At the 2014 College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference in Chicago, we
presented a session on the subject of archives for art history that dealt with art-
ists’ archives before and after they move to institutions, as well as estate planning
and taxes, appraisals, and the market for archival collections. Artists’ archives are a
principal area of the Getty Research Institute’s (GRI) special collections. Although
they are all different, artists’ archives share distinctive features. It seemed useful
to elaborate on how and why the institute, like other research
Marcia Reed libraries, museums, and foundations, collects archives, and
share some of the GRI’s practices and perspectives with other
From the Archive to Art History stakeholders.
The session was intended to provide information for
those who have inherited estates, for artists who are thinking of their legacies and
wondering how archives should be organized for their future dispositions, and
for researchers who deal with artists’ archives. The presenters were a purposely
diverse group, not the usual attendees at the CAA conference, including a repre-
sentative from a major auction house and a financial planner.1 They are people
whom you might encounter when considering the fate of an estate or an archive.
Managing, maintaining, and placing an archive is something most people are
unprepared for. It is the first, sometimes the only, time they have to deal with a
large number of artworks and diverse property, with values to be determined.
Interestingly, I don’t think there was an artist in the room at the session, affirm-
I am grateful to my colleague Glenn Phillips, head
of modern and contemporary collections in the ing that, for the most part, artists have historically not been involved in placing
Getty Research Institute’s Curatorial Department, their archives.
for his comments and suggestions concerning
the subject of collecting archives; as well as to But this picture is changing. In the past, artists’ archives have almost always
Stephen Clark, vice president, general counsel and come to institutions from larger estates after the artist has died. Recently, how-
secretary, Getty Trust, and Rhiannon Knol, my
research assistant, for their valuable advice and ever, the GRI and other institutions have been talking with artists concerning
assistance. arrangements for their estates, the placement of their art and archives by means
1. Lisa Cambier of the J. Paul Getty Museum
of staged acquisitions through purchases, promised gifts, and named collections
and I introduced the session. Her talk was “The and buildings. The artist or the artist’s gallerist, studio manager, or lawyer initi-
Life Cycle of an Artist’s Archive: From Creation
ated these discussions; not surprisingly, in every instance the artist under consid-
to Legacy”; her master’s thesis, “The Valuation
and Institutional Placement of Artists’ Archives” eration is well known. Increasingly, artists’ archives can be classed among other
(Sotheby’s Institute of Art, 2011), informed documentary historical collections that chronicle creation and production by signal
the content of the session. See Cambier, “The
Valuation and Institutional Placement of Artists’ cultural figures. No doubt, the well-publicized sale of Bob Dylan’s archive to the
Archives,” Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies, University of Tulsa has been duly noted as a coup that sets the bar even higher.2
2012, 43–73. Catherine Williams, the head of the
books and manuscripts department and entertain- Yet it is not only about the money. Artists’ estates, foundations, and gallerists
ment memorabilia at the Bonhams auction house, now recognize the significant promotional benefit of placing an archive in a
spoke on “The Literary Estate of Milton Berle”;
Susan MacMichael John, the president of Financial
distinguished institution that will add the artist’s name to its catalogue of collec-
Focus Inc., talked about “Best Practices for Artists tions, not only associating the artist with the institution itself, but also canonizing
and Collectors: Tax and Estate Planning.”
his or her name as part of the history of art and culture. Better still, placing an
2. “The Bob Dylan Archive, comprising more
than 6,000 items spanning nearly the entire length archive in a publicly available collection affords access to unpublished sources and
of his career, was acquired by the George Kaiser exhibitable objects that disseminate the artist’s works, allowing the artist to be
Family Foundation and the University of Tulsa
and will be housed at TU’s Helmerich Center part of new research and publications, and to be shown in exhibitions, perfor-
for American Research. The materials—nearly mances, or events. Along with high-profile, high-value acquisitions, research
all of which have never been viewed or accessed
by outside parties—will be made available to libraries and academic institutions are appropriately concerned with research
scholars and curated for public exhibitions in the value, although this is difficult, if not impossible, to determine in dollars. As
near future.” “About,” The Bob Dylan Archive, at
[Link]/about/, as of February 1,
new archival sources are collected and made available, the long-term effect is
2017. the writing of history.
