WAULehmannThelma2554.xml Guide to the Thelma Lehmann Papers and Oral History Interview 1951-1985 Lehmann (Thelma) Papers and Oral History Interview Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries ©2007 (Last modified: 1/31/2020)
Seattle, WA 98195
Finding aid written in English. Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard). University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections 2554 Lehmann, Thelma Thelma Lehmann papers and oral history interview 1951-1985 0.43 cubic feet (1 box) plus 1 sound tape reel and transcript Collection materials are in English. Oral history interview and textual materials documenting Thelma Lehmann's life as artist, art critic, patron and hostess.

Thelma Lehmann, nee Gerstman, was born in Georgia in 1916 and moved to Seattle with her family as a child. She studied art at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, the Art League in New York, and under Mark Tobey at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Her first one person exhibition was in 1939 at the Seattle Art Museum, and in 1951she won the SAM's prestigious Northwest Annual purchase prize. In the 1950s and 60s she was a permanent artist in the Zoe Dusanne Gallery and the Otoo Seligman gallery. She served on many juries and was a personal friend of many Northwest artists. She was an art critic for the Seattle times for one year and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for three years between 1957-1964.

In 1942, she married Seattle physician Hans Lehmann and they eventually adopted two sons, Spencer and Mark. From 1969-1982, Thelma directed a gallery of tribal African Art called Gallery Nimba. Her husband has started collecting African Art in 1963 when he served on the hospital ship Hope in Guinea, West Africa. The three pieces he brought home started Thelma's interest in the art. In 1965, they returned as a couple to West Africa on a collecting tour. The Lehmanns were active travellers, making prolonged sojourns to Afghanistan and Africa, among other destinations. In 1969, Thelma opened Gallery Nimba, showing art she had collected from Sierra Leone, Ghana, the Volta River region and Mali. She was active in promoting an interest in African art through articles, lectures, and tours of the gallery. One of the goals of the gallery was to acquaint black school children in Seattle with their cultural heritage. Docents were trained to work with groups of school children, and cultural tours and education were of greater concern than sales. Part of the Hans and Thelma Lehmann collection of African Art is on permanent display at Pacific Lutheran University. An exhibit of 100 pieces from their collection was on display in the Henry Gallery in 1982.

As a couple, Hans and Thelma Lehmann were very involved as patrons, board members, and fund raisers with the Seattle Symphony, the Youth Symphony, Seattle Opera Association, the Seattle Art Museum, the Henry Gallery, ACT Theater, and Repertory Theater. The Lehmanns frequently hosted meetings, parties, and receptions for art organizations in their home, which was also open as lodging to prominent performing artists with the Seattle Symphony. Hans died in 1996, and Thelma died in her Lake Union apartment in 2007 at the age of 91.

Source: http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/artist-thelma-lehmann-a-leader-of-cultural-scene/

Organized into 2 accessions.

Accession No. 2554-001, Thelma Lehmann oral history interview, 1976 Nov. 19 Accession No. 2554-002, Thelma Lehmann papers, 1951-1985

Oral history interview and textual materials documenting Thelma Lehmann's life as artist, art critic, patron and hostess.

Open to all users

Request at UW

Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

 Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington) Lehmann, J. H. (J. Hans), 1911- Callahan, Kenneth, 1905-1986 Firkušný, Rudolf, 1912-1994 Firkušny, Taheme Katims, Milton, 1909-2006 Lehmann, Thelma--Archives Schneider, Alexander, 1908-1993 Stern, Isaac, 1920-2001 Gallery Nimba (Seattle, Wash.) Seattle Symphony Orchestra Artists--Washington (State)--Seattle Art, African--Exhibitions Women art dealers--Washington (State) Art dealers--Washington (State) Women painters--Washington (State)--Seattle Women Fine Arts

 

Accession No. 2554-001: Thelma Lehmann oral history interview, 1976 Nov. 19 1 sound tape reel plus 1 transcript (38 p.)

Scope and Content: Tape-recorded interview, covering 1900-1975, and conducted by Sally Swenson.

This tape concerns Mrs. Lehmann's work as a painter, women as artists, the art milieu in Seattle and the Northwest, and Mrs. Lehmann's activities as a collector and dealer in African Art, including much discussion of social-artistic aspects of the art itself.

Digital Content/Other Formats: View the transcript of this interview on the Libraries Digital Collections site.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users

Acquisition Info: Donated by Sally Swenson, 11/19/1976.

 Accession No. 2554-002: Thelma Lehmann papers, 1951-1985 0.43 cubic feet (1 box)

Scope and Content: Correspondence, gallery notices, clippings.

Documents Thelma Lehmann's life as artist, art critic, patron and hostess. Letters from prominent musical performers and northwest artists are included. Documents her gallery, Gallery Nimba (1969-1982), the first in Seattle devoted to African art, and the Hans and Thelma Lehmann collection of African art.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users

Acquisition Info: Donated by Thelma Lehmann, 10/3/1985.

 Series 1 Personal Papers 1947-1985 1/1 2554-002 Incoming Letters: A-C, Misc. 1953-1979

Scope and Content: Includes five letters from Kenneth Callahan, 1963-1962, undated

 1/2 2554-002 Incoming Letters: D-G, Misc. 1947, 1953-1985

Scope and Content: Includes five letters from Daniel Evans, 1966-1983; three letters from Nancy Evans, 1965-1967; eight letters from Rudolf and Taheme Firkusny, 1963-1975; and three letters from Jakob Gimpel, 1953-1960

 1/3 2554-002 Incoming Letters: H-J, Misc. 1956-1985

Scope and Content: Includes two letters from Alex Haley, 1972; three letters from Anne Hauberg, 1963-1969, and three letters from Helen Jackson, 1981-1983

 1/4 2554-002 Incoming Letters: K-L, Misc. 1952-1984

Scope and Content: Includes six letters from Milton Katims, 1952-1976; three letters from Vera Katims, 1955, undated; three letters from Ivy Korner, 1954-1959; and three letters from Eugene Linden, 1971, undated

 1/5 2554-002 Incoming Letters: M-R, Misc. 1955-1984

Scope and Content: Includes three letters from Rainier Miedel, 1978-1982

 1/6 2554-002 Incoming Letters: S, Misc. 1951-1984

Scope and Content: Includes six letters from Alexander Schneider, 1952-1981, undated; five letters from Harold Schonberg, 1962-1974; three letters from the Seattle Art Museum, 1961-1967; three letters from Rudof Serkin, 1966-1967, undated; five letters from Isaac Stern, 1954-1980; and four letters from Vera Stern, 1954-1959(?)

 1/7 2554-002 Incoming Letters: T-Z, Misc. 1956-1980 1/8 2554-002 Incoming Letters: Unidentified Correspondents 1955-1984

Scope and Content: Includes 11 letters

 1/9 2554-002 Outgoing Letters 1965-1974

Scope and Content: Includes three letters

 1/10 2554-002 Invitations 1964-1985 1/11 2554-002 Speeches and Writings 1957-1981 1/12 2554-002 Clippings 1940-1985 1/13 2554-002 Ephemera 1954-1983 1/14 2554-002 Gallery Notices 1955-1982 Series 2 Gallery Nimba 1969-1985 1/15 2554-002 General Correspondence 1969-1985 1/16 2554-002 Clippings 1968-1978 1/17 2554-002 Publications 1969-1978