Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 6

Repository:

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

Extent:

48.5 linear feet (116 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Carl Zigrosser papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

circa 1891-1971 (inclusive)

Creator:

Zigrosser, Carl

Form:

Speeches, Memorabilia, Correspondence, Manuscripts, American -- 20th century, and Diaries

Abstract:

The Carl Zigrosser Papers comprise personal and professional records including correspondence, writings, notes, printed material, subject files, photograph album, and diaries relating to Zigrosser's work as an authority on print s and printmaking and his personal relationships with artists. The Papers are particularly rich in correspondence with the major artistic and cultural figures in America during the first half of the twentieth century.

Carl Zigrosser (1891-1975) was one of the few influential museum curators in the United States: he actively promoted the art of print-making. From 1941 through 1963 the Print Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art increased under his direction from approximately 15,000 objects to more than 100,000 works of art. Notable acquisitions during his tenure include Watteau engravings from the Rosenwald collection; the Osborn collection of folk prints; the Scholz collection of seventeenth-century etchings; the Stieglitz collection of photographs; and Japanese prints from the Rockefeller and the Archibold and Vera White collections. At the time of his death in 1975, Evan Turner, Director of the Museum, described Zigrosser as "a driving force" in the development of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In Zigrosser's personal memoir, My Own Shall Come To Me, he described himself simply as "an appraiser or appreciator of the arts and of life." Although he dedicated twenty-three years of his curatorship to building the museum's art collection until it reached internationally-recognized stature, Zigrosser was also a noted scholar and art historian. He did not view his contributions as exceptional: "my career has meaning only as an example of what has been achieved or extracted from existence on this planet—the notion of a life span conceived as a construction or work of art."

Zigrosser was born in 1891 in Indianapolis; he was the son of Hugo and Emma Zigrosser. His father had emigrated from Austria and became a naturalized citizen in 1890. Hugo Zigrosser married Emma Haller of Newark, New Jersey and established a partnership with Leopold von Bohlen in an architectural firm in Indianapolis. After an early retirement for serious health reasons, Hugo moved his family to Newark but did not resume his profession. Soon after the family's arrival in Newark, Carl was enrolled in Newark Academy, from which he graduated in 1908. On the basis of his scores on the College Entrance Examination, he was awarded a scholarship at Columbia College, as well as a prize given by the Columbia College Alumni of New Jersey to the student with the highest examination marks.

In 1908 Zigrosser entered Columbia and majored in chemistry and mathematics. His interests, however, turned to literature, and he completed his course-work in this field in three years. He was then elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received his B.A. in 1911. During his undergraduate studies he contributed to the campus literary magazine, The Columbia Monthly. Through his readings of John Dewey, Francisco Ferrer, Bertrand Russell, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Zigrosser becam e interested in the theory of modern or progressive education. In 1915 he began writing book reviews for The Modern School Magazine, which at the time was published at the Ferrer Colony in Stelton, New Jersey. His first influential essay on his conception of the ideal of the Modern School was reprinted as a pamphlet with a title page designed by Rockwell Kent. In 1917 Zigrosser took over the editorship of The Modern School Magazine, a publication which continued to discuss key issues in libertarian education.

During this early period Zigrosser met and married Florence King, whom Zigrosser described as "a modern emancipated woman-athletic, efficient, priding herself on economic independence" and to whom he referred in his extensive personal correspondence as "Kinglet." On 10 September 1917 their only child, Carola (nickname, "Dux"), was born in New York City, where the couple resided.

Zigrosser's professional career and his study of art began with the New York print dealer, Frederick Keppel & Co., for whom he worked until 1917. Two years later he founded and directed the Weyhe Gallery, an outgrowth of the Weyhe bookstore in Manhatt an. In 1939 and 1940 he was awarded a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for research in art; in 1962 he was elected a trustee of the Simon R. Guggenheim Museum.

In 1940 Fiske Kimball approached Zigrosser with the prospect of becoming the curator of prints at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the same year Zigrosser was awarded a Testimonial Gold Medal by the Philadelphia Watercolor Club. After accepting the curatorial position at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Zigrosser moved to Philadelphia, a city that he described as possessing an "individuality rare among American cities." Comparing New York City, his former residence for many years, with Philadelphia was, for Zigrosser, like comparing Berlin with Vienna: the former was the "dominant, gogetter" city whereas the latter, with its old traditions, had "mellowness and charm." Zigrosser attributed the difference between the two cities to a change in climate: Philadelphia's tempo was "easygoing and gemütlich " because it had a southerly atmosphere.

