[ART] Rare Kuhniana! ORIGINAL 1989 consignment contract between the the Estate of Walt Kuhn [Brenda Kuhn, artist's daughter] and the Midtown Galleries, Inc., 11 East 57th St., NYC. Ten pages plus Page for Notary Public signatures and a cover letter from Attorneys firm. Part of the agreement is for Midtown Galleries to advance $100,000 to Brenda Kuhn. The document is signed by Brenda Kuhn. Walt Kuhn (1877-1949) American painter and was an organizer of the modern art Armory Show of 1913, which was the first of its genre in America. Today, Walt Kuhn is best remembered for his key role in planning the Armory Show of 1913. Nevertheless, he holds a place in American art history as a skilled cartoonist, draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and painter. Although he destroyed many of his early paintings, his works that remain today are powerful. His portraits of circus and vaudeville entertainers are some of the most memorable works of early American Modernism. They are reminiscent of commedia dell'arte actor portraits done by the French masters centuries earlier. Nevertheless, Kuhn's works are entirely his own. His intimate portraits and expressionistic still lifes can be found in many top museums and universities across the United States. By the 1940s, Kuhn's behavior began to take on unsound characteristics. He became increasingly distant, and when the Ringling Brothers Circus was in town, he attended night after night. In 1948, he was institutionalized, and on July 13, 1949, he died suddenly from a perforated ulcer. It is highly unusual for a gallery contract for a prominent artist to offered for sale. I am sure that it has happened before but we've never seen one. Highly unusual. Picture of Walt Kuhn is NOT included here.

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