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Erle Loran papers

Creator:
Loran, Erle, 1905-1999  Search this
Names:
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco  Search this
Friends of Ethnic Art  Search this
San Francisco Art Institute  Search this
University of California, Berkeley -- Faculty  Search this
Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988  Search this
Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906  Search this
Dasburg, Andrew, 1887-1979  Search this
Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this
Haley, John, 1905-1991  Search this
Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this
Hatfield, Dalzell, 1893-1963  Search this
Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this
Levinson, Harry  Search this
Sabean, Samuel  Search this
Schaefer, Bertha, 1895-1971  Search this
Still, Clyfford, 1904-  Search this
Wilke, Ulfert, 1907-1987  Search this
Extent:
12.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Watercolors
Sketches
Photographs
Writings
Date:
1912-1999
Summary:
The papers of California painter, writer, and teacher Erle Loran measure 12.6 linear feet and date from 1912 to 1991. Found are biographical materials; two linear feet of personal and professional correspondence; personal business records; writings which include extensive drafts and notes for Loran's book Cezanne's Composition; over 400 items of artwork that include watercolors, drawings, charcoal, and pastel studies; printed materials; photographs of Loran, family, and friends, and artwork; and one audio recording of a lecture by Loran on Cezanne.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of California painter and teacher Erle Loran measure 12.6 linear feet and date from 1912 to 1991. Found are biographical materials; two linear feet of personal and professional correspondence; personal business records; writings which include extensive drafts and notes for Loran's book Cezanne's Composition; over 400 items of artwork that include watercolors, drawings, charcoal, and pastel studies; printed materials; photographs of Loran, family, and friends, and artwork; and one audio recording of a lecture by Loran on Cezanne.

Biographical materials include biographical sketches, curriculum vita, a will, notes and a notebook, and an appointment book for 1987. Also found is an anniversary invitation, a certificate from the University of California, and the Pepsi-Cola award for 1948.

Two linear feet of correspondence is with artists, critics, galleries, and universities. Correspondents inlcude Romare Bearden, Andrew Dasburg, Clement Greenberg, John Haley, Dalzell Hatfield, Hans Hofmann, Harry Levinson (president of Permanent Pigments), Sam Sabean, Bertha Schaefer, Clyfford Still, and Ulfert Wilke. There is also correspondence with the University of California.

Personal business records include exhibition files, price and consignment lists, teaching materials, University of California Press records, and records relating to the publication of his book on Cézanne. Some of these records also document Loran's involvement with the Fine Arts Museum, Friends of Ethnic Arts, and the San Francisco Art Institute. In addition, there are records related to Loran's role in a donation of forty-five paintings by Hans Hofmann to the University Art Center. Also found are materials related to Loran's activities as an art collector including sales receipts, auction catalogs, and photographs of artwork owned by Loran.

Writings by Loran include a complete manuscript version of Cézanne's Composition along with additional notes and drafts, and numerous other short essays on Cézanne's life and art. Loran's other writings include essays about Hans Hofmann, Marsden Hartley, symbology in abstract art, and contemporary art.

Loran's career as an artist is extensively documented by four linear feet of original artwork, mostly preliminary sketches. The work demonstrates a variety of techniques including watercolor, pastel, pencil, pen, gouache, and oil sketches. Content includes landscapes, portraits, fantasy scenes, urban scenes, and rural scenes.

Printed materials include extensive newsclippings from seven decades, exhibition announcements, and exhibition catalogs. Photographs are of Loran, his second wife Clyta, the Loran family, friends and colleagues, artwork, and source materials. Also found within the papers is an audio recording on cassette of a lecture by Loran on Cézanne.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 8 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1930s-1990s (Box 1; 0.25 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1912-1992 (Boxes 1-3; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1930s-1992 (Box 3; 0.25 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, 1921-1999 (Boxes 3-4; 1.25 linear feet)

Series 5: Artwork, 1920s-1980s (Boxes 4-8, 13-14; 4.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1925-1999 (Boxes 8-10, 14; 2.3 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, 1910s-1990s (Boxes 10-12, 14; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 8: Audio Recording, 1982 (Box 12; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
California painter, writer, and teacher Erle Loran was born on October 2, 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended the Minneapolis School of Art and graduated in 1926. That same year, Loran won the Paris Prize from the Chaloner Foundation which enabled him to study in France for the next three years. Here, he immersed himself into the world of Paul Cezanne. He lived for two years in Cézanne's studio, meeting many who knew Cezanne, including painter Emile Bernard, and art dealer Ambroise Vollard. This experience was critical to the development of Loran's artistic vision and his later writings and lectures about Cézanne.

