The papers of African American sculptor, painter, and land artist Beverly Buchanan measure 18.3 linear feet and 1.07 gigabytes, and date from 1912 to 2017 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. The collection contains biographical material; correspondence; writings; and exhibition and project files, including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery. Material related to professional activities; personal business records; printed material; scrapbooks; photographic material, including photograph albums; and artwork are also found in the collection.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of African American sculptor, painter, and land artist Beverly Buchanan measure 18.3 linear feet and 1.07 gigabytes, and date from 1912 to 2017 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. The collection contains biographical material; correspondence; writings; and exhibition and project files, including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery. Material related to professional activities; personal business records; printed material; scrapbooks; photographic material, including photograph albums; and artwork are also found in the collection.
The Beverly Buchanan papers contain biographical material including address books, calendars, awards and education certificates, identification documents, family history research material, and a recorded interview with Marcia Yerman for Women in Art; correspondence with friends and colleagues including Lucy Lippard and Lowery Stokes Sims, and with galleries and museums such as Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, the Georgia Museum of Art, and the High Museum of Art. Also included are writings such as artist's statements, journals and notebooks, notes, and writings by others about Beverly Buchanan; exhibition and project files including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery and Steinbaum Krauss Gallery of various exhibitions; material related to professional activities including teaching files and grant and fellowship applications; personal business records such as sales and consignment records; printed material including clippings, exhibition and event announcements and catalogs, magazines, posters, a video recording of A World of Art profile, and other published material; and scrapbooks, including one documenting Buchanan's City Walls series, containing primarily photographs and artwork with some printed material. The collection also contains photographic material including photographs, snapshots, negatives, and photograph albums; and artwork including sketchbooks, drawings, folded cardboard artwork, and illustrated cards.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as ten series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-2015 (Box 1, Boxes 19-20; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1919-1954, 1967-2017 (Boxes 1-2; 0.9 linear feet; ER01, 0.017 GB)
Series 3: Writings, 1960-circa 2009 (Boxes 2-3; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Exhibition and Project Files, 1974-2001, 2010-2017 (Boxes 3-4, OV 21, FCs 22-23; 1.9 linear feet; ER02, 0.020 GB)
Series 5: Professional Activities, 1962, 1979-2005 (Box 4, Box 19; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1966-2010 (Box 4; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1912, 1923-2014 (Boxes 4-7, Box 19, OV 21; 3.6 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1970-circa 1977 (Box 7, Box 20; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 9: Photographic Material, circa 1920s-2013 (Boxes 7-13, Boxes 16-18, Box 20; 8.8 linear feet; ER03, 1.03 GB)
Series 10: Artwork, 1956-2013, undated (Boxes 13-15, Box 20; 0.7 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) was an African American sculptor, painter, and land artist in Macon, Georgia. Born in Fuquay, North Carolina and raised in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Buchanan studied medical technology at Bennett College before going on to earn two master's degrees in parasitology and public health from Columbia University in 1968 and 1969. Her artistic career began in 1971 when she enrolled in a class at the Art Students League in New York City taught by Norman Lewis. She moved to Georgia in 1977.
Buchanan is most well known for her "shack" sculptures and paintings, depictions of houses tied to Southern identity and memory.
Buchanan has been included in exhibitions at institutions such as Cinque Gallery, Truman Gallery, the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, GA, the Chrysler Museum, and a traveling retrospective exhibition organized by the Montclair Art Museum. Her work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Beverly Buchanan has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Anonymous Was a Woman Award, and the Women's Caucus for Art lifetime achievement award, among others. She died in 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Provenance:
The Beverly Buchanan papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2018 by Jane Bridges, Buchanan's friend and executor.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The records of the New York Tibor de Nagy Gallery measure 43.9 linear feet and date from 1941-2016. The records document the activities of the gallery through business records and correspondence, exhibition files, artist files, financial and legal records, inventory records, and a small amount of records of the Houston Branch.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the New York Tibor de Nagy Gallery measure 43.9 linear feet and date from 1941-2016. The records document the activities of the gallery through business records and correspondence, exhibition files, artist files, financial and legal records, inventory records, a small amount of records of the Houston Branch, and exhibition announcements.
