Content & Scope

The Tremaine Collection site brings together for the first time the works that Emily Hall Tremaine and Burton G. Tremaine, Sr. acquired over thirty years as part of their visionary art collection. Entries of art works, commissioned designs, and architectural works that comprise the breadth of the Tremaines’ collecting and patronage activity are identified with basic identifying information compiled from primary sources included in the Emily Hall Tremaine Papers held at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, including Emily Hall Tremaine’s personal accounts of the artworks written in her “Black Book” and documentation from galleries, dealers, and the artists included in her files.

These materials, as well as information taken from the historic Tremaine Collection auctions, as well as documents, interviews, correspondence, and ephemera from the Tremaine’s files inform the transcription of the titles, provenance, and other data surrounding the artworks included in this project and capture a moment in time. For instance, certain fields like Creation Start and End Dates capture the diversity of works (such as architectural works) found on the site while other groupings of information like Ownership History, Appraisals Recorded by the Tremaines, and Locations During Tremaine Ownership record information about the work during the time it was under the Tremaines’ ownership.

Subject to Change

The material presented on the site is based on ongoing research and continues to be a work in progress. Object information and documentation on the Tremaines’ collecting practices will be updated as new research findings emerge. Please note that object information should not be viewed as authoritative, and the site does not offer opinions about the attributions of objects found on the site. Research, images, and material will be updated as more information comes to be known, and we invite collectors and researchers to contact us with corrections and additional information.

The beauty and complexity of the Tremaine Collection is reflected in the rich stories captured in the period in which the Tremaines were collecting. This includes the unique moment in the life and career of each artist when the Tremaines encountered them and the relationships they forged with them and their work. During the period of their collecting, the Tremaines embraced and championed artists both well-known and newly discovered, and lived with artwork in their homes that involved a variety of mediums and spanned multiple art movements. Wonderful discoveries were made in processing the Emily Hall Tremaine papers and this project attempts to authentically recreate and understand the art collecting practices of Burton and Emily Hall Tremaine. Enthusiastic and ardent in their support, the Tremaine Collection site aims to be a catalyst for further research, not only on the artworks and artists in the collection, but in exploring the Tremaines’ unique eye, vision, and practice of collecting.