Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Oral history interview with Al Hansen, 1973 November 6-13

Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Hansen, Alfred Earl, 1927-1995  Search this
Interviewer:
Cummings, Paul  Search this
Subject:
Brecht, George  Search this
Callahan, Harry M.  Search this
Dine, Jim  Search this
Dunn, Bob  Search this
Dunn, Judith  Search this
Eisenhauer, Lette  Search this
Goldfine, Pauline  Search this
Groth, John  Search this
Higgins, Dick  Search this
Kaprow, Allan  Search this
Karp, Ivan C.  Search this
Maciunas, George  Search this
Mac Low, Jackson  Search this
Marisol  Search this
McCarey, Don  Search this
Moorman, Charlotte  Search this
Müller, Jan  Search this
Nakian, Reuben  Search this
Oldenburg, Claes  Search this
Ortiz, Rafael Montanez  Search this
Paik, Nam June  Search this
Poons, Larry  Search this
Segal, George  Search this
Smith, Tony  Search this
Vostell, Wolf  Search this
Waring, James  Search this
Watts, Robert  Search this
Art Students League (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Pratt Institute  Search this
Reuben Gallery  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
Sound recording: 2 Sound tape reels, 5 in.; 112 Pages, Transcript
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
Interview of Al Hansen conducted 1973 November 6-13, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Hansen traces his personal history, recalling his childhood and early education in Queens; his service in the armed forces; and jobs he held in social work, advertising, off-Broadway theater, and art galleries. He describes taking classes with John Groth at the Art Students League in the 1940s; with Reuben Nakian at Pratt in the 1950s; and with John Cage at the New School in 1958. He also discusses the rise of New York as an art center; his interest in film; his involvement in experimental sound and music; his approach to creating Happenings and that of other artists; organizing poetry readings at the Epitome Coffee Shop; his Hershey bar wrapper collages; the writing of his book, "A Primer of Happenings and Space Time Art," (New York: Something Else Press 1965); his interactions with Fluxus and George Maciunas; participating in the "Below Zero" show at the Reuben Gallery in 1959; attending the Destruction In Art symposium in London in 1966; and his recent exhibitions in Germany. People he recalls include Tony Smith; Pauline Goldfine [ph]; Dick Higgins; Wolf Vostell; Larry Poons; Allan Kaprow; Claes Oldenburg; Don McCarey [ph]; Jim Dine; George Brecht; Jackson Mac Low; James Waring; Marisol Escobar; Ivan Karp; Bob Watts; George Segal; Judith Dunn; Bob Dunn; Jan Müller; Nam June Paik; Raphael Ortiz; Charlotte Moorman; and Lettie Lou Eisenhauer.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Al Hansen, 1973 November 6-13. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Funding for the transcription of this interview provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Women's Committee.
Biography Note:
Al Hansen (1927-1995) was an artist from New York, New York. Founder of Fluxus art movement and one of the first Happenings artists.
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:
Fluxus (Group of artists)  Search this
Art, American  Search this
Art -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Artists -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this
Happenings (Art)  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12668
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212717
AAA_collcode_hansen73
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_212717