Business records include correspondence and administrative files. Business correspondence is with clients, curators, galleries, museums, colleges and universities, organizations, and publications, such as the Museum of Modern Art, Art Dealers Association, National Institute of Arts and Letters, United States Information Agency, The Hirshhorn Museum, Art News, Art in America, Pauli Hirsch, Jacqueline Kennedy, Charles Penney, Nelson Rockefeller, and many others. Correspondence concerns sales, purchases, shipping, loans, general exhibitions, publicity, events, publications and publishing, and other topics. Additional documents found within the correspondence files are purchase invoices, inquiries, shipping receipts, and photographs. Correspondence with artists is found in the Artist Files series. Administrative files concern day-to-day operations and include leases and construction documents, incorporation, insurance, art appraisals, art framing, and other general business affairs.
Exhibition files document many exhibitions held at the Gallery and include clippings and research materials, exhibition catalogs, exhibit and gallery plans, correspondence, and photographs. Some loan agreements and shipping receipts are also included.
Artist files document business affairs with individual artists and also contain collected information on artists. Typically, there are several files on each artist which may include printed materials, biographies, consignments, loans documentation, sales documentation, correspondence, photographic material, publicity, and reviews. Artists well represented among these files include Rosemarie Castoro, Ray Ciarrocchi, Robert Goodnough, Harold Gregor, Red Grooms (including a transcript of "A Conversation with Marison and Red Grooms"), Joyce Kozloff, Peter Reginato, Tony Robbin, Leatrice Rose, and Nancy Witteman-Widrig.
Financial records include incomplete runs of billing statements, expenses and cash disbursements, paid and unpaid invoices, and sales and shipping receipts. Inventory records consist primarily of index cards and/or sheets that document stock, consignments, loans, sales, and shipping.
A relatively small amount of Houston branch records include announcements, clippings, correspondence, financial information including consignments, income, invoices, and statements, photographs, publicity materials and a research file on Houston art museums.
Exhibition announcements promote the gallery's exhibitions for artists including Joe Brainard, Shirley Jaffe, Fairfield Porter, Rosemarie Castoro, Alfred Leslie, and many others.
Arrangement:
The Tibor de Nagy Gallery records are arranged into seven series.
Series 1: Business Records and Correpondence, 1950-1993 (10 linear feet; Boxes 1-10)
Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1941-1992 (2 linear feet; Boxes 11-12)
Series 3: Artist Files, 1956-1993 (18.6 linear feet; Boxes 13-31, 46)
Series 4: Financial and Legal Records, 1951-1984 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 31-34)
Series 5: Inventory Records, 1952-1989 (9 linear feet; Boxes 34-43)
Series 6: Houston Branch Records, 1969-1984 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 43-45)
Series 7: Exhibition Announcements, 1953-2016 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 47-48)
Biographical / Historical:
One of the earliest modern art galleries in New York, Tibor de Nagy Gallery was founded in 1950 by Tibor de Nagy and John Bernard Myers. Initially the gallery featured the work of second generation Abstract Expressionists and continues to operate today with a focus on the Post War second generation New York School.
John B. Myers served as the gallery's first director and De Nagy was the business manager while continuing to work in the banking business. Early on, the gallery introduced and promoted second generation Abstract Expressionists such as Grace Hartigan and Alfred Leslie. The gallery quickly earned a reputation for promoting the work of emerging artists, including Carl Andre, Helen Frankenthaler, Jane Freilicher, Red Grooms, Fairfield Porter, and Larry Rivers, among others, giving many of them their first solo shows.
Later the gallery gained a reputation as a space for collaborative artistic ventures and organized exhibitions that combined visual imagery and poetry by several New York School poets. The gallery also published books by poets John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and James Schuyler, as well as a poetry newsletter entitled Semi-Colon.
In 1973 de Nagy teamed with Marvin Watson to open the Watson/deNagy Gallery in Houston, which closed in 1983. Tibor de Nagy retired from banking in 1970 and continued running the gallery until he died in 1993. The Tibor de Nagy gallery continues operating today at 724 Fifth Avenue under the direction of Andrew Arnot and Eric Brown. It also works with a number of estates, including those of Joe Brainard, Rudy Burckhardt, Donald Evans, and Jess.
Related Materials:
Among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are an oral history interview with Tibor de Nagy, March 29, 1976 conducted by Paul Cummings; the John Bernard Myers papers (which do not contain documentation of his work at the gallery); and the Watson/de Nagy Houston gallery records available only on microfilm, a small portion of which may also be duplicated in the original records described in this finding aid.
