Boris Artzybasheff Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Artzybasheff, Boris, 1899-1965
Title:	Boris Artzybasheff Papers
Dates:	1893-1966
Quantity:	4.5 linear ft.
Abstract:	Spanning 1893 to 1966, the Boris Artzybasheff Papers comprises biographical material, correspondence, artwork, writings, and memorabilia of the Russian-American artist (1899-1965), who is perhaps most widely known for the more than 200 covers of Time magazine he produced between 1941 and 1965. Illuminating Artzybasheff's unique and versatile artistic style as well as his life as an immigrant in the United States, the collection documents the career of the illustrator, painter, designer, and author.
Language:	English, Russian
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Arranged chronologically, the Correspondence (Box 1) consists of incoming and outgoing letters in Russian and French as well as English. Letters bearing the dates 1918 through 1923 are largely in Russian, most likely to and from Artzybasheff's mother, who was residing in Constantinople at the time. Correspondents during the remaining years (1934-1965) include literary figures (Edward H. Dodd; Charles G. Finney; William McCleery), advertising agencies (Daniel and Charles, Inc.; Shaller-Rubin Company, Inc.), and Time magazine. A selected index to the Correspondence follows the box list.

Artwork (Boxes 1-3) encompasses original book illustrations, two paintings, reproductions, research material, signatures, and sketches. Reproductions, which account for the bulk of the collection, are categorized by both format and subject. Personal greeting cards, book and magazine illustrations, and three-dimensional figures constitute Reproductions (by format). Book illustrations are arranged by book title when known. While magazine illustrations (mostly cover art) list each periodical title in the collection in which Artzybasheff's artwork appears, many of these items are cross-referenced to the subject Technology. Reproductions (by subject) categorizes images as Portraits, Technology, War images, and Miscellany. Images are identified by the name of the portrait subject, the client for which Artzybasheff produced advertising, the title of the periodical in which his work was displayed, or the title of the image as provided by Artzybasheff. Oversize Package #1 houses a variety of artwork, specifically, original book illustrations, a painting on wood, and large-format reproductions.

Writings (Box 4) consists of autobiographical reminiscences, three essays, two journals describing Artzybasheff's painting technique (including Time magazine portraits), one journal in Russian, and a published speech.

Memorabilia (Boxes 4-5) includes artwork by others, awards, calendars, personal documents, a price list of drawings, photographs of Artzybasheff and others, printed material, and miscellaneous typefaces. Printed material contains articles about Artzybasheff (1928-1954), newspaper clippings (1920-1965), a Russian newspaper (1937), several exhibition catalogs and announcements (1931-1966), book and artwork reviews (1922-1956), and documentation of Time magazine's 40th anniversary, which includes photographs of Artzybasheff. A genealogical record of the Southard family belonging to Artzybasheff's wife, Elisabeth Southard Snyder, and five periodicals are stored in Oversize Package #1.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this material.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Boris Artzybasheff Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Finding Aid Information

Created by: ASE
Date: Jun 1993
Revision history: 12 Jun 2005 - EAD file created (MRR)

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Inventory

	Biographical material
Box 1		Biographical material

	Correspondence
Box 1		Correspondence 1918(?)-1965, undated (2 folders)
			See also Selected Index to Correspondence

