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Wilder (Nicholas) Gallery records
2014.M.35
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Table of contents
Title: Nicholas Wilder Gallery records
Date (inclusive): 1927-1980
Number: 2014.M.35
Creator/Collector:
Nicholas Wilder Gallery
Physical Description:
10.93 Linear Feet
(15 boxes, 1 flatfile folder)
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 collection comprises over fifty
artist and gallery files containing photographs of works, press clippings, correspondence,
slides, transparencies, and personalized artwork.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
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Language: Collection material is in English.
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).
Audiovisual materials are unavailable until reformatted.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Nicholas Wilder Gallery records, 1927-1980, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2014.M.35.
http://hdL.handle.net/10020/cifa2014M35
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of The Estate of Nicholas Wilder. Acquired in 2014.
Processed by Ellen Colvin, under the supervision of Kit Messick in Fall 2017.
Nicholas Wilder Gallery records, 1944-1984 (bulk 1968-1979). Archives of American Art
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/findingaids/nichwild.htm
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
Arranged in two series: Series I. Artist files; Series II. Gallery files
Herms, George, 1935-
Hockney, David
Nauman, Bruce, 1941-
McCracken, John
Francis, Sam
Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- Los Angeles
Art dealers -- United States -- Correspondence
Artists -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Nicholas Wilder Gallery