The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue. As of 2021[update], its membership roster totaled roughly 1,250 members.[2]
The club formally changed its name to The Salmagundi Sketch Club in January 1877.[4] The name has variously been attributed to salmagundi,[5] a stew which the group has served from its earliest years, or to Washington Irving's Salmagundi Papers.[7]
Growing rapidly, the organization was housed in a series of rented properties including 121 Fifth Avenue, 49 West 22nd Street, 40 West 22nd Street and finally 14 West Twelfth Street, where it remained for 22 years.[7] In April 1917, following a three-year search, the club purchased Irad and Sarah Hawley's 1853 Italianate-style brownstone townhouse at 47 Fifth Avenue between East Eleventh and East Twelfth Streets from the estate of William G. Park for $75,000.00 and erected a two-story annex in the rear at an additional cost of $20,000.00 to house its primary art gallery and a billiard room. A housewarming event on February 5, 1918 was attended by more than 500 persons.[4][5][7] In 1918, the club spearheaded a national effort to produce range-finder paintings used to train military gunners for World War I. The club provided the canvas and painting materials for these special-purpose paintings.[8]
The Salmagundi Club was a male-only club for its first century, although artworks by women were accepted and praised.[9] A sister club for women artists, the Pen and Brush Club, was formed around the corner from Salmagundi in 1894.[10] Salmagundi began admitting women members in 1973.[9][11][10]
In 1894, to raise money for the growing club's library,[4][17] artist members were invited to decorate ceramicmugs, which were then fired by Charles Volkmar, the club potter. The club would host a dinner followed by an auction of the finished mugs ... Over the years, many decorated mugs have been returned to the club and are on exhibit in the library along with the largest collection of used artists' palettes in America.[2]
Salmagundi curatorial committee is responsible for maintaining Salmagundi’s permanent representational art collection of approximately 1,800 works from the 1840s to today, including: paintings, sculpture, objects and works on paper by its past and present artist members.
The collection consists of exhibition purchase prizes, competition purchase prizes, artist donations, and estate bequests.
The works are rotated on a continual basis throughout the townhouse and are featured in live shows and online exhibitions throughout the year.
^ abcTraditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc (2005). "Salmagundi Club: An American Institution". Description of Dubuque Museum of Art exhibition, part of a two and a half year national tour of museums in eleven cities. In 1917, with the support of its members, a Fifth Avenue brownstone was purchased and became their permanent home ... and in 1957 was cited for its architectural distinction by both the Society of Architectural Historians and the Municipal Art Society. It is a fitting home for the oldest art club in America.
^Walter, Paul A.F. "Art in War Service". Art and Archaeology 7 (January—December 1918), pp. 395–403, 409.
^ abDePietro, Anne Cohen. "A Fertile Fellowship: The Rich History of the Salmagundi Club". Traditional Fine Arts Organization. Retrieved March 12, 2017. the Salmagundi was still a men's club (only opening to women in 1973), works by women were accepted and praised.
^ abDavis, Nicole (February 1, 2006). "New directions for historic art club". The Villager. Retrieved March 12, 2017. Pen and Brush, a sister arts club around the corner from Salmagundi, which opened in 1894 after female artists got tired being excluded. (Salmagundi admitted women in 1973.)
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