Skip to main content

Arensberg, Walter, 1878-1954

 Person

Biography

Art collectors Walter and Louise Arensberg were friends with some of the most important artists of the 20th century, and as such, played an integral role in the formulation and promulgation of avant-garde artistic ideas and activities in the United States. Walter Arensberg (1878-1954) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the oldest child of Conrad Christian Arensberg and his second wife, Flora Belle Covert. Walter's father was President and partial owner of a successful Pittsburgh crucible company. Between 1896 and 1900, Walter attended Harvard University. Following graduation, he travelled to Europe, where he spent at least two years. In 1903, he returned to Harvard, as a graduate student. He did not complete his degree, but rather moved to New York City to work as a cub reporter from 1904-1906.

Louise Arensberg (1879-1953) was born Mary Louise Stevens in Dresden, Germany, to John Edward Stevens and his wife, Harriet Louisa. In 1882, the family relocated to Ludlow, Massachusetts, where Louise's father worked in his in-law's textile manufacturing business, eventually amassing the fortune Louise would use to finance the Arensbergs' art collection. Louise studied music and attended finishing school in Dresden. On June 26, 1907, she married Walter, a Harvard classmate of her brother Sidney.

Initially, the couple settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they purchased and renovated Shady Hill, the former home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and later Charles Eliot Norton. There, Walter pursued a career as a poet, publishing his first volume, Poems, in 1914. The Arensbergs' travelled to New York in 1913 to view the International Exhibition of Modern Art (Armory Show), where Walter purchased an Edouard Vuillard lithograph. He later returned the work during the Boston venue of the exhibition, purchasing instead lithographs by Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, as well as a small painting by Jacques Villon. Henceforth, the Arensbergs would dedicate their time, energy and money to amassing a seminal collection of twentieth-century art.

In 1914, the Arensbergs relocated to New York City, renting an apartment at 33 West 67th Street. Between 1915 and 1921, they collected approximately 70 more works of art, including that of various French and American avant-garde artists who they befriended. The Arensbergs became particularly close with Marcel Duchamp, who lived in their apartment during the summer of 1915 while they vacationed at their summer home in Pomfret, Connecticut. They would become the artist's life-long patrons and form the largest, most significant collection of his work.

During these years, the Arensbergs' apartment served almost nightly as a gathering place for artists, intellectuals, and writers, including John Covert, Arthur Cravan, Jean and Yvonne Crotti, Charles Demuth, Marcel Duchamp, Albert Gleizes, Mina Loy, Allen and Louise Norton, Francis Picabia, Henri-Pierre Roché, Pitts Sanborn, Morton Schamberg, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Stella, Wallace Stevens, Elmer Ernst Southard, Carl Van Vechten, Edgard Varèse, William Carlos Williams, and Beatrice Wood. Through these intellectual exchanges emerged such important art movements and developments as New York Dada, the Society of Independent Artists, and The Others Group of poets. Amongst these influences, Walter pursued his interest in poetry and his other literary interest, cryptography. In early 1921, he published The Cryptography of Dante, and the next year The Cryptography of Shakespeare. Walter sought to interpret both authors through the analysis of puns, acrostics, and anagrams. For the rest of his life, Walter avidly pursued the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy in the hopes of using cryptography to establish incontrovertible evidence that Sir Francis Bacon was the real author of the Shakespeare's plays, poems and other writings.

In 1921, upon Louise's insistence, the couple relocated to Hollywood, California. While the move was originally intended to be temporary, the Arensbergs remained in California for the rest of their lives, returning to New York for only a year between 1925 and 1926. In September 1927, the Arensbergs purchased their permanent home at 7065 Hillside Avenue.

Once in California, the Arensbergs quickly re-established their importance in the art world. By 1922, they began lending works to galleries and museums for exhibitions. They felt strongly that the public should have an opportunity to view works in the hands of private individuals, and thus were very generous in making loans, limiting, but never ceasing, their cooperation only after several of their works were damaged. Their Hillside Avenue house also served as an ad-hoc museum. Almost anyone who sought permission was granted a visit to their home to view their art collection. The Arensbergs also played an active role in many art associations. Walter served as a board member of the Los Angeles Art Association (1937), Los Angeles County Museum (1938-1939), and the Southwest Museum (1944-1954). In addition, he was a founding board member of the short-lived American Arts in Action (1943) and the Modern Institute of Art, Beverly Hills (1947-1949), organizations dedicated to showing modern art in California. The Arensbergs were among the Modern Institute of Art's biggest supporters, lending generously to its exhibitions and providing financial assistance. Despite this, and the support of many Hollywood notables, including Vincent Price and Edward G. Robinson, the Institute failed.

Through the 1930's and 1940's, the Arensbergs continued to build their art collection, buying primarily modern art and non-Western artifacts as well as some Oriental rugs, Byzantine and Renaissance paintings, and American folk art. They expanded their modern collection to include works by Surrealists such as Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí; the Blue-Four (acquired through the group's American agent Galka Scheyer); and contemporary Mexican artists, including Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo. They also acquired additional work by Marcel Duchamp whenever possible. In addition, the Arensbergs collected pre-Columbian stone and ceramic sculptures, many bought from their friend and next-door neighbor, the dealer Earl Stendahl, from 1940 onwards.

