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Thomas de Hartmann
Pince-Nez
Thomas de Hartmann Papers
Gilmore Music Library
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The Russian-American composer Thomas de Hartmann (1886–1956) is best known for his collaborations with the painter Wassily Kandinsky and the spiritual leader Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff. The de Hartmann Papers contain not only his musical manuscripts, writings, and other documents, but also three wallets, a cigarette holder, and two pairs of eyeglasses (one of them broken). The surviving pair of glasses is constructed in the once-popular pince-nez style; a spring mechanism pinches the glasses onto the nose, so the bows that usually rest on the ears are not necessary.