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Vollard (Ambroise) Miscellaneous papers regarding
2001.M.24
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Title: Miscellaneous papers regarding Ambroise Vollard
Date (inclusive): 1890-1939 (bulk 1890-1910)
Number: 2001.M.24
Creator/Collector:
Getty Research
Institute
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet
(11 boxes)
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: Collection comprises original and
photocopied letters and records related to the French art dealer Ambroise Vollard and the
artists he represented.
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
Ambroise Vollard, the pioneer French art dealer, patron and publisher, can be said to be
the first of the 'modern' art dealers. Malcolm Gee calls Vollard the "most notable
contemporary art dealer of his generation in France." Born 1867 in Réunion, he moved to
Paris to study law in 1890 and soon began buying and selling prints and drawings. After
working at L'Union Artistique for Alphonse Dumas, Vollard set up his own business and in
1894 opened a gallery near the Opéra on the Rue Laffitte, then the center of the Paris art
business.
Vollard organized Cézanne's first one-man exhibit and, as was his habit, bought works
directly from the artist, building a collection of enormous value. He also bought work from
van Gogh, Gauguin, Bonnard, Denis, Redon, Vuillard, Derain, Rouault, Vlaminck, Rousseau,
Picasso, Maillol, and Matisse, often holding back the work for years to take advantage of
rising prices.
Vollard is also known for his print publishing business (1890s through 1900) and for
establishing the genre of the illustrated art book (livre d'artiste). After 1915 Vollard
launched over 40 publishing projects with artists, many of which were incomplete when he
died in 1939. Vollard wrote several books on artists (Cézanne, Renoir, Degas, among them) as
well as his memoir, published in English with the title
Recollections
of a Picture Dealer
(1936, 1978).
Open for use by qualified researchers with the following exceptions. The Jaz drive in Box
11 containing Gerrard White's inventory and transcriptions is sealed. However, a paper hard
copy of the documents is available for read-only access in Box 12 and Box 13; it may not be
photocopied or digitally copied in whole or in part.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Miscellaneous papers regarding Ambroise Vollard, 1890-1939, bulk 1890-1910, The Getty
Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2001.M.24.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2001m24
The collection was assembled from various sources by Gerrard White, who also made the
transcriptions in the collection. Acquired by the Getty Research Library in 2004.
Processed by J. Gibbs and Lily Tsukahira.
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection comprises original and photocopied letters and records related to the art dealer
Ambroise Vollard and the artists he represented. Also included are transcriptions of
photocopied materials.
Included are: 83 items of correspondence, 3 documents, 18 b&w photographs, 12
publications, 1 sketchbook, 2 watercolors, and 1 lithograph. The photocopies of stockbooks,
account books, and correspondence, were made from original materials, some of which are now
in the Musee D'Orsay. The transcriptions were made by Gerrard White from the
photocopies.
Correspondence centers on artists Paul Gauguin, Georges Rouault, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard
Vuillard, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Daniel de Monfreid, Henri Gabriel Ibels, and Maurice
Denis; prominent critics such as Felix Feneon, Roger Marx, Andre Mellerio, Gabriel Mourey,
and Jules Laforgue; dealers such as Vollard, Edouard Kleinmann, and Durand Ruel; collectors
such as Chaudet, Gabriel Frizeau, and Alexandre Natanson; publishers such as Floury and
Marty; and the print dealer André Clot.
This collection was assembled by Gerrard White from various sources including Maurice
Malingue, the family of André Mellerio, Baron Denys Cochin, the heirs of André Clot, John
Rewald, and Louis Sébastien, heir of antiquarian Edouard Jonas.
Arranged in 6 series:
Series I. Correspondence
concerning Paul Gauguin, 1897-1917;
Series II. Other correspondence, 1891-1939;
Series III. Correspondence regarding Vollard's painters and the art
market, 1887-1924;
Series IV. Ambroise
Vollard dealer's records and related records in other repositories, ca. 1894-1935;
Series V. Catalogues, monographs and
exhibition documentation;
Series VI. Research file
Mellerio, André,
1862-1943
Laforgue, Jules, 1860-1887
Marty, Andre
Natanson, Alexandre,
1867-1936
Marx, Roger,
1859-1913
Rouault, Georges, 1871-1958
Mourey, Gabriel,
1865-1943
Steinlen, Théophile Alexandre,
1859-1923
Bonnard, Pierre, 1867-1947
Vollard, Ambroise,
1867-1939
Monfreid, Daniel de,
1856-1929
Floury, Henri, 1862-1961
Denis, Maurice, 1870-1943
Clot, André
Fénéon, Félix, 1861-1944
Frizeau, Gabriel
Kleinmann, Edouard
Ibels, Henri-Gabriel,
1867-1936
Gauguin, Paul, 1848-1903
Galerie Vollard
Galerie Durand-Ruel
Art -- Marketing -- History
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- History
Artists -- France -- Paris
Art dealers -- France -- Paris
Collectors and collecting -- France -- History
Artists' illustrated books
Correspondence
Photographic prints
Prints
Photographs, Original
Getty Research
Institute
Monfreid, Daniel
de, 1856-1929
Vuillard, Édouard,
1868-1940
Vollard, Ambroise,
1867-1939
Steinlen, Théophile Alexandre,
1859-1923
Getty Research Institute. Research
Library