The M. Knoedler & Co. artist files form part of the records of the firm of M. Knoedler & Co. described in the related finding aid for the collection. Due to their size, the artist files are described separately from the rest of the archive. The M. Knoedler & Co. artist files primarily document artworks handled by the New York office of Knoedler & Co. and represent the bulk of the materials in Series VII. Photographs. The photographs, along with research and descriptive information, document artworks purchased and sold by the firm or on consignment at the firm, as well as artworks offered for sale to the firm, but not acquired. In addition to photographs, each artist file typically includes "pedigree" documentation of the artworks, such as ownership history, bibliographies and expertise documentation. The photographs provide a visual record of the condition of the artwork at the time it was in the firm's stock and enable to distinguish works with similar titles or works whose titles have changed over time. Often they are the last record of works whose location is presently unknown. The titles indicated for the works are derived from the titles that Knoedler staff assigned the works in the stock books, the sales books or the inventory cards. When possible, abbreviations of the titles in the archive have been expanded and spelling mistakes corrected, but no attempt has been made to update the titles to current standards of the repositories for these works. When different sources in the archive provided titles that differed considerably, the different versions have been provided, when possible. The main finding aid for the The M. Knoedler & Co. records is available here: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012m54.

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.

507.7 linear feet (1228 boxes)

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