121 artjournal
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 121 5/16/17 8:28 PM
Defining the Archive
As unpublished primary sources, archives are arguably the most significant
raw materials for research in art history, providing contemporary information
and context from the artists’ perspectives. This documentation, organized and
preserved by artists, their assistants, and their families, supplements public
information on works selected for acquisition and exhibition by museums and
galleries, or art sold at auction. In addition to other historical sources such as
dealers’ and museum archives, as well as those of art-world figures such as
curators, critics, collectors, art historians, and fellow artists, artists’ archives
are foundational to creating the canon of the most valued or revered artworks
and artists. Especially now that the internet and digitized material play a major
role not only in disseminating information but also in its discovery, archival
collections have enormous potential to inform and structure the history of art.
Archives are often mines of information that must be plumbed and laboriously
read, even though the search process is now far quicker and easier. They docu-
ment certain artists, with memories, facts, and reports of events. Increasingly,
when rights allow, digital copies of archival documents can be found on the web.
Because history is written from the available documents and evidence, there is
a tendency to omit those artists for whom there is less than full documentary
material or to pass over those with archives and information that are not pub-
licly accessible, or those to which access is restricted. As records of epiphanies,
meetings, and conversations, in many cases archives are the substantiating, occa-
sionally groundbreaking historical source, even though there may be conflict-
ing accounts from different sources. The caveat is that so-called facts found in
archives are often highly subjective perspectives.
Composing the Archive
Ideally transferred directly from the artist’s studio, archives that are acquired by
institutions and made available for research could appear to have a certain impec-
cable integrity. In fact, they are extractions from larger estates, which include
property, works-in-progress, art supplies, studio furniture, tools, personal librar-
ies, and other inspirational materials. They may have been collected, culled, and
pruned by estates and dealers, and reorganized by institutions. Lacking an under-
standing of archives or motivated to present a particular vision, family or business
associates may remove significant parts or even discard them while the estate is
being settled or is in storage. Thus, it is useful to comprehend the larger estate
from which the archive is drawn. If possible, it is helpful to view the archive in
situ, preferably while the artist is still at work, and to make a critical examina-
tion and assessment of the material. The GRI often works directly with artists and
estates on prospective archives to help define the archive, rather than expecting
the artist or others to do this in isolation and then approach us with the result.
The transition from the artist’s space to the vault is a drastic change—it can seem
as though the oxygen has been sucked out of the archive. Yet somehow archives
should represent the artist’s life and work with authenticity.
Because archives are by definition personal, occasionally it is a challenge to
isolate them, separating them from the larger estate. Tucked away amid art, real
122 spring 2017
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 122 5/16/17 8:28 PM
Frederick Hammersley, page from estate, and furniture, archives are often the ugly ducklings, certainly not seen as
Notebook #3, ca. 1959–80, colored pencil on
valuable, and difficult to accurately appraise. Paper and computer files compose
paper, 8¼ x 13⅜ in. (21 x 34 cm). Getty Research
Institute, 2013.M.33 (artwork © Frederick the most voluminous amount of material; often they are the least organized.
Hammersley Foundation; photograph provided by At the 2014 conference session, Catherine Williamson told a story about her
Getty Research Insitute)
appraisal of the Milton Berle estate, during which she discovered his annotated
Frederick Hammersley, page from Painting scripts and joke files. These revealed Berle’s meticulous recording of all the jokes
Book #2, ca. 1959–80, ballpoint pen and colored
pencil on paper, 9½ x 6¼ in. (24 x 16 cm). he had ever told. In the process of dealing with the extensive property in his
Getty Research Institute, 2013.M.33 (artwork © estate, the files had been shuffled off to the side. However, Williamson recognized
Frederick Hammersley Foundation; photograph
provided by Getty Research Insitute)
their cultural value, and the joke files were acquired by a private collector. The rest
of the archive is at the Library of Congress. Imagine what these materials tell us
about mid-century American culture. Williamson pointed out the variability of
different archives and their associated collections, explaining the importance of
considering the relationships among diverse materials—photographs, family his-
tory, libraries of books, and other collections—because of the benefits of inclu-
siveness in framing the archive. Collecting institutions and artists’ estates should
make these decisions jointly; in the context of assessing archives for the GRI, the
staff has considered easels, brushes, paint samples, studio furniture, exhibition
models, and exhibition furniture.
