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Oral history interview with Ben Cunningham

Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Cunningham, Ben, 1904-1975  Search this
Interviewer:
Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington), 1920-1979  Search this
Creator:
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this
Names:
Federal Art Project (Calif.)  Search this
Index of American Design  Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this
Danysh, Joseph A., 1906-1982  Search this
Gaskin, William, 1892-1968  Search this
Hiler, Hilaire, 1898-1966  Search this
Extent:
58 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1964 October 24
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Ben Cunningham conducted 1964 October 24, by Harlan Phillips for the Archives of American Art.
Cunningham speaks of his early career in San Francisco during the Depression; the art market there; working as a muralist in the Federal Art Project; political and media problems encountered by the project, including strikes by workers; the work of the Index of American Design in California; working on naval architecture during Work War II; and his philosophies about painting. He recalls Joseph Danysh, William Gaskin, and Hilaire Hiler.
Biographical / Historical:
Ben Cunningham (1904-1975) was a painter, educator, and mural painter in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 8 min.
Sound quality is poor.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art and state  Search this
Federal aid to the arts  Search this
Muralists -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.cunnin64
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw986588f0c-5a73-4830-9eb3-5f089de3c3fb
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-cunnin64