Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Additional Online Media

Catalog Data

Creator:
Reinhardt, Adolph Friedrich, 1913-1967  Search this
Subject:
Brooklyn College  Search this
United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this
Type:
Scrapbooks
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
3.9 Linear feet
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 6 series. Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1928-1967 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet) Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-1967 (Boxes 1-2; 1.1 linear feet) Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1953-1966 (Box 2; 7 folders) Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1927-1968 (Boxes 2-4; 1.7 linear feet) Series 5: Scrapbooks, circa 1928-1959 (Boxes 4-5; 0.5 linear feet) Series 6: Artwork, circa 1946, 1950, 1961 (Box 4; 4 folders)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Summary:
The papers of Ad Reinhardt measure 3.9 linear feet and date from circa 1927 to 1968. The collection documents Reinhardt's career as an abstract painter, cartoonist, and writer through biographical material, correspondence, writings, printed material, scrapbooks, and artwork.
Citation:
Ad Reinhardt papers, 1927-1968. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
This site provides access to the papers of Ad Reinhardt in the Archives of American Art that were digitized in 2010, and total 5160 images.
Documents containing sensitive personal information and clippings and documents unrelated to Ad Reinhardt have not been scanned.
Materials lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels N69-99- N69-103 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Funding:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Use Note:
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.
Related Materials:
Related collections found in the Archives includes Ad Reinhardt postcards (to Katherine Scrivener), Ad Reinhardt letters and artwork (loaned material, available on microfilm only), Abe Ajay correspondence with Ad Reinhardt, Marjorie Grimm printed material and letters received from Ad Reinhardt, one photograph of Ad Reinhardt and Colette Roberts by William R. Simmons, and a 1955 painting by Ad Reinhardt. The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels N69-99 - N69-103) including additional notes, writings, correspondence, photographs of artwork, and travel logs. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Biography Note:
Ad Reinhardt was born "Frederick Adolph Reinhardt" in 1913 in Buffalo, New York. He would, by the time he enrolled in elementary school, go by the name of Adolph Friedrich Reinhardt, which he would use on official documents for the rest of his life. Shortly after he was born, his family moved to Queens, New York. As a child he copied "funnies" and made collages from newspapers and won many school and community prizes for his artwork. In the fall of 1931 he entered Columbia University and studied art history under Meyer Schapiro, who encouraged him to get involved in radical campus politics. Reinhardt became the editor and cover designer of Jester , a campus magazine. After graduating in 1935, he trained as a painter at the National Academy of Design under Karl Anderson, and at the American Artists School under Francis Criss and Carl Holty, until 1937. At this time he joined American Abstract Artists and became affiliated with American artistic-political groups and other artist organizations. From 1936 to 1941 he worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project, Easel Division, while simultaneously developing his mature style of linear, abstract painting.
When his work for the Federal Art Project ended, Reinhardt worked as a commercial and freelance writer and graphic artist for pamphlets and magazines. Most notably, he was a reporter and cartoonist for the newspaper PM from 1942 to 1947. After serving in the Navy from 1946 to 1947, he took a position as an art history professor at Brooklyn College where he taught for twenty years. During his career as a professor he was also a visiting lecturer at several universities, including Yale University from 1952 to 1953, and the California School of Fine Arts in 1950. Reinhardt had a keen interest in Asiatic art and would often lecture and write on this subject. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he traveled to Japan, India, Persia, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan.
Reinhardt began exhibiting his paintings early in his career. In 1946 he joined the Betty Parsons Gallery, which also represented many other prominent Abstract Expressionists, including Mark Rothko, Barnet Newman, and Jackson Pollock. Reinhardt rejected the emotionalism found in Abstract Expressionism and sought to produce geometric, minimalist paintings. In developing his own aesthetic theory, he wrote extensively for art periodicals such as Art News and Art International . His artwork culminated in the 1960s with his series of black paintings, which drew much attention from the art community and the public. A major retrospective of his work was held at the Jewish Museum in New York, NY, in 1960. Reinhardt continued to write and work on his series of black paintings until his death in 1967.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Rita Reinhardt, Ad Reinhardt's widow, donated papers and lent material for micorfilming in 1969.
Digitization Note:
This site provides access to the papers of Ad Reinhardt in the Archives of American Art that were digitized in 2010. The bulk of the papers have been scanned and total 5,160 images.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Works of art  Search this
Art, Modern  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Theme:
Diaries  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)5659
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208493
AAA_collcode_reinad
Theme:
Diaries
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208493