Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Bontecou, Lee, 1931-  Search this
Interviewer:
Ashton, Dore  Search this
Names:
Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) -- Students  Search this
Brooklyn College -- Faculty  Search this
Leo Castelli Gallery  Search this
Bellamy, Richard  Search this
Brackman, Robert, 1898-  Search this
Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this
Doyle, Tom  Search this
González, Julio, 1876-1942  Search this
Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970  Search this
Stankiewicz, Richard, 1922-1983  Search this
Zorach, William, 1887-1966  Search this
Extent:
118 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2009 January 10
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Lee Bontecou conducted 2009 January 10, by Dore Ashton, for the Archives of American Art, at Knoedler and Company, in New York, New York.
Bontecou speaks of her interest in art as a young child and her parents' encouragement and influences; her two years at community college before studying painting then sculpture under William Zorach at the Arts Students League in New York City; her time working, living and studying in Rome though the Fulbright Scholarship; her abstracted figural works in Rome influenced by ancient Greek and Roman sculpture; her exploration in Europe of non-American influences and her admiration of the strong design sense in Italy; returning to the United States and working in the New York City art scene and exhibiting her works at Leo Castelli's Gallery; different techniques including welding and vacuum forming; meeting her husband, Bill Giles, and raising her daughter, Vallie, in New York City; leaving New York City and the Castelli Gallery for Pennsylvania and the ability to experiment in her artwork; teaching at Brooklyn College where she worked with Morris Dorsky and enjoyed a wide range of students; her lack of affiliation with art movements, including Pop Art; her illness and her current work; and her strong belief that an M.F.A. is useless and that young artists have to make themselves. Bontecou also recalls Robert Brackman, Julio Gonzales, Alexander Calder, Richard Bellamy, Gabriel Kahn, Richard Stankewiczs, Tom Doyle, Eve Hesse, Sandra and Jack Beale, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Lee Bontecou (1931- ) is a sculptor and printmaker from New York, New York. Bontecou studied at the Art Students League of New York and taught at Brooklyn College.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 42 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.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Women artists  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Women printmakers  Search this
Pop art  Search this
Sculpture -- Technique  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.bontec09
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93ba6e775-8110-44d8-a119-a263342d346d
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-bontec09