Gallery records including correspondence, printed material and business papers.
ADDITION: Financial records (1958-1959); minutes of the Board of Directors meetings (1958-1963); by-laws and articles of incorporation; and two scrapbooks of newspaper articles (1961-1965).
Biographical / Historical:
Commercial gallery; San Francisco, California. Est. 1958 by John Bolles, Chairman of the Board, San Francisco Art Institute. Its original mission was to provide an outlet for students and alumni of the Art Institute. Directors included Grace McCann Morley, Dick Faralla, Phil Lieder, Jim Monte, Harriet Johns, and Hayward King. The Gallery closed February 1975.
Provenance:
Donated 1975 by John S. Bolles. An additional 1 ft. of records were received in 1997 by Bolles' daughter, Jane Bolles Grimm.
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.
Topic:
Artists -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Exhibitions Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- San Francisco
The Eleanor Dickinson papers measure 29.0 linear feet and date from 1951-2011. Included are biographical material, personal and professional correspondence, legal and financial records, notes, writings by Dickinson and others, art work, teaching files, photographs, printed material, and audio visual material relating to organizations Dickinson was involved in, her exhibitions, and her teaching career.
Organizations include California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco Art Institute, Artists Equity Association, California Lawyers for the Arts, Bay Area Visual Arts Coalition, Graphic Arts Council, College Art Association, and Women's Caucus for Art, and among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Eleanor Dickinson (1931-2017) was a painter, graphic, video artist and instructor in San Francisco, Calif. Dickinson taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts.
Provenance:
Donated 1979-2005 by Eleanor Dickinson and in 2017 by the Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson Charitable Art Trust. Additions are expected.
Restrictions:
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Art -- Societies, etc. -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Graphic arts -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Video art -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Women artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Biographical material, 1953-1981; 15 letters from Hans and Maria Hofmann, and two from Wessels to Hofmann, 1952-1964; correspondence with Ila Limerick and Peace and Pauline Alvarez regarding mostly their planned but uncompleted biography of Wessels, ca. 1959-1968; miscellaneous correspondence; typescripts of lectures by Wessels; photographs of Wessels, including one by Imogen Cunningham, 1956, Wessels with others, one of his work, and one by Wessels (?) of an outdoor scene; newspaper clippings and printed material, undated, 1959-1967 and 1982; and miscellany, 1932-1966.
The Hans Hofmann letters, written from New York and Provincetown, discuss the importance of painting, his and Wessel's work, his plans to come to Berkeley to accept an honorary doctorate, and his feelings toward Wessels, Erle Loran, and others. Three of the letters are written by his wife Maria. Wessels' letters to Hofmann relate to the University's choice of Erle Loran to present Hofmann's honorary doctorate.
The correspondence with Ila Limerick, and Peace and sometimes Pauline Alvarez, contain lengthy, detailed reminiscences by Wessels on personal and professional topics. The later correspondence with Peace Alvarez relates mainly to the deteriorating health of Wessels' wife, Kay.
The miscellaneous correspondence includes a letter from Wessels to Worth Ryder, 1943, relating to Erle Loran and John Haley; a letter from Alfred Frankenstein thanking Wessels for sending his paper "The New Approach to Nature in Painting"; a letter from Worth Ryder congratulating Wessels on his exhibition, 1959; a letter from Ansel Adams praising Wessels' work done at a Polaroid Corp. Workshop, 1965; and letters regarding a controversy surrounding credit for bringing Hofmann to U.C. Berkeley, including a copy of a letter from John Haley to Paul Cummings; from Wessels to Haley, 1978; and from Wessel's brother-in-law Willis Foster to James Elliott, Director, University Art Museum, 1986.
Included in the printed material are an issue of The Fortnightly (Feb. 26, 1932) which Wessels helped found and served as art editor, and The Argonaut (July 16, 1937), containing Wessels' weekly column on art.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, lecturer, critic, and teacher; Berkeley, Calif. Born Captown, South Africa. Studied with Hans Hofmann in Munich. Professor of Art at University of California at Berkeley.
Provenance:
Donated 1991 by Willis Foster, Wessels' brother-in-law.
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.
Correspondence; business records; teaching contracts; printed material, and material relating to Jay DeFeo.
REEL 1092: Correspondence with museums and galleries; papers related to museum and gallery business; income tax papers; teaching contracts; catalogs and announcements; and clippings.
