Gerald Kornblau Papers

Collection

Identifier: A0017

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains reference material on specific objects from the Kornblau Gallery, some of which eventually came to be in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum. Also included is reference material on American folk art painting and sculpture, including rare eighteenth-century manufacturer catalogs of weathervanes and decorative objects.

Dates

1970 - 2000

Creator

Kornblau, Gerald, (1928-2011) (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research. Access to sensitive materials may be restricted at the discretion of the American Folk Art Museum.

Conditions Governing Use

The Gerald Kornblau Papers are owned by the American Folk Art Museum. The collection is subject to all copyright laws, and is dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship.

Biographical Note

Gerald Kornblau (1928-2011) was an authority on American folk art and a dealer who sold works to private and museum collections. As a photographer, Kornblau was assigned to take photographs while in the army during the Korean War, and some of his war photographs were published in National Geographic in 1953. This cemented a lifelong love of photography, which was evidenced in Kornblau’s collection of vernacular photography and also his documentation of art objects.

Born in New York in 1928, Kornblau opened a gallery in Manhattan in the late 1950s and was known to have high-quality material. He had a passionate interest in nineteenth-century decorative sculpture and weathervanes, so much so that he reprinted the 1875 catalog of weathervanes and finials manufactured by J. W. Fiske. At the 1975 Winter Antiques Show, Kornblau debuted the c. 1812-1813 portraits of Ashbel and Patience Stoddard, residents of Hudson, New York, attributed to Ammi Phillips.

Kornblau passed away on July 24, 2011, after a long illness.

Extent

6.50 cubic feet (standard document cases)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Gerald Kornblau was an authority on American folk art and a dealer who sold works to private and museum collections. This collection contains reference material on specific objects from the Kornblau Gallery, some of which eventually came to be in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum. Also included is reference material on American folk art painting and sculpture, including rare eighteenth-century manufacturer catalogs of weathervanes and decorative objects.