This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Summary:
The oral history interviews conducted by Susan C. Larsen measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1973 to 1978. The majority of the interviews were conducted by Susan Larsen in preparation for her dissertation, "The American Abstract Artists Group: A History and Evaluation of Its Impact Upon American Art, 1936-1974" at Northwestern University in 1975. Interviews on this topic include Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne, Ilya Bolotowsky, George McNeil, Ruth Vollmer, Balcomb Greene, and Vaclav Vytlacil. Also included are an interview with Charles Carpenter, executor of the Charles Greene Shaw estate; an interview conducted by Sandra Kraskin, at the request of Larsen, with Willem and Elaine de Kooning regarding the Albert Eugene Gallatin Collection and its impact upon artists in the 1930s and 1940s; and an interview with Richard Diebenkorn. These interviews were not used in Larsen's dissertation.
Citation:
Oral history interviews of artists conducted by Susan C. Larsen, 1973-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
All of the sound recordings in the collection were digitized for research access between 2009 and 2014 and are available at Archives of American Art offices.
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.
Biography Note:
Susan C. Larsen (1946- ) is an art historian in Portland, Maine. She completed her studies at Northwestern University in 1975. She was a professor of art at the University of California between 1975 and 1996. She has also been a curator at the Whitney Museum of american Art in New York and at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
The oral history interviews relating to the American Abstract Artists Group were donated to the Archives of american Art by Susan Larsen in 2001. The interview of Richard Diebenkorn was donated by Larsen in 1981.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
