A Finding Aid to the Jacques Seligmann & Co. Records, 1904
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A Finding Aid to the Jacques Seligmann & Co. Records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974, in the Archives of American Art Patricia C. Craig, Barbara D. Aikens, Stephanie L. Ashley, Rosa M. Fernandez Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee. October 2001 Archives of American Art 750 9th Street, NW Victor Building, Suite 2200 Washington, D.C. 20001 https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions https://www.aaa.si.edu/ Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Arrangement note.......................................................................................................... 10 Biographical/Historical note.............................................................................................. 2 Scope and Contents note................................................................................................ 7 Names and Subjects .................................................................................................... 10 Container Listing ........................................................................................................... 12 Series 1: Correspondence, 1913-1978.................................................................. 12 Series 2: Collectors Files, 1904-1977, undated................................................... 209 Series 3: Auction Files, 1948-1975, undated....................................................... 290 Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1925-1977, undated.................................................... 295 Series 5: Reference Files, circa 1904-circa 1977................................................ 304 Series 6: Inventory and Stock Files, 1923-1971, undated................................... 308 Series 7: Financial Files and Shipping Records, 1910-1977................................ 313 Series 8: Contemporary American Department, 1932-1978................................ 335 Series 9: De Hauke & Co., Inc., Records, 1925-1949, undated........................... 347 Series 10: Modern Paintings, Inc., Records, 1927-1950...................................... 386 Series 11: Gersel Corp. Records, 1946-1969...................................................... 388 Series 12: Germain Seligman's Personal Papers, circa 1905-1984, 1882........... 389 Jacques Seligmann & Co. records AAA.jacqself Collection Overview Repository: Archives of American Art Title: Jacques Seligmann & Co. records Identifier: AAA.jacqself Date: 1904-1978 (bulk 1913-1974) Creator: Jacques Seligmann & Co Extent: 203.1 Linear feet Language: The records are in English and French. Summary: The records of Jacques Seligmann & Co. measure approximately 203.1 linear feet and date from 1904 to 1978, with bulk dates from 1913 to 1974. The collection includes extensive correspondence files, reference material on American and European collectors and their collections, inventory and stock records, financial records, exhibition files, auction files, and the records of subsidiary companies. The collection is an invaluable resource in tracing the provenance of particular works of art and provides a comprehensive view of the activities of collectors and art dealers in the years leading up to and following World War II. Administrative Information Acquisition Information The records of the Paris and New York art dealer Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1978 by Mrs. Ethlyne Seligman, widow of Germain Seligman. A small addition of 19 linear feet was donated in 1994. Available Formats This site provides access to the records of Jacques Seligmann & Co. in the Archives of American Art, which were were digitized in 2010, and totals 330,752 images. Processing Information The staff of the Archives of American Art partially processed the collection to a preliminary level in the late 1970s. The collection was fully processed and the finding aid created by a team of professional archivists and archives technicians, including Barbara D. Aikens, Stephanie L. Ashley, Wendy Bruton, Patricia K. Craig, and Rosa Fernandez, between 1998 and 2001, with funding from the Getty Foundation. Series 1: Correspondence and Series 2: Collectors Files were digitized in 2010 with funding provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. The bulk of the remainder of the collection was digitized in 2010 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives were re-housed in 2015 with a grant provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. Page 1 of 408 Jacques Seligmann & Co. records AAA.jacqself Preferred Citation Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Restrictions Use of original papers requires an appointment. Terms of Use 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. Biographical Note Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., was counted among the foremost French and American art dealers in antiquities and decorative arts and was among the first to foster and support the growth and appreciation for collecting in the field of contemporary European art. The company's clients included most of the major American and European art collectors of the era, and the art that passed through its galleries often ended up in the collections of prominent American and European museums through the donations of the wealthy benefactors who purchased them from the company. Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., took an active part in promoting such donations as well as providing its own donations and selling paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts directly to many museums. The company was first established as Jacques Seligmann & Cie. in 1880 on the Rue des Mathurins in Paris by Jacques Seligmann (1858-1923), a German émigré who came to France in 1874 and soon thereafter became a French citizen. The company experienced so much success that in 1900 a new, larger Galerie Seligmann was opened on the Place Vendôme, and Jacques's two brothers, Simon and Arnold, joined the business as partners. Simon served as the company's accountant, and Arnold was in charge of correspondence with the firm's many clients. Jacques remained as the manager and was in charge of all purchases for the firm. Prominent clients of the company included Baron Edmond de Rothschild of France, the Stroganoff family of Russia, Sir Philip Sassoon of England, and American collectors Benjamin Altman, William Randolph Hearst, J. P. Morgan, Henry Walters, and Joseph Widener. As American clients increasingly came to dominate the company's sales activities, a New York office at 7 West Thirty-sixth Street was opened in 1904. Five years later, Jacques purchased the Hôtel de Sagan (also called the Palais de Sagan by the Seligmann family) in Paris as a location where Jacques Seligmann & Cie. could stage larger exhibitions and receive its most distinguished clients. In 1912 a family quarrel resulted in a lawsuit that split the company. Arnold remained at the Place Vendôme location, reorganized under the name Arnold Seligmann & Cie., while Jacques consolidated his operations and moved the headquarters for Jacques Seligmann & Cie. to the Hôtel de Sagan. Jacques also opened an additional gallery at 17 Place Vendôme to retain a presence near the company's original location, but this branch soon relocated to 9 Rue de la Paix. The New York office, which formerly had operated out of a single room, was upgraded to larger office space and a gallery at 705 Fifth Avenue. Jacques's son, Germain Seligman (1893-1978), showed an interest in art connoisseurship from his early years and often accompanied his father to work in the galleries. (In 1943, when Germain Seligman became an American citizen, he dropped the second "n" from his surname, and for clarity his name appears with this spelling throughout this finding aid.) His father taught him how to deal with clients and often assigned him tasks to help in the completion of sales. Germain accompanied Jacques on many business trips and in Page 2 of 408 Jacques Seligmann & Co. records AAA.jacqself 1910 was sent to St. Peterburg, Russia, to secure information about the selling price of the Swenigorodskoi enamels owned by the Russian collector M. P. Botkine. Germain continued to work informally in the firm's galleries until the outbreak of World War I. Within hours of the mobilization order in 1914, Germain joined the French army as a second lieutenant in the 132nd Infantry Regiment of Rheims. By 1916 he was promoted to first lieutenant in the Twenty-fourth Infantry Brigade and in the following year achieved the rank of captain in the Fifty-sixth