The Brummer Gallery Records
Joseph, Imre, and Ernest Brummer (1883-1947, 1889-1928, and 1891-1964, respectively) were major art dealers who collected widely from classical antiquity to Modern Art. The brothers left their native Austria-Hungary and founded their first gallery in Paris in 1906. In 1914, Joseph and Imre moved to New York to establish U.S. branch. With the outbreak of World War II, Ernest joined Joseph in New York and continued dealing until the early 1960s. During this time, objects from the Brummer galleries made their way into numerous American and European museums and important private collections.
The Brummer Gallery Records feature the brothers' business papers, as well as illuminating personal and family photos and documents. Of primary research value are the accession cards that record key information for over fourteen thousand works acquired through their New York and Paris galleries between 1916 and 1947.
Additional Brummer material is available for onsite consultation at The Cloisters Library and Archives; please see the Finding Aid for the complete holdings.
The digital collection can be browsed and searched numerous ways. The primary methods are as follows:
- Armoires
- Babylonian
- Byzantine
- Chairs
- Coffers
- Coins
- Doors, benches, tabourets
- Egyptian
- Glass, stained glass, and crystal
- Gothic and Renaissance bronzes, dinanderie, iron, ivory, and silver
- Gothic and Renaissance marbles, stones, and alabaster
- Gothic and Renaissance wood statues
- Greek and Roman bronzes
- Greek and Roman marbles and stones
- Greek glass, gold, jewelry, and terra-cotta
- Iron
- Mexican, Peruvian, African, and Indian [also includes Asian objects]
- Miscellaneous and leather
- Modern sculptures and paintings
- Paintings
- Persian
- Renaissance terra-cottas
- Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Greek architecture and capitals
- Sassanian
- Textiles
- Wood carvings
- Wood frames, tables, etc.
The core of the collection features over 14,000 object cards, ordered by accession number. Most cards are numbered with either an "N" prefix for stock acquired through the New York Gallery (in operation from 1914 to 1947), "P" for stock shipped from Paris to New York, or "X" for consignment objects. The four-by-six cards feature thumbnail photographs, names of sellers and buyers, purchase and sale prices, and, occasionally, condition information. Paris stock cards also note the objects' arrival dates in the U.S.
- A
- BT
- D
- H
- JA
- JB
- N -- Please note that there are over 6000 cards in this category. To browse within ranges, search N00* for N1-99, N01* for N100-199, N03* for N300-399, N61* for N6100-6199 and so on.
- P -- Note that P cards number to above 16,000, though many number ranges are not used. To browse within ranges, search P000* for P1-99, P001* for P100-199, P025* for P2500-2599, P121* for P12100-12199 and so on.
- S
- X -- Note that X cards number to over 1500. To browse within ranges, search X00* for X1-99, X01* for X100-199, X02* for X200-299, X12* for X1200-1299 and so on.
- Ernest Brummer Collection Cards -- Relate to his collection in the years after Joseph's death in 1947.
Accompanying the object cards are four binders (two for actively held inventory and two for sold items), arranged by Brummer-assigned classifications of an art era or medium, holding duplicates of the cards’ object photos with accession numbers written below. These allow researchers unequipped with Brummer stock numbers to locate an artwork by sight.
The following ledgers predate or add to information noted on the object cards:
- Paris Sales Ledgers:
- Journal d'achats de The Brummer Gallery en Europe 1925
- "Purchase Book 1927--28"
- "Peerless Scrapbook" Photo Inventory Album, New York gallery, circa late 1920s
- Album of mounted photographs of African, Egyptian, Asian Sculpture
- "Sales Jan. 1, 1940--Dec. 31, 1946"
- "Purchase from International Studio" [acquisitions from Hearst, 1944]
- Tax Ledger for NY Properties 1941-1948 with Inventory notes, 1974-1988
- Prices Quoted to Customers, dated 1947
- Accounting pads for art sales and proposals, 1947-1948
- Accountants work sheet pad of quotes and sales, 1947-1948
- Joseph Brummer Estate auction catalogs, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 1949. Annotated:
- 1st auction: April 20-23, 1949 [Internet Archive]
- 2nd auction: May 11-14, 1949 [Internet Archive]
- 3rd auction: June 8-9, 1949 [Internet Archive]
- Ledger of Art Acquisitions, 1950-1962
Other Bound Material:
- Hotel Drouot - Salle no. 8. Peintures Chinoises, Estampes Japonaises (Annotated auction catalog, March 11, 1911)
- Photo album and notes re. Maillol exhibition at Brummer Gallery, New York, 1933
- Ernest Brummer Travel Diary, April 1952-August 1954
- Ernest Brummer Travel Diary, August, 1956-September, 1960
- Ernest Brummer Travel Diary, July, 1962-September, 1963
Correspondence, Personal Papers, and Miscellaneous Business Documents from the 1980 Donation:
- Ernest Brummer Correspondence, 1913-1924 (loose alphabetical order)
- Ernest Brummer Loose Invoices and Correspondence, 1913-1925
- Ernest Brummer Loose Invoices and Correspondence, 1926-1929
- Correspondence (includes correspondence between Joseph and Ernest), 1932-1934
- Correspondence (includes correspondence between Joseph and Ernest), 1935-1937
- Joseph Brummer Personal Files I. Correspondence, passports, death notices, etc.
- Joseph Brummer Personal Files II. Correspondence, death notices, will, etc.
- Misc. Business Correspondence and Documents, N.Y., 1920’s-1970
Correspondence, Personal Papers, and Miscellaneous Business Documents from the 2016 Donation:
- Joseph Brummer Personal Files, 1925-1950
- Ernest Brummer Personal Files, 1891-1964
- Correspondence re. sister Etelka Brummer, 1946-48
- Paris Business Papers, 1913-1938
- Misc. Business Correspondence, 1922-1950
- Paris Acquisitions, Import Papers, 1923-1927
- Ernest Brummer Import Papers, 1940-1941
- Joseph Brummer Estate Sales, 1947-1949
- Ernest Brummer Business Correspondence, 1947-1963
- Ernest Brummer European Purchases, 1952-1953
- Documents re. Shrine of St. Patroclus, Soest, Germany
- Conservation Notes
- Gallery Exhibitions Lists (compiled 1980)
- Estate Inventories and Auctions, post-1964
- Ella Bache Brummer Correspondence with Metropolitan Museum, 1964-1990
- Duke University, 1966 Sale and Gift Contract
- Gift and Sales to Other Museums, 1964-1989
- Ella Bache Brummer Misc. Correspondence, 1964-95
Address Cards:
- Photographs of various art objects. No Brummer numbers. I
- Photographs of various art objects. No Brummer numbers. II
- Photographs of various art objects, No Brummer numbers. III
- Photographs of various art objects, No Brummer numbers. IV
- Photographs of various art objects, No Brummer numbers. V
- Photographs, and documents, of various art objects, No Brummer numbers. VI.
- Egyptian objects
- Renaissance jewels and small objects
- "Byzantine objects"
- "Stone Sculpture"
- "Not Ours"
- "Walters Collection"
- "At Duke Art Museum"
- Photographs of objects from the Museo Barracco, Rome.
- Photographs of European architecture and art. None apparently owned by the Brummers.