Anderson Galleries began as an auctioner of books, prints, and occasionally called Anderson Auction Company. It was founded by John Anderson Jr. in 1900 and later renamed Anderson Galleries.[1] In 1917, the gallery began selling antiques and art at their new location on Park Avenue and 59th Street.[2] In the 1920s, Mitchell Kennerley, who ran the business, sold the works of Marsden Hartley, photographs of Alfred Stieglitz, and the works of Georgia O'Keeffe, John Marin, and Charles Demuth.[2]
In 1926, Anderson Galleries took over important art sales from the American Art Association, beginning with the Viscount Leverhulme auction.[2] Collector Cortlandt Field Bishop, owner of the American Art Associtation, bought Anderson Galleries in 1927. In 1929, the establishments merged to be the American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, Inc. and operated at 30 East 57th Street in Manhattan.[2] It sold decorative arts, American and Italian antiques, and modern and antique art, like works of the Barbizon School.[2] In 1932, an exhibition of Israel Sack, a dealer of decorative arts and furniture, was held at American Art Association-Anderson Galleries.[3]