The series documents all aspects of Lippard's professional life, primarily from the 1960s on, including her relationship with artists such as Carl Andre, Iain Baxter (N. E. Thing Co.), Bruce Barber, Carole Berge, Steve Cagan, Don Celender, Judy Chicago, Hanne Darboven, Ken Friedman, Donna Henes, Hera, Alexis Hunter, Ray Johnson, Joseph Kossuth, Sol LeWitt, Martha Rosler, Henry Pearson, Arthur and Irene Siegel, Tal Streeter, Bill Vazan and many more. Lippard's interest in and commitment to the emerging feminist art scene can be traced in correspondence with artists such as Joan Braderman, Mary Beth Edelson, Harmony Hammond, Ruth Hardinger, Elizabeth Hess, Miriam Schapiro, May Stevens and Merle Temkin, many of whom, along with Lippard, were founding members of the New York-based Heresies Collective.
Also found here are correspondence and other material documenting Lippard's involvement with art galleries, art institutions and activist groups including Addison Gallery of American Art, Alliance for Cultural Democracy, and Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D). PAD/D material consists of 11 audio recordings from circa 1984 related to "Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America" and other activities of the group. Eight folders document the founding and early years of the Women's Caucus for Art from the early 1970s to 1981 and the series includes Lippard's correspondence with related individuals and organizations such as Arlene Raven, Sheila de Bretteville and the College Art Association. Records on the Art Workers Coalition (AWC) and the Museum of Modern Art document Lippard's involvement in the AWC's artists' rights protests aimed at pressurizing the Museum of Modern Art and other museums to implement certain reforms, including a weekly free admission day.
Correspondence with Ray Johnson includes original letters from Johnson to Lippard and many examples of his mail art. A folder of letters from Christo and Jean-Claude includes a letter illustrated with sketches of artwork that had impressed Christo at a University of British Columbia art show and describing a meeting with Ray Johnson. Six folders of correspondence from Hanne Darboven are interspersed with her distinctive colors, dashes, numbers and wavy lines and letters and postcards from Sol LeWitt include sketches and descriptions of artwork.
Lippard corresponded with many artists outside the United States, including Australian artists Vivienne Binns and Peter Kennedy, and New Zealand artist Bruce Barber, and wrote an article for Arts Canada on the Canadian group Pulsa. Her interest in landscape art can be traced in her correspondence with artists such as Bill Vazan and British artist Richard Long.
There are 4 folders of correspondence between Lippard and James (Jim) Fitzimmons regarding her work for the publication Art International during the 1960s, and two folders of correspondence with publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc., but the bulk of the correspondence related to Lippard's writings can be found in Series 3.1. Other writers with whom Lippard corresponded include New York art critic Frederick Ted Castle, artist and writer Judy Loeb, writer and storyteller Gioia Timpanelli and Argentine-born critic Susana Torre, who designed the cover for Lippard's book From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art (1976).
The series includes one folder each of correspondence from Lippard's parents Margaret Lippard and Vernon W. Lippard.
Sound recordings are on seven sound tape reels and seventeen sound cassettes.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Lucy R. Lippard papers, 1930s-2007, bulk 1960s-1990s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
