Guide to the Papers of Gisella Scheinberg
MS 9305, MS Acc05.100
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Gisella Scheinberg
- Title
- Papers of Gisella Scheinberg
- Date Range
- 1969-1994
- Collection Number
- MS 9305, MS Acc05.100
- Extent
- 0.6 metres (4 boxes, 1 folder)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Personal papers of the gallery director Gisella Scheinberg, relating to the artist Donald Friend. The papers document her relationship with the artist as a dealer and a friend. They include correspondence, exhibition catalogues, press cuttings, price lists and business papers. Of greatest interest is the collection of over 50 letters from Friend to Scheinberg. Also included in the papers is an unpublished manuscript by Friend, and papers relating to the art critic and artist Paul Haefliger.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1501956).
Conditions Governing Use
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Gisella Scheinberg, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The papers were donated to the Library by Gisella Scheinberg in 1996 and 1997 under the Cultural Gifts Program.
Related Materials
The National Library also holds the archives of the Holdsworth Galleries (MS 9153).
Finding Aid Source(s)
Please note: This finding aid may comprise or contain descriptive information provided by donors, researchers and/or volunteers.
Collection Retrieval Advice
Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.
Biographical Note
Gisella Scheinberg was born in Hungary in 1921. After the German invasion of her homeland in 1944, she came to Australia as a Jewish refugee in 1948 and married Albert Scheinberg.
Gisella Scheinberg founded the Holdsworth Galleries in Woollahra, Sydney, in 1969 and remained the owner and director for 28 years. She was closely associated with Donald Friend, as a dealer and a friend, from 1969 until his death in 1989. Friend held frequent exhibitions at the Holdsworth Galleries until 1988 when he decided to exhibit elsewhere. Other artists who exhibited at Holdsworth included Tim Storrier, Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman, Robert Dickerson, Ray Crooke, Patrick Hockey and Paul Haefliger. Russel Drysdale, Clifton Pugh, Judy Cassab, Noel Counihan and Sali Herman became good friends.
Gisella Scheinberg's arrangement of the 11 folders of papers has been preserved by the Library. The papers show the relationship between Australian painter and author, Donald Friend, and Mrs Scheinberg. The collection documents the personal support she gave to the artist, especially when his health deteriorated, and in his final years.
The papers, which date from 1969 to 1994, include personal correspondence, records of exhibitions held at the galleries, price lists, guest lists, exhibition catalogues, newsclippings, business correspondence dealing with the sale of paintings, loan agreements, and some details of Friend's personal and financial affairs.
Item Descriptions
Class MS 9305. Original consignment
Comprises personal papers of art dealer Gisella Scheinberg relating to the artist Donald Friend. The papers include correspondence, exhibition catalogues, press cuttings, price lists and business papers. The correspondence includes over 50 letters from Friend to Scheinberg. Also included in the papers is an unpublished manuscript by Friend, and papers relating to the art critic and artist Paul Haefliger.
Contained in 4 boxes.
Class. First consignment, 1996
Correspondence with Friend, 1969-72; guest lists and replies to invitations to a buffet dinner for Friend, 1972; records relating to the 1970 exhibition at Holdsworth Galleries; photocopies of Friend's drawings; press clippings, 1970-72 (File 2) - Box 1
Correspondence with Friend, 1971-72; records relating to the 1971 exhibition at Holdsworth Galleries; newsclippings, reviews, 1971 (File 3) - Box 1
Letters, 1975 and 1977, and two postcards, 1982, from Friend; letters from Scheinberg to Friend, 1975-78; catalogues of exhibitions, 1975, 1978 and 1979; photographs of Friend's paintings; newspaper clippings, 1975-78 (File 4) - Box 1
Letters from Friend, 1979, 1981, 1982 and undated; card to Scheinberg from Russell Drysdale, 1980; correspondence between Scheinberg, clients, and other galleries, 1979-80; guest lists and invitations to exhibitions, 1980 and 1981; price lists; photographic slides; press clippings, 1979-81 (File 5) - Box 1
Catalogues for exhibitions in 1980, February and June, 1986; press clippings, 1985-89; prospectus for Art in a classless society and Vice versa, 1985, and correspondence concerning the exhibitions; loan agreements (File 6) - Box 2
Letter from Friend to Scheinberg, 1978; papers relating to the 1985 'Fifty year survey of paintings and drawings' exhibition (File 7) - Box 2
Copy of letter dictated by Friend four days before his death in 1989; records relating to the exhibition of his last paintings in 1989 and a catalogue of the exhibition; correspondence about hospital bills, loans, and his will, 1987-89; press clippings relating to the 1990 Friend retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales; letters to Scheinberg from Kim Bonython and Barry Pearce after Friend's death, in appreciation of her assistance to Friend (File 8) - Box 2
Letters from Friend, 1976, 1977; correspondence between Scheinberg, Gwen Friend and Angela Neville, and also galleries and dealers in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, 1992-94; papers relating to the 1991 exhibition of previously unseen Friend drawings; newspaper cuttings, 1991-94 (File 9) - Box 2
Letters from Friend, 1982, 1984; correspondence between Scheinberg and other dealers and with clients, 1982; correspondence about limited edition prints and financial matters,1981; price list, 1981 exhibition; photographs of paintings and drawings; (File 10) - Box 2
Personal letters between Scheinberg and Friend, 1987; letter from Friend to Scheinberg in 1988 breaking his association with Holdsworth Galleries; Scheinberg's letter, 21 June 1989, summarising meeting with Friend in which he discussed his will; goodbye letter from Friend to Scheinberg before his death in January, 1989; letter from Scheinberg to the Visual Arts Board in 1986 nominating Friend for an Emeritus Award; catalogue and records relating to the 1989 retrospective exhibition; documents about Friend's medical and financial affairs (File 11) - Box 3
Class. Second consignment, 1997
The second instalment of personal papers donated to the Library by Gisella Scheinberg in 1997 cover the period 1972 to 1979 and document the business relationship between Scheinberg and Friend. The papers are concerned mainly with correspondence between Scheinberg and Friend, a dinner in honour of Donald Friend's 60th birthday in March 1975, and the promotion of a Friend Retrospective, held in conjunction with the dinner. The papers also include the manuscript of Friend's unpublished book 'You may lift my Roman toga', and the manuscript of an autobiographical work by artist and art critic Paul Haefliger, Duet for dulcimer and dunce, with illustratons and the colonial letters by Russel Drysdale. Haefliger exhibited regularly at the Holdsworth Galleries.