The GRI has a similarly meticulous record of the artist Frederick Hammersley’s
3. Alan Phenix and Thomas McClintock,
“Frederick Hammersley: An Artist’s paints and alterations to his works in notebooks. Scientists at the Getty Conservation
Documentation of His Painting Practice,” in The Institute are currently studying these small but stunning journals.3 The works
AIC Painting Specialty Group, Volume Twenty-Five,
2012, ed. Barbara Buckley (Washington, DC:
are also part of the preparatory curatorial research for a forthcoming exhibition
American Institute for Conservation, 2015), 8–20. on Hammersley at the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino. Over the years,
123 artjournal
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 123 5/16/17 8:28 PM
Wallace Berman, announcement for Hammersley placed increments of his archive at the Archives of American Art
George Herms exhibition at Aura Gallery
of the Smithsonian Institute, but the notebooks were not included. Fortunately,
in Pasadena, California, 1963, offset litho-
graph, sheet 3⅞ × 511⁄16 in. (9.8 × 14.4 cm). Getty his estate realized their value to conservation science, particularly to analyses of
Research Institute, Gift of George Herms, mid-twentieth-century paints and treatments of artworks. The institute hopes to
2009.M.20 (design © The Estate of Wallace
Berman; photograph provided by Getty Research digitize the notebooks in the near future, and this will mitigate the separation of
Institute) Hammersley’s archives housed in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. In general,
Dean Stockwell, Card to George Herms, splitting archives is not recommended.
1967, letterpress, ink, and gelatin silver prints on Only a few artists have been prescient enough to document their art as
board, 5½ × 39⁄16 in. (14 × 9 cm). Getty Research
Institute, Gift of George Herms, 2009.M.20 (art-
Hammersley did, or have studio assistants do it. Even fewer have actually organized
work © Dean Stockwell; photograph provided by and edited their archives. But the GRI holds a unique example: a composed
Getty Research Insitute)
archive created several years ago, just after the West Coast assemblage artist
George Herms was an artist in residence at the GRI. As part of his practice, Herms
delves into his own collections, returning to past work for new projects; he cre-
ates archives as elements of his performances, installations, and publications.4
In recognition of the central role that archives play in his work, the GRI did an
archives project with Herms in which he donated a portion of his archive. The
Herms archives project seemed especially appropriate to the institute’s special
4. For example, George Herms: The Secret Archives,
an exhibition with catalogue (an assembled collections, both in collecting examples of Herms’s own work and in observing
portfolio of diverse works on paper, including how his artistic archival practice paralleled the GRI’s institutional models or per-
postcards and ephemera) at the Los Angeles
Municipal Art Gallery in 1992; or The Prometheus haps even questioned their presumed authority and standards. Herms worked
Archives: A Retrospective Exhibition of the Work of with an assistant, Sarah Anderson, who is also an artist (a.k.a. Sara Rara), and the
George Herms, a retrospective with catalogue at
the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Newport
active process of constructing the archive—Herms termed it “winnowing”—was
Beach, CA, in 1979. recorded on video and tape.
124 spring 2017
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 124 5/16/17 8:28 PM
The recent book Artists’ Studio Archives: Managing Personal Collections & Creative Legacies
provides strategies for harnessing and preserving archival material.5 Providing
practical methods, the volume is written from an institutional or professional
perspective, that of archivists or librarians. It is important to remember that just
as institutional scopes are defined and often quite disparate, decisions about
acquiring and organizing artists’ archives can be very different. This is not detri-
mental, but rather what collecting is about, as it focuses on specific interests
and subjects.
Collecting Archives
In the past, archives of artists, art institutions, critics, and art professionals were
primarily donated to institutions. Collecting archives was a relatively quiet, pas-
sive endeavor. Defined collecting policies, aggressive solicitations, and outright
competition among institutions for certain high-profile archives played minor
roles in collecting artists’ archives. By the end of the twentieth century, parallel to
efforts to encourage distinguished institutional acquisitions of artworks, artists’
foundations, families, estates, and increasingly dealers have played stronger
roles in the placement of archives, promoting their collecting, assembling, and
selling—rather than donating—and occasionally dispersing archives or destroy-
ing their integrity by cherry-picking and selling single works, such as sketches
or letters; these might formerly have been viewed as ephemera with low market
values, but are now valued as original drawings or autographs directly from the
artist. It has been recognized that placing an archive in a notable institution, or
selling an archive for a high price, can increase the market value of the artist’s
artworks by making archival sources available so they can be published by schol-
ars or displayed in exhibitions that augment and substantiate the artist’s renown.
Together with works of art, the archive becomes part of the artist’s heritage.