Provenance:
The records were donated by Tibor de Nagy Gallery in multiple accessions between 1993-1996 and in 2018. Additional material about the exhibition, Digital Explorations: Emerging Visions in art, 1988, donated in 2020 by one of the exhibition curators, Ligia Ercius-DiPaola.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
Rights:
The Tibor de Nagy Gallery records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
The records of the New York artist-cooperative Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. and the Soho contemporary art gallery Paula Cooper Gallery measure 50 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from 1961 to 2006. The collection documents the founding of the Park Place Gallery and its artists through correspondence, artists' files, photographic materials, financial records, printed and digital materials, and scattered business records. The bulk of the collection is Paula Cooper Gallery records; nearly two-thirds of which are artists' files containing a variety of materials such as correspondence, printed materials, and photographic materials. Also found is additional business correspondence, business records, financial records, and printed materials for Paula Cooper Gallery, as well as a handful of records from Paula Johnson Gallery.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the New York artist-cooperative Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. and the Soho contemporary art gallery Paula Cooper Gallery measure 50 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from 1961 to 2006. The collection documents the founding of the Park Place Gallery and its artists through correspondence, artists' files, photographic materials, financial records, printed and digital materials, and scattered business records. The bulk of the collection is Paula Cooper Gallery records; nearly two-thirds of which are artists' files containing a variety of materials such as correspondence, printed materials, and photographic materials. Also found is additional business correspondence, business records, financial records, and printed materials for Paula Cooper Gallery, as well as a handful of records from Paula Johnson Gallery.
The collection is divided in three series, one series for each gallery represented in this collection. The records in each series are not comprehensive and do not represent the full scope of operations at each gallery. Due to the original arrangement of materials, some records related to Park Place Gallery are found in Series 3, and scattered records related to Paula Cooper Gallery are found in Series 2. Researchers are encouraged to reference both series.
Series 1, Paula Johnson Gallery records, contains six folders and includes an artist file for Bob Thompson; two ledger pages of accounts receivables; scattered exhibition announcements and flyers; two photographs of artwork by Vernon Lobb; tax records, and a handful of legal organizational records.
Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. records are filed in Series 2 and is arranged in five subseries: correspondence, business files, artists' files, financial records, and printed materials. The correspondence is between gallery employees and clients, museums, and other galleries regarding artwork inquiries, sales and exhibitions. Business files are limited in scope and include documents related to the founding of the gallery, a guest book, and one folder of legal and financial records. Artists' Files for eight of the ten Park Place Gallery artists are found: Dean Fleming, Peter Forakis, Tony Magar, Tamara Melcher, Forrest Myers, David Novros, Edwin Ruda, and Leo Valledor. Not present in this collection are files for Mark di Suvero and Robert Grosvenor. Artists' Files contain a variety of materials including artists' statements, bibliographies, biographies, correspondence, exhibition flyers, interview transcripts, clippings and other printed materials, and photographic materials. Financial Records include check ledgers, a general ledger, paid bill receipts, sales invoices, tax forms, and other miscellaneous financial and banking records. Printed Materials include newspaper clippings, gallery announcements, an interview transcript, a handwritten gallery floor plan, and a poster for the 1964 Park Place Invitational Show drawn by Mark di Suvero with artists' names handwritten by Robert Grosvenor.
The bulk of the collection is the records of Paula Cooper Gallery, Series 3. This series contains similar materials as Series 2 and is arranged in the same five subseries. Correspondence includes responses to appraisal requests (1968-1997) and copies of outgoing gallery correspondence from 1985-1999. Business Files contain documentation related to advertising and renovations to the gallery, as well as an artwork inventory book from the early years of the gallery's operation. The bulk of this series is comprised of Artists' Files which contain varied materials such as correspondence with artists, museums, and galleries regarding installations, artwork fabrication, and other business; biographies and bibliographies; exhibition files; printed materials; and photographic materials of artwork and installations. There is considerable documentation for artists Jennifer Bartlett, Peter Campus, Zoe Leonard, Elizabeth Murray, Alan Shields and the estate of Tony Smith. Sales invoices, consignment records, payment ledgers, cancelled checks and other financial materials are found in Financial Records. Printed Materials are comprised of some newspaper and magazine clippings, an interview transcript, and a copy of a manuscript.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 3 series:
Series 1: Paula Johnson Gallery, 1963-1967 (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 2: Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc., 1961-1973, 1989 (Boxes 1-4, 50-51, OV 52; 4.1 linear feet)
Series 3: Paula Cooper Gallery, 1962-2006 (Boxes 4-49, 51; 45.7 linear feet, ER01; 0.001 GB)
Historical Note:
The artists' cooperative Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. opened in November 1965 at 542 West Broadway, showing the work of ten young contemporary artists. The cooperative did not represent an art movement, but frequently exhibited large-scale, non-figurative, geometric paintings and sculptures.
