(ART.) Archive of the pioneering woman artist Arrah Lee Gaul. Thousands of items (3 linear feet); condition varies but generally strong. Various places, 1899-1980 (bulk 1911-1959)
Arrah Lee Gaul (1888-1980) of Philadelphia had a distinguished career as a fine artist, including the Philadelphia Art Club's first solo show by a woman. She was considered an original member of the Philadelphia Ten, a group of women artists. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia School of Design, where she later headed the art program as an instructor. She was known for her extensive travels in Europe and especially Asia, exhibiting widely while hunting for new material and customers.
This lot includes 40 letters written by Arrah Gaul. 13 were written to her parents and sister while traveling in Europe, 1911-1912. 19 others are retained drafts to various parties, 1926-1954 and undated, many relating to painting commissions she was attempting to secure, including two to General Matthew Ridgway.
Gaul married Charles Wesley Brennan in Philadelphia in 1917. He was described in the 1920 census as a salesman for a rubber company; they were apparently divorced or separated soon after. The artist was then generally known as Miss Arrah Lee Gaul for the remainder of her career, although an acquaintance would occasionally address her as Mrs. Brennan. This lot includes their 1917 wedding invitation, as well as their correspondence during his short time in an army training camp, July to August 1918: 21 letters from Charles to Arrah, and 8 letters from Arrah to Charles written in Philadelphia. Also included are dozens of letters and postcards to Arrah Gaul from an earlier suitor, University of Pennsylvania student Frank A. Paul, 1905-1909.
Dozens of letters to Gaul relate to her art career, from satisfied customers, curators, shippers, and more. Other letters are personal or concern her finances and travel arrangements. Among her notable correspondents: Indira Gandhi, who sent a Letter Signed to explain that her busy schedule would not allow for a portrait sitting, New Delhi, 16 March 1956; author James Michener, who scrawled a quick "I'll be in Tuesday at 10:00. Very happy to see you. Sincerely, Jim Michener" on verso of her undated request for a meeting; and her painting instructor Henry B. Snell (1858-1943), who sent a friendly Autograph Letter Signed from New Hope, PA, 23 August 1939.
Printed ephemera includes dozens of different invitations and announcements from Gaul's exhibitions; magazines in which she is discussed; greeting cards she created featuring her art; and a voluminous if unruly clippings file containing some of her press notices in Asia. A small stack of index cards contains her lecture notes. Numerous lists of her artwork were compiled for shipping or as price lists. A small volume contains 21 pages of accounts with several customers for her art commissions, 1934-1941.
3 items resemble diaries. Her manuscript calendar on two sheets documents her daily activities in Asia, April and May [1954?], including portrait sittings and social engagements. A diary on loose sheets documents a trip to the Middle East, 8-19 August (year unknown). A small 1951 pocket diary contains regular entries from October through January 1952 in Japan.
Also included are a large mass of photographs; estate papers of her father C. Lee Gaul; and extensive travel ephemera. Three manuscript signs invite us into her art exhibitions (year unknown). Finally, the lot includes her wooden painting palette, 13 x 17 inches, split in half and spattered with paint, but an evocative artifact of a long and successful career.
