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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Drexler, Rosalyn  Search this
Interviewer:
Lyon, Christopher  Search this
Names:
Garth Greenan Gallery  Search this
Hunter College -- Students  Search this
Kornblee Gallery  Search this
Reuben Gallery  Search this
Alloway, Lawrence, 1926-1990  Search this
Baraka, Amiri, 1934-2014  Search this
Barthelme, Donald  Search this
Basquiat, Jean-Michel, 1960-1988  Search this
Bruce, Lenny  Search this
Carmines, Al  Search this
Cornell, Joseph  Search this
De Kooning, Elaine  Search this
De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this
Dine, Jim, 1935-  Search this
Doyle, Tom  Search this
Drexler, Sherman  Search this
Geldzahler, Henry  Search this
Gilman, Richard, 1923-2006  Search this
Hess, Thomas B.  Search this
Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970  Search this
Hirshhorn, Joseph H.  Search this
Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012  Search this
Katz, Alex, 1927-  Search this
Kent, Allegra  Search this
Klein, William  Search this
Kline, Franz, 1910-1962  Search this
Kroll, Jack  Search this
Marx, Chico, 1887-1961  Search this
Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-1962  Search this
Neel, Alice, 1900-1984  Search this
Newman, Barry  Search this
Perelman, S. J. (Sidney Joseph), 1904-1979  Search this
Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978  Search this
Samaras, Lucas, 1936-  Search this
Sontag, Susan, 1933-2004  Search this
Teer, Barbara Ann, 1937-2008  Search this
Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987  Search this
Youskevitch, Igor, 1912-1994  Search this
Extent:
82 Pages (Transcript)
5 Items (Sound recording: 5 sound files (3 hr., 26 min.), digital, wav)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Interviews
Sound recordings
Date:
2017 May 17-June 2
Scope and Contents:
An interview with Rosalyn Drexler conducted 2017 May 17 and June 2 by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York, New York.
Drexler discusses her childhood in the Bronx; her experiences studying dance and music; her higher education at Hunter College; attending films and the Yiddish Theater; meeting her husband Sherman Drexler; her time as a professional wrestler; her memories of traveling to the South and encountering Jim Crow segregation; she describes learning about art from Sherman Drexler and her joint exhibition with Sherman; her early work in sculpture; participating in Happenings with Jim Dine; joining Anita Reuben's gallery; her debut as a playwright; her experience writing "I am the Beautiful Stranger;" the changing public perception of her and being classified as an artist; her decision to become a painter and appropriating images for her work; the influence of S. J. Perelman on her plays; her play about Joseph Cornell and ballerina Allegra Kent, and interviewing Allegra Kent; her recent artwork and preparing for her 2017 show at Garth Greenan Gallery; her artwork from the 1980s and 1990s; her comedy writing and sense of humor. Drexler also recalls Chico Marx, Jack Newfield, Igor Youskevitch, Ivan Karp, Anita Reuben, Lucas Samaras, Richard Gilman, Al Carmines, Amiri Baraka, Barbara Ann Teer, Franz Kline, Elaine De Kooning, Bill de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Jack Kroll, Lawrence Alloway, Tom Hess, Barney Newman, Harold Rosenberg, Susan Sontag, Joe Hirshhorn, Henry Geldzahler, Donald Barthelme, Kornblee Gallery, Eva Hesse, Tom Doyle, William Klein, Marilyn Monroe, Alex Katz, Alice Neel, Basquiat, Saturday Night Live, and Lenny Bruce, among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Rosalyn Drexler (1926- ) is a sculptor, playwright, and novelist in New York, New York. Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is a writer in Brooklyn, New York.
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:
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Playwrights -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Women wrestlers  Search this
Segregation -- United States  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Happenings (Art)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Identifier:
AAA.drexle17
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw90bfba5d5-5e75-43b8-a9a5-bfc6e1c0120e
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-drexle17