Many of the gallery's artists had attended art school in California and shared similar ideas about art, community, and collaboration. Since 1962, they had been informally exhibiting together at 79 Park Place and other various New York City locations under the name Park Place Gallery. With the successes of their informal exhibitions, and the loss of their lease at 79 Park Place, the group formalized their cooperative under the umbrella non-profit, Art Research, Inc. in 1965.
The cooperative was comprised of five sculptors, five painters, and five collectors. Members included sculptors Mark di Suvero, Peter Forakis, Robert Grosvenor, Tony Magar, and Forrest Myers; painters Dean Fleming, Tamara Melcher, David Novros, Edwin Ruda, and Leo Valledor; and collectors Virginia Dwan, Allen and Betty Guiberson, J. Patrick Lannan, Vera List, and John and Lupe Murchison. The collectors each donated an artwork by one of the artists for sale in the gallery, as well as financed the gallery's annual operating budget. As compensation, each collector was given one major work of art by each artist every year.
Paula Cooper (nee. Johnson) joined Park Place Gallery in 1966 and she became director in late 1966-early 1967. Previously, from 1964-1966, she ran Paula Johnson Gallery, showing artwork by Bob Thompson and other young artists.
Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. had its first group show in February 1966. In addition to showing art, the gallery occasionally held jazz sessions and other art-related gatherings. The gallery physically closed at the end of July 1967. However, Paula Cooper continued managing the sale of artwork and organized exhibitions at various locations. The final exhibition of Park Place Gallery artists was held at M.I.T. in late spring of 1968.
Paula Cooper opened Paula Cooper Gallery in Soho at 96 Prince Street in 1968. Her gallery is often credited as being the first gallery in Soho and thus paved the way for the migration of uptown galleries to the neighborhood. From the beginning, the gallery showed primarily conceptual and minimalist art and she continued representing some of the Park Place artists. Artists represented by Paula Cooper Gallery and found in this collection include Jennifer Bartlett, Dara Birnbaum, Peter Campus, Michael Hurson, Zoe Leonard, Robert Mangold, Elizabeth Murray, Cady Noland, Adrian Piper, Ulrich Rückriem, Edwin Ruda, Alan Shields, the estate of Tony Smith, Joseph White, Chris Wilmarth, Kes Zapkus, and many others. The gallery continues to operate in Chelsea on West 21st Street.
Sources consulted include "Reimaging Space: the Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York" by Linda Dalrymple Henderson, published by Blanton Museum of Art, 2008; and, "Art and Space: Park Place and the beginning of the Paula Cooper Gallery," by Liza Kirwin, 2007 (http://www.aaa.si.edu/exhibitions/paula-cooper).
Related Material:
Related collections found among the holdings of the Archives of America include a sound recording of a lecture given by Paula Cooper (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston sound recordings, May 18, 1983-February 8, 1984); audio tapes which include Paula Cooper (Bruce D. Kurtz video and audio recordings and papers, 1966-1995); and two silent 16mm films by Kenny Schneider (Park Place Gallery artists films, 1967.)
Provenance:
Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. records and Paula Cooper Gallery records were donated by Paula Cooper, director of the galleries, in two accessions in 2006 and 2009.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. records and Paula Cooper Gallery records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. They may be used for research, study, and scholarship. Authorization to quote, publish or reproduce requires written permission from Paula Cooper, 534 West 21st Street, New York, NY 10011.
The records of the Washington, D.C. arts and educational organization, Institute of Contemporary Arts, measure 36 linear feet and date from 1927-circa 1985, with the bulk of the material spanning the organization's active years, 1947-1967. The collection documents the arts and cultural programming organized by the ICA through correspondence, artists' files, program and exhibition files, administrative and financial records, printed materials and photographs. Also found are administrative, student, and teacher records of the ICA school; records of the Fine Arts Committee of the People-to-People Project; and some personal papers of the ICA's founder, Robert Richman.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Washington, D.C. arts and educational organization, Institute of Contemporary Arts, measure 36 linear feet and date from 1927-circa 1985, with the bulk of the material spanning the organization's active years, 1947-1967. The collection documents the arts and cultural programming organized by the ICA through correspondence, artists' files, program and exhibition files, administrative and financial records, printed materials and photographs. Also found are administrative, student, and teacher records of the ICA school; records of the Fine Arts Committee of the People-to-People Project; and some personal papers of the ICA's founder, Robert Richman.
