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Oral history interview with Charles Henry Alston, 1965 September 28

Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Alston, Charles Henry, 1907-1977  Search this
Interviewer:
Phillips, Harlan B., 1920-1979,  Search this
Subject:
Block, Lou  Search this
Davis, Stuart  Search this
Dlugoszewski, Lucia  Search this
Halpert, Edith Gregor  Search this
Lawrence, Jacob  Search this
Pachano, Ernest  Search this
Schmoo, Aaron Ben  Search this
Diller, Burgoyne  Search this
Artists' Union (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Federal Art Project (N.Y.)  Search this
Harlem Artists Guild  Search this
Public Works of Art Project  Search this
United States. Federal Emergency Relief Administration  Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
39 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 24 minutes.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of Charles Alston conducted 1965 September 28, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project.
Alston speaks of his work as an art director of a community camp and as director of a boys' club in Harlem; the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and his involvement; the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and his involvement in it; his membership in the Harlem Artists Guild; his contribution to WPA Federal Art Project murals at Harlem Hospital; mural versus easel painting; problems with the Artists Union; and camaraderie among FAP artists. He recalls Lou Block, Stuart Davis, Burgoyne Diller, Edith Halpert, Jacob Lawrence, Ernest Pachano, Aaron Ben Schmoo, and others, and describes his associations with musicians including Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington and Chick Webb.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Charles Henry Alston, 1965 September 28. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Biography Note:
Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) was an African American painter and mural painter in New York, New York.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Federal aid to the arts  Search this
African American artists  Search this
Theme:
African American  Search this
New Deal  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)11482
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)213759
AAA_collcode_alston65
Theme:
African American
New Deal
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_213759