In 1929, Loran returned to the United States, and published the article "Cézanne's Country" in The Arts in 1930. He then spent the early 1930s in Minnesota, after returning to Minneapolis to be treated for tuberculosis. There, Loran began to paint in a regionalist style, producing landscapes and scenes of life in rural Minnesota. In 1931, Loran was given his first one-man show at the Kraushaar Gallery in New York. During the depression, Loran began teaching art and was given painting commissions as part of the federal arts programs of the WPA.

Loran moved to California in 1937 and accepted a position as professor in the art department at the University of California, Berkeley. There he taught until retiring in 1973, serving as the department's chair in the 1950s. He established a program to invite east coast artists to teach at the university, and participants included Conrad Marca-Relli and Milton Resnick. Loran's students included Jay DeFeo, Richard Diebenkorn, and Sam Francis. In 1941 Loran began to write the synthesis of his research and interpretations about Cézanne's work, culminating in his pioneering book Cézanne's Composition published in 1943 by the University of California Press.

During this period Loran associated himself with modernist Hans Hofmann. Loran's early paintings were lyrical abstractions in primary colors; however, his style constantly changed with the times. Watercolor was Loran's medium of choice because it lent itself to his often-remote plein air locations, such as the ghost towns of California and Nevada. With John Haley and Worth Ryder he formed the "Berkeley Group," whose paintings consisted of scenes of the California and southwestern landscape painted in flat, open areas of color. During the war, painting in the open became increasingly difficult and Loran transitioned from plein-air painting to studio work. Shortly thereafter he began to focus his painting on abstraction.

Loran's artwork during the 1950s consisted primarily of abstractions based on natural forms like crystal and driftwood. In 1955, he spent six weeks studying with Hans Hofmann, whom he later called, along with Cézanne, a second "great father figure." In 1960, he was instrumental in securing a gift of forty-five paintings by Hans Hofmann for Berkeley's University Art Center. In the late 1960s, his work became a fusing of Op, Pop, and Hard Edge. From this he moved to figurative painting and later to geometric designs and symbols.

Loran continued to paint throughout the rest of his life in a variety of styles, including nudes, abstractions, and landscapes. Besides being an artist and a teacher, Loran was also a lifelong collector of ethnic art who specialized in African, Asian, Native American, and pre-Columbian tribal art. Many works from his collection are presently housed at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Loran died in 1999 in Berkeley, at the age of 93.
Related Material:
Found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Erle Loran conducted by Herschel Chipp, June 18, 1981, and a 1981 interview with Erle and Clyta Loran in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Interviews With Artists collection. Also found is a letter from Loran to Richard Wattenmaker, 1975.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 906) including photographs of artwork by Erle Loran and two clippings of reproductions of Loran's artwork. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Erle Loran lent the Archives of American Art materials for microfilming and donated papers in 1975. In 1999 Mrs. Ruth Schora-Loran, Loran's widow, donated additional material, including artworks.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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:
Art teachers -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Painters -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Topic:
Art, Abstract  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area  Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Genre/Form:
Watercolors
Sketches
Photographs
Writings
Citation:
Erle Loran Papers, 1912-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.loraerle
See more items in:
Erle Loran papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw925cee8b4-a8f7-4f7f-b704-bf23331c4f25
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-loraerle
Online Media:

Erle Loran papers, 1912-1999

Creator:
Loran, Erle, 1905-1999  Search this
Subject:
Bearden, Romare  Search this
Cézanne, Paul  Search this
Dasburg, Andrew  Search this
Greenberg, Clement  Search this
Haley, John  Search this
Hartley, Marsden  Search this
Hatfield, Dalzell  Search this
Hofmann, Hans  Search this
Levinson, Harry  Search this
Still, Clyfford  Search this
Schaefer, Bertha  Search this
Sabean, Samuel  Search this
Wilke, Ulfert  Search this
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco  Search this
University of California, Berkeley  Search this
Friends of Ethnic Art  Search this
San Francisco Art Institute  Search this
Type:
Watercolors
Sketches
Photographs
Writings
Citation:
Erle Loran papers, 1912-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art, Abstract  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area  Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Theme:
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)9167
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211362
AAA_collcode_loraerle
Theme:
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211362
Online Media:

Samuel Sabean, New York, N.Y. letter to Erle Loran, Berkeley, Calif.

