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Oral history interview with Moira Roth, 2011 April 22-24

Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Roth, Moira, 1933-2021  Search this
Interviewer:
Heinemann, Sue  Search this
Subject:
Antin, Eleanor  Search this
Baca, Judith Francisca  Search this
Bernardi, Claudia  Search this
Chadwick, Whitney  Search this
Chicago, Judy  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel  Search this
Jacob, Mary Jane  Search this
Kaprow, Allan  Search this
Kozloff, Joyce  Search this
Lacy, Suzanne  Search this
Lippard, Lucy R.  Search this
Machida, Margo  Search this
Nochlin, Linda  Search this
Ringgold, Faith  Search this
Schapiro, Miriam  Search this
Selz, Peter Howard  Search this
Stevens, May  Search this
Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project  Search this
London School of Economics and Political Science  Search this
University of California, Berkeley  Search this
University of Vienna  Search this
Women's Caucus for Art  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place:
Cornwall (England : County) -- Description and travel
Europe -- description and travel
Place of publication, production, or execution:
California
Physical Description:
5 Items, Sound recording, master: 5 memory cards (6 hr., 9 min.), secure digital, 1.25 in; 81 Pages, Transcript
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of Moira Roth conducted 2011 April 22- 24, by Sue Heinemann, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History Project, at Roth's home, in Berkeley, California.
Roth discusses her childhood and family background; her "unconventional" mother attending the London School of Economics; her "romantic childhood" growing up in Cornwall, England; her family's move to Letchworth for her to attend St. Christopher, a Montessori school; taking in evacuees from London during the Battle of Britain in 1940; childhood colored with European culture, Jewish culture, and music; at 17 moving from England to Washington, D.C., to live with her Irish father who was working for the International Monetary Fund; her early "passion for travelling"; moving to New York City in 1952; meeting John Cage; her autobiographical writings; travels in Europe; studies at the University of Vienna and the London School of Economics; deciding to be a psychiatric social worker; majoring in sociology with a minor in art history; attending graduate school in art history; her interest in Duchamp; doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley; interviewing artists; her marriage to Bill Roth; teaching; early publications; performances at the Woman's Building in the late 1970s; editing the book "The Amazing Decade: Women & Performance Art in America, 1970-1980" (1983); traveling with Faith Ringgold; friendships with Linda Nochlin, May Stevens, Lucy Lippard and others; experimental theater; her interest in Noh theater; the Women's Caucus for Art at CAA; The Poor Farm contemporary art space; living in the Bay Area; "rethinking feminism in terms of Asian-American Women"; globalism; the fictional character she created, Rachel Marker; and other topics. She recalls Joyce Kozloff, Miriam Schapiro, Judy Chicago, Judy Baca, Claudia Bernardi, Eleanor Antin, Margo Machida, Mary Jane Jacob, Annika Marie, Whitney Chadwick, Suzanne Lacy, Allan Kaprow, Peter Selz, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Moira Roth, 2011 April 22-24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript available online.
Funding:
This interview is part of the Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project, funded by the A G Foundation.
Biography Note:
Moira Roth (1933- ) is an art historian and writer in Berkeley, California.
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
Topic:
Art -- History -- Study and teaching  Search this
Asian American women  Search this
Britain, Battle of, Great Britain, 1940  Search this
Experimental theater  Search this
Feminism and art  Search this
N?  Search this
Sociology -- Study and teaching  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)15938
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)300234
AAA_collcode_roth11
Theme:
Women
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_300234