In contrast to assertive marketing or a distanced institutional view of archives
as original sources or documentation for research, artists’ families and loved ones
speak of archives as the legacy, a highly personal one that remains with them as
the memory of the artist. They feel that they know what the artist would have
wished for and what would be best for the artist’s reputation. Emotions play a
part: sadness, anger, separation anxiety, generosity, and altruism may all engage at
certain moments. Because the artist is no longer alive, heirs often project these
emotions on the estate, including not only the art but also the archival materials.
A sensitive book by Magda Salvesen and Diane Cousineau describes “the conflicts
and frustrations, goals and desires and emotional and financial constraints that
5. Neal-Ambrose Smith, Joan E. Beaudoin, confront widows and widowers, daughters and sons, companions and partners.”6
Heather Gendron, and Eumie Imm Stroukoff,
The book’s subtitle, “Reputations in Trust,” points to a common concern of heirs:
Artists’ Studio Archives: Managing Personal
Collections & Creative Legacies (2016), at works. the keeping of the flame. This mission can be expressed in many ways: placing
[Link]/heather-gendron/2/, as of works in eminent collections, organizing important exhibitions and significant
February 1, 2017.
6. Magda Salvesen and Diane Cousineau, Artists’ publications, and insuring authenticity and integrity, hence the importance of
Estates: Reputations in Trust (New Brunswick, NJ: preparing the catalogue raisonné.
Rutgers University Press, 2005), cover flap copy.
For an up-to-date, comprehensive study from the There are occasionally protective efforts to control access to the archive
distinct perspective of the estates of well-known —who may see or who can publish material in the archive—or to present a
artists, see Loretta Würtenberger, The Artist’s
Estate: A Handbook for Artists, Executors, and Heirs
particular perspective or narrative, excluding certain documents. Letters, photo-
(Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2016). graphs, and journals—the stuff of archives—are by nature highly personal and
125 artjournal
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 125 5/16/17 8:28 PM
sometimes reflect bias. It should be recognized that archives are not always
objective. Artists have been known to add or redact information, and sealing
archives for reasons of privacy for a specific period of time is completely legiti-
mate. Sometimes this urge to control goes too far. Artists’ estates are always
personal, and so are the concerns of the loved ones. As we plan shipments of
soon-to-be-acquired archives at the GRI, I have come to expect an invariable stut-
ter in the schedule. Something is found to be wrong at the last minute and must
be addressed. It seems to be an understandable kind of separation anxiety, for
indeed, the departure of an archive from a studio or home workspace can seem
like another death as the material remains of the practice leave the premises,
heading toward the vaults.
Such anxieties and apprehensions relate to the transition in the archive’s
status. When materials move from studios or estates, things necessarily change.
The archive is no longer in the process of becoming; its period of development
and assembly is terminated. Additions made by someone else are not part of the
artist’s archive, but someone else’s project. This fact alone can be quite disturb-
ing to families, friends, and heirs who wish to extend the documentation of the
artist’s lifetime achievements, continuing to take care and guide the archive, to
enhance the artist’s reputation. Thus, institutions must consider the agreements
they make with former owners and rights holders concerning the content of
archives, keeping in mind that archives are intended to be available for research
and publication. It is not beneficial to the artist or the archive to seal the archive
for an unreasonable amount of time or to allow access only to those whom the
estate gives explicit permission in advance. If there is a need for special surveil-
lance, the archive is not ready to be placed in an institution. When there are
limitations on permissions, in this age of almost too much information and
data, researchers and writers will simply move on to another subject.
Placing Archives
The most important consideration in placing an archive in a public institution or
study center is to make certain the archive is complementary to the institutional
mission and that there is a genuine interest in the artist. The second essential
concern is to make sure the archive is properly housed and preserved, and that it
will be catalogued in a reasonable amount of time so that the material is acces-
sible to researchers and is easy to view, reproduce, and publish. Representatives
of artists’ foundations and estates should visit prospective institutions, talk with
the staff, and find a place they feel is appropriate and sympathetic. Choices range
from an institution that will feature the artist in a small, focused special col-
lection to a place in which the artist can be contextualized among larger cor-
responding, even overlapping, archives and other compatible collections. There
should be a relationship of trust with the institution, so that estates or heirs
do not feel they have to be protective or seek to control the use of the archive.
Restricting rights to view or to publish because of worries about access by the
“wrong” people, those who do not respect or appreciate the artist—although
this is done with the best intentions—is the wrong way to go. Indeed, most
institutions are hesitant to put their resources into archives that cannot be made
available and published. When acquiring an archive, the GRI always requests a
126 spring 2017
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 126 5/16/17 8:28 PM
minimum of nonexclusive rights in order to reproduce and publish the mate-
rial in all formats. If this cannot be secured, it is a deal-breaker, and the potential
acquisition does not proceed.
