financial
and personal documents, such as estate papers, tax records, property ownership documents,
medical records, astrological papers and identification.
Series IV contains the letters that were not filed by Wagstaff in another series. The bulk
of the correspondence in this series is from the 1970s and 1980s, after Wagstaff had stopped
working as a professional curator and moved back to New York to focus on collecting.
Series V contains photographs and documents regarding exhibitions, publications and artist
research by Wagstaff. This series includes documents regarding the founding of Wagstaff's
publishing company, Gray Press, and its only publication,
A Book of Photographs from
the Collection of Sam Wagstaff
. Also in this series is a collection of cat
photographs assembled by Wagstaff in relation to an article he wrote for
Artforum (1986).
The ephemera in Series VI consists of posters and exhibition announcements. Clippings
include articles profiling Wagstaff and his collections.
Series VII contains a film reel labeled, "Potatoes on a Studio Floor," as well as seven
unidentified film reels and four undeveloped reels. Films are unavailable until reformatting
is complete.
Arranged in seven series:
Series I. Snapshots, 1969-1983, undated;
Series II.
Collections, 1819-1987;
Series III. Personal papers, 1796-1986;
Series IV.
Correspondence, 1909-1986;
Series V. Projects, 1914-1986;
Series VI.
Ephemera and assorted papers, 1941-1986;
Series VII. Film reels, undated.
Heizer, Michael, 1944-
Smith, Patti
Mapplethorpe, Robert
Westermann, H. C. (Horace Clifford),
1922-1981
Martin, Agnes, 1912-2004
Smith, Tony,
1912-1980
Detroit Institute of Arts
Wadsworth Atheneum
Artists -- Correspondence
Art -- Private collections -- United States
Silver -- United States -- Collectors and collecting
Photography -- Collectors and collecting
Photographs -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
Photography -- Exhibitions
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Collectors and collecting -- United
States
Gelatin silver prints
Cyanotypes
Contact prints
Photograph albums
Stereoscopic photographs
Albumen prints
Art objects
Photographs, Original
Color slides
Color photographs
Color negatives
Cartes-de-visite
Postcards
Photographic prints
Martin, Agnes,
1912-2004
Westermann, H. C. (Horace
Clifford), 1922-1981
Smith, Tony,
1912-1980
Heizer, Michael,
1944-
Morris, Robert,
1931-2018
Basen, Dan
Newton, Gordon,
1948-
Wagstaff, Samuel J., Jr.,
1921-1987