Dealer: Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904)1New York Public Library, “About the Samuel Putnam Avery Collection” (web page), New York Public Library (website), accessed April 20, 2020, https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/wallach-division/print-collection/avery.
Specialty: Collector of etchings and lithographs, French prints.
Dealer History
Samuel Putnam Avery was a successful art dealer in New York whose passion for documenting the art of his time led him to collect 17,775 etchings and lithographs by 978 different artists. The rich collection—which was given to the New York Public Library in 1900—includes an especially large number of French prints. It includes over 400 etchings by Charles Jacque and Edouard Manet, as well as clichés-verre by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Charles-François Daubigny, Jean-François Millet, and Théodore Rousseau. American artists James McNeil Whistler and Mary Cassatt were also represented. The selection can be attributed both to Avery’s own taste and network, as well as the importance of French printmaking in the second half of the 19th century.2New York Public Library, “About the Samuel Putnam Avery Collection” (web page), New York Public Library (website), accessed April 20, 2020, https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/wallach-division/print-collection/avery.
Avery was sponsored by the founder of Baltimore’s Walters Art Gallery, W.T. Walters, to travel through Europe to purchase contemporary academic paintings for his customers. Throughout his time in Europe, he collected many prints that he later donated to the Library, as well as a collection of books on architecture that the Avery Library at Columbia University centers
around.3The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Samuel P. Avery” (web page), The Met (website), accessed April 20, 2020, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436926
Illustrations
Date Written: April 20, 2020
Contributors: MP
Secondary Sources
New York Public Library. “About the Samuel Putnam Avery Collection” (web page). New York Public Library (website). Accessed April 20, 2020.
https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/wallach-division/print-collection/avery.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Samuel P. Avery” (web page). The Met (website). Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436926.