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Interviewee:
Stephan, John Walter, 1906-1995  Search this
Interviewer:
Brown, Robert F  Search this
Subject:
Bennett, Rainey  Search this
Bohrod, Aaron  Search this
Breinin, Raymond  Search this
Bulliet, C. J. (Clarence Joseph)  Search this
Cahill, Holger  Search this
Calas, Nicolas  Search this
Constant, George  Search this
Coryllis, Peter  Search this
Cunningham, Inez  Search this
de Diego, Juan  Search this
Denby, Bill  Search this
De Kooning, Willem  Search this
Ernst, Max  Search this
Fabian, John  Search this
Flaherty, Robert Joseph  Search this
Gendel, Milton  Search this
Goossen, E. C.  Search this
Greenberg, Clement  Search this
Guggenheim, Peggy  Search this
Harrison, Caleb  Search this
Johnson, Ben  Search this
Jones, Jack  Search this
Kiesler, Frederick  Search this
Kline, Franz  Search this
Knopf, Alfred  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Levy, Julien  Search this
MacLeish, Norman  Search this
Matta  Search this
Miller, Edgar  Search this
Millman, Edward  Search this
Moran, Connie  Search this
Motherwell, Robert  Search this
Nathanson, Winn  Search this
Newman, Barnett  Search this
Ossorio, Alfonso  Search this
Ott, Peterpaul  Search this
Parsons, Betty  Search this
Porter, Fairfield  Search this
Praz, Mario  Search this
Robinson, Increase  Search this
Rosenberg, Harold  Search this
Rothko, Mark  Search this
Sebartes, Jaime  Search this
Shapiro, Myra  Search this
Siporin, Mitchell  Search this
Stephan, Dart  Search this
Still, Clyfford  Search this
Torres, Jesús  Search this
Walgreen, Ruth  Search this
Watson, Dudley Crafts  Search this
Watson-Schütze, Eva  Search this
Weisenborn, Rudolph  Search this
Wheeler, Monroe  Search this
Wilhelm, Jerry  Search this
Zadkine, Ossip  Search this
Art Institute of Chicago  Search this
Fairleigh Dickinson University  Search this
Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this
Hunter College  Search this
United States. Work Projects Administration  Search this
Public Works of Art Project  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
10 Items, Sound recording: 10 sound files (6 hr., 54 min.), digital, wav; 100 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 6 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 54 min.
Summary:
Interview of John Walter Stephan, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, at Newport, Rhode Island, on May 20, 1986 and May 7, 1987.
Stephan speaks of Chicago childhood and adolescence; life during the Depression; the Art Institute of Chicago; the 1930s Chicago leftist movement; the WPA and PWAP; The Tiger's Eye art magazine; Rome artistic and literary society; the New York School of artists; Betty Parsons Gallery; the Surrealists; teaching at Fairleigh Dickenson University; Hunter College; and his critiques of Pop and contemporary artists. Stephan also recalls Ruth Walgreen, Dart Stephan, Rainey Bennett, Clyfford Still, Juan de Diego, Caleb Harrison, Aaron Bohrod, Dudley Crafts Watson, Jack Jones, George Constant, Connie Moran, CJ Bulliet, Rudolph Weisenborn, Inez Cunningham, Eva Watson-Schütze, Jesus Torres, Edgar Miller, Katherine Kuh, Increase Robinson, Peterpaul Ott, Mitchell Siporin, Raymond Breinin, Holger Cahill, John Fabian, Eddie Millman, Winn Nathanson, Fairfield Porter, Norman MacLeish, Ossip Zadkine, Betty Parsons, Alfonso Ossorio, Max Ernst, Julien Levy, Peggy Guggenheim, Bill de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Barney Newman, Nicolas Calas, Bob Motherwell, Monroe Wheeler, Myra Shapiro, Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, Alfred Knopf, Robert Flaherty, Jaime Sebartés, Frederick Kiesler, Robert Matta, Mario Praz, Bill Denby, Ben Johnson, Milton Gendel, Walter Auerbach, Jerry Wilhelm, Eugene Goossens, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with John Stephan, 1986 May 20-1987 May 7. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Funding:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Biography Note:
John Walter Stephan (1906-1995) was a painter.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
These interviews are 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 others.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Great Depression  Search this
New York school of art  Search this
Pop art  Search this
Surrealism  Search this
Theme:
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13067
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211902
AAA_collcode_stepha86
Theme:
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_211902