Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Additional Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Adams, Clinton, 1918-2002  Search this
Interviewer:
Karlstrom, Paul J  Search this
Subject:
Altoon, John  Search this
Delano, Annita  Search this
Edmondson, Leonard  Search this
Feitelson, Lorser  Search this
Johnston, Ynez  Search this
Kistler, Lynton R.  Search this
Langsner, Jules  Search this
Lebrun, Rico  Search this
Macdonald-Wright, Stanton  Search this
Price, Vincent  Search this
Scholder, Fritz  Search this
Tamarind Lithography Workshop  Search this
Tamarind Institute  Search this
University of California, Los Angeles  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
New Mexico
Physical Description:
149 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 16 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 28 min.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of Clinton Adams conducted 1995 August 2-3, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, at his home, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Adams discusses his family background; involvement in Hollywood "industry"; teaching at University of California, Los Angeles; service during WWII; first contact with New York's Museum of Modern Art; his decision to return to California; teaching painting at UCLA from 1946-1954, and friends and colleagues at that time including Lorser Feitelson, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Lynton R. Kistler and Annita Delano; the difficult political situation at UCLA and the "modernist" conflicts; his views on modernist and conservative groups; Stanton Macdonald-Wright; Adams' own work; his relationship to the ideas and nature of modernism; the Sanity in Art group and other art groups in Los Angeles; his opinion on which artists should have been included in the exhibition/catalogue "Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists"; his observations on art historical constructs; the history of New Mexican art; the idea of regionalism; the mythology of Santa Fe, New Mexico.; Southwestern art; the Tamarind Lithography Workshop during its New Mexico phase, its background and changes after the move from Los Angeles to the University of New Mexico, his fifteen years as director, major artists involved, and his desire to publish overlooked artists. Adams recalls Fritz Scholder, John Altoon, Leonard Edmondson, Ynez Johnston, Vincent Price, Jules Langsner, and Rico Lebrun.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Clinton Adams, 1995 August 2-3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript available online.
Funding:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Biography Note:
Clinton Adams (1918-2002) was a printmaker, painter, and art administrator of Los Angeles, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others. Funding for the transcription provided by the Pasadena Art Alliance.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Modernism (Art)  Search this
Painters -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews  Search this
Printmakers -- New Mexico -- Albuquerque -- Interviews  Search this
Prints -- Technique  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12197
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215892
AAA_collcode_adams95
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_215892