Finding aid for the Dwan Gallery publications and ephemera, 1960-1971

Maggie Hughes


Descriptive Summary

Title: Dwan Gallery publications and ephemera
Date (inclusive): 1960-1971
Number: 2012.M.37
Creator/Collector: Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Physical Description: 12 Linear Feet (2 boxes, 3 flatfile folders, 1 roll)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The Dwan Gallery records document the two galleries that Virgina Dwan ran in Los Angeles and in New York, and which promoted artists associated with earthworks, nouveau réalisme, minimalism, and conceptual art. In the early sixties, Dwan introduced Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, and Yves Klein to Los Angeles. Upon her move to New York in 1965, Dwan also exhibited Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer. The records consist of publications and ephemera, such as announcements, posters, and catalogs for the exhibitions held at the galleries.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record   for this collection. Click here for the access policy  .
Language: Collection material is in English.

Biographical / Historical Note

Virginia Dwan conducted and operated galleries in Los Angeles (1959-1967) and in New York (1965-1971). Born in 1931 and heir to the Minnesota, Mining and Manufacturing fortune (now 3M), Dwan first worked for the art dealer and gallerist Frank Perls in Beverly Hills. In 1959 she opened a gallery at 1091 Broxton Avenue in Westwood Village in Los Angeles. At first, she exhibited the work of abstract expressionists from New York. After traveling to France and discovering the art of the nouveaux réalistes, she also promoted their work in solo and group shows. She introduced Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, and Yves Klein to Los Angeles.
In June 1962, Dwan opened a new and expanded space at 10846 Lindbrook Drive, also in Westwood Village, which was designed by Morris Verger, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was inaugurated with an exhibition on the French assemblage artist Arman, one of the founders of nouveau réalisme. Two months later, the show, My Country 'Tis of Thee featured works by Andy Warhol, Marisol, and Claes Oldenburg. During this period, Dwan also promoted the artists Edward Kienholz, Niki de Saint Phalle, Mark di Suvero, and James Rosenquist.
Dwan, who was independently wealthy, was known for her generosity. She maintained close relationships with many of the artists she exhibited, often granting them large stipends or inviting them to her home in Malibu. She was not interested in achieving financial success as an art dealer or gallerist and could take risks in the artists she chose to work with.
In 1965, Dwan moved to New York and founded the east coast branch of her gallery at 29 West 57th Street. When she closed her Los Angeles space, its director, John Weber, joined her in New York where the gallery commissioned and exhibited post-minimalist, earthwork and conceptual artists such as Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, and Dennis Oppenheim. Virginia Dwan's New York gallery is often credited as the first to exhibit an earthworks show in 1968, as well as underwriting projects and serving as the movement's headquarters. Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty was partially financed by the gallery in 1970. After closing the gallery in 1971, Dwan produced films with and about artists, and later donated her art collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Administrative Information

Access

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Publication Rights

Preferred Citation

Dwan Gallery publications and ephemera, 1960-1971, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2012.M.37
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012m37

Acquisition Information

Gift of Virginia Dwan. Acquired in 2012 and 2013.

Processing History

The archive was rehoused by Vladimira Stefura upon receipt in 2011. It was arranged and described by Maggie Hughes in 2012 under the supervision of Andra Darlington. Two additional posters were donated in 2013 and integrated into the collection in 2018. Notes in the finding aid were updated in 2022.

Related Materials

- Dwan Gallery Archives, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
- Dwan Gallery Archives, Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
- Oral history interview with Virginia Dwan, 1984 March 21-June 7, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Scope and Content of Collection

The archive is comprised of 57 items that document exhibitions held at the Dwan galleries from 1960 to 1971 in Los Angeles and in New York. They consist of ephemera and publications, such as exhibition catalogs, fliers, pamphlets, and posters.

Arrangement

Items are arranged chronologically by exhibition date. Files are labeled with the artist's name, the title of the exhibition, and the exhibition date. If the title of the exhibition was the artist's name, it has been omitted.

Indexing Terms

Subjects - Names

Snelson, Kenneth, 1927-2016
Andre, Carl, 1935-
Arakawa, Shūsaku, 1936-2010
Flavin, Dan, 1933-1996
Kienholz, Edward, 1927-1994
LeWitt, Sol, 1928-2007
Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967
Smithson, Robert

Subjects - Topics

Conceptual Art
Earthworks (Art)
Minimal art
Art, Modern -- 20th century

Genres and Forms of Material

Ephemera
Fliers (printed matter)
Exhibition catalogs
Posters
Pamphlets

Contributors

Dwan, Virginia
Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Dwan Gallery (New York, N.Y.)


