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Oral history interview with Moira Roth

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Roth, Moira  Search this
Interviewer:
Heinemann, Sue  Search this
Creator:
Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project  Search this
Names:
Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project  Search this
London School of Economics and Political Science -- Students  Search this
University of California, Berkeley -- Students  Search this
University of Vienna -- Students  Search this
Women's Caucus for Art  Search this
Antin, Eleanor  Search this
Baca, Judith Francisca  Search this
Bernardi, Claudia  Search this
Chadwick, Whitney  Search this
Chicago, Judy, 1939-  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this
Jacob, Mary Jane  Search this
Kaprow, Allan  Search this
Kozloff, Joyce  Search this
Lacy, Suzanne  Search this
Lippard, Lucy R.  Search this
Machida, Margo  Search this
Nochlin, Linda  Search this
Ringgold, Faith  Search this
Schapiro, Miriam, 1923-2015  Search this
Selz, Peter Howard, 1919-2019  Search this
Stevens, May  Search this
Extent:
5 Items (Sound recording, master: 5 memory cards (6 hr., 9 min.), secure digital, 1.25 in)
81 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place:
Cornwall (England : County) -- Description and Travel
Europe -- description and travel
Date:
2011 April 22-24
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Moira Roth conducted 2011 April 22- 24, by Sue Heinemann, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History Project, at Roth's home, in Berkeley, California.
Roth discusses her childhood and family background; her "unconventional" mother attending the London School of Economics; her "romantic childhood" growing up in Cornwall, England; her family's move to Letchworth for her to attend St. Christopher, a Montessori school; taking in evacuees from London during the Battle of Britain in 1940; childhood colored with European culture, Jewish culture, and music; at 17 moving from England to Washington, D.C., to live with her Irish father who was working for the International Monetary Fund; her early "passion for travelling"; moving to New York City in 1952; meeting John Cage; her autobiographical writings; travels in Europe; studies at the University of Vienna and the London School of Economics; deciding to be a psychiatric social worker; majoring in sociology with a minor in art history; attending graduate school in art history; her interest in Duchamp; doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley; interviewing artists; her marriage to Bill Roth; teaching; early publications; performances at the Woman's Building in the late 1970s; editing the book "The Amazing Decade: Women & Performance Art in America, 1970-1980" (1983); traveling with Faith Ringgold; friendships with Linda Nochlin, May Stevens, Lucy Lippard and others; experimental theater; her interest in Noh theater; the Women's Caucus for Art at CAA; The Poor Farm contemporary art space; living in the Bay Area; "rethinking feminism in terms of Asian-American Women"; globalism; the fictional character she created, Rachel Marker; and other topics. She recalls Joyce Kozloff, Miriam Schapiro, Judy Chicago, Judy Baca, Claudia Bernardi, Eleanor Antin, Margo Machida, Mary Jane Jacob, Annika Marie, Whitney Chadwick, Suzanne Lacy, Allan Kaprow, Peter Selz, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Moira Roth (1933- ) is an art historian and writer in Berkeley, California.
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 historians -- California -- Interviews  Search this
Authors -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Topic:
Art -- History -- Study and teaching  Search this
Asian American women  Search this
Britain, Battle of, Great Britain, 1940  Search this
Experimental theater  Search this
Feminism and art  Search this
Nō  Search this
Sociology -- Study and teaching  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.roth11
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw99573b541-22b4-4db2-bf92-479464510b5f
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-roth11