Robert Richman's professional and personal relationships with numerous artists and writers which the ICA hosted in D.C. are documented in Correspondence and Artists' Files. Correspondence files include letters from Joseph and Anni Albers, Alfred Barr, e.e. cummings, Alexander Giampietro, Naum Gabo, Walter Gropius, Erick Hawkins, Duncan Phillips, Hans Richter, Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy, and William Carlos Williams. Also found is correspondence with benefactors, board members, and arts organizations regarding exhibitions and administrative details; and with teachers and the Veteran's Administration regarding school issues.
Artists' Files contains mostly incoming and outgoing correspondence, but also found are biographies, exhibition printed materials, handwritten notes, newspaper clippings and scattered portrait photographs. Of interest are files on Aaron Copland, e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, Wojciech Fangor, Nadine Gordimer, Robert Graves, Aldous Huxley, Janheinz Jahn, Kathleen Raine, and Sir Herbert Read.
In addition to Correspondence and Artists' Files, materials regarding ICA's programming, such as correspondence with artists and galleries, press releases, shipping records, financial records, printed materials, photographs, inventory and price lists, are found in ICA Program Files.
The ICA and Robert Richman collaborated with numerous arts and international exchange organizations to organize exhibitions, performances, symposium, and to host visiting artists. Materials regarding such collaborations are found in Organizations and includes correspondence, scattered financial records, notes, and printed materials such as bulletins, brochures, schedules, reports, and press releases. This series also includes substantial material related to the Fine Arts Committee of the People-to-People Program, an international exchange initiative of President Dwight D. Eisenhower begun in 1956.
The school's records include correspondence, notebooks (attendance books), teacher files documenting classes and grades, extensive student files and student enrollment cards, mailing lists, class cards, and notes for classes taught by Robert Richman.
Administrative and Financial Files include accounting and banking records, budgets, founding documents, fundraising records, grants records, mailing lists, membership lists, and Meridian House Foundation records.
ICA's programs are also documented by comprehensive printed materials arranged by ICA seasons, 1947-1967. Printed materials include program calendars, exhibition announcements, invitations, membership forms, and press releases. Also found are newspaper clippings and three oversized clippings scrapbooks.
Photographs include black and white photographs and negatives of people, most of whom are unidentified. Robert Richman's personal papers includes personal correspondence, correspondence related to "New Republic," handwritten and typed writings, some bills, and his curriculum vitae.
Unrepresented in this collection are records of ICA's ICONART Collection (Contemporary Arts Archives), an archive of films and tapes of artists' performances, lectures and events held by ICA.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1937, 1944-1980 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 2: Artists' Files, 1943-1967, 1970-1979 (4.9 linear feet; Boxes 3-8)
Series 3: ICA Program Files, circa 1947-1968 (5.2 linear feet; Boxes 8-13, 27)
Series 4: Organizations, 1927, 1940s-1967 (7.3 linear feet; Boxes 13-20, OV 39)
Series 5: ICA School Files, 1945-1953 (7.0 linear feet; Boxes 21-27)
Series 6: Administrative and Financial Files, 1945-1979, 1983 (5.2 linear feet; Boxes 28-33, 38)
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1945-1970 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 33-35, 38)
Series 8: Photographs, circa 1930s-1960s, circa 1985 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 35-36)
Series 9: Personal Papers of Robert Richman, 1940s-1980 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 36-37)
Biographical / Historical:
The Washington, D.C. arts and educational organization, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), was founded by poet Robert Richman in 1947 to bring arts and culture to the nation's capital. The school, originally named the King-Smith School of Creative Arts, was redesigned and renamed Institute of Contemporary Arts by Richman in 1948. The school's philosophy was based on Sir Herbert Read's Education Through Art, and provided professional training in painting, sculpture, literature, music, and theater. In addition, the ICA operated an evening school and brought prominent artists and literary figures to the nation's capital for exhibitions, concerts, workshops, lectures, readings, and performances. Teachers at the school included potter Alexander Giampietro, sculptor David Aaron, designers Beatrice Takeuchi and Hubert Leckie, and painter Kenneth Noland.
