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Oral history interview with George McNeil, 1965 June 3

Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
McNeil, George, 1908-1995  Search this
Interviewer:
Seckler, Dorothy Gees, 1910-1994  Search this
Subject:
Smith, David  Search this
Gorky, Arshile  Search this
De Kooning, Willem  Search this
Matulka, Jan  Search this
Pereira, I. Rice (Irene Rice)  Search this
Dlugoszewski, Lucia  Search this
Manso, Leo  Search this
Vytlacil, Vaclav  Search this
Hofmann, Hans  Search this
Rothko, Mark  Search this
Levy, Edgar  Search this
Hopper, Jo N. (Josephine Nivison)  Search this
Reinhardt, Ad  Search this
Pollock, Jackson  Search this
Tworkov, Jack  Search this
Dehner, Dorothy  Search this
Cavallon, Giorgio  Search this
Kline, Franz  Search this
Diller, Burgoyne  Search this
Art Students League (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Pratt Institute. Art School  Search this
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
United States. Work Projects Administration  Search this
American Abstract Artists  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
New York (State)
Physical Description:
18 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 49 min.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Summary:
An interview of George McNeil conducted by Dorothy Seckler for the Archives of American Art. McNeil speaks of his childhood and his family; becoming interested in art during high school; attending Pratt Institute, and not being satisfied there; deciding to drop out of Pratt after attending a lecture from Vaclav Vytlacil; going to the Metropolitan Museum every day drawing and analyzing paintings; meeting Arshile Gorky while at the Metropolitan Museum; attending the Art Students League; studying with Hans Hofmann; the start of the American Abstract Artists; his involvement in the WPA's mural project; attending Teachers College at Columbia before joining the Navy; re-entering the New York art scene during the forties and liking it very much; meeting and being influenced by Pollock; his views on the state of painting; how his work has evolved; the various stages in the way a painting developed for him; how The Club and the Eighth Street Club has influenced him; the ideas discussed at The Club, and how he feels surrealism was not a big influence on them; Jackson Pollock's influence on abstract expressionism; artists he admires or has admired; and his thoughts on the contemporary art scene. He recalls Vaclav Vytlacil, Arshile Gorky, Jan Matulka, David Smith, Dorothy Dehner, Edgar Levy, Leo Manso, Burgoyne Diller, Irene Rice Pereira, Hans Hofmann, Jo Hopper, Giorgio Cavallon, Linda Lindaberg (Cavallon), Mercedes Kahls, George Byron Brown, Albert Swinden, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollack, Franz Kline, Jack Tworkov, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, and many others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with George McNeil, 1965 June 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Biography Note:
George McNeil (1908-1995) was a painter and a printmaker in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' 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, American  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this
Abstract expressionism  Search this
Painting  Search this
Surrealism  Search this
Mural painting and decoration  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13160
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214125
AAA_collcode_mcneil65
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_214125