Sitter Files

This series comprises information about sitters of works of art in the form of general biographical details, and/or information about portraits by unknown artists. The material includes:

-correspondence sent to or by Knoedler's offices

-black and white photographs of works of art

-images of works of art from publications

-summary descriptions of research and research notes

-newspaper cuttings

-publications and extracts from publications

Although there is evidence that Knoedler's staff may have filed some of their records relating to sitters in a series of large brown envelopes, very little of the original order remained when this archive was acquired. Therefore, the following was carried out during the cataloguing process:

-the material in the files was arranged in an alphabetical sequence of sitter names. The names were assigned by Knoedler's and no attempt has been made to update them according to current thinking.

-where it has been possible to do so, the full names of sitters, and their known life span have been given, as stated in the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), or in Wikipedia entries

Most of the sitters only have a few records relating to them and some comprise a single item. Any exceptions to this have been noted in the description.

Open for research. Readers must fill in an 'Reader Agreement Form' which outlines the reading room rules and conditions concerning privacy and Data Protection

A large proportion of the material in this series was created by staff of M. Knoedler & Co.'s London office. As Librarian, Letitia Simpson was responsible for managing information about artists and sales, and corresponding with dealers, buyers and sellers. Frank Simpson took over Letitia's position, following her retirement from full time employment in 1958, and he appears to have performed the same duties.