The move to Philadelphia signaled a major shift in the development of Zigrosser's career, for he now concentrated on scholarly aspects of the graphic arts rather than commercial ventures. On the eve of his departure from New York, fifty artists— all of whom felt indebted to Zigrosser for either the publication or sale of their prints—gave a party during which they presented him with a medal designed by Rockwell Kent "in behalf of the many artists who appreciate his sympathetic, unselfish se rvice to them and to art in America."

After the death of his first wife, Zigrosser married Laura Canadè in 1946, whom he credited as having an important influence on his art career. Laura was the daughter of the artist Vincent Canadè and an artist in her own right. Zigrosser and his second wife resided in Philadelphia for the duration of his twenty-three-year curatorship at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. During this period he also served as consultant for the Graphic Art Carnegie Study in the United States, which was an exhibition held in 1964. In 1961 Zigrosser was awarded an honorary doctorate from Temple University; he also served as Vice-Director of the Print Council of America and Vice-President of the Print Club of Philadelphia. He first appeared in Who's Who in America in 1966-1967.

Zigrosser's contributions to the world of art were not solely defined by his position as Curator of Prints and Drawings. As early as 1919 he edited and provided the introduction for Twelve Prints by Contemporary Artists. In 1946 he edited the publication, Lithographs by Lautrec, as well as Prints: Thirteen Essays (1962), to which he also contributed an essay. In addition, he authored sixteen scholarly books , including Fine Prints, Old and New (1937); The Artist in America (1942); Käthe Kollwitz (1946); Book of Fine Prints (1948); Caroline Durieux (1940); The Masterpieces of Drawing (1950); Ars Medica (1955); The Expressionists: A Survey of Their Graphic Art (1955 ); Maurico Lasansky (1960); Misch Kohn (1961); Guide to the Collecting and Care of Original Prints (1965); Multum in Paryo (1965); The Complete Etchings of John Martin (1969); Prints and Drawings of Käthe Kollwitz (1969); and Medicine and the Artist (1969).

After his retirement as curator in 1963, Zigrosser continued as Curator Emeritus at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On 4 September 1964, the Museum arranged an exhibition in his honor: it was entitled "Carl Zigrosser: Curatorial Retrospective." The display of one hundred twenty outstanding prints and drawings acquired by Zigrosser during his curatorship was a tribute to his enormous influence in the world of art. On exhibit were prints by Old Masters and printmakers from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries in France, Spain, Mexico, the United States, and Japan; drawings included Old Masters and artists from the United States. The earliest work displayed was Augustin's text, City of God, illuminated by a follower of Jacquement de Hesdin (ca. 1410). Also included were: "Minotauromachi," the most celebrated and sought-after print by Picasso; Benjamin West's "He Is Not Here for He Is Risen," considered by authorities to be West's first lithograph of merit; "Snake-Gourd Vine," from the 1633 Chinese color woodcut book, The Ten Bamboo Studio; "Calvary," a fifteenth-century woodcut scene attached inside the lid of a box of which only forty are known to exist; "Battle of Ten Naked Men," a print by Antonio Pollaiuolo and the first print that can be pictorially regarded as a major work of art. Other prints on exhibit included works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Jacques Callot, Jacques Bellange, William Hogarth, Giambattista Piranesi, J.A.D. Ingres, Jean Duvet, Abraham Bosse, Gabriel de St. Aubin, Paul Gauguin, Honoré Daumier, Paul Cézanne, Georges Rouault, Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, Francisco Goya, Käthe Kollwitz, Paul Klee, Edvard Munch, Vincent Van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Emil Nolde, E.L. Kirchner, Leonard Baskin, Misch Kohn, Maurico Lasansky, Gabor Peterdi, and Jerome Kaplan. Among the drawings acquired by Zigrosser were works by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Alessandro Magnasco, G.B. Castiglione, G.B. Tiepolo, Samuel Pal mer, Jean François Millet, Odilon Redon, Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, William Glackens, and Robert Henri.

