Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Thomas M. Messer, 1970 Sept. 22. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art museum directors -- United States -- Interviews Search this
Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Charles Childs, 1972 April 18-May 12. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Art dealers -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jason Berger, 1979 January 12-1980 February 1. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Elizabeth Saltonstall, 1981 November 18. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching -- France -- Paris Search this
Art -- Study and teaching -- Massachusetts Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Robert O. Preusser, 1991 January-October. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching -- Massachusetts Search this
Art -- Study and teaching -- Texas -- Houston Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Thomas M. Messer, 1994 Oct.-1995 Jan. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art museum directors -- United States -- Interviews Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Nelson Aldrich, 1982 January 22-1985 April 4. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Architects -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Sue M. Thurman, 1993 April 23-1998 March 11. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Arts administrators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Museum directors -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ralph Coburn, 1995 May 25-June 23. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jeanne L. Wasserman, 1993-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Interview of Jeanne L. Wasserman, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Cambridge, MA from January 28, 1993-July 19, 1994.
Wasserman speaks of her parents' cultural interests; first becoming interested in sculpture after visiting a Rodin exhibition in Paris with her family; visiting art galleries and studying painting in New York City as a young woman; her education at Fieldston and Radcliffe; trying to get a job in New York after college; working in advertising; meeting her husband, Max, and building a business with him; beginning to collect art; putting together a collection for the condominium project, 180 Beacon; the opening of 180 Beacon; working on a condominium project in the Virgin Islands; curating sculpture exhibitions at the Fogg Museum and at Wellesley; writing the catalogue for a Daumier exhibition at the Fogg; serving on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; organizing forums on contemporary art with the Council of the Arts at MIT; becoming involved with Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement; and notable purchases of work by Daumier, Rodin, Degas, Giacometti, de Chirico, Nicolas Schöffer, Henry Moore, and others. Wasserman also recalls Alfred Stieglitz, Peppino Mangravite, Elie Nadelman, Hyman Swetzoff, Joseph Hirshhorn, Erica Brausen, René and Charles Gimpel, Louise Nevelson, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, Denise René, Yaacov Agam, George Rickey, George Segal, David Ross, Milena Kalinovska, Jacques de Caso, Yulla Lipchitz, Vera List, Jim Cuno, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Jeanne L. Wasserman, (1915-2006) was a museum curator and art collector from Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 12 min.
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 administrators.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art museums -- Massachusetts
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
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.
An interview of Thomas M. Messer conducted 1970 Sept. 22, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Messer speaks of his childhood in Czechoslovakia; his early interest in art and music; coming to the United States; his education at Boston University; directing a museum, in Roswell, N.M., for three years; going to the American Federation of Arts and becoming director there; moving on to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston; the development of his interest in Latin American art and culture; becoming the director of the Guggenheim Museum; his philosophy on museum acquisitions; the current art market; what makes exhibitions successful or unsuccessful; and the future of museums.
Biographical / Historical:
Thomas M. Messer (1919- ) is a museum director from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 9 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art museum directors -- United States -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Charles Childs conducted 1972 April 18-May 12, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art. Childs speaks of his childhood and the development of his interest in art; his first involvement with printmaking; studying at Normal Art School; working at Goodspeed's Print Shop; the art scene in Boston in the 1920s and 1930s; his theories and approaches to art collecting; the development of the Boston Arts Festival; and his involvement with the Institute of Contemporary Art. He recalls John Taylor Arms, Samuel Chamberlain, Maxim Karolik, and George Wales.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Childs is an art dealer and collector from Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 35 min.
Parts 3 & 4 of Childs interview is under Walter Feldman on tape 2.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Art dealers -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Ralph Coburn conducted 1995 May 25 and 1995 June 23, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art, in Coburn's home, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Coburn talks about his parents and his childhood in Miami Beach, Florida; his early schooling; and entering Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1941, in its 5-year architecture program. He recalls Walter Netsch, a classmate at MIT, who later became a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who introduced Coburn to modern design and to avant-garde music. He also recalls the painter and head of painting at the Museum of Fine Arts School, Karl Zerbe, his teacher in the course of his work for advanced MIT architecture students. He talks about his return to Florida as a draftsman for an aircraft equipment company in Miami, outfitting planes for the African campaign, and his foreman, a son of Al Capone; then returning to Massachusetts to work with an electrical company making secret military components.
Coburn discusses returning to and dropping out of MIT; working at the Institute of Modern Art in Boston through Hyman Swetzoff; following Swetzoff to the Boris Mirski Gallery; studying at Mirski's art school with Esther Geller and John Wilson and friends made at the school, including Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Polonsky, and Reed Kaye. He recalls Carl Nelson, one of his teachers. He talks about the change in atmosphere at the Institute with the replacement of Thomas Metcalf by James Plaut and Nathaniel Saltonstall who changed the Institute's name to Institute of Contemporary Art and the protest surrounding the name change.
Biographical / Historical:
Ralph Coburn (1923- ) is an architect, painter, and designer currently living in Gloucester, Massahusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 36 min.
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 administrators.
