This collection consists of seven series. Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1922-1988 (.2 Linear feet: Box 1) Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1922-1997 (.8 Linear feet: Box 1) Series 3: Writings, circa 1940-1997 (1.3 Linear feet: Boxes 2-3) Series 4: Personal Business Records, circa 1940-1994 (.5 Linear feet: Box 3) Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1948-1997 (.2 Linear feet: Box 3) Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1947-1963 (.1 Linear feet: Box 4) Series 7: Artwork, circa 1950-1984 (.1 Linear feet: Box 4)
Access Note / Rights:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Summary:
The papers of painter and writer John Hultberg measure 3.2 linear feet and date from circa 1922-1997. They illustrate his career through biographical material, correspondence, writings, personal business records, printed and photographic material, and artwork.
Citation:
John Hultberg papers, circa 1922-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Portions of the collection and material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels N70-5, 295, and 2346 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Funding:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
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:
The Archives also hold an oral history interview with John Hultberg conducted 1968 Nov. 11, by Paul Cummings.
Biography Note:
John Hultberg (1922-2005) was a painter and writer who worked mainly in New York.
Hultberg was born in Berkeley, California and attended Fresno State College, graduating in 1943. During World War Two he was a Navy Lieutenant and after the war studied at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute), founded by the G. I. Bill. In 1948, he created a portfolio of seventeen lithographs with James Budd Dixon, Walter Kuhlman, and Frank Lobdell. The Portfolio was titled Drawings and has been acknowledged as a landmark in Abstract Expressionist Printmaking. In 1952, Hultberg studied at the Art Students League of New York.
Hultberg's first wife was Hilary Blech, and in 1961 he met artist Lynne Mapp Drexler and the two married three years later though at the time of Lynne's death in 1999 they were estranged. Hultberg had one son, Carl R. Hultberg. He then met his partner and agent Elaine Wechsler, who he was with until his death.
Hultberg primarily worked with abstract expressionist paintings and made surrealist landscapes which he created with linear perspectives and angular shapes. His paintings were influenced by his time spent on Monhegan Island in Maine, and his career reached its peak while he lived in Portland. In 1955 he won the Corcoran Biennial first prize in Washington. By 1990 he was a full-time resident of New York and he taught at the Art Students League until the week of his death.
Hultberg died on April 15, 2005, at the age of eighty-three in New York, New York.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Papers were donated 1969-1997 by John Hultberg. Material on reel 2346 was donated in 1981 by Hultberg and his wife Lynne Drexler.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
