The Rosa Esman Gallery and Tanglewood Press Inc. records measure 16.0 linear feet and date from circa 1922 to 2014, with the bulk of the records dating from 1972 to 1994. The records shed light on two businesses operated by Rosa Esman through administrative files, artist files, exhibition and event files, sales and financial records, printed material, photographic materials, and several objects.
Scope and Contents:
The Rosa Esman Gallery and Tanglewood Press Inc. records measure 16.0 linear feet and date from circa 1922 to 2014, with the bulk of the records dating from 1972 to 1994. The records shed light on two businesses operated by Rosa Esman through administrative files, artist files, exhibition and event files, sales and financial records, printed material, photographic materials, and several objects.
Administrative files contain correspondence files, printed material, and inventories; photos of the gallery, Rosa Esman, and others; a few gallery blueprints; and pins and magnets from a collaboration between the Esman Gallery and artists Roy Lichtenstein, Gustav Klutsis, Lazar "El" Lissitzky, and Sol LeWitt. Artist files consist of resumes and biographical summaries, correspondence, pricelists, exhibition material, press packets, photographic materials depicting artwork and artists, and more. Artists include Eileen Gray, Lev Nussberg, Pascal Verbena, Helen Frankenthaler, Alexander Rodchenko, Sol LeWitt, Peter Boynton, and Jan Muller. Exhibition and event files contain price lists, loan agreements, correspondence, printed materials, and photographic materials. Included in this series is one file for an exhibition held at Knoedler Gallery that was in collaboration with Rosa Esman after she had closed her gallery. Financial records consist of sales books, consignment records, receipts and invoices, ledgers, and some appraisals. Tanglewood Press Inc. files contain correspondence files, financial records, order forms and receipts, photographic materials, press packets, mailers, a certificate, and some exhibition materials. Printed material consists of some miscellaneous postcards, exhibition announcements and catalogs including a binder of exhibition announcements. Photographic material consists of photographs, slides, and negatives of artwork displayed at the gallery. There are also a number of CDs containing digital photographs.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as seven series.
Series 1: Administrative Files, 1973-2014 (Box 1-2, 16; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Artist Files, 1920s, 1953-2011 (Box 2-8, 16; 5.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Exhibition and Event Files, 1971-2014 (Box 8-12, 16; 4.8 linear feet)
Series 4: Financial Records, 1965, 1977-2013 (Box 12-13, 16-17; 1.9 linear feet)
Series 5: Tanglewood Press Inc. Records, 1964-2003 (Box 13-15, 17; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1972-1994 (Box 2, 12, 17; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1970s-2013 (Box 2, 7, 8, 12, 18; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Rosa Esman Gallery was established in 1972 in New York, New York by Rosa Esman. The gallery exhibited mostly twentieth-century American and European art in various mediums and styles, including pop art, European outsider art, Dada, constructivism, architecture, interior design, and Russian artists from the early twentieth century. Tanglewood Press Inc. was an art publishing company founded by Esman, and published thirteen limited-edition portfolios by a number of artists from 1965 to 1991.
With encouragement from Doris Freedman and Hans Kleinschmidt, Esman established Tanglewood Press Inc. in 1965 as a publisher of artists' portfolios. The first publication, New York Ten (1965), included artwork by Tom Wesselmann, George Segal, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Mon Levinson,
Robert Kulicke, Nicholas Krushenick, Helen Frankenthaler, Jim Dine, and Richard Anuszkiewicz. Later publications included artwork by Andy Warhol, Mary Bauermeister, Ad Reinhardt, Robert Motherwell, Sol LeWitt, Jim Dine, and many others. The portfolio, "Ten Landscapes-Roy Lichtenstein (1967), was published in collaboration with Abrams Original Editions. Esman was contracted to work at Abrams Original Editions for a short period of time in the late 1970s. Esman and her Tanglewood Press Inc. were featured in the exhibition, The Great American Pop Art Store: Multiples of the sixties (1997-2000), University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, California.
