Scope and Contents of the Collection
Selected Index to Correspondence
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Creator: | Martinelli, Ezio, 1913-1980. |
Title: | Ezio Martinelli Papers |
Inclusive Dates: | 1927-1968 |
Quantity: | 5.25 linear ft. |
Abstract: | Correspondence, family, business, and personal (1927-1967); artwork, including photographs and reproductions of Martinelli's United Nations commission; statements on his work; and printed material, including clippings about Martinelli (1928-1968), and exhibition announcements, catalogs, and invitations (1934-1968). Correspondents include Aldo John Casanova, Ed Colker, Martin Craig, Dorothy Dehner, Helmut von Erffa, Giannetto Fieschi, Horace Gregory, Peter Grippe, Edmund Haines, Stanley Hayter, Louis I. Kahn, Leon Kelly, Leon Kroll, Norman Lewis, Sam Maitin, Barbara Brooks Morgan, Marnie Pomeroy, Melville Price, Walter Reinsel, Theodore Roszak, Charles Seide, Helena Simkhovitch, David Smith, and Carl Zigrosser. |
Language: | English |
Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Ezio Martinelli (1913-1980) was an Italian-American sculptor and painter. He was a WPA artist and part of the Abstract Expressionist movement, along with others such as Willem de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, and Jackson Pollock. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and the National Academy of Design in New York, and later taught at Sarah Lawrence College, the American Academy in Rome, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine.
Spanning 1927 to 1968, the Ezio Martinelli Papers comprises family and general correspondence, artwork, writings, and memorabilia of the New Jersey-born artist. Illuminating Martinelli's artistic style as well as his Italian heritage, the collection documents both the career and personal life of the painter, sculptor, printmaker, etcher, engraver, and educator.
Arranged chronologically, the Family correspondence (Box 1) consists primarily of incoming letters from 1954 to 1963 from Martinelli's parents. The general Correspondence (Boxes 1-3), also in chronological sequence, spans the years 1927 to 1967 and is composed of both incoming and outgoing letters. In the interest of preservation, photocopies were made of the deteriorating outgoing carbons and are interfiled in the Correspondence. Correspondents include artists (Aldo John Casanova, Edward I. Colker, Martin Craig, Dorothy Dehner, Giannetto Fieschi, Peter Grippe, Stanley William and Helen Phillips Hayter, Leon Kelly, Leon Kroll, Norman Lewis, Richard Lippold, Samuel Maitin, Frank R. Metz, Barbara Brooks Morgan, Oke Gustaf Nordgren, Melville Price, Walter Reinsel, Kurt Roesch, Theodore J. Roszak, Charles Seide, Charles Seliger, Helena Simkhovitch, David Smith, Helmut Von Erffa, Carl Zigrosser); and art-related institutions (American Federation of Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Institute, Cleveland Institute of Art, Elgin Academy, Ford Foundation, Gotham Gallery, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, International Graphic Arts Society, Inc., Morris Gallery, National Association of Women Artists, Inc., National Institute of Arts and Letters, Newark Museum, Philadelphia Museum College of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Print Club of Philadelphia, Print Council of America, Ringling Museum of Art, United States. Information Agency, United States. Public Buildings Administration, Whitney Museum of American Art, Willard Gallery). Among additional correspondents are literary figures (Giovanni Carandente, Paul Cummings, Horace Gregory, Marnie Pomeroy); museum curators (Richard Eugene Fuller, Lloyd Goodrich, Una E. Johnson, Katharine Kuh, Carl O. Schniewind, James Johnson Sweeney, Mahonri Sharp Young); musician Edmund Haines; patrons and clients (Anne Jefferson, Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry, Barbara M. Kaerwer, Charles Kligerman, Albert R. Lee Co., New Directions, Samuel A. Seaver, Elaine and Herb Stanton, S. Sterling Co., Steuben Glass, David P. Wollowick); and university administrators (Pierre Bedard, Emanuel M. Benson, Andrew C. Ritchie, Harold Taylor). A selected index to the Correspondence follows the box list.
Artwork (Boxes 3-4) encompasses catalog design and layout for Sarah Lawrence College, photographs, three printing blocks, and reproductions. Photographs document techniques used to construct the sculpture mounted on the outer wall of the United Nations General Assembly building, and also represent miscellaneous mural designs and sculpture. Reproductions depict the United Nations sculpture in addition to miscellaneous images arranged chronologically (1930-1967). Several statements on art constitute Writings (Box 4).
