Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Cole, Sylvan  Search this
Interviewer:
Berman, Avis  Search this
Names:
Associated American Artists  Search this
Barnet, Will, 1911-2012  Search this
Drewes, Werner, 1899-1985  Search this
Florsheim, Richard A., 1916-1979  Search this
Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011  Search this
Hockney, David  Search this
Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this
Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this
Johnson, Una E.  Search this
Kainen, Jacob  Search this
Levine, Jack, 1915-2010  Search this
Lewenthal, Reeves, 1909-1987  Search this
Lieberman, William Slattery, 1924-  Search this
Motherwell, Robert  Search this
Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987  Search this
Extent:
83 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2000 June-October
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Sylvan Cole conducted 2000 June-October, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art.
The interviews took place over five sessions in New York, New York. Cole discusses the history of Associated American Artists, the gallery for whom he began working in 1946, and its marketing techniques, customer base, and personalities, such as its founder, Reeves Lewenthal. He also traces his own development as a dealer in prints after he left AAA and recalls many artists and other figures in the art world, including Will Barnet, Werner Drewes, Richard Florsheim, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Una Johnson, Jacob Kainen, Jack Levine, William S. Lieberman, Robert Motherwell, and Raphael Soyer.
Biographical / Historical:
Sylvan Cole (1918-2005) was an art dealer and writer of New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 6 min.
Sound quality is fair; beginning and endings of tapes tend to be garbled and low.
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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Prints -- Marketing  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.cole00
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw926720f24-6e33-49a1-843c-f73c0aeeaec8
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-cole00