Esman held a drawings exhibition of artwork borrowed from the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1972 in a space she rented for Tanglewood Press Inc.; she credited this as the beginning of Rosa Esman Gallery. Esman continued exhibiting in that location for the next several years, including a solo show of folded drawings by Sol LeWitt and Modern Master Drawings: Avery, Stuart Davis, De Kooning, Hoffman, Motherwell (1973). Esman moved her operation in 1975 to a building in midtown near the galleries of Tibor de Nagy and Virginia Zabriskie. Artists and printmakers shown at Esman Gallery during 1970s include Christo, Bill Fares, Tom Noskowski, Ursula Von Rydingsvard, Hannah Tierney, and Eileen Gray. In 1979, Esman began an exhibition series of Russian avant-garde art, The Russian Revolution in Art, 1-5 (1979-1983), featuring artwork by Kasmir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko, Lyubov Popova, and many others of the Russian avant-garde. Esman moved the gallery to SoHo in 1980. In the 1980s, Esman began showing European outsider artists Pascal Verbena and Henry Darger and held a group exhibition of outsider artists in 1986, Outsiders: Art Beyond the Norm. Other exhibitions in the 1980s included Art by Architects (1980), Architecture by Artists (1981), Curator's Choice: A Tribute to Dorothy Miller (1982). Later exhibitions featured artists Joseph Zito, Sofia Dymshits-Tolstaya, Eric Snell, and Carl Goldhagen; and group shows of Dada art, twentieth-century photography, and constructivism. After closing Rosa Esman Gallery in 1992, Esman entered a partnership at Ubu Gallery with Adam Boxer and Alfred Jarry.
Rosa Mencher Esman was born in New York, New York in 1927. She studied government at Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts. She went abroad to Europe her junior year, visiting museums in Geneva, Florence, and Paris. After college, she worked several jobs including a position in the art book department of Harper and Brothers and as an office administrator for Rene d'Harnocourt at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1957, she and a friend opened Tanglewood Gallery in Stockbridge, Massachusettes, showing artwork by artist-friends, utilizing the Museum of Modern Art lending service, and borrowing from the Downtown Gallery. The Tanglewood Gallery exhibited artists Milton Avery, Karl Schrag, Tom Wesselman, Alexander Calder, George Morrison, Robert Indiana, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Mervin Jules, and George L. K. Morris, among others. The gallery operated until circa 1960.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Rosa Esman conducted by James McElhinney, June 9-16, 2009.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Rosa Esman in 2003 and 2014 and in 2023 by the Esate of Rosa Esman via Abigail Esman, co-executor.
Restrictions:
Two folders comprised of Rosa Esman Gallery legal files, 1989-1991, in Box 15 are access restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Rosa Esman Gallery and Tanglewood Press Inc records, circa 1922-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The papers of New York painter, illustrator, and printmaker Nell Blaine measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1879 (a single publication), and 1940-1985. The collection provides scattered documentation of Blaine's life and career through biographical material, correspondence, writings, business records, printed material, scattered artwork, and photographs. Also included in the collection are papers relating to the estate of Blaine's friend, Howard Griffin.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York painter, illustrator, and printmaker Nell Blaine measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1879 (a single publication), and 1940-1985. The collection provides scattered documentation of Blaine's life, career, and relationships within the art world through biographical material, correspondence, writings, business records, printed material, scattered artwork, and photographs depicting Blaine's exhibitions, friends, homes, studios, and artwork. Also included in the collection are papers relating to the estate of Blaine's friend, Howard Griffin. A large proportion of the collection consists of photocopies of original papers and is annotated with Blaine's notes explaining the context and significance of many of the papers.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1950s-1985 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1879, 1940-1985 (0.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1940s-1980s (0.1; Box 2)
Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1949-1983 (0.4 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1940s-1980s (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3, OV 5)
Series 6: Artwork, circa 1950s-1984 (0.1 Linear feet; Box 3, OV 5)
Series 7: Photographs, 1940s-1980s (0.4 Linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Biographical / Historical:
Nell Blaine (1922-1996) was a painter, printmaker, and illustrator from Richmond, Virginia, who was active in New York City, New York, and Gloucester Massachusetts. Blaine's early work was abstract, and later evolved to figurative and landscape painting.
