Originally recorded as 10 digital sound files. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 14 min.
Access Note / Rights:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Summary:
An interview of Douglas Crimp conducted 2009 March 8, by Johanna Burton, for the Archives of American Art, at the Crimp's home, in New York, New York.
Crimp speaks of his childhood in Couer d'Alene, Idaho; his education at Tulane University in New Orleans; his early experiences in New York while working with fashion designer Charles James, Diane Waldman at the Guggenheim, and Rosalind Krauss at October Magazine; the graduate program at City University in New York; his working relationship with Agnes Martin; the Pictures exhibition at Artists Space; his role in orchestrating the AIDS issue of October in 1987 and his subsequent break from October; his current memoirs; and his teaching positions at Sarah Lawrence and University of Rochester in New York. He comments on the cultural gay scene of New York and New Orleans and its influence on his own writings and perspective; his friendships with Helene Winer, Craig Owens, and Gregg Bordowitz; his impressions of the Pictures Generation exhibition at the Met; the role visual theory had played in his career; and the ideological climate of the art history community today. He concludes by explaining his current interest in film and dance, particularly concerning the work of Merce Cunningham and Yvonne Rainer.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Douglas Crimp, 2009 March 8. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Funding:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Brown Foundation. 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:
Douglas Crimp (1944-2019) was a professor and art critic in New York, New York.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is 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 administrators.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
