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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Thaw, Eugene Victor  Search this
Interviewer:
McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-  Search this
Names:
Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) -- Students  Search this
Cleveland Museum of Art  Search this
Columbia University -- Students  Search this
E.V. Thaw & Co.  Search this
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Pollock-Krasner Foundation  Search this
St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.) -- Students  Search this
Castelli, Leo  Search this
Franka, Gunther  Search this
Held, Julius Samuel, 1905-  Search this
Ketterer, Norbert  Search this
Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984  Search this
Landau, Jack, 1925-1967  Search this
Marca-Relli, Conrad, 1913-2000  Search this
Matisse, Pierre, 1900-1989  Search this
Meiss, Millard  Search this
Mitchell, Joan, 1926-1992  Search this
Offner, Richard, 1889-1965  Search this
Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957  Search this
Rousseau, Theodore, 1912-  Search this
Shapiro, Meyer  Search this
Simon, Norton, 1907-1993  Search this
Vavala, Evelyn Sandberg  Search this
Extent:
33 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2007 October 1-2
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Eugene V. Thaw conducted 2007 October 1-2, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art's Art Dealers Association of America Project, at Thaw's residence, in New York, N.Y.
Thaw speaks of his childhood in New York City; Mexican art in his home including watercolors by Diego Rivera; beginning classes at the Art Student's League of New York at age 14; attending St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland; attending Columbia University for graduate courses in art history and studying with Meyer Shapiro and Millard Meiss; an early interest in Old Master, Renaissance, and German Expressionist art; studying in Florence, Italy for four months after World War II; opening The New Bookstore and Gallery with friend Jack Landau above the Algonquin Hotel upon his return to New York City; giving Joan Mitchell and Conrad Marca-Relli their first shows; ending his partnership with Landau, closing the bookstore, and moving the gallery to Madison Avenue; becoming involved in the international art market; the practice of buying and selling works of art in shares with other dealers; showing American and European artists; renaming the gallery E.V. Thaw & Company; operating essentially as a one-man gallery with very limited staff; his relationship with museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art; his personal collections, including extensive ancient Eurasian artifacts and American Indian art; establishing the Pollock-Krasner Foundation; the philanthropic vision of his own foundation, the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust; his retirement from dealing; the "hand of the artist" in historical context and its lack of significance in contemporary art; and advice for young and emerging art dealers. Thaw also recalls Richard Offner, Evelyn Sandberg-Vavala, Norbert Ketterer, Günther Franka, Pierre Matisse, Leo Castelli, Julius Held, Theodore Rousseau, Lee Krasner, Norton Simon, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Eugene Thaw (1927- ) is an art dealer from New York, N.Y. James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 26 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.thaw07
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93bde4440-dc2a-4206-a8bb-d0f0ebda50d4
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-thaw07