Blaine was born in 1922 with severe visual impairments. She received corrective surgery as a child and quickly found a desire to draw and paint what she was finally able to see. Her art education began at the Richmond School of Art and later moved to New York City where she studied under Hans Hofmann. By 1943 Blaine had joined the American Abstract Artists group as the group's youngest member at the age of 21. This association led to her first solo exhibition at Jane Street Gallery, an early artists' cooperative, in 1945. Blaine was a founding member of the Greenwich Village gallery, and her circle of friends included New York artists and poets such as John Ashbery, Leland Bell, Rudy Burckhardt, Willem de Kooning, Robert De Niro Sr., Jane Freilicher, Kenneth Koch, Lee Krasner, Frank O'Hara, and Louisa Matthiasdottir. From 1943-1949 Blaine was married to musician Bob Bass. Blaine exhibited solo at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1953 and was represented by the Poindexter Gallery and the Fischbach Gallery.
In the 1950s, Blaine moved to Paris where she lived with friends including Larry Rivers. She was also a close friend of poet and art writer Howard Griffin, and illustrated a limited edition of his Four Poems and served as executrix of his estate.
In 1959, Blaine contracted polio while traveling in Greece. She used a wheelchair for the rest of her life but was able to resume painting after intense rehabilitation to regain the use of her hands.
By the mid-1970s Blaine had moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts where she maintained a summer home for the rest of her life, while also sharing an apartment and studio in New York with artist Carolyn Harris, who was her partner for over thirty years.
Nell Blaine died in 1996 in New York City.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are an interview of Nell Blaine conducted 1967 June 15, by Dorothy Seckler, and the Nell Blaine letters to Robert A. Wilson, 1963-1995.
Additional papers of Nell Blaine are also held by Harvard University.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of scrapbooks loaned for microfilming on reel D311. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Nell Blaine loaned a portion of her papers for microfilming on reel D311. She later donated her papers to the Archives of American Art in 1980 and 1985. The Howard Griffin papers included in the collection were received by Blaine as executrix of Griffin's estate.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester Search this
Printmakers -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester Search this
Illustrators -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester Search this
Nell Blaine papers, 1879, 1940-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection received Federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Walton Family Foundation.
The papers of sculptor Dorothy Dehner measure 4 linear feet and date from 1920 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1987. The collection documents Dehner's life, work, and professional and personal relationships, with particular focus on her mid-to-late career. Papers include extensive correspondence, business and financial papers, sound recordings and transcripts of interviews, writings by Dehner and others, printed material documenting Dehner's career, scattered photographs, two etchings, and scattered personal papers and material relating to David Smith.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of sculptor Dorothy Dehner measure 4 linear feet and date from 1920 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1987. The collection documents Dehner's life, work, and professional and personal relationships, with particular focus on her mid-to-late career. Papers include extensive correspondence, business and financial papers, sound recordings and transcripts of interviews, writings by Dehner and others, printed material documenting Dehner's career, scattered photographs, two etchings, and scattered personal papers and material relating to David Smith.
Comprising a series of biographical material are personal papers such as notes on Dehner's biography and career, a list of things taken from Bolton Landing, and material relating to David Smith including a copy of his last will and testament, a letter of introduction (dating from their trip to Europe in the mid-1930s), and a chronology of Smith's life.
Correspondence consists of numerous letters and enclosures concerning both professional and personal matters. Correspondents include artists, museums, galleries, art dealers, researchers, curators, friends, and relatives. Correspondence documents Dehner's various personal and professional relationships, the active role she played in promoting and exhibiting her art work, as well as the key role she played in fostering art historical research on David Smith, herself, and other artists of her era, and her many other creative activities, including her various writing efforts.
Interviews include sound recordings of four interviews with Dehner, and a recording of an interview conducted with her for a documentary on David Smith. Also found is a transcription of an interview for which there is no recording.
Writings shed light on other aspects of Dehner's creativity and concerns. Dehner's writings include poems, such as one dated from high school and drafts of poems published in Tracks); and various pieces on John Graham. These include versions of a memoir, which were published as a foreword to the re-issue of System and Dialectics of Art, and as an article in Leonardo). Also found are writings on David Smith, including articles recalling Dehner's first meeting with him, and on Smith's 1940 work "Medals for Dishonor;" lectures and speeches; and various writings on art and other topics. Writings by others include essays on Dehner by Joan Marter and Judith McCandless.
