Wilder (Nicholas) Gallery records, 1927-1980

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Summary

Title:

Nicholas Wilder Gallery records

Dates:

1927-1980

Creators:

Nicholas Wilder Gallery

Abstract:

The collection comprises over fifty artist and gallery files containing photographs of works, press clippings, correspondence, slides, transparencies, and personalized artwork.

Extent:

10.93 Linear Feet (15 boxes, 1 flatfile folder)

Language:

Collection material is in English.

Preferred citation:

Nicholas Wilder Gallery records, 1927-1980, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2014.M.35.

http://hdL.handle.net/10020/cifa2014M35

Background

Scope and content:

The collection comprises artist files and records pertaining to the operation of the Nicholas Wilder Gallery. Files contain assorted ephemera, black-and-white photographs, color photographs, clippings, inventory cards, slides, transparencies, and exhibition posters. There is also unique artwork and correspondence from George Herms and Peter Zecher.

Arrangement

Arranged in two series: Series I. Artist files; Series II. Gallery files

Biographical / historical:

Nicholas Walter George Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, in 1938. He graduated from Amherst College in 1960 and studied law at Stanford University before deciding to enter the art field. Wilder opened his gallery on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles on April 1, 1965, exhibiting contemporary works from New York and Europe, and works by up-and-coming Los Angeles artists. The gallery was highly regarded; Wilder was noted for his keen eye and ability to recognize artistic talent. He gave early exhibitions to Dan Flavin, Ronald Davis, Joe Goode, and Robert Graham, and fostered the work of Sam Francis, David Hockney, John McLaughlin, and many others. He was the first to show Bruce Nauman's performance video pieces and John McCracken's Planks.In 1970, the gallery moved to Santa Monica Boulevard; but changing trends in the art market, including a shift by artists toward creating art with an eye toward the commercial market rather than toward personal expression, and collectors' reluctance to buy work from emerging or unestablished artists, impacted that gallery's financial success.

Wilder decided to close his gallery in 1979, and many of the artists he represented moved to the James Corcoran Gallery. Wilder then moved to New York and reemerged a few years later as an artist inspired by those he had represented, with the James Corcoran Gallery hosting his first solo show in 1986. Nicholas Wilder died of AIDS in New York City on May 12, 1989.

Sources: Rani Singh, Acquisition Approval Form for "Nicholas Wilder (American, 1938-1989) Gallery Records (1965-1979), accession no. 2014.M.35," June 16, 2014.

Aid to the Nicholas Wilder Gallery Records, 1944-1984, AAA.nichwild, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. https://www.aaa.si.edu/files/resources/finding-aids/pdf/nichwild.pdf

Burt A. Folkart, "Nicholas Wilder; Was Contemporary Art Dealer in L.A.", The Los Angeles Times, May 14, 1989, http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-14/news/mn-442_1_nicholas-wilder-contemporary-art-dealer-art-history (accessed November 7, 2017).

Acquisition information:

Gift of The Estate of Nicholas Wilder. Acquired in 2014.

Processing information:

Processed by Ellen Colvin, under the supervision of Kit Messick in Fall 2017.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- Los Angeles
Art dealers -- United States -- Correspondence
Artists -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Ellen Colvin
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2018-01-25 14:55:03 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:: Audiovisual materials are unavailable until reformatted.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.