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Welcome to the most extensive resource for the study and comprehension of the records of Galerie Ambroise Vollard. This research project is ongoing and is expected to complete in 2021.
Ambroise Vollard (b.1866 – d.1939) was one of the most important French art dealers of contemporary art of his age. He was an instrumental figure in the support of then unknown artists that have since become some of the most significant figures in French Impressionist & Modern Art.
There is a lot of myth surrounding the archive records of Ambroise Vollard and his sale and promotion of the artists he chose to sell.
Over the years bits of Vollard's archives have found their way into various institutions; Musee d'Orsay, The Getty, The Wildenstein Plattner Institute and also scholars archives. The various institutions have some records privately held and others are open to study. All suffer from different cataloguing systems put in place by those who are not studying all of the information contextually or holistically. Therefore, folders and boxes have been mislabelled or the contents wrongly assumed for decades. 'Spot' checks performed by professional provenance researchers are pretty much impossible to conduct with any level of certainty. When people have tried, they often only have access to limited information and cannot 'see' the larger context.
Therefore, to straighten out the art historical record and for the protection of our clients artworks we needed to pull together as many of these records into one location and study every part, to see exactly what records exist and which do not. Due to the scattered nature of these records the only way to really 'see' what was recorded was to build a large database / recalibrated stock book that contains the following information:
Every recorded comment on artworks by the significant artists that we research. This encompassed tracking and deciphering:
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We recorded the data in chronological order to identify the missing fragments of time. We recorded where each bit of information recorded came from in the original source documentation and code linked each bit of archival material used into the database. Sometimes we needed to take data from 3 or 4 archival sources to build a complete 'stock book entry'.
The aim of the work is to build the most comprehensive resource for the study of Vollard's stock.
We built this resource so researchers, curators, art collectors & art lawyers can obtain an impartial, clear, concise and timely answer to difficult questions about the provenance of artworks Vollard traded.
Database / Stock Book Format:
Our Database / Stock Book is formatted to match Vollard's Stock Book format and also includes the source material used to find the information and our notes:
Stock no. | Date of input | Provenance | Artist | Artwork title | Buying price | Date of release | Buying client | Price paid | Original material source code | Notes |
Artists Researched
Galerie Vollard's artists that are of major focus are:
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Findings So Far:
The years the database / stock book covers are: 1894 – 1940. The previously assumed chronological gaps, overlaps and contradictions mentioned by past scholars appear to be less fragmentary and contradictory than thought.
To further complicate things – Vollard does not always own the artworks that were given stock numbers. For example; in 1900 the painting(s) loaned by Vollard to the Exposition Universelle, Grand Palais, Paris, Centennale de l'Art français, 1800–1899, April 15–October 15, 1900 were not owned by him at this point. However, they were still issued with stock numbers.
When we consolidated all the data it appears that the group of stock books cover the following years: 1894 – 1939.
'Stock Book A' covers the period c.1894 – c. July 1904 The earliest data presently available that relates to non-prefixed stock numbers are shown to have been established before March 1896:
The stock numbers c. 4201 are recorded as 'date of input' at the end of April 1904
'Stock Book B' covers the period possibly from 13 March 1903 and definitely Before April 22 1904 – to June 24 1912 (entry of stock no 4113). Not June 1904 – December 1907, which has been recorded previously by scholars in the past.
'Stock Book X' – this is a 'virtual' stock book ' (so named by John Rewald and the Cezanne Catalogue Raisonne team) created from Vollard's 'Agendas 1912' is full of inaccuracies. With some of the stock numbers actually dating from before January 2 1908 (stock no. 5000 was sold on this date) it illustrates clearly that Stock Book 'X' does not represent artworks originating only in '1912'. The last inputs for the stock no. running up to no.5500 were made it appears in the spring of 1913. The last outgoing artwork from this stock book that is recorded was a Picasso on the 23 June 1914.
'Stock Book C' (ca. March 1918–ca. 1922): Inventory numbers 7016–7609. The information gained so far shows us more outputs – works transferred out of the Vollard's stock rather than the inputs of new stock. These outputs start in March 1918, this would indicate that the stock numbers entered into Vollard's Stock potentially pre-1918, we are presently combining the data from Stock Book C with other materials including the Inventory list from 1922, further analysis is ongoing.
This appears to be the first time this has been clarified; past scholars appear to have been inaccurate with the manner in which they have recorded the dates covered by the stock books. Therefore, it has been assumed that a number of years of stock book entries have been 'missing' or presumed to be 'patchy,' close analysis of the data appears to show Vollard's records are not as patchy as previously thought.
Vollard's close network of dealers and agents are now apparent and what, when and how they traded artworks. We also have records from many of his network of dealers and therefore for can compare Vollard's records directly with his business partners for example:
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Our Database / Stock Book also incorporates data we have gathered and continue to gather from different Institutional and Arts Club Archives that had received correspondence from Vollard. This largely relates to loans of artworks for exhibitions, artworks incoming directly from Artists, sales invoices to private collectors and exchanges / part-share sales of artworks with his partner Dealers and Agents.
Our work with Vollard continues to grow as we encounter more letters and documents related to his business found in the institutions and other dealer records we continue to recover from the pre-1940 period. However, for now we are confident we have so far gathered together the most data held on Galerie Vollard in one location.
For further information on Galerie Vollard database / stock book 1894-1940 please contact us with your enquiry.
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