Creator:
Sabean, Samuel  Search this
Loran, Erle, 1905-1999  Search this
Type:
Correspondence
Date:
1944 Jan. 24
Citation:
Samuel Sabean. Samuel Sabean, New York, N.Y. letter to Erle Loran, Berkeley, Calif., 1944 Jan. 24. Erle Loran papers, 1912-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Record number:
(DSI-AAA)7158
See more items in:
Erle Loran papers, 1912-1999
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_item_7158
Online Media:

Erle Loran, Berkeley, Calif. letter to Samuel Sabean, New York, N.Y.

Creator:
Loran, Erle, 1905-1999  Search this
Sabean, Samuel  Search this
Type:
Correspondence
Date:
1955 Nov. 29
Citation:
Erle Loran. Erle Loran, Berkeley, Calif. letter to Samuel Sabean, New York, N.Y., 1955 Nov. 29. Erle Loran papers, 1912-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Record number:
(DSI-AAA)7171
See more items in:
Erle Loran papers, 1912-1999
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_item_7171
Online Media:

Poultry, (sculpture)

Sculptor:
Sabean, Samuel 1902-  Search this
Medium:
Cast stone, painted light yellow
Type:
Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture
Sculptures-Relief
Sculptures-Architectural component
Sculptures
Owner/Location:
Administered by State Agricultural Society 1265 Snelling Avenue North St. Paul Minnesota 55108
Located Minnesota State Fairgrounds Poultry barn, Judson Avenue St. Paul Minnesota
Date:
1937
Topic:
Animal--Bird--Chicken  Search this
Control number:
IAS MN000283
Data Source:
Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_ari_322471

Prancing Horses, (sculpture)

Sculptor:
Sabean, Samuel 1902-  Search this
Medium:
Cast stone, painted light yellow
Type:
Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture
Sculptures-Relief
Sculptures-Architectural component
Sculptures
Owner/Location:
Administered by State Agricultural Society 1265 Snelling Avenue North St. Paul Minnesota 55108
Located Minnesota State Fairgrounds Horse barn, Judson Avenue St. Paul Minnesota
Date:
1937
Topic:
Animal--Horse  Search this
Control number:
IAS MN000282
Data Source:
Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_ari_322470

Fountain of Youth, (sculpture)

Sculptor:
Sabean, Samuel 1902-  Search this
Medium:
Sculpture: painted stone; Base: painted stone
Type:
Sculptures-Fountain
Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture
Sculptures
Owner/Location:
Chisholm High School 300 3rd Avenue, S.W Chisholm Minnesota 55719
Date:
1936. Dedicated May 27, 1939
Topic:
Figure group  Search this
Allegory--Life--Youth  Search this
Dress--Costume--Mask  Search this
Animal--Fish--Lobster  Search this
Animal--Reptile--Turtle  Search this
Object--Flower--Lily  Search this
Control number:
IAS MN000044
Data Source:
Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_ari_317449

Three Reliefs, (sculpture)

Sculptor:
Sabean, Samuel 1902-  Search this
Medium:
Stone
Type:
Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture
Sculptures-Architectural component
Sculptures-Relief
Sculptures
Owner/Location:
Administered by City of Willmar Willmar Minnesota 56201
Located Willmar Auditorium Willmar Minnesota
Date:
1935-1936
Topic:
Figure group  Search this
Occupation--Farm--Farmer  Search this
Occupation--Military--Soldier  Search this
Occupation--Military--Sailor  Search this
Allegory--Civic--Liberty  Search this
Occupation--Industry  Search this
Control number:
IAS MN000631
Data Source:
Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_ari_338339

Horse with Indian Rider, (sculpture)

Sculptor:
Sabean, Samuel 1902-  Search this
Medium:
Plaster
Culture:
Indian  Search this
Type:
Sculptures
Owner/Location:
University of Minnesota Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum 333 East River Road Minneapolis Minnesota 55455
Topic:
Figure male  Search this
Ethnic  Search this
Equestrian  Search this
Control number:
IAS 76000036
Data Source:
Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_ari_35

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