Zigrosser was succeeded by Kneeland McNulty as Curator of the Department of Prints and Drawings. At the time of Zigrosser's retirement, McNulty expressed the following sentiments: "Carl Zigrosser's retirement from his position of Curator of Prints an d Drawings culminates only one, but nevertheless a very important, period in his life. The catalogue of the exhibition held in his honor documents the incredible achievement of an internationally respected scholar and curator who dedicated himself for twenty-three years to enriching the art collection of a great metropolis."

Throughout his life Carl Zigrosser did his utmost to aid and advance the careers of artists such as Rockwell Kent, Misch Kohn, J.J. Lankes, and Diego Rivera. He provided support for the professional careers of these and numerous other artists. After his retirement Zigrosser remained active as a critic, historian, and lecturer, serving as associate of the Whitney Museum of Art and exhibition organizer for the Museum of Modern Art. On 26 November 1975, Zigrosser died in Montagnola, Switzerland, where he had lived for the last three years of his life. Four years prior to his death, Zigrosser published his personal memoir, My Own Shall Come To Me, in which he quoted from his own personal diaries and prolific correspondenc e with associates and close friends, many of whom were artists later recognized because of Zigrosser's efforts.

Missing Title
1. Zigrosser, Carl, 1891-1975
2. King, Florence
3. .Zigrosser, Carola
4. Canadè, Laura
5. Durieux, Caroline, d1896-
6. Dwight, Mabel, 1876-1955
7. Flannagan, John Bernard, 1895?-1942
8. Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971
9. Lankes, Julius J., 1884-1960
10. Nalbandian, Karig
11. Weyhe Gallery
12. Philadelphia Museum of Art
13. Print Council of America
14. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
15. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
16. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
17. The Modern school

Carl Zigrosser's personal papers comprise 116 boxes, which contain correspondence, manuscripts, proofs, newspaper clippings, diaries, and photographs. Some files include original drawings or prints by artists such as Mabel Dwight, Wanda Gág, Rockwell Kent, and J.J. Lankes. Consisting of 72 boxes, correspondence predominates the collection and includes files from many contemporary artists such as Merle Armitage, Alexander Calder, Mabel Dwight, Wharton Esherick, Wanda Gág, Rockwell Kent, J. J. Lankes, Henri Matisse, Georgia O'Keefe, Walter Pach, Roderick Seidenberg, John Marin, and Alfred Stieglitz, as well as letters from writers such as Hart Crane, Max Eastman, Lewis Mumford, Eugene O'Neill, Wallace Stevens, and Max Weber. One important box contains Zigrosser's copy of the catalogue for the 1913 Armory Show in New York, during which he made notes and sketches of some of the famous paintings on exhibit for the first time in the United States.

Within the 116 boxes of the collection are 2464 folders, arranged by correspondent, institution, or title of manuscript. The collection documents not only Zigrosser's professional development as an authority on printmaking but his personal relationships with many artists. Zigrosser saved most of his papers throughout his adult life, including copies of many letters that he wrote, newspaper clippings, memos to himself, and numerous diaries and receipts. Little seems to have been discarded by Zigrosser, and care was taken during the processing not to disrupt Zigrosser's own organization of the material.

Zigrosser's guiding principle for arranging his general correspondence appears to have been the establishment of a file for each correspondent by name; the material within each file was later arranged chronologically by the collection processor. Undated items were placed at the end of each folder or in subsequent folders labeled undated. The year of correspondence within the file or the first and last years of the items within a file is listed, together with the number items, the number of leaves of paper, number of pamphlets or photographs, and the folder number.

In sorting, priority was given to maintaining Zigrosser's alphabetical system, but papers were processed chronologically within the file. Many materials were inscribed by Zigrosser with dates, which proved very accurate and facilitated later processing. Corporate files were not integrated with the General Correspondence series; rather, these folders were arranged by Zigrosser in separate boxes under the headings: "Simon R. Guggenheim Museum,""The Modern School,""Philadelphia Museum of Art,""Print Council of America," and "Tamarind Workshop." In addition, separate boxes contain family correspondence. Although many letters originally kept together as "unidentified" were identified and properly filed, three folders remain of unidentified correspondence.