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Catalog Data

Creator:
Artschwager, Richard, 1923-  Search this
Names:
Adair Margo Gallery  Search this
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts  Search this
Cornell University  Search this
Gagosian Gallery  Search this
Galerie Franck + Schulte  Search this
Harvard University  Search this
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art  Search this
Leo Castelli Gallery  Search this
Lorence-Monk Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Museum Ludwig  Search this
Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston  Search this
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture  Search this
University of Wisconsin  Search this
Whitney Museum of American Art  Search this
Alloway, Lawrence, 1926-1990  Search this
Castelli, Leo  Search this
Copley, William Nelson, 1919-1996  Search this
Fischl, Eric, 1948-  Search this
Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this
Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012  Search this
Katz, Alex, 1927-  Search this
Kimmelman, Michael  Search this
Lawler, Louise  Search this
LeWitt, Sol, 1928-2007  Search this
Murray, Elizabeth, 1940-  Search this
Namuth, Hans  Search this
Neuendorf, Hans  Search this
Ruscha, Edward  Search this
Schaffner, Ingrid  Search this
Schjeldahl, Peter  Search this
Waters, John, 1946-  Search this
Woodman, Betty, 1930-  Search this
Extent:
5.6 Linear feet
9.33 Gigabytes
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Gigabytes
Illustrated letters
Transcripts
Sketches
Photographs
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Date:
1959-2013
Summary:
The papers of New York painter and sculptor Richard Artschwager measure 5.6 linear feet and 9.33 GB and date from 1959-2013. The papers include extensive correspondence, recorded talks and a lecture, exhibition files, printed and digital material, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York painter and sculptor Richard Artschwager measure 5.6 linear feet and 9.33 GB and date from 1959-2013. The papers include extensive correspondence, recorded talks and a lecture, exhibition files, printed and digital material, and photographs. Artschwager's correspondence is with museums, galleries, artists, art historians, academic institutions, and publishers and concerns exhibitions, speaking engagements, and teaching. Frequent correspondents include Lawrence Alloway, Leo Castelli Gallery, Gagosian Gallery, Galerie Franck + Schulte, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Ivan Karp, Museum Ludwig, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Ingrid Schaffner, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Also found are letters from fellow artists, including William Copley, Eric Fischl, Ray Johnson, Louise Lawler, Sol Lewitt, Ed Ruscha, John Waters, and Betty Woodman. Some letters are annotated or illustrated with sketches by Artschwager. The collection includes a lecture and recorded talks by Richard Artschwager held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, and the Carpenter Center of the Visual Arts, Harvard University, and other venues. One of the recordings is from the "Conversations with Contemporary Artists" series of the Museum of Modern Art. Also included in this series is a recorded discussion with artists Alex Katz and Elizabeth Murray and art critics Michael Kimmelman and Peter Schjeldahl. Exhibition files are found for exhibitions held at Adair Margo Gallery, Lorence Monk Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Cornell University, and numerous others, including many in Europe. Files typically contain correspondence, price lists, announcements, printed material, photographs, and a few sound and video recordings. Printed material includes invitations and announcements as well as posters, reproductions, and brochures, mostly related to Richard Artschwager's exhibitions. Newspaper and magazine clippings document exhibition openings and the critical reception of his work. There are also a few photographs including images of Leo Castelli by Hans Namuth used by Artschwager in preparing for his portrait of Castelli.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series. Missing Title Series 1: Correspondence, circa 1970-2013 (Boxes 1-3; 3.0 linear feet, ER01-ER02; 0.555 GB) Series 2: Talks and Lecture, 1985-2009 (Box 4; 0.8 linear feet, ER03-ER10; 8.77 GB) Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1973-2007 (Boxes 4-5; 1.0 linear feet) Series 4: Printed Material, 1959-2012 (Boxes 5-6, OV 7; 0.6 linear feet) Series 5: Photographs, circa 1973, 2007 (Box 6, OV 8; 0.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Richard Artschwager (1923-2013) lived and worked in New York City and Hudson, New York and was known primarily for his paintings and sculptures. Artschwager was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in New Mexico. As a youth, Artschwager showed a talent for drawing. He studied chemistry and mathematics at Cornell University. In 1944, Artschwager interrupted his studies to enlist in the U.S. Army. After the war, he returned to Cornell to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. Encouraged by his first wife, Elfriede Wejmelka to develop his interest in art, Artschwager moved to New York to study at the Studio School of Amédée Ozenfant. His paintings and drawings from this period were featured in two group shows at the Terrain Gallery in 1957 and at the Art Directions Gallery on Madison Avenue in 1959, where they were recognized by Donald Judd. In the 1950s, in order to support his family, Artschwager turned to designing and manufacturing modern furniture. His woodworking skills inspired him to create sculptures from utilitarian objects such as tables, chairs, and mirrors. He is best known for the use of building materials Celotex and Formica in his work and for inventing an abstract form he called "blps" reliefs, stencils or decals that were installed randomly in museum, gallery and public spaces. From the mid-1980s to late 1990s, Artschwager designed large scale projects, though he continued to incorporate everyday domestic objects in his sculptures and paintings. In 1965, Artschwager was given his first one-man exhibition at the Castelli Gallery and he remained with the Gallery for thirty years. He was also represented by Mary Boone, David Nolan, and the Gagosian Gallery. In the 1980s, Artschwager served on the Visual Arts Policy Committee at the National Endowment of the Arts. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts in 1992. He was a visiting artist at New Mexico State University, Soka University, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the University of Arizona. Artschwager's work was the subject of a major surveys, including the Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Neues Museum, and Serpentine Gallery. He participated in numerous international group shows including the Venice Biennale and Documenta in Kassel, Germany. The Whitney Museum of American Art honored Artschwager with two travelling retrospective exhibitions in 1988 and 2012. In late 2012, Artschwager had one-man shows at the Gagosian Gallery and David Nolan Gallery. Richard Artschwager died at the age of 89 years in 2013. He is survived by his wife, Ann Sebring Artschwager and three children from previous marriages.
Related Materials:
Also found among the resources at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Artschwager, March 3-28, 1972, conducted by Paul Cummings.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Richard Artschwager and his wife Ann Artschwager in 2013.
Restrictions:
Use of original material requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference 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:
Art critics  Search this
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Genre/Form:
Illustrated letters
Transcripts
Sketches
Photographs
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Citation:
Richard Artschwager papers, 1959-2013. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.artsrich
See more items in:
Richard Artschwager papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9b1669278-fbd8-48b5-832c-ad4b93ec08bd
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-artsrich