Dehner's business and financial records document transactions with various galleries and art organizations and include records of loans, exhibitions, and sales through files for the Parsons-Dreyfuss Gallery, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Willard Gallery, and others. The series also includes scattered records relating to personal business matters and finances, such as Dehner's lists of artwork loaned, exhibited, and sold, receipts, tax records, and exhibition visitor books.
Printed material includes exhibition catalogs and announcements for Dehner's group and solo shows, and clippings on Dehner and a few other artists including David Smith. Artwork consists of two etchings, and photographs include photographs of Dehner, her second husband Ferdinand Mann, John Graham, and various works of art. Also found is an abstract photograph by David Smith, dating from circa 1934.
Arrangement:
The Dorothy Dehner papers are arranged into 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1935-1982 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1927-1987 (Boxes 1-3; 2.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Interviews and Transcripts, 1963-1981 (Boxes 3-4; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1920-1987 (Box 3; 0.25 linear feet)
Series 5: Business and Financial Records, 1940-1987 (Box 3; 0.25 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1940-1987 (Boxes 3, 5; OV 6; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Art Work, circa 1930s-circa 1960s (Box 5, OV 6; 0.05 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1930s-1986 (Box 5; 0.15 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Dorothy Dehner was an abstract sculptor of the New York school who was also an accomplished painter, printmaker, author, and educator.
Dehner was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1901. Her father died when she was about ten and the family moved to Pasadena, California in 1915. After the death of her mother and sister, she was raised by her mother's sister, Aunt Florence. Dehner was exposed to art as a child, receiving instruction in drawing and painting. She studied drama for a year at UCLA in 1922-1923 before moving to New York with the intention of pursuing a theatrical career. In 1925, she traveled alone to Europe, where she visited Italy, Switzerland, and France and where she began to draw seriously.
Upon her return to New York, Dehner enrolled in the Art Students League intending to study sculpture, but, uninspired by the work of William Zorach's sculpture class, ended up studying drawing with Kimon Nicolaides instead. In 1926, she met fellow artist David Smith in the rooming house they shared. At her suggestion, he too enrolled in the Art Students League. In 1927, they were married.
At the League, Dehner and Smith studied with the modernist painter, Jan Matulka, and befriended Weber and Thomas Furlong, through whom they met the Russian painter and theoretician, John Graham. Graham introduced them to the avant-garde art world and had a profound influence on Dehner and Smith and their work. Other young artists they befriended at this time included Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, and Edgar and Lucille Corcos Levy. In 1929, after a visit to the Furlong's summer home in upstate New York, Dehner and Smith bought a farm in Bolton Landing, which became their permanent home in 1940 and was later named Terminal Iron Works. They spent eight months in the Virgin Islands, in 1931-1932, where Dehner painted abstract still lifes of shells and marine life. In the fall of 1935, they traveled to Europe, where they met up with Graham in Paris, spent five months in Greece, and toured the Soviet Union, with other stops along the way.
During her years at Bolton Landing (from 1940 to 1950), Dehner progressed in her work, producing a series of paintings titled Life on the Farm and embarking upon a series of abstract geometric drawings in ink and watercolor. In 1943, she had a joint exhibition with Smith at the Albany Institute of History and Art. Three years later, she participated in the annual exhibition of Audubon Artists and was awarded a first prize for drawing, and in 1948, she had her first one-woman show at Skidmore College.
Dehner left Bolton Landing in 1950 (she was divorced from Smith two years later) and returned to school, earning her degree from Skidmore College in 1952. She moved back to New York City, and supported herself over the next several years by teaching at various schools, including the Barnard School for Girls. She had her first solo exhibition in the city at the Rose Fried Gallery in 1952, and studied engraving at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17. At this point, Dehner started making sculpture, first experimenting in wax and then casting her wax sculptures in bronze. In 1955, she began working at the Sculpture Center, and from this point on, focused mainly on sculpture with occasional forays in drawing and printmaking. In addition to works in bronze, she went on to create sculptures in wood (during the 1970s) and steel (during the 1980s).