Sustaining Archives
Institutions evaluate prospective archives in terms of content, the relationship
with existing collections, potential for new research, and collecting initiatives
on new subjects. Some collect single figures of local or institutional significance:
artists from certain periods, for example, modern or contemporary, or artists
who work in a particular medium, for example, glass, graphics, or video. The
GRI focuses on art history and seeks collections that correspond and connect,
illuminating networks and collaborations among artists, curators, collectors, and
dealers. In part, the Robert Mapplethorpe archive fits so well in the GRI’s special
collections because the institute already holds the archives of the artist’s partner,
the noted collector and curator Sam Wagstaff, and his dealer, Harry Lunn. The
three archives overlap and inform each other. In addition, like the Ed Ruscha
archive, which we are in the processing of acquiring, the J. Paul Getty Museum’s
department of photographs shares the Mapplethorpe acquisition and will house
and exhibit the artist’s canonical photographs.
The GRI collects archives selectively, and the staff has frequent discussions
concerning potential acquisitions. When assessing potential acquisitions, the fol-
lowing questions are asked, among others: What is most desirable for researchers
in terms of access and publication? Have exclusions been made that are detri-
mental and detract from the integrity of the archive, e.g., drawings or sketch-
books from artists’ archives or models from architects’ archives? Typically, the
institute acquires these materials together with archives because they are integral
to understanding an artist’s process of conception and production; they are fre-
quently exhibited and loaned to other museums. May an archive be partial or
contain “representative” material? Yes, sometimes, if there is an integrity to the
projects or period represented. Archives necessarily change their unique personal
character when acquired, and the GRI tries to build in some mitigating features,
taking documentary photographs or videos of the studio or workspace, and mak-
ing recordings or oral histories of the artist, relatives, or studio assistants. All
archives are by definition individual and different; thus standards of evaluation
and assessment for purposes of collecting must always be flexible.
Values for archives are similarly difficult to establish. In the postwar period,
sales of the archives of high-profile artists and authors have promoted monetary
values for such collections. Yet if all archives are unique, how can one point to
comparable ones for purposes of appraisals? Even works by the same artist are
different. Are letters from René Magritte to his dealer Alexander Iolas concerning
his paintings more valuable than letters between the artist and his wife about
how they lived and worked? Money aside, is not the most appropriate criterion
for assessing the value of an archive what researchers would find most useful?
Yet research value cannot be quantified, and research interests change over time.
Is it legitimate to put high prices on archives so that only a few institutions can
afford them when so many archives need to be preserved and made accessible?
Does this not create an elitism of collecting, canonizing the artist with the most
127 artjournal
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 127 5/16/17 8:28 PM
expensive archive? Does it not result in extractions, cherry-picking items that
might sell for high prices? Most important, unlike single works of art that can
be conserved and stored individually, the processing and housing of archives is
both labor- and space-intensive. The GRI always looks at the costs of processing,
conserving, and providing appropriate access to archives when considering a
potential acquisition, because an archive is an ongoing project that requires con-
siderable investments in cataloguers and supplies. Archival boxes must be paged
and reshelved in vaults with appropriate storage conditions. Institutional reading
rooms must be supervised, with reference librarians and registrars available to
respond to queries and professional photographers on staff to create reproduc-
tions and digitizations. In a number of cases, estates or families place archives in
institutions after providing access and information themselves and realizing that
they no longer wish to be “of service” for research. Preserving and presenting the
materials of an artist’s life and practice through the maintenance of an archive is
a considerable amount of work that requires ongoing funds following the initial
acquisition. Archives have long lives, and it is essential to have the requisite
resources in place to sustain them.
Presently chief curator and associate director at the Getty Research Institute, Marcia Reed focuses her
research on works on paper. Among the exhibitions she has curated at the Getty are The Edible Monument:
The Art of Food for Festivals (2015–16), China on Paper (2007–8), The Magnificent Piranesi (2007–8), Picturing
the Natural World (2003), and Naples and Vesuvius on the Grand Tour (2001–2). Work-in-progress concerns
the Jean Brown archive and a forthcoming catalogue of the GRI’s collections of artists’ books.
128 spring 2017
CAA_AJ_SP17_INTERIOR_FINAL.indd 128 5/16/17 8:28 PM
Copyright of Art Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or
emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written
permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.