Collection ID: MS.24
Ead Download EAD

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Derain, André, 1880-1954 and Bignou Gallery.
Abstract:
Albums containing photographs and descriptions of artwork that passed through the hands of the Bignou Gallery (New York) during the 1930s and 1940s.
Extent:
10.0 Linear feet and (33 Volumes)
Language:
Preferred citation:

Bignou Gallery Albums. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.

Background

Scope and Content:

The collection consists of 33 albums containing photographs of artwork that passed through the hands of the Bignou Gallery (New York) during the 1930s and 1940s. Many of the photographs are accompanied by information about the painting such as physical description, exhibition history, and provenance. The artists included are mainly French from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, and include such luminaries as Cézanne, Corot, Dufy, Matisse, and Renoir.

Biographical / Historical:

Étienne Bignou (1891-1950) was a Parisian art dealer, noted for his paintings by artists such as Cézanne, Daumier, Corot, Degas, Renoir, Dérain, Picasso, Utrillo and Matisse. He opened his own gallery in 1927, and after Georges Petit's death, he purchased Petit's firm with dealers Gaston and Josse Bernheim-Jeune. Georges Keller was appointed director of the Galerie Georges Petit in 1929. After the gallery closed in 1933, Keller continued to work with Bignou at his Galerie Étienne Bignou and became the director for the New York branch of the Bignou Gallery in 1935. After Bignou's death in 1950, Keller closed the Bignou Gallery and became director of the Carstairs Gallery, New York.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Carstairs Gallery through George Keller, July 23, 1962. Mr. Keller, then head of Carstairs, was formerly with both Barbazanges and Bignou Galleries.
Processing information:

Arranged and described by Shannon Yule, 2011.

Arrangement:

Albums are arranged alphabetically by artist or movement.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

These records are open for research under the conditions of The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives access policy. Contact the Archives Department for further information at archives@frick.org.

PREFERRED CITATION:

Bignou Gallery Albums. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
10 E 71st St
New York, NY 10021, United States
CONTACT:
(212) 547-0641
library@frick.org