An interview of Betty M. Asher conducted 1980 June 30 and 1980 July 7, by Thomas H. Garver, for the Archives of American Art.
Asher speaks of her family; education; her marriage to Dr. Leonard Asher; buying her first prints and painting from the Associated American Artists Gallery; and early purchases at the Little, Bowinkle, and Green Galleries in Los Angeles. She discusses her interest in abstract expressionism; buying art in Mexico and New York; dealers including Irving Blum, Virginia Dwan, Paul Kantor, Felix Landau, Ernest Raboff, Esther Robles, and Ileana Sonnabend; activities and members of the Modern and Contemporary Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; her work for Maurice Tuchman; Walter Hopps and the Pasadena Art Museum; and exhibitions and funding of the Asher/Faure Gallery.
Biographical / Historical:
Betty M. Asher (1914-1994) was an art collector and art dealer of Beverly Hills, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav file. Duration is 3 hr., 30 min.
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.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Collectors -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
This interview was made possible by funds from the California Arts Council, The L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, and the Bothin Helping Fund.
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.
