Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1651

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

3.3 linear feet (9 boxes)

Language Note:

The majority of this collection is in English, but researchers will also find Japanese, Thai, and rare instances of other European and Asian languages.

Preferred Citation:

Arrah Lee Gaul papers, 1890-1980, bulk 1906-1980, Ms. Coll. 1651, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1890-1980, bulk 1906-1980 (inclusive)

Creator:

Gaul, Arrah Lee, 1888-1980

Form:

Correspondence and Photographs

Abstract:

Arrah Lee Gaul (1888-1980) was an American artist from Philadelphia, PA. The Arrah Lee Gaul papers date from 1890 through 1980, measure 3.3 linear feet in 9 boxes, and document Gaul's artistic career, personal life, and travels.

Arrah Lee Gaul was an American painter born in 1888 in Philadelphia, PA to Christian Lee Gaul and Arrah E. Hoffman Gaul. She had a brother, Heilner Gaul. Reverend Dr. Christian Lee Gaul was a noted clergyman and pastor in the Philadelphia area.

Arrah Gaul attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now the Moore College of Art), and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1921, she returned to the Philadelphia School of Design as an instructor and, later, the head of the art department.

In 1926, Gaul served as the official artist for the Philadelphia Sesqui-Centennial. She was also a member of the "Philadelphia Ten," a group of ten American female artists who exhibited together from 1917 through 1945 and aimed to professionalize the role of women artists. Later, she worked as the art director of the Women's Club Journal.

Gaul exhibited widely, with shows at the Art Club of Philadelphia, the Art Institute of Chicago, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, the Beaux Arts Gallery in London, the Paris Salon of 1931, and the Grand Palais des Champs Elysees. The paintings of High Street that she completed during the Philadelphia Sesqui-Centennial were exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Club, which was the club's first solo exhibition by a female artist.

Gaul also traveled frequently, using her subjects as inspiration and subjects of many of her paintings. She painted in numerous countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Between at least 1951 and 1956, she traveled through Asia, painting and exhibiting her work in numerous countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and India.

In 1917, Gaul married Charles Wesley Brennan. By the early 1920s, however, Gaul was using her maiden name again and there is no further mention of Brennan or their marriage publicly. It is unclear what happened to Brennan, and little is know about him other than that he was born in Massachusetts around 1889, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I, and was alive and living with Gaul at the time of the 1920 census.

She died in Philadelphia on December 11, 1980.

The Arrah Lee Gaul papers date from 1890 through 1980, measure 3.3 linear feet in 9 boxes, and document Gaul's artistic career, personal life, and travels.

The material is organized into four series: I. Art career, II. Correspondence, III. Personal material, and IV. Travels.

The material documenting Gaul's career as an artist relates mostly to her commissions, exhibitions, and teaching. Much of the material consists of press relating to her work and exhibitions, but there are also photographs of her work and of her painting and posing with artworks, printed material from exhibitions, lecture notes, and price lists. Researchers should note that, other than the sketches and greeting cards, there are no examples of Gaul's original work in this collection.

Correspondence includes a significant amount of both personal and professional correspondence. Notably, there are letters from Gaul to her parents and brother written during her European travels in 1911 and 1912; letters from Gaul to her romantic interests, including Charles Wesley Brennan, her husband, and Frank Paul, whom she appears to have met and dated in her youth and early adulthood. There is also correspondence relating to her work, both to individual senders, such as correspondence with General Matthew Ridgway regarding a commission, and more generally about work with advertisers, copyright matters, correspondence with owners of her work, and regarding the logistics of exhibiting.

Personal material documents Gaul's family and personal life. There is a significant amount of personal ephemera, such as magazines and organization pamphlets, but there are also clippings, photographs, and financial material relating to her parents and brother; information about various properties she owned or rented; and invitations to her wedding with Charles Wesley Brennan.

Finally, travels includes ephemera, such as tickets, brochures, guides, receipts, and pamphlets; planning documents; and photographs documenting Gaul's world travels. Much of this material is from her extended stay in Asia in the 1950s, with the bulk of the material relating to her time in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and India. There is additional material relating to her tour of Asia in the first series as there was significant press regarding her exhibitions held and portraits completed there.