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Amalia de Schulthess Papers

 Collection
Identifier: Ms. Coll. 24

Scope and Contents

This collection comprises letters written to Amalia de Schulthess by her many friends, most of whom were artists or connected to the art world as she was. She spent many years visiting Taos, New Mexico and the bulk of the correspondence in the collection is from artist Andrew Dasburg whose career she helped to revive. Other correspondents in the collection include other Taos artists and personalities such as Ward Lockwood, Rebecca Salsbury James, Barbara Latham, Howard Cook, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Dorothy Brett, and Frieda Lawrence.

Dates

  • 1950 - 1970

Biographical / Historical

Amalia de Schulthess was a Swiss-American artist, patron, and collector. She was born in Switzerland in 1918 to a family of art patrons and collectors and was influenced at a young age by artist Paul Klee who frequently visited the family home and encouraged her to study art. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 to marry her fiancée Hans George Martin de Schulthess because her parents did not approve of the match. The couple initially moved to New York where Amalia connected with and became a patron to artist Piet Mondrian who encouraged her to paint. Amalia and Hans soon moved west to southern California and she spent the next 20 years dividing her time between California and New Mexico. In Taos she became close friends with artist Andrew Dasburg and many other artists and personalities including Howard Cook, Barbara Latham, Rebecca Salsbury James, Ward Lockwood, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Dorothy Brett, and Frieda Lawrence. She and Hans divorced but remained close friends and he passed away in 1962. After the 1960s she had abandoned painting and moved to Italy for the next decade to produce sculpture which she annually shipped back to Santa Monica for her patrons. She continued sculpting into her 90s and remained deeply interconnected in the art world as evidenced by her role as a lifelong patron, collector, and artist. She passed away in Santa Monica in 2021 at the age of 98.

Extent

1 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection comprises letters written to the artist and patron Amalia de Schulthess from various artists and friends, primarily artist Andrew Dasburg but also Dorothy Brett, Frieda Lawrence, Ward Lockwood, Ray Bradbury, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and many others.
Status
In Progress
Author
Mary Deleary
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Lunder Research Center Repository

Contact:
The Lunder Research Center for the Taos Society of Artists
The Couse-Sharp Historic Site
146 Kit Carson Road
Taos NM 87571 USA
575-751-0369