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Marilyn Symmes collection of art exhibition ephemera

Call Number

PR 352

Date

1973-2019 (bulk 1990s-2019), inclusive

Creator

Symmes, Marilyn F. (Role: Collector)

Extent

15 Linear feet in 19 document boxes, 3 record cartons, and five oversize folders

Language of Materials

The bulk of the documents in the collection are in English, though there are instances of other languages in some of the material.

Abstract

The collection includes about 3,000 art gallery and museum announcements, posters, brochures, checklists, and other documents obtained by prints and drawings curator Marilyn F. Symmes, mostly from the 1990s-2019. Most of the material relates to modern and contemporary one-artist exhibitions, though two-artist and group exhibitions, including those with themed titles, are also represented. Most of the collection includes materials from New York City art galleries and museums, though institutions elsewhere in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in other countries are also represented.

Biographical/Historical Note

Marilyn F. Symmes, a curator of prints and drawings, received her B.A. in art history from Stanford University and her M.A. in art history and museum practice from the University of Michigan. She began her curatorial career in the 1970s at the Smith College Museum of Art, later moving to the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Toledo Museum of Art.

In 1991, Symmes moved to New York City where she was Curator in charge of the Department of Drawings and Prints at Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum until 2002. Symmes worked for the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art as the New York Area Collector from 2003-2004, and then as an independent curator until 2006. In 2006, Symmes was named Director of the Morse Research Center for Graphic Arts and Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. She held these positions until her retirement in 2015. She continues to remain involved with the art world by doing free-lance curatorial projects.

(The above note was based primarily on a biographical note provided by Marilyn Symmes to N-YHS curator Marilyn Kushner.)

Arrangement Note

The collection is organized in five series, as presented by the collector/donor:

Series I. Single Artist Exhibitions, 1973-2019 (bulk 1990s-2019)

Series II. Two Artists Exhibitions, 1994, 2000-2016

Series III. Multiple Artists Exhibitions, 1992-2016

Series IV. Architecture & New York City-related Exhibitions, 1991-2018

Series V. Holiday Greeting Cards, Invitations & Miscellaneous Posters, 2000-2018, undated

Scope and Contents

The collection includes about 3,000 announcements, guides, brochures, checklists, artwork images, booklet catalogues, and posters from galleries, dealers and museums related to art exhibitions. These materials were either mailed to graphic arts curator Marilyn Symmes or obtained by her when visiting an exhibition. The bulk of the documents/exhibitions date from the 1990s to 2019, when Symmes was working at Cooper Hewitt in New York and later the Zimmerli at Rutgers.

Most of the collection contains documents related to modern and contemporary one-artist exhibitions. These exhibitions primarily included paintings, sculpture, video, photography, prints, drawings, and installations, with some architecture, design, and textiles. Many artists are represented by only one or two documents, while others include multiple documents. Both well-recognized names and less well known artists are found in the collection. The container list attempts to identify at the folder level those artists represented with more extensive or substantive content. Two-artist and group exhibitions, including those with themed titles, are also in the collection. Overall, as Symmes described the content when donating the collection to N-YHS, "The collection presents in microcosm a significant record of modern and contemporary artists whose work was exhibited during this period [1991-2019] primarily in New York City. This collection provides some insight into subjects, issues, materials, styles explored by artists as presented in these exhibitions—thereby reflecting a significant sampling of cultural and social concerns during this time period, as well as commercial interests of the American dealers."

Most of the collection includes materials from New York City art galleries and museums, though institutions elsewhere in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in other countries are also represented. Among the many galleries represented in the collection are: Alexandre, DC Moore, David Findlay Jr., Deitch Projects, Gemini G.E.L., Grey Art Gallery at N.Y.U., Hirschl & Adler, Gagosian, June Kelly, Mary Boone, Mary Ryan, Matthew Marks, Michael Werner, Marian Goodman, Marlborough, Michael Rosenfeld, Pace, Pace/Wildenstein, Peter Freeman, Sperone Westwater, Sonnabend, Susan Teller, UBU, and David Zwirner. Museums include, among others, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Whitney, Guggenheim, New Museum, Noguchi, Brooklyn, MassMOCA, Philadelphia, Cooper-Hewitt, Yale, and Zimmerli at Rutgers.

Access Restrictions

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation Note

This collection should be cited as Marilyn Symmes Collection of Art Exhibition Ephemera, PR 352, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.

Credit line: Gift of Marilyn F. Symmes

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

Gift of Marilyn F. Symmes, 2016 and 2019.

Collection processed by

Alison Barr and Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:46:30 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information Note

The collection was initially processed and inventoried by volunteer Alison Barr, with additional notes provided by archivist Larry Weimer, in April 2018. A 2019 addition to the collection was received from Symmes and this was processed and added to the finding aid by Barr and Weimer in 2022.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024