The school closed in August 1951, but the ICA continued to provide an impressive roster of programs and performances held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and other D.C. institutions, such as exhibitions by Naum Gabo, Bernard Leach, Isamu Noguchi, and Hans Richter; readings by W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Katherine Anne Porter, and Dylan Thomas; lectures by Charles Eames, Aldous Huxley, Octavio Paz, and Frank Lloyd Wright; and performances by Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, José Limón Dance Company, and Ravi Shankar. The organization also sponsored visiting professorships for international artists and writers, such as Nadine Gordimer, and hosted an annual Congress of Artists and Writers from 1959-1964.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the ICA was successful in securing some large grants to continue and expand its programming and to secure permanent space at the Meridian House Foundation. However, by the late 1960s the organization's programming declined.
ICA founder Robert Richman was a poet and literary editor at New Republic magazine in the early 1950s. He was active in the arts community in D.C. and in international exchange organizations, including the Fine Arts Committee of the People-to-People Project, an initiative started by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the late 1950s. Robert Richman passed away in 1987.
Provenance:
The Institute of Contemporary Arts records were donated by Maida Richman, the wife of the ICA's founder, Robert Richman, in 1986.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Institute of Contemporary Arts records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Topic:
Art -- Societies, etc. -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Genre/Form:
Scrapbooks
Photographs
School records
Citation:
Institute of Contemporary Arts records, 1927-circa 1985, bulk 1947-1967. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collection Care Preservation Fund.
The papers of photographer and art historian Nina Howell Starr measure 21.2 linear feet and date from circa 1933 to 1996. The papers contain research files about various art historical topics, museums and galleries, photography, and artists. There are extensive files documenting Starr's relationship as researcher, dealer, and friend of folk painter Minnie Evans. Additionally, the papers include biographical materials, writings, speeches, project files, printed material collected or authored by Starr, and hundreds of artistic and documentary photographs and negatives created by Starr depicting her travels, Minnie Evans' paintings, roadside folk art, and other topics.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of photographer and art historian Nina Howell Starr measure 21.2 linear feet and date from circa 1933 to 1996. The papers contain research files about various art historical topics, museums and galleries, photography, and artists. There are extensive files documenting Starr's relationship as researcher, dealer, and friend of folk painter Minnie Evans. Additionally, the papers include biographical materials, writings, speeches, project files, printed material collected or authored by Starr, and hundreds of artistic and documentary photographs and negatives created by Starr depicting her travels, Minnie Evans' paintings, roadside folk art, and other topics.
Biographical materials are scattered and include grant and publication applications, curriculum vitae, lists of artwork, and miscellany.
Starr's lectures, writings, and project files are arranged into one series. They include Starr's student writings, a notebook about Civil Rights, files documenting her work on a Florida public housing project, the Southern Regional Council, and the League of Women Voters. A few files of general writings and lectures mostly concern folk artist Minnie Evans and the exhibition Women Photograph Men, held at the International Women's Arts Festival in 1976.
Subject files on artists, art history topics, photographers and photography (including Starr's work), and on folk artist and friend Minne Evans comprise the bulk of the collection. The files are a mix of collated materials and primary sources created by Starr and others and many contain correspondence, notes, photographs, and a few sketches and orginal prints. Also included are materials related to professional and organizational groups in which Starr was involved, including the Professional Women's Photographers, Inc., the Photographic Historical Society of New York, and the Museum of American Folk Art; files on several of Starr's exhibitions; and files on artists that contain printed materials, correspondence, and photographs. The file on Ruth Starr Rose contains prints and drawings. There are also photographs taken by Stephanie Cohen. Particularly rich files are found for Stephanie Cohen; Van Deren Coke, Director of the George Eastman Company; Evelyn Daitz, Director of the Witkin Gallery; Henry DiSpirito; Walker Evans; the Fotofolio printing company; curator Henri Ghent; photographer Consuelo Kanaga and husband Wallace Putnam; Margot Starr Kernan; Lucy Lippard; Stanton Mac-Donald Wright; Sharon Arts Center; photographer Paul Strand; curator John Szarwarski; and photographer Jerry Uelsman.
The collection also documents the friendship between painter Minnie Evans and Starr, and Starr's business dealings on Evans' behalf. There is correspondence about and with Evans, several sound recordings of interviews conducted by Starr and others with Evans, many with transcripts, financial documents, publications about Evans including exhibition catalogs, clippings, journal articles and monographs, two posters, a scrapbook, and one sketch by Evans.
Printed material includes published articles, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and clippings about Starr.