In 1955, Dehner married the New York publisher, Ferdinand Mann. That same year, she joined the Willard Gallery, run by Marian Willard. She had her first exhibition of drawings there in 1955 (which led to a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago) and her first sculpture show there in 1957. Dehner continued to show at the Willard Gallery regularly until 1976. Over the next several decades, Dehner's work was frequently exhibited in solo and groups exhibitions at museums and galleries across the country, and was acquired for both public and private collections.
In addition to her art work, Dehner was also a published poet and writer. She wrote the foreword to the 1971 re-issue of John Graham's System and Dialectics of Art, and an essay on David Smith's "Medals for Dishonor," which was published in Art Journal in 1977. Two of her poems, "Past Tense" and "Two Lines," appeared in the journal Tracks in 1977.
Dehner continued to work into her nineties, and passed away in 1994.
Related Material:
Other resources in the Archives relating to Dorothy Dehner include oral history interviews with Dehner, October 1965 and December 1966, and a photograph of Dehner by Dena, 1966.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reels D298 (portions), D298A, 1269 (portions) and 1372, including photographs of Dorothy Dehner and David Smith, sketchbooks, correspondence between Dehner and Smith, an inventory, and some printed material. Loaned materials were returned to the lender after filming and are not described in the collection Container Listing.
Provenance:
The Dorothy Dehner papers were donated from 1967-1987 in increments by Dorothy Dehner. Dehner also loaned material for microfilming between 1967 and 1977, some of which was subsequently donated. The art work in the collection most likely belonged to Garnett McCoy originally, and was included in the collection during processing in 2005.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Dorothy Dehner papers, 1920-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided in part by The Walton Family Foundation.
The Jacques Joseph Camins films and posters measure 0.5 linear feet and date to circa 1965. The collection is comprised of ten 16 mm motion picture films by Camins, including artists and scenes from Provincetown, Rockport, and Gloucester, Massachusetts, and other unidentified locations. Nine of the reels were compiled into a single reel to transfer to video, including eight color, silent reels containing footage of the Art Students League Summer School in Woodstock, N.Y., Arnold Blanch and his students, Anton Refregier, Marion Greenwood, Howard Mandel, Julio de Diego, N. Dirk, Hans Hofmann, Morris Davidson, George Yeter, Seong Moy, and Karl Knaths. The ninth reel transferred to video contains black and white, silent home movies with family and beach scenes. A tenth reel, not transferred, is an edited film of Provincetown artists with music and narration, with footage of artists Seong Moy, Karl Knaths, Lily Harmon, Anne Brigadier, Sabina Teichman, Umberto Romano, Yeffe Kimball, Bruce McKain, Philip Malcoat, and others. Although it is an edited work, the film lacks a formal title. Also included are two original posters by Seong Moy and Anne Brigadier done for a screening of Camins's film on Provincetown; a sound tape reel (7") of an interview with Henry Botkin, Umberto Romano, Joseph Kaplan, Irving Marantz, Sol Wilson, Anne Brigadier, and Sabina Teichman, and a sound tape reel (7") of an interview of Karl Knaths, both conducted by Camins and untranscribed.
