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Horter, Earl, 1880-1940

 Person

Biography

In a review of a 1977 retrospective exhibit of Earl Horter, the writer credited the artist as having a critical role in introducing modern art to the Philadelphia area through his own works, collection and teachings. Born in 1881 in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Horter gained his earliest experience in the graphic arts working for a stock certificate engraver. He later made a living as an illustrator and commercial artist, working for the advertising agency of N.W. Ayer. At the same time, he privately created etchings of architectural subjects. Horter eventually left behind his commercial practice to pursue painting in oil, watercolor and aquatints. By the 1930s he began teaching at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, University of Pennsylvania Night School, the Graphic Sketch Club and the Tyler School of Fine Arts of Temple University. Horter avidly collected French moderns, as well as Native American art. At one time he owned 22 Picassos and approximately 1,500 American Indian relics. Major museums that acquired Horter's own artworks included the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Chicago Art Institute and New York's Metropolitan and Whitney Museum. Almost sixty years after his death in 1940, PMA examined Horter's influence on and by modern art. In that 1999 exhibition, "Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection," 100 objects that Horter acquired during the 1920s and 1930s and that were dispersed after his death, were reunited. The collection consisted of European and American modern art, African sculpture and Native American artifacts.

Found in 10 Collections and/or Records:

Correspondence from Fiske Kimball to Walter Arensberg, 1947 April 17

 Object — Box: 179, Folder: 29
Identifier: FKR_B179_F029_047
Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Fiske Kimball, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1947 April 17

Correspondence from Fiske Kimball to Walter Arensberg, 1954 January 29

 Object — Box: 180, Folder: 12
Identifier: FKR_B180_F012_014
Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Fiske Kimball, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1954 January 29

Correspondence from Fiske Kimball to Walter Arensberg, 1947 April 17

 Object — Box: 15, Folder: 2
Identifier: WLA_B015_F002_007
Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Fiske Kimball, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1947 April 17

Correspondence from Louise Arensberg to John Davis Hatch, Jr., 1934 April 26

 Object — Box: 8, Folder: 57
Identifier: WLA_B008_F057_002
Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Louise Arensberg to John Davis Hatch, Jr.

Dates: 1934 April 26

Correspondence from Sidney Janis to Walter Arensberg, 1951 September 6

 Object — Box: 10, Folder: 14
Identifier: WLA_B010_F014_019
Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Sidney Janis to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1951 September 6

Draft correspondence from Fiske Kimball to Walter Arensberg, 1954 January 29

 Object — Box: 180, Folder: 12
Identifier: FKR_B180_F012_015
Scope and Contents

Draft correspondence from Fiske Kimball, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to Walter Arensberg.

Dates: 1954 January 29

Earl Horter Collection

 Collection
Identifier: HOR
Abstract Philadelphia-area artist, teacher and collector Earl Horter (1881-1940) was one of the city's most influential practitioners and promoters of modern art. This collection consists primarily of photographs, clippings, and exhibition catalogues and checklists pertaining to Horter during his lifetime, as well as some correspondence, writings and ephemera. Several items, particularly newsclippings of posthumous retrospective exhibitions are also included as well as a death mask and hand of the...
Dates: 1908-1985, undated

Horter, Earl, 1927-1928

 File — Box: 6, Folder: 6
Scope and Contents From the Series: Comprising the largest portion of the Fiske Kimball Records, this series clearly documents Kimball's extensive contact with the institutions, individuals, and businesses that collectively directed and promoted art and artists, and a public appreciation for both. Kimball cultivated a variety of correspondents, from dealers and donors to museums, educational institutions and professional organizations. Throughout the three decades documented, antiques and art dealers appear to be Kimball's...
Dates: 1927-1928

Horter, Earl, 1929-1930

 File — Box: 13, Folder: 5
Scope and Contents From the Series: Comprising the largest portion of the Fiske Kimball Records, this series clearly documents Kimball's extensive contact with the institutions, individuals, and businesses that collectively directed and promoted art and artists, and a public appreciation for both. Kimball cultivated a variety of correspondents, from dealers and donors to museums, educational institutions and professional organizations. Throughout the three decades documented, antiques and art dealers appear to be Kimball's...
Dates: 1929-1930

Notes from first conversation with Marcel Duchamp, circa 1945 February

 Object — Box: 3, Folder: 5
Identifier: MDP_B003_F005_001
Scope and Contents

Sweeney, James Johnson. Notes from first conversation with Marcel Duchamp. Typescript.

Dates: circa 1945 February

Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 9
Collection 1
 
Subject
correspondence 6
Philadelphia, United States 4
Hollywood, United States 1
New York City, United States 1
interviews 1