	Artwork
		Illustrations (book) (original)
Oversize 1			Nansen
Oversize 1			Untitled
		Paintings
Box 1			"NM illustrators' White & Cool Black"
Oversize 1			"Scarlet Lake & BP" 16 Jun 1963 Painting on wood
		Reproductions (by format)
Box 1			Greeting cards (personal) 1946-1954, undated
			Illustrations (book)
Box 1				By title, A-Z
					Additional items in Oversize Package 1
Box 1				Untitled
					Additional items in Oversize Package 1
			Illustrations (magazine)
Oversize 1				American Artist cover art
Box 1				Colophon cover art
				Columbia Library Columns
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Portraits: Freud, Sigmund
				Dateline cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: Dateline cover art
				Der Spiegel cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Portraits: Doenitz, Karl
				Dun's Review and Modern Industry cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology : Dun's Review and Modern Industry cover art
				Esquire
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: "Executive of the Future" and "Jimmy Doolittle's 'Flying Engine' "
Box 1				Fortune cover art Apr. 1941
					See also Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: Union Carbide & Carbon Corp.
Box 1				Life articles 1947, undated
				Machine Design cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: Machine Design cover art
Box 1				Medical Economics Jan 1953
				Nation's Business cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: Nation's Business cover art
Box 1				New Hope cover art (photocopy) Sep 1933
				Overflow cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: "Executive of the Future,"
				Production cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: Production cover art
				Senior Science cover art
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Technology: "Executive of the Future,"
Box 1				Time cover art 1941-1953, 1959, undated
					Additional items in Oversize Package 1
Box 1				Time cover art (?) photographs undated
				The Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine
					See Artwork Reproductions (by subject): Portraits: Burr, Harold Saxton
Box 1			Three-dimensional figures - photographs undated
		Reproductions (by subject)
			Portraits
Box 2				Burr, Harold Saxton Dec 1957 - From The Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine
Box 2				Caribbean faces 1948-1949, undated - From Alcoa Steamship Company, Inc. - advertising
					See also Artwork Research Material: West Indies
Oversize 1				Caribbean faces, larger format items - From Alcoa Steamship Company, Inc. advertising
Box 2				Dalton, Dorothy 1921
Box 2				Doenitz, Karl 1961 - Der Spiegel cover art
Box 2				Freud, Sigmund - Columbia Library Columns
Box 2				Smith, Howard K.
Box 2				Miscellany
					See also Artwork Reproductions (by format): Illustrations (magazine): Time cover art
			Technology
Box 2				Alcoa (Aluminum Company of America) advertising
Box 2				American Airlines advertising
Box 2				Atlas Copco advertising
Oversize 1				Atlas Copco advertising, larger format
Box 2				Avco advertising
Oversize 1				Avco advertising, larger format
Box 2				CBS News, "Election Night, 1960" (Howard K. Smith) 1960
Box 2				Conway Associates International, Inc. advertising
Box 2				Dateline cover art
Box 2				Dun's Review and Modern Industry cover art June 1959
Box 2				"Executive of the Future" 1952-1966 - Esquire, Apr. 1952; Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) program announcement, 1961; Overflow Mar. 1956; Senior Science, Sept. 1966
Box 2				Haloid Xerox Inc. advertising
Box 2				"Improved Design for Modern Man" 1950
Box 2				"Jimmy Doolittle's 'Flying Engine' " 5 Sep 1932 - Esquire, Sept. 5, 1932 (c1945)
Box 2				Machine Design cover art 10 May 1962
Box 2				Nation's Business cover art Mar 1951, Jun 1953
Box 2				"New Quick-think Lawyer" 1954
Oversize 1				"New Quick-think Lawyer" matted 1954
Box 2				Production cover art Sep 1960
Box 2				Railway Express Agency, Inc. advertising
Box 2				St. Paul Insurance Companies advertising 1965
Box 2				Shell X-100 Motor Oil advertising
Oversize 1				[John] Sutherland Prod's Inc.
Box 2				Time subscription advertising
Box 2				"The Twentieth Century Physician"
Box 2				Union Carbide & Carbon Corp. - From Fortune
Box 2				Wickwire Spencer Steel Corp.
					Additional items in Oversize Package 1
Box 2				Miscellany
					See also Artwork Reproductions (by format): Illustrations (magazine): Time cover art
					Additional items in Oversize Package 1
			War images
Box 3				Hartford (Conn.) advertising: scrap metal drive
Box 3				Vultee Aircraft, Inc. advertising
Oversize 1				Wickwire Spencer Steel Corp. "Ain't going to study war no more..."
Box 3				Miscellany
					Additional items in Oversize Package 1
			Miscellany
Oversize 1				"Anxiety, Frustration, Repressed Hostility"
Box 3				"Art Director, as seen by Artzybasheff"
Box 3				Ex Libris Studio advertising 1919
Box 3				"A Flag for the United Nations" 1945
Box 3				Frankfort Distillers Corp. advertising: Paul Jones
Box 3				[Chas. M.] Higgins & Co., Inc. advertising: Higgins' American Drawing Inks
Oversize 1				"Indecision, Timidity, Infantilism"
Box 3				Logan Drinking Cup Co. advertising: Ajax and Aero Sanitary Drinking Cups
Box 3				"Man Coddling His Ulcers"
Oversize 1				"Midsummer Night's Dream"
					Filed under Artwork Reproductions (by format): Illustrations (book): Untitled
Box 3				"Naught so sweet as Melancholy" 1954
Oversize 1				"The Night Before"
					Filed under Artwork Reproductions (by format): Illustrations (book): Untitled
Oversize 1				"Origin of the Flying Saucers"
					Filed under Artwork Reproductions (by format): Illustrations (book): Untitled
Oversize 1				Pan American World Airways advertising
Box 3				Parker Pen Company advertising 1947, undated
Box 3				The Russian Eagle menu
Box 3				The Russian Inn menu
Box 3				Time advertising 1950, 1952, undated
					See also Technology: Time subscription advertising
Box 3				"We Are Getting to the Bottom of It" 1948
Box 3				Wisconsin (State) advertising
Box 3				Worthy Paper Company advertising
Box 3				Miscellaneous images
					Additional items in Oversize Package #1
Box 3		Research material (West Indies) undated - photographs, Alcoa Steamship Company, Inc. advertising (2 folders)
Box 3		Signatures
		Sketches (original)
Box 3			Pencil
Box 3			Pencil and watercolor; research material