Scope and Contents:
The Jacques Joseph Camins films and posters measure 0.5 linear feet and date to circa 1965. The collection is comprised of ten 16 mm motion picture films by Camins, including artists and scenes from Provincetown, Rockport, Gloucester, Mass, and other unidentified locations. Nine of the reels were compiled into a single reel to transfer to video, including eight color, silent reels containing footage of the Art Students League Summer School in Woodstock, N.Y., Arnold Blanch and his students, Anton Refregier, Marion Greenwood, Howard Mandel, Julio de Diego, N. Dirk, Hans Hofmann, Morris Davidson, George Yeter, Seong Moy, and Karl Knaths. The ninth reel transferred to video contains black and white, silent home movies with family and beach scenes. A tenth reel, not transferred, is an edited film of Provincetown artists with music and narration, with footage of artists Seong Moy, Karl Knaths, Lily Harmon, Anne Brigadier, Sabina Teichman, Umberto Romano, Yeffe Kimball, Bruce McKain, Philip Malcoat, and others. Although it is an edited work, the film lacks a formal title. Also included are two original posters by Seong Moy and Anne Brigadier done for a screening of Camins's film on Provincetown, Mass; a sound tape reel (7") of an interview with Henry Botkin, Umberto Romano, Joseph Kaplan, Irving Marantz, Sol Wilson, Anne Brigadier, and Sabina Teichman, and a sound tape reel (7") of an interview of Karl Knaths, both conducted by Camins and untranscribed.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Jacques Joseph Camins (1904-1988) was a Russian-born american painter and printmaker who primarily lived and worked in the New York, New York area. He studied art in Paris and at the Art Students League.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the archives in installments between 1975 and 1980 by Joseph Camins.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- History -- United States Search this
Art, American -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Motion pictures
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Citation:
Jacques Joseph Camins films and posters, circa 1965. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The papers of painter Audrey Flack measure 34.6 linear feet and 0.897 GB and date from 1950-2022. The collection documents Flack's career as an artist through biographical material, correspondence, extensive project files, writings and notes by Flack and others, exhibition catalogs, news and magazine clippings, other printed and digital material, and scrapbooks. Also found are photographs by Audrey Flack as well as photographs of the artist and works of art.
There is an 18.8 unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes project files; correspondence; photographs, slides and negatives of works of art, exhibition installations, events, Flack and others; teaching notes; biographical information including resumes, awards, calendars, address books and identification cards; writings, notes and diaries by Flack; scrapbooks; sketches; financial records; commission applications; contracts; audio visual material including mini-DVs, VHS , DVDs and Super 8 film of interviews and lectures by Flack; and printed material including newspaper clippings, articles and posters. Materials date from circa 1950-2022.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter Audrey Flack measure 34.6 linear feet and 0.897 GB and date from 1950-2022. The collection documents Flack's career as an artist through biographical material, correspondence, extensive project files, writings and notes by Flack and others, exhibition catalogs, news and magazine clippings, other printed and digital material, and scrapbooks. Also found are photographs by Audrey Flack as well as photographs of the artist and works of art.
Biographical material includes curricula vitae, diplomas, an award certificate, and bibliographies of monographs and articles by and about Audrey Flack. Flack's correspondence documents her professional activities and business dealings.
There is correspondence with galleries, museums, arts organizations; architects and foundries; and academic institutions. Included are letters from Arizona State University, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Cooper Union, Guild Hall, Louis K. Meisel Gallery, and the Museum of Modern Art. There are letters from art historians and critics, including Flack's correspondence with Anthony Janson. Letters from publishers and agents pertain to book projects, proposals for articles, and requests to reproduce artwork in monographs or catalogs.
Interviews with Flack from the 1970s through the 1990s are found, recorded on sound and video. Writings and notes include manuscript versions for a book, typescripts of speeches, and a notebook. Also found are audio and video recordings of lectures and talks by Flack discussing her paintings and sculptures. The collection includes extensive project files on Flack's commissioned public works and exhibitions. The files also include correspondence concerning book projects, permission requests, and Flack's participation in art educational programs, and some projects are documented with recorded sound and moving images, two if which are in digital format.
Printed material consists of catalogs of Flack's shows, invitations and announcements to openings, press releases, reproductions of artwork, exhibition posters, clippings, periodicals, and books reflecting Flack's professional activities from the 1950s-2008. Photographs are of portraits by Flack, Flack by herself and with colleagues and students, as well as of the artist's studio. Also found are photographs of artwork.