Memorabilia (Boxes 4-11) includes awards, identification and membership cards, and invitations, financial/legal material, juvenilia, printed material, and typescript reviews by others, as well as information about art associations, fellowships, teaching, and travel. Fellowship material (1956-1966) relative to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation consists of applications, correspondence, and published reports. Financial/Legal material (1939-1964) includes contracts, receipts, and sales records pertaining to Martinelli's artwork. Printed material contains newspaper clippings (1928-1968), exhibition material (1934-1968), and published reviews and articles about Martinelli (1936-1967). Catalogs and invitations for Martinelli's group and one-man shows, several posters, and catalogs and information regarding miscellaneous art juries are among the exhibition material. Teaching-related material is arranged by organization title and comprises alumnae magazines, announcements, brochures, catalogs, and newsletters. Travel-related material is specific to Martinelli's month as artist-in-residence at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida during the spring of 1964.
Corrsepondence is arranged chronologically (see index at the end of this finding aid for notable correspondents). Other series are arranged alphabetically by type or topic.
The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Ezio Martinelli Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Gift of Ezio Martinelli, 1968, 1969.
Created by: ASE
Date: Aug 1993
Revision history: 7 Dec 2005 - EAD file created (MRR);
28 Sep 2015 - index corrected, bio expanded (MRC);
02 Feb 2024 - date corrected in inventory (DTF)
Biographical material | |||||||||||
Box 1 | Biographical Material |
Correspondence-subject files | |||||||||||
Box 1 | Family correspondence 1954-1963 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Correspondence 1927-1957 (6 folders) | ||||||||||
Box 2 | Correspondence 1958-1963 (8 folders) | ||||||||||
Box 3 | Correspondence 1964-1967, undated (3 folders) |
Artwork | |||||||||||
Box 3 | Catalog design and layout, Sarah Lawrence College 1959, undated | ||||||||||
Photographs | |||||||||||
Oversize 1 | "Manes Flayed II" (sculpture) 1954-1955 | ||||||||||
Box 3 | United Nations sculpture undated | ||||||||||
Box 3 | Miscellaneous 1939, undated | ||||||||||
Box 3 | Printing blocks (3 blocks in 2 folders) | ||||||||||
Reproductions | |||||||||||
Box 4 | United Nations sculpture 1961-1964, undated | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Miscellaneous 1930-1967, undated (2 folders) |
Writings | |||||||||||
Box 4 | Statements on art 1955, 1964, undated |
Memorabilia | |||||||||||
Art associations | |||||||||||
Box 4 | American Federation of Arts 1956-1960 | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Ford Foundation 1957, 1961 | ||||||||||
Box 4 | International Graphic Arts Society, Inc. 1957-1962 | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Morris Gallery 1958 (?) | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Print Council of America 1958-1963, undated | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Willard Gallery 1955 | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Miscellaneous (A-Z) (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Awards, identification and membership cards, andinvitations 1934-1966 | ||||||||||
Fellowships | |||||||||||
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | |||||||||||
Box 4 | Application material | ||||||||||
Box 4 | Correspondence 1956-1960 | ||||||||||
Box 5 | Reports 1957-1966 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Financial and legal | |||||||||||
Box 5 | Contracts, receipts, sales records, etc. 1939-1964, undated | ||||||||||
Box 5 | Juvenilia 1928-1936, undated | ||||||||||
Printed material | |||||||||||
Box 5 | Clippings 1928-1968, undated (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Exhibition material | |||||||||||
Box 5 | Announcements, itineraries, etc. 1934-1967, undated (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Catalogs, invitations | |||||||||||
Box 6 | Group shows 1934-1955 (8 folders of 23) | ||||||||||
Box 7 | Group shows 1955-1962 (7 folders of 23) | ||||||||||
Box 8 | Group shows 1962-1968, undated (8 folders of 23) | ||||||||||
Box 9 | One man shows 1946-1968, undated (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Box 9 | Photographs 1960 | ||||||||||
Box 9 | Posters 1957, 1960, 1968 | ||||||||||
Box 9 | Miscellaneous art juries 1938-1967, undated | ||||||||||
Box 9 | Reviews, articles about 1936-1964 (5 folders) | ||||||||||
Box 10 | Reviews, articles about 1965-1967, undated (3 folders) | ||||||||||
Teaching related | |||||||||||
Parsons School of Design | |||||||||||
Box 10 | Alumnae magazine, art class brochure, teachingschedule 1955-1964 | ||||||||||
Box 10 | Catalogs 1954-1964 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art | |||||||||||
Box 10 | Workshop brochures and subscription information 1947-1949 | ||||||||||
Print club | |||||||||||
Box 10 | Announcements undated | ||||||||||
Sarah Lawrence College | |||||||||||
Box 11 | Alumnae magazine, catalog, newsletters, report 1958-1968, undated | ||||||||||
Box 11 | Course catalogs 1947-1964 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Travel-related | |||||||||||
Box 11 | John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Florida 1964 | ||||||||||
Box 11 | Typescript reviews by others undated | ||||||||||
Box 11 | Miscellany |