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Kasmin Limited Records
2001.M.1
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Kasmin Limited records
Creator:
Kasmin Limited
Identifier/Call Number: 2001.M.1
Physical Description:
64.21 Linear Feet
(143 Boxes, 3 Flat File Folders)
Date (inclusive): 1960-1992 (bulk 1963-1972)
Abstract: The records of Kasmin Limited document the Kasmin Gallery at 118 New Bond Street in London that John Kasmin directed from
1963 to 1972 in partnership with Sheridan Dufferin. Among the artists represented by the gallery, and in the records, are
Anthony Caro, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, John Latham, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, Richard
Smith and Frank Stella. The records consist of correspondence, financial records, scrapbooks, visitor books, catalogs, invitations,
ephemera, and photographs of the artworks handled by John Kasmin.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
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Language of Material: English
Scope and Content of Collection
The records of Kasmin Limited provide a comprehensive survey of the operations of the Kasmin Gallery at 118 New Bond Street
in London that John Kasmin directed from 1963 to 1972 in partnership with Sheridan Dufferin. There is also documentation on
John Kasmin's activities as an art dealer in the early 1960s and after 1972.
The records of Kasmin Limited are comprised of correspondence with artists, other galleries, collectors and critics; financial
records, including stock books and contracts with artists; scrapbooks of press clippings; visitor books; catalogues, invitations
and ephemera; photographs of exhibitions and artists' works, with a large section documenting the work of David Hockney, and
a short unreleased documentary film on the gallery. Among the artists represented are: Edward Avedisian, Walter Darby Bannard,
Stephen Buckley, Anthony Caro, Bernard Cohen, Robin Denny, David Evison, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, John Latham,
Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, Richard Smith, Frank Stella, annd William Tucker.
Arranged in nine series: Series I. Correspondence, 1960-1987 (bulk 1963-1972); Series II. Visitor books, 1963-1966; Series
III. Diaries and travel notebook, 1962-1977; Series IV. Scrapbooks, 1961-1984; Series V. Gallery invitations and mailing lists,
1963-1977; Series VI. Financial records, 1960-1992; Series VII. Printed matter, 1960-1978; Series VIII. Photographs, 1960-1981;
Series IX. Architectural documentation, 1963-1973.
John Kasmin opened a gallery at 118 New Bond Street in London on April 17th, 1963, with an inaugural show dedicated to the
paintings of Kenneth Noland, an artist that he described at the time as his favorite painter, albeit a difficult one. The
show marked Kasmin's eagerness to change London's taste in art and to promote abstract art.
Born into a Jewish family in Whitechapel in 1934 under the name John Kaye, John Kasmin, who would later be known as Kasmin
or "Kas," attended Magdalen College School in Oxford. He then traveled to New Zealand. Upon returning to England in 1956,
he took on jobs at several art galleries, including Gallery One and Kaplan Gallery. In 1958, he met Jane Nicholson, niece
of the painter Ben Nicholson, who would become his wife and the mother of his two sons, Aaron and Paul. In 1960, he accepted
a position to manage the New London Gallery for the well-established Marlborough Fine Art. It had been founded by Harry Fischer
and Frank Lloyd who had innovative financial arrangements with artists and who placed emphasis on the need for proper documentation
for artworks entering the stock of the gallery, such as reference numbers, labels on verso of the works, and photographic
documentation. This placed Marlborough Fine Art at an advantage in respect to other galleries dealing with contemporary artists
that had a more informal workflow. At the Kasmin Gallery, Kasmin would pursue these practices and benefit from the significant
financial backing of the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, a Guinness heir and an art collector who was a client of Marlborough
Fine Art.
The partnership between Kasmin and Dufferin began in the fall of 1961, when Dufferin offered Kasmin a regular income to pursue
his interest in representing artists that Marlborough Fine Art was not willing to represent, such as David Hockney and John
Latham. Kasmin and Dufferin spent nearly two years looking for suitable premises and eventually chose the architectural firm
of Ahrends, Burton and Koralek to transform the space of an old art gallery on New Bond Street. Stylish, crisp and bold, the
Kasmin Gallery at New Bond Street was designed and built especially to show stark, clean and large artworks. This was meant
as a departure from the exhibition space at Marlborough Fine Art with its velvet draperies, armchairs and easels. Accessible
through a long corridor, the Kasmin Gallery space remained quiet, removed from the bustling activities on New Bond Street.
Large skylights provided a diffused light on white walls in a space that could accommodate the large abstract paintings of
six square feet or more. Represented were the British painters, Bernard Cohen, David Hockney, John Latham, Richard Smith,
and sculptor Anthony Caro, and American painters, Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Frank
Stella. It is at the Kasmin Gallery in 1963 that David Hockney—the only figurative artist among those supported by Kasmin—had
his first one-man show. Kasmin would remain Hockney's primary dealer for many years. The gallery became a proponent of American
Color Field abstract painters. It dealt in post-1908 pictures in general and in some antiquities and Indian miniatures, but
the exhibition space was solely for contemporary art.
During the 1960s, the Kasmin Gallery on New Bond Street became a notable site for contemporary art, along with other exhibition
spaces, such as the ICA and the Robert Fraser Gallery. Described as the "most beautiful room in London," the Kasmin Gallery
succeeded in shaping a taste for contemporary art, with its narrow focus on a small group of artists—an essential component
of John Kasmin's ambition as the long list of letters of rejected artists suggests—and its succession of striking exhibitions,
which were primarily one-man shows.
In 1972, John Kasmin and Dufferin parted ways, marking the closing of the gallery space on New Bond Street with a festive
celebration at the Savoy. Dufferin pursued other interests, while Kasmin continued on as an art dealer, transferring the business
to a non-exhibiting premise on Clifford Street.
References: Tickner, Lisa, "The Kasmin Gallery,"
Oxford Art Journal, 30, 2, 2007, 233-268;
Letter by John Kasmin, 1963 August 16, Box 5, folder 1;
Kasmin's Sixties, Paul Kasmin Gallery, 2001.
Opened for research with a preliminary online inventory by Kelly Nipper, 2002; in 2018, Karen Meyer-Roux completed the cataloging,
and processing, and wrote the descriptive notes.
Acquired in 2001.
Kasmin Limited records, 1960-1992 (bulk 1963-1972), The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2001.M.1.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2001m1
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Open for use by qualified researchers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Art dealers -- England -- London
Art -- Collectors and collecting
Ephemera
Stock books
Photographic prints
Art galleries, Commercial -- England -- London
Art, Modern -- 20th century
Art, Modern -- Collectors and collecting
Caro, Anthony, 1924-2013
Stella, Frank
Smith, Richard, 1931-2016
Olitski, Jules, 1922-2007
Poons, Larry
Louis, Morris, 1912-1962
Noland, Kenneth, 1924-2010
Kasmin, John, 1934-
Latham, John, 1921-2006
Kasmin Limited
Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011
Hockney, David