There is an 18.8 unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes project files; correspondence; photographs, slides and negatives of works of art, exhibition installations, events, Flack and others; teaching notes; biographical information including resumes, awards, calendars, address books and identification cards; writings, notes and diaries by Flack; scrapbooks; sketches; financial records; commission applications; contracts; audio visual material including mini-DVs, VHS , DVDs and Super 8 film of interviews and lectures by Flack; and printed material including newspaper clippings, articles and posters. Materials date from circa 1950-2022.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1951-2006 (Box 1; 0.25 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1950-2009 (Boxes 1-3; 2.4 linear feet)
Series 3: Interviews, circa 1970-1998 (Boxes 3-4; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1970-2007 (Boxes 4-6; 2.15 linear feet)
Series 5: Project Files, 1966-circa 2007 (Boxes 6-11, FC 18-21; 5.6 linear feet, ER01-ER02, 0.897 GB)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1950-2008 (Boxes 11-16, OV 17; 4.1 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1977-2008 (Box 15; 2 folders)
Series 8: Photographs, 1966-2009 (Boxes 15-16; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 9: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1950-2022 (Boxes 22-41, OV 42-43; 18.8 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Audrey Flack (1931-) is a painter and sculptor in New York City and in Long Island, New York. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Cooper Union in 1951 and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Yale University in 1952. In the 1950s, she was part of the New York School that included the Abstract Expressionist painters Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock. By the 1960s, Flack had turned to painting in a realistic manner. She pioneered the technique of incorporating photographic images from contemporary sources such as magazines and newspapers; the art form became known as Photorealism.
Her subjects have included families, celebrities, and public figures. An early work, The Kennedy Motorcade captured President John Kennedy moments before he was assassinated. Flack's paintings have also centered on the varied experiences of women as depicted in her Vanitas series done in the 1970s. Flack was the first Photorealist painter to have a work acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. By the 1980s, Flack was creating sculptures, goddess figures and other mythological deities of various cultures. The sculptures, many of monumental proportions were executed as commissioned works for public spaces. Flack's commissions have included Civitas: Four Visions, South Carolina, Galatea Fountain, South Pasadena, Florida, Islandia, New York City Technical College, and The Art Muse, Tampa, Florida. Further, Audrey Flack has also worked in other media such as photography and printmaking.
Audrey Flack has taught and lectured at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad, including Cooper Union, Pratt Institute of New York, and the Studio Art School International, Florence, Italy. She has been a Visiting Professor at a number of universities, including the University of North Dakota, University of Tennessee, and the University of Pennsylvania. Her paintings, watercolors, and sculptures have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in major museums and galleries. Flack's artwork has also been shown in a number of traveling exhibitions including "Saints and Other Angels: The Religious Paintings of Audrey Flack" sponsored by Cooper Union and "Breaking the Rules: Audrey Flack, A Retrospective, 1950-1990" organized by the J.B. Speed Museum. Flack has been represented by the Louis K. Meisel Gallery, the Vered Gallery, and the Gary Snyder Gallery. Among the many awards and honors she has received are the Honorary Ziegfeld Award, National Art Education Association, an Honorary Doctorate, Lyme Academy of Art, and the U.S. Government National Design for Transportation Award. Audrey Flack has also written two books and numerous articles.
Audrey Flack lives and works in New York and in East Hampton, New York.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Audrey Flack conducted by Robert C. Morgan, February 16, 2009.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Audrey Flack in 2009 and 2022.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of Harold Baumbach measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1934 to 1976. The papers document Baumbach's career as a painter and printmaker through correspondence, including with Adolph Gottlieb, slides and transparencies of Baumbach and some of his artwork, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and various art newsletters edited by Maud Kemper Riley.
Biographical / Historical:
Harold Baumbach (1903-2002) was a painter and printmaker from New York, New York.
Born in New York City in 1903, Baumbach was a self-taught painter who began exhibiting his work in the 1930s. Baumbach started with landscape painting, but gradually moved to a more abstract style. From 1946 to 1966 he taught painting techniques at Brooklyn College and was one of the founders of the journal Art Front.
Baumbach died in 2002.
Provenance:
Donated 1977 by Harold Baumbach.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of painter and printmaker Robert Kipniss measure 3.2 linear feet and date from circa 1932-2023. They illustrate his career through biographical material, correspondence, writings, and printed and photographic material.
Scope and Contents:
The Robert Kipniss papers measure 3.2 linear feet and date from circa 1932-2023. Biographical materials consist of Kipniss' CV, awards and honorary degrees, and an interview with WWNO New Orleans in digital format. Correspondence is personal and professional and is to and from Kipniss. Writings include the manuscript of Shine (2017) and Kipniss' thesis, as well as Kipniss' poetry. Printed materials consist of exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and materials about two exhibitions in digital format. Photographic materials consist of photographs of Kipniss, his exhibitions, and his artwork.