In 1937, Walter Arensberg organized the Francis Bacon Foundation; a non-profit educational and research institute dedicated to the study of Francis Bacon. In 1939, the Foundation became the legal owner of the Walter and Louise Arensberg art collection, an arrangement agreeable to the Arensbergs for both financial and ideological reasons. The Arensbergs maintained that the so-called Baconian method for the interpretation of nature was also applicable to the interpretation of art. (Walter Arensberg to Kenneth Ross, unpublished interview, ca. 1948).

In the 1940's the Arensbergs began to look for a permanent home for their collection. In 1944, the Arensbergs signed a deed of gift with the University of California, Los Angeles, which included the stipulation that the University build an appropriate museum to house the collection in a specified time frame. By the fall of 1947 it was obvious that this condition would not be met and the contract was nullified. The Arensbergs then began negotiations with numerous other institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Denver Art Museum, Harvard University, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (Mexico, D.F.), the National Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota. The Arensbergs eventually dropped their demand that the recipient of the collection also provide for the continuance of Walter's Francis Bacon Foundation. After protracted discussions and many visits from Director Fiske Kimball and his wife Marie, the Arensbergs presented their collection of over 1000 objects to the Philadelphia Museum of Art on December 27, 1950. On November 25, 1953, Louise died of cancer. Walter lived only a few months longer, passing away on January 29, 1954 from a heart attack. Neither lived long enough to see the opening of their collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on October 16, 1954.

Found in 6243 Collections and/or Records:

Bank balance, 1935 October 1

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_034
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1935 October 1

Bank balance, 1935 October 21

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_035
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1935 October 21

Bank balance, 1935 December 2

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_036
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1935 December 2

Bank balance, 1936 February 1

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_037
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1936 February 1

Bank balance, 1936 March 2

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_038
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1936 March 2

Bank balance, 1936 Febuary-March 2

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_039
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1936 Febuary-March 2

Bank balance, 1936 April 2

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_040
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1936 April 2

Bank balance, 1936 May 1

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_041
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1936 May 1

Bank balance, 1936 June 5

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_042
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1936 June 5

Bank balance, 1936 June 12

 Object — Box: 46, Folder: 5
Identifier: WLA_B046_F005_043
Scope and Contents

Bank balance from the Peoples Pittsburgh Trust Company to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1936 June 12

Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 6237
Collection 6
 
Subject
correspondence 5219
Hollywood, United States 1833
Philadelphia, United States 825
New York City, United States 807
Los Angeles, United States 612
∨ more
telegrams 381
San Francisco, United States 207
Chicago, United States 181
invoices 127
Pittsburgh, United States 93
Cambridge, United States 77
notes 77
photographic prints 77
Mexico City, Mexico 70
Paris, France 69
Pasadena, United States 69
Beverly Hills, United States 67
Washington D.C., United States 67
bank statements 55
clippings (information artifacts) 55
writings (documents) 51
San Diego, United States 48
Stanford, United States 46
Berkeley, United States 33
Santa Barbara, United States 31
Minneapolis, United States 29
Boston, United States 24
Bronxville, United States 24
Oakland, United States 23
Carmel-By-The-Sea, United States 22
Saint Paul, United States 22
White Plains, United States 21
postcards 21
Charlottesville, United States 20
Claremont, United States 19
Denver, United States 19
Sacramento, United States 19
interviews 19
press releases 19
Portland, United States 17
memorandums 16
Albuquerque, United States 15
Baltimore, United States 15
London, England 14
San Marino, United States 14
agreements 14
lists (document genres) 13
museum records 13
Santa Monica, United States 12
envelopes 12
Long Beach, United States 11
New Orleans, United States 11
tax records 11
Cincinnati, United States 10
El Paso, United States 10
Kansas City, United States 9
Seattle, United States 9
gelatin silver prints 9
Brooklyn, United States 8
Buenos Aires, Argentina 8
Clinton, United States 8
Detroit, United States 8
Honolulu, United States 8
Ojai Valley, United States 8
West Redding, United States 8
Cleveland, United States 7
Des Moines, United States 7
Ocean Park, United States 7
West Palm Beach, United States 7
financial records 7
lectures 7
receipts (financial records) 7
Connecticut, United States 6
Eugene, United States 6
Monterey, United States 6
Palm Springs, United States 6
Palo Alto, United States 6
Roxbury, United States 6
Saint Louis, United States 6
Santa Fe, United States 6
Taxco de Alarcón, Mexico 6
Bridgewater, United States 5
Burbank, United States 5
Columbia, United States 5
Copenhagen, Denmark 5
Ridgefield, United States 5
Rolling Hills, United States 5
Wiesbaden, Germany 5
chronologies (lists) 5
floor plans (form attributes) 5
Castaic, United States 4
Farmington, United States 4
Glendale, United States 4
Hemet, United States 4
Indianapolis, United States 4
La Cañada Flintridge, United States 4
Lenox, United States 4
New Haven, United States 4
Northampton (Massachusetts), United States 4
Ojai, United States 4
∧ less