Joan Mitchell Foundation » Work

Finding Aid

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Joan Mitchell Papers and Collection on Joan Mitchell

Dates:
circa 1870-2012, bulk 1930-1992

Extent:
approximately 100 linear feet

Creators/Collectors:
Mitchell, Joan, 1925-1992
Estate of Joan Mitchell
Joan Mitchell Foundation

Repository:
Joan Mitchell Foundation. 545 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001. (212) 524-0100

Biographical/Historical Note:
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) was an abstract painter born in Chicago. Her mother was a poet and writer, and her father took her on frequent trips to see art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Mitchell was greatly influenced by poetry and literature, and her papers include correspondence, including some manuscripts, with several prominent 20th century writers and poets. Mitchell’s primary medium was oil on canvas but she also made significant bodies of work in drawing and printmaking. She lived and worked in New York City in the 1950s, immersed in the community of abstract expressionists and poets that comprised the group referred to as the New York School. Mitchell moved to Paris in the late 1950s and would eventually settle permanently in France in 1968, with the purchase of a home in the town of Vétheuil.

The collection includes Mitchell’s papers, and also includes records and materials maintained and collected by the Estate of Joan Mitchell from 1992-2004, and by the Joan Mitchell Foundation from 2004-2012.

Scope & Content:
This collection documents the life and work of the abstract painter Joan Mitchell and includes her papers and additional material collected since her death. It includes biographical materials, exhibition files, correspondence, books and printed materials, photographs, notes and lists by Mitchell, sketchbooks, writings by others, business and financial records, and Estate records.

Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1870-1992.
Series 2: Correspondence, 1929-1992
Series 3: Materials related to other artists, writers and organizations, circa 1919-1992
Series 4: Photographs, circa 1870-1992.
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1945-2012
Series 6: Artwork, circa 1930-1992
Series 7: Books and Printed Materials, circa 1930-2012
Series 8: Business, circa 1953-1992
Series 9: Estate records, 1992-2004

Subjects and Names

Subjects-Topical:
• Painters-Chicago, IL, USA
• Painters—New York, NY, USA
• Painters-France
• Art, Abstract
• Poetry

Selected Names:

• Strobel, Marion (Mother)
• Mitchell, James H. (Father)
• Perry, Sally (Sister)
• Riopelle, Jean Paul
• Rossett, Barney
• Beckett, Samuel
• O’Hara, Frank
• Auster, Paul
• LeSueur, Joseph
• Tyler, Kenneth
• Williams, William Carlos

Provenance
The Joan Mitchell papers were transferred to the Estate of Joan Mitchell upon her death, and then to the Joan Mitchell Foundation in 2004. Material in addition to her papers has been collected and added by the Estate and the Foundation since 1992. Photographs by Barney Rosset and correspondence from Mitchell to Rosset were acquired in 2007.

Conditions Governing Access:
• Some material is digitized. Archives staff can assist researchers via email or phone.

• Use of original papers requires an appointment. Some materials are stored off-site and require sufficient advance notice.
• Researchers may be provided with photocopies for preseveration purposes.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the Foundation and copyright holder. All requests for the copying of materials must be submitted to the Foundation in writing for approval.

Languages:

The material in this collection is predominantly in English, with a significant amount in French, and a small amount in Spanish and German.

Series 1: Biographical Material (approximately 10 linear feet)
Series consists of personal records and ephemera, such as Mitchell’s birth certificate, awards, diplomas, educational documents, sketchbooks, writings, notes and lists, including unsent letters, childhood drawings, architectural plans, social clippings and Mitchell’s obituary. It also contains manuscripts, books by and correspondence to Mitchell’s mother, Marion Strobel; engineering journals by her grandfather, Charles Strobel, amateur drawings by her father, James Herbert Mitchell, and materials attributed to her long-time partner, Jean-Paul Riopelle. This series includes copies of legal documents and material related to her marriage/relationship with Barney Rosset. Riopelle materials are located in this series due to the extensive overlap with Joan Mitchell’s life, and includes a variety of materials such as correspondence and photographs related to Riopelle’s life and work, including his two daughters.

Series also includes a some of Mitchell’s personal effects and household possessions.

Series 2: Correspondence
Correspondence is comprised of Mitchell’s personal and professional correspondence, primarily consisting of letters, postcards, and greeting cards from family, friends, collectors and fans, as well as correspondence from institutions and dealers and miscellaneous professional and business correspondence. The series also includes three binder boxes of correspondence from Joan Mitchell to Barney Rosset. Related to this series but in most cases not included within it are manuscripts sent to Mitchell from writers that were at one point separated into their own category. These can be found in Series 3.

Correspondence is divided into family, personal, and professional & business, then arranged alphabetically where possible. In cases where Mitchell has a personal relationship with a professional contact, materials are filed in the personal correspondence, such as Kenneth Tyler of Tyler Lithographs. Correspondence from more than one person is filed with the main correspondent.

Series 3: Other artists, writers and associates, circa 1919-1992
Series includes manuscripts, poems, and notated texts from writers, visual matierals related to other artists, and collected ephemera and clipping related to friends. Many materials are hand-written or hand-typed; some are copies. Includes printed mock-up covers of books published by Grove Press.

Series 4: Photographs, circa 1870-1992
Series consists of family history pictures, early childhood photos, portraits, snapshots, exhibition photographs, and documentation of early artwork. Snapshot subjects consist of Mitchell, friends & family, pets, and the Vétheuil landscape. Arrangement is rough chronological order, specific where possible, with photos by the same photographer kept together where possible, with the exception of photographs by Barney Rosset, which remain separate due to the large amount of material by him covering a wide range of her lifteime. Some Rosset photos may be mixed into the chronological arrangement and/or duplicated.

Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1945-2012
Series is comprised of mostly printed materials generated by exhibitions in which Mitchell participated including exhibition catalogues, reviews, exhibition announcements, and some lists. Series is divided into group and solo exhibitions, and materials pertaining to a single exhibition have been arranged together where possible.

Series 6: Artwork, circa 1930-1992
Artwork includes sketches, print proofs, artist books made in collaboration with others, and miscellaneous artworks with unidentifiable creators.

Much of this material is located offsite.

Series 7: Books and Printed Materials, circa 1930-2012
This series is divided according to the collector: the bulk is comprised of books, magazines, and clippings from Joan Mitchell’s papers, for which the arrangement is chronological. There are also materials with Joan Mitchell as subject or reproduce images of her work, for which arrangement is topical, then alphabetical. Books and printed materials directly related to a specific exhibition are located in Series 5: Exhibition files.

Series 8: Business Records, circa 1953-1992
Series includes records documenting Mitchell’s relationships with Stable Gallery, Martha Jackson Gallery, Galerie Jean Fournier, Xavier Fourcade Gallery, and Tyler Graphics, and miscellaneous institutions, each having separate files containing consignment lists and inventories, sales lists, statements and correspondence.

Series 9: Estate records, 1992-2004
Series includes documentation and lists of artwork in the Estate of Joan Mitchell, correspondence between the executor of the Estate and various individuals and institutions, materials related to collectors, copyright records, and other records.