Arrangement:
This collection consists of five series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1979-2021 (.1 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1989-2017 (.2 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1954-2017 (.2 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 4: Printed Materials, circa 1952-2023 (1.9 Linear feet: Boxes 1, 2, 4, and 5)
Series 5: Photographic Materials, circa 1932-2007 (.8 Linear feet: Boxes 3, 5, and 6)
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Kipniss (1931-) is a painter and printmaker who works mainly in New York.
Kipniss was born in Brooklyn, New York. During his childhood he attended New York's Art Students League when he was sixteen on Saturdays and he began college in 1948, attending Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio for two years before transferring to the University of Iowa. After graduating with a B.A. in English Kipniss stayed at the university and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1954. After gaining this degree he, and his former wife Jean, moved to Manhattan and Kipniss was drafted into the United States Army in 1956 where he used his talent to create training aids.
Kipniss has written poetry, published books, and illustrated two volumes of poetry. He is known for his paintings, lithographs, and mezzotints. His early work was with paintings focusing on abstracts, biomorphic forms, landscapes, still lifes, and figures. The lithographs he later created followed this style. Kipniss did not fully focus on mezzotints until 1990 and had his first solo mezzotint show in 1992.
Since 1965 Kipniss has had more than twenty-two museum exhibitions around the world and his work is held by more than eighty-eight museums and institutions.
Kipniss currently maintains a studio on the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York and is married to his second wife Laurie Lisle.
Provenance:
Papers donated in 2013 by Robert Kipniss and in 2024 by Laurie Lisle, Kipniss' spouse.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Robert Kipniss papers, circa 1932-2023 Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Reels 4030-4032 A passport, 1951; 5 biographical accounts; 2 lists of exhibitions; correspondence, 1958-1983; the will of Dexter Baber; an inventory of possessions; income tax returns; loan applications; price lists, 1966-1981; contracts, 1968-1980; consignment agreements, 1976-1981; miscellaneous business records, 1962-1982; notes on poetry; notebooks from classes on religion and writing; course outlines, 1972; notes on color forum, 1972; notes for "Age of Color" article; essays by Baber on Paul Jenkins, on color, and on organic found form; writings about Baber; reviews of Baber's work, 1963-1975;
a scrapbook of printed material, 1973-1978; clippings, 1957-1983; press releases, 1963-1978; exhibition announcements and catalogues, 1958-1983; reproductions of works of art; articles "Women Artists on Tenth Street," by Nancy Ungar, "Conference of Women in the Visual Arts," 1972, and "Report on the Status of Faculty Women at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs," 1972; manuscript "Index for Nancy Hanks - Undistinguished Families" by Adin Baber; miscellaneous printed material, 1965-1978;
interview transcripts, "Reminiscences of the Tenth Street Days," with Charles Cajori and Lois Dodd, "American Women and Social Change - Women in Politics" with Mary Lou Burg, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, and Patricia Lindh, "American Women and the Spirit of '76 - Women and Political Office" with Rita Hauser, and Magda Bleier, and "Women and the Law" with Marguerite Rawalt, Susan Ross, and Ruth Osborn;
photographs of Baber, 1957-1977, her family, Baber with Paul Jenkins, 1965, Baber participating in panel discussions and in the Professional Women Artists Project in Central Park, exhibition openings, installations, and of works of art and quilts;
Unfilmed material: untranscribed audio tape of a 1972 interview with Karl Fortess for the Archives of American Art; audio dub of a 1974 television program "Woman: the Artist," with Barbara Braathen; six video 1/2" video reels from "Funtioning in the Art World," 1977, with Sari Diemes, Isabel Bishop, C. Von Wiegand, Lil Picard, M. Citron, and Alice Neel; 61 slides of works of art; thirteen slides of a demonstration march; and twelve slides of a house.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter and printmaker; b. 1928, d. 1982.
Provenance:
Donated 1979-1985 by Alice Baber and Norbert Nelson.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Una E. Johnson, 1971 Jan. 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.