	Writings
Box 4		Autobiographical - holograph, typescript notes, reminiscences (2 folders)
		Essays
Box 4			"The Fan Mail of Boris Artzybasheff" Jul 1937 - Published in Esquire
Box 4			"The Magnificent Umpfs" - holograph draft
Box 4			"The Purgatory" - typescript ms. drafts with holograph corrections
		Journals
Box 4			About artwork 1957-1965 (2 items)
Box 4			Russian 1919
		Speeches
Box 4			Let George Do It! 1940 - Trade Book Clinic, New York, Dec. 5, 1940; published 1941

	Memorabilia
		Artwork by others
Box 4			Originals 1946, undated - Caricature sketches (5), silhouette (1)
Box 4			Reproductions undated
Box 4		Awards 1954, 1961
Box 4		Calendars 1955-1965 (2 folders)
Box 5		Financial - price list of drawings, miscellany
Oversize 1		Genealogical record - Southard family, belonging to wife, Elisabeth Southard Snyder
Oversize 1		Periodicals: Kaiser Aluminum News 1966 - 5 issues
		Photographs
Box 5			Artzybasheff, Boris undated (3 folders)
				See also Printed material: Time 40th anniversary
Box 5			Family, friends, and landscapes undated
		Printed material
Box 5			Articles about 1928-1954, undated
Box 5			Clippings 1920-1965, undated (2 folders)
Box 5			Clippings (Russian newspaper) 1937
Box 5			Exhibition catalogs, announcements 1931-1966, undated
Box 5			Reviews 1922-1939, 1956, undated
Box 5			Time 40th anniversary (including photographs) 1963
Box 5		Typefaces
Box 5		Miscellanea 1893-1962, undated - Certificates, personal documents, identification cards, passports, visas, miscellany (some in Russian)

	Selected index to correspondence
		Daniel and Charles, Inc. 1965 Mar. 9 (outgoing typescript) 1965 Mar. 12 Dodd, Edward H. 1964 June 2 Finney, Charles G. 1935 July 7 1936 Sept. 8 (writings attached) McCleery, William 1965 Jan. 5 1965 Jan. 15 (outgoing carbon) 1965 Feb. 8 1965 Mar. 17 National Historic Shrines Foundation, Inc. 1965 Feb. 17 Princeton University see McCleery, William Shaller-Rubin Company, Inc. 1965 Apr. 15 Thompson, Ralph and Marcia 1956 Jan. 2 (outgoing holograph) 1958 Aug. (outgoing holograph) 1962 Mar. 12 (outgoing holograph) undated (2 outgoing holograph letters, 1 from wife Betty) Time 1964 Sept. 15 1964 Sept. 21 1964 Sept. 28 1964 Oct. 30 1965 Feb. 4 United States. Department of State 1920 Nov. 13 (re: visa for mother)

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