 

Dwan Gallery publications and ephemera, 1960-1971

box 1, folder 1

Robert Goodnough, 1960

box 2*, folder 2

Paul Brach, 1960

box 1, folder 1

Reginald Pollack, Recent Paintings, 1960

box 1, folder 1

Six Sculptors, 1961

box 1, folder 1

Arman, 1962

box 1, folder 2

Raymond Parker, 1962

box 1, folder 2

Martial Raysse, Mirrors and Portraits, 1962

box 1, folder 2

Matsumi Kanemitsu, Recent Paintings, 1962

box 1, folder 2

My Country 'Tis of Thee, 1962

box 1, folder 2

Ad Reinhardt, Recent Square Paintings 1960-1963, 1963

box 1, folder 3

Robert Breer and Larry Rivers, Breer film screening / Rivers exhibit , 1963

box 1, folder 3

Larry Rivers, 1963

box 1, folder 3

Claes Oldenburg, Autobodys, 1963

box 2*, folder 9

Larry Rivers, Small Recent Work, 1963

box 1, folder 3

Lucas Samaras, 1964

box 1, folder 3

Edward Kienholz, Three Tableaux, 1964

box 1, folder 4

James Rosenquist, 1964

box 1, folder 4

Gallery Artists, 1964

Scope and Content Note

Included artists: Arakawa, Frazier, Edward Kienholz, Martial Raysse, Jean Tinguely.
box 2*, folder 4

Niki de Saint Phalle, 1964

box 1, folder 4

The Arena of Love, 1965

flatfile 1**

Robert Rauschenberg, 1965

box 1, folder 5

Group show, 1965-1966

Scope and Content Note

With button attached. Included artists: Arakawa, Allan D'Arcangelo, Mark di Suvero, Robert Grosvenor, Anthony Magar, Neil Williams.
box 2*, folder 1

15 of NY, 1966

box 1, folder 4

Group show, 1966

Scope and Content Note

Included artists: John Chamberlain, Mark di Suvero, Edward Kienholz, Sven Lukin, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, James Rosenquist.
box 1, folder 6

10, 1966

Scope and Content Note

Two copies of exhibition catalog.
box 2*, folder 7

A Summer Show, 1966

Scope and Content Note

Included artists: John Caruthers, David Crum, Nancy Gowan, Jessie Jacobs, James Massey, Richard Matthews, DeWain Valentine.
box 2*, folder 6

Edward Kienholz, The Beanery, 1966

flatfile 1**

Tom Doyle, Sculpture, 1966

flatfile 1**

Anthony Magar and Forrest Myers, 1966

flatfile 1**

Robert Smithson, 1966-1967

box 1, folder 7

Language to be Looked at and/or Things to be Read, 1967

Scope and Content Note

Included artists: Carl Andre, Arakawa, Walter de Maria, Marcel Duchamp, Dan Flavin, Dan Graham, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, On Kawara, Edward Kienholz, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, René Magritte, Filippo Marinetti, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenburg, Francis Picabia, Ad Reinhardt, Robert Smithson, Kenneth Snelson.
box 2*, folder 10

10, 1967

Scope and Content Note

Exhibition poster. Included artists: Robert Morris, Ad Reinhardt, Robert Smithson, Michael Steiner, Carl Andre, Jo Baer, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin.
box 2*, folder 5

John Chamberlain, New Works, 1967

flatfile 1**

Carl Andre, 1967

Scope and Content Note

Poster with periodic table design.
flatfile 1**

Sol LeWitt, 1967

flatfile 2**

Carl Andre, 1967

Scope and Content Note

Poster with grid design.
box 1, folder 7

Dan Flavin, Cool White, Etc., 1968

box 1, folder 7

Earthworks, 1968

box 1, folder 8

Erwin Heerich, Cardboard Sculpture 1956-1968, 1968

box 1, folder 8

Language II, 1968

box 2*, folder 8

Robert Smithson, 1968

flatfile 2**

Kenneth Snelson, 1968

Flatfile 3**

Kenneth Snelson, Structures, 1968

box 1, folder 8

Robert Smithson, Mono Lake Site, 1969

box 1, folder 8

Language III, 1969

flatfile 2**

Charles Ross, Prisms, 1969

box 1, folder 9

Group show, 1970

Scope and Content Note

Included artists: Anastasi, Carl Andre, Arakawa, Walter de Maria, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Charles Ross, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Robert Smithson, Kenneth Snelson.
flatfile 2**

Robert Smithson, Great Salt Lake Utah and Spiral Jetty , 1970

box 1, folder 9

Michael Heizer, 1970

roll 1**

Michael Heizer, Double Negative

box 1, folder 9

Language IV, 1970

box 2*, folder 1

Dan Flavin, Cornered Installations 1963-1970, 1970

box 2*, folder 3

William Anastasi, Sculpture, 1970

flatfile 2**

Kenneth Snelson, 1970

flatfile 1**

William Anastasi, Continuum, 1970

box 1, folder 9

Robert Ryman, Paintings, 1971