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Art Motifs & Travel Sketches

Archives of American Art

Object Details

Collection Creator
Bluemner, Oscar, 1867-1938
See more items in
Oscar Bluemner papers
Sponsor
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Extent
1.4 Linear feet (Box 5-6, 8)
Date
1902-1936
Archival Repository
Archives of American Art
Identifier
AAA.blueosca, Series 6
Type
Archival materials
Collection Citation
Oscar Bluemner papers, 1886-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement note
Art motifs and travel sketches are arranged alphabetically by subject according to Bluemner's original arrangement. Most of the categories of material are preceded by an envelope, originally containing the items, on which Bluemner wrote a title for the contents, dates, and extensive notes. It is believed, based on these notes, that Bluemner rearranged these papers and removed certain items while he was preparing to give them to John Davis Hatch. Researchers should be aware that items are generally not in chronological order, and every attempt has been made to keep the pages in Bluemner's original order.
Collection Rights
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Existence and Location of Copies
This series has been scanned in its entirety.
Scope and Contents note
Bluemner defined many of his groups of sketches and notes as either "Travel Sketches" or "Art Motifs". Many of these were developed into themes for his paintings. The folder titles listed below are Bluemner's own titles and definitions, such as "Alley", "Central Port", or "House & Mountain." The most extensive motif found here is "Trees" consisting of sketches and notes on various types of trees, including notes on the compositional layout of trees in his paintings. Bluemner also had art motif files of travel sketches of various places, mostly of towns in New Jersey, where he lived, but also of Italy, which he visited in 1912. Additional sketches of these same places are found among other files of art motifs. There is a group of sketches Bluemner called "Mixed Themata." Other terms he used to label this same material are "Very Valuable" and "Vermilion Themata." The items found here are the same types of sketches as the rest of his motif files, and some are labeled as "copies." It appears from his notes, found among these items, that these sketches and notes were pulled from his files of motifs and reorganized, perhaps because they were of greater importance to him. They were sorted by Bluemner according to his own coding system or set of abbreviations. The files include pencil, charcoal, and colored sketches, most of which are heavily annotated with notes about color and composition. Other items found in the files may include newspaper clippings of images related to the motif, and original file tabs and file dividers which Bluemner created. Bluemner recorded the date and place on almost all of the sketches.
Collection Restrictions
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1503511357168-1503511357190-8
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9df589e5b-e6b8-4856-bc1e-371dfdea2d3e

Related Content

  • Oscar Bluemner papers

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