An interview of Sidney E. King conducted circa 1980-1983, by Buck Pennington and Herbert Collins, for the Archives of American Art.
King speaks of growing up in Boston, Mass.; working under John Singer Sargent at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass.; searching for a job during the Great Depression; travelling the United States by car with a friend; prospecting for gold in Spotsylvania County, Va.; painting signs for the National Park Service; developing a technique to make painted signs weather the elements well; painting the murals, "The Life of Christ" and "Creation," for the Mormon Church; meeting his wife, Peggy, and her cousin, Mary; researching historical scenes for murals; teaching at Rappahannock Community College; speculating on the future of the arts in America. King also recalls John Singer Sargent, Lawrence Kocher, Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Pitts, Peggy King, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Sidney E. King (1906-2002) was a painter and muralist from Caroline County, Va.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 52 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 others.
