Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Scarpitta, Salvatore, 1919-2007  Search this
Interviewer:
Cummings, Paul  Search this
Names:
American Academy in Rome  Search this
Castelli, Leo  Search this
De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this
Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this
Kline, Franz, 1910-1962  Search this
Levine, Jack, 1915-2010  Search this
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this
Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this
Extent:
67 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1975 January 31.-February 3
Scope and Contents:
Interview of Salvatore Scarpitta conducted 1975 January 31.-February 3, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Scarpitta speaks of his family's background; growing up and going to school in California; moving to Italy and going to art school at 17; attending the American Academy; his experiences in Europe after the war broke out in 1940; being arrested and interned for 18 months in Italy and escaping; joining the United States Navy; getting thrown out of the American Academy after being accused of being a Communist; his abstract paintings; moving back to America after Leo Castelli saw his work; his painting techniques; his thoughts on futurism and cubism; why he shifted from working on a canvas to tearing it apart and using it as materials; his use of color; how his interest in race cars influenced his art work; building race cars; living in New York and the art scene there; his successful art show on the Piazza San Marco in Venice; the reason for using belts in his paintings; how certain paintings led him to building sleds; his feelings about Leo Castelli; and teaching art. He recalls Phil Guston, Jack Levine, Franz Kline, Bill de Kooning, Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Salvatore Scarpitta (1919-2007) was a sculptor.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 11 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
Sculptors -- Interviews  Search this
Futurism (Art)  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Automobile racing  Search this
Art, Abstract  Search this
Cubism  Search this
Painting -- Technique  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.scarpi75
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw95bac49d5-0671-41ab-b93a-f734a61ff344
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-scarpi75