Photographic materials are extensive and include photographs and slides taken by Starr of friends, family, artwork by Minnie Evans, events, exhibition openings, world travels, and folk art, especially roadside. Prominent artists and art historians photographed include: photographers Maggie Sherwood, Naomi Savage, Barbara Morgan, Linda Connor, Aaron Siskind, Consuelo Kanaga, Faith Ringgold, and Walker Evans; sculptors Louise Kruger and Helene Brandt; feminist and art historian Pat Mainardi; and curators Henri Ghent and John Szarkowski. Starr's artistic photographic work is also represented, and includes two silver gelatin prints of Minnie Evans, and subject studies on hands, people, and nature, among others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Biographical material, 1954-circa 1990 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Writings, Speeches and Projects, 1933-1995 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Subject Files, circa 1939-1996 (8.3 linear feet; Boxes 2-10)
Series 4: Minnie Evans, 1962-1996 (3.7 linear feet; Boxes 10-13, 23, OV 24)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1936-1995 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 13-16, 23)
Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1939-1993 (5.4 linear feet; Boxes 16-23, OV 24)
Biographical / Historical:
Nina Howell Starr (1903-2000) was a photographer, art dealer, and art historian who worked primarily in New York City. Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1903 as Cornelia Margaret Howell, Starr attended Wellesley College and graduated from Barnard in 1926. Also in 1926, she married Nathan Comfort Starr, an English professor, and, over the years the couple lived in Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, and New York City.
In 1963, at the age of 60, Starr received the first M.F.A. in photography granted by the University of Florida. Starr exhibited widely in both solo and group exhibitions, including Magic Lantern (Photographer's Gallery, London, 1976), and the Strength of Women (Witken Gallery, 1991), and numerous shows featuring photographs of outsider art. Her "New Yorker" project became an exhibition in 2016. Her work is owned by several prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography.
As art historian, self-proclaimed critic, and civil rights and feminist advocate, Starr lectured widely, wrote articles and letters to editors, and corresponded with many notable art world figures. She became especially interested in outsider and folk art. Starr met outsider artist Minnie Evans in 1962 and became Evans' lifelong friend, advocate, and representative dealer. She wrote about Evans and introduced Evans' works to galleries and other exhibition spaces in New York, including the Whitney Museum, where she guest-curated an exhibition of Evans' work in 1975.
Starr was an active member of professional organizations including the Photographic Historical Society of New York, Professional Women's Photographers, Inc., and the Museum of American Folk Art where she served on the Advisory Committee.
Nina Howell Starr died in 2000 in Connecticut at the age of 97.
Provenance:
The Nina Howell Starr papers were donated by Nina Howell Starr in 1996.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Nina Howell Starr papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
The papers of New York City sculptor, painter, educator, and writer Lorrie Goulet (1925- ) measure 10.0 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2009. Goulet's career is documented through biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, interviews, exhibition files, project and commission files, teaching files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York City sculptor, painter, educator, and writer Lorrie Goulet (1925- ) measure 10.0 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2009. Goulet's career is documented through biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, interviews, exhibition files, project and commission files, teaching files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Biographical materials include awards, resumes, membership documents for the New York Artists Equity Association, and a scrapbook and photograph portfolio for Jose de Creeft's birthday in 1969. Scattered school records include a photocopy of a letter from Aimee Vorhees at the Inwood Pottery School.
Goulet's correspondence is mostly professional in nature but includes some letters from friends and family, including Jose de Creeft. Other notable correspondents include Chaim Gross, Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, and Richard Anuszkiewicz.
Writings and notes by Lorrie Goulet include artists' statements; notes and essays on sculpture, including a disbound binder entitled "Quadrations"; three journals about the creation of Enigma; a statement on Green Serpentine; lectures and talks, including a memorial tribute to Jose de Creeft; and poems. There are also a few writings by others about Goulet.
There are five transcripts of interviews with Lorrie Goulet and with Lorrie Goulet and Jose de Creeft. One of the interviews includes the original sound recordings on cassette tape and one includes a version of the transcript on floppy disc.
Extensive exhibition files document fifty years of Goulet's solo and group exhibitions held at galleries, museums, and institutions throughout the United States. Many of the files are from shows at Carolyn Hill Gallery, The Contemporaries, David Findlay Jr. Gallery, and Kennedy Galleries. Also found is extensive material on Goulet's exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Lorrie Goulet: Fifty Years of Making Sculpture (1998). File contents vary, but often contain photographs of openings and of works of art, correspondence, printed material, and price lists.
