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Catalog Data

Creator:
Lehman, Harold, 1913-2006  Search this
Interviewer:
Polcari, Stephen  Search this
Names:
Public Works of Art Project  Search this
Arenal, Luis  Search this
Armiduke, Merle  Search this
Blanch, Arnold, 1896-1968  Search this
Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978  Search this
Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this
Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this
Horr, Axel  Search this
Kadish, Reuben, 1913-1992  Search this
Katz, Leo, 1887-1982  Search this
Lundeberg, Helen, 1908-1999  Search this
Mahl, Carla  Search this
Maikowski, Max  Search this
McCoy, Stanley  Search this
Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949  Search this
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this
Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957  Search this
Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978  Search this
Schwankovsky, Frederick John, 1885-1974  Search this
Serstadt, Louie  Search this
Siqueiros, David Alfaro, 1896-1974  Search this
Stanley, George M., 1903-  Search this
de Laffiere, Jean  Search this
Extent:
144 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1997 Mar. 28
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Harold Lehman conducted 1997 Mar. 28, by Stephen Polcari, for the Archives of American Art. Lehman speaks of his early educational and artistic experiences in New York; taking sculpture classes; moving to California; going to school at Manual Arts; going to Ojai and learning the religious philosophy of Krishnamurti; participating in literary discussion groups and the books he read; his years at Otis Art Institute; working with Sisqueiros, and how the frescoes they created were destroyed by the Red Squad; when he became interested in painting; working with Lorser Feitelson; working with the Public Works of Art Project; moving back to New York and working with the Federal Arts Project; his experiences with Sisqueiros and the artist workshop they set up; his thoughts on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Stalin and Trotsky; his thoughts on social realism; the project he did on Rikers Island; doing mural art; breaking both his arms two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor and how he managed to stay out of the army; working on his mural in Woodstock; working on war bond painting for the government; his art work during the war years; recollections of Jackson Pollack and his interest in Indian Art; going to see the Picasso show; his artistic influences; his thoughts on America's involvement in World War II; his life after the war and what inspired him; his memories of Phil Guston; thoughts on Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg; his life after the war, and other recollections about his life and friends. He recalls Max Maikowski, Jean de Laffiere, Rutolo, Frederick J. Schwankovsky, Phil Guston, Jackson Pollack, Manuel Tolegian, Rueben Kadish, George Stanley, Roger Noble Vernon, D.A. Siqueiros, Luis Arenal, Lorser Feitelson, Helen Lundberg, Leo Katz, Merle Armiduke, Stanley McCoy, Axel Horr (Horn), Carla Mahl (Clara Moore), Louie Serstadt, Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, Arnold Blanch, Harold Rosenberg, Clement Greenberg, Arnold Blanch, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Harold Lehman (1913-2006) was a painter, lithographer, designer, and sculptor from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hrs., 39 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.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Communism  Search this
Mural painting and decoration  Search this
Social realism  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.lehman97
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f4e9efd8-1e65-4972-bd49-6e277168e3f2
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-lehman97