Project and commission files document Goulet's public commissioned works in the New York Public Library, 173 St. Branch, the Nurse's Residence and School at the Bronx Municipal Hospital, the New York City 48th Precinct Station House and Fire House, and the bust of King Juan Carlos I of Spain. There are also files concerning Goulet's television show Around the Corner, an educational children's show that aired from 1964-1968.
Teaching files are from Goulet's positions at the Art Students League, the school at the Museum of Modern Art, the New School for Social Research, and Scarsdale Studio Workshop. Personal business records include scattered bills and receipts for works of art by Goulet and Jose de Creeft and a file regarding Goulet's affiliation with art agent Anna Beck Nalle.
Among the printed materials are clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and issues of magazines and periodicals, many of which include articles about Goulet or her exhibitions. Also found is a videocassette tape concerning Jose de Creeft's Alice in Wonderland narrated by Goulet.
Photographs and eleven photo albums depict Goulet, her family life with Jose de Creeft, celebrations with friends, her artwork and studio, and travel. Also found are photos, slides, and transparencies of works of art. Pencil sketches are by Goulet of her studio. There is also a sketch of Lorrie Goulet by Zorach.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1931-2009 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1, 11)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1940s-2006 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1949-2002 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 4: Interviews, 1967-2002 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1948-2008 (3.1 linear feet; Box 2-5)
Series 6: Project Files, 1950s-2007 (0.8 linear feet; Box 6, 12)
Series 7: Teaching Files, 1958-2000 (0.2 linear feet; Box 6)
Series 8: Personal Business Records, 1969-1990s (2 folders; Box 6)
Series 9: Printed Materials, 1940s-1999 (1.1 linear feet; Box 7-8)
Series 10: Photographs, 1930s-2008 (2.3 linear feet; Box 8-11)
Series 11: Artwork, 1955-1956 (0.1 linear feet; Box 10)
Biographical / Historical:
Lorrie Goulet (1925- ) is a sculptor, painter, educator, and writer active in New York City, New York. She is well-known for direct sculpture on wood and stone.
Lorrie Goulet was born in Riverdale, NY in 1925. As early as the age of seven, Goulet attended the Inwood Pottery School in New York City where she studied under Aimee Vorhees. After the Goulet family moved to Los Angeles, Lorrie continued her studies in art and, in 1940, apprenticed under Jean Rose, a ceramicist in Southern California. In 1943, Goulet enrolled at Black Mountain College in North Carolina where she studied with Joseph and Annie Albers. This is also where she met her husband, sculptor Jose de Creeft; they married in 1944 and had one child, Donna Maria de Creeft. Goulet and de Creeft divided their time between Hoosick Falls, New York and New York City.
Goulet's first solo exhibition was held at the Clay Club Sculpture Center, New York, in 1948. She was represented by Kennedy Galleries in New York, David Findlay Jr. Gallery, and the Harmon Meek Gallery in Naples, Florida. She has exibited widely, including in a number of Annual Exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and in the fine arts pavilion of the New York World's Fair of 1965. In 1998, she was honored by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. with a solo exhibition titled Fifty Years of Making Sculpture.
Goulet taught sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art's Peoples Center, New York, in 1957. From 1961 to 1975 she was on the faculty of the New School, New York, and in 1981 began teaching at the Art Students League of New York, where she taught until 2004. Between 1964-1968 Lorrie Goulet demonstrated sculpture techniques on a CBS Television children's program called "Around the Corner", sponsored by the New York City Board of Education.
Lorrie Goulet's sculpture can be found in the permanent collections of museums across the country. She also completed a number of public sculptures commissioned by the City of New York for several of its public buildings in the Bronx including the Branch Public Library at 173rd Street and Grand Concourse (1958), the Nurses School and Residence, Bronx Municipal Hospital (1961), and the 48th Precinct Police and Fire Station Headquarters (1971) - all in varying materials. A bronx bust of King Juan Carlos I of Spain created by Goulet is displayed in the Royal Palace in Madrid.
Goulet is also a painter, philosopher and poet and continues to work in her studio in New York City.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the papers of Lorrie Goulet's husband, sculptor Jose de Creeft.
Provenance:
Lorrie Goulet lent a portion of her papers in 1972 for microfilming and later donated those papers along with additional materials to the Archives of American Art in 2010.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Lorrie Goulet papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