REEL 911: Working files relating primarily to Jay DeFeo's painting "The Rose," as well as her recent works. The files contain correspondence with DeFeo, and with Thomas Albright, George Neubert, Terry St. John, John Humphrey, Tony Rockwell, and Ed Janss. Also included are photographs of "The Rose" and DeFeo's "telephone series"; business material; and clippings.
REEL 2802: A letter to Alfred Frankenstein, Oct. 2, 1976, asking "Has Christo taken the role of criminal perpetrator of a 'Crime Against Nature'..." Frankenstein replies "How idiotic can you get?" and Conner responds at length.
Biographical / Historical:
Printmaker and filmmaker; San Francisco, Calif.
Provenance:
Material on reel 911 lent for microfilming, 1975 and the remainder donated 1976 by Bruce Conner.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
11.1 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 9 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Sketchbooks
Sound recordings
Date:
1946-1982
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, inventories, works of arts, business and financial records, printed material, and photographs.
REELS 2759-2762: Resumes; correspondence; photographs of works of art and installations; writings, including school papers and articles; drawings, mostly designs for sculptures; business and personal financial records, including transactions with galleries; printed material including announcements, catalogs and press releases; and miscellany.
REELS 4010-4014: Correspondence (14 items), including a carbon copy and several drafts of Paris' letter, ca. 1969, to Mr. Withofs of Gallerie Withofs in Brussels regarding the installation of the exhibition "Voices of Packaged Souls," a letter from Paris to Debbie Little and friends, ca. 1969, in which he comments on his stay in Milan and his exhibition at the Studio Marconi, and a draft of a letter to Hilton Kramer;
a manuscript "A Temporarily Harold Paris," in which Paris comments on his work and recounts numerous autobiographical incidents; 3 p. of hand illustrated and written notes "The Dissillussion of Hero Modern"; 4 address books; and photocopies of annotated art inventories, identified as: "Works of art 1940-1979," "Blue prints, black lines and blue lines," "Works of art personal collection," and "Inventory Smithsonian Institution."
Also included are fifteen sketchbooks, including one executed during Paris' service as an artist correspondent for the army newspaper STARS AND STRIPES, and ca. 50 loose sketches entitled "Book of Packaged Souls"; clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements,; a scrapbook containing exhibition announcements and reviews of Paris' work, 1975-1976; photographs of family, friends, art works executed by Paris between ca. 1956-1978, and negatives and transparencies.
UNMICROFILMED: Biographical material including a resume, membership cards and travel papers; correspondence, 1946-1980, with friends including Angelo Ippolito and Paris' second wife Frieda, some illustrated, business correspondence regarding Paris' Guggenheim fellowship and exhibitions; illustrated writings by Paris including notes and essays regarding one of his works "26 Days of John Little" and notes and writings for his unpublished book "Temporarily Harold Paris," 1978; 8 sketchbooks, 7 prints and many loose sketches undated; business records including price lists and inventories of paintings, a ledger and a tax return;
printed material, 1946-1979, including exhibition announcements, catalogs, brochures, and a scrapbook of clippings; 4 cassette tapes of notes on "Temporarily Harold Paris, " and 1 cassette tape "Harold Paris Reading Article on Souls;" subject files on the Smith Anderson Gallery, 1973-1978, the Stephen Wirtz Gallery, 1977-1979, (including a card catalog with photographs of Paris' work) and the Bart Commission; and photographs, slides and negatives including snapshots of Paris, friends and family, portraits of Paris and works of art.
Biographical / Historical:
Harold Paris (1925-1979) was a sculptor, assemblage artist and printmaker in California.
Provenance:
Donated by the Paris estate, 1982 and 1988, and by Paris' widow Deborah Little Paris, 1986.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm.
Rights:
Manuscript and photographs of: "Temporarily Harold Paris," reel 4010, frames 242-370: The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own.
Occupation:
Assemblage artists -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area Search this
Printmakers -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area Search this
Sculptors -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area Search this
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area Search this
An interview of Mary Fuller McChesney conducted 1994 Sept. 28, by Susan Landauer, for the Archives of American Art, Women in the Arts in Southern California Oral History Project, at the artist's home, on Sonoma Mountain, Calif.
Fuller McChesney discusses her childhood and growing up during the Depression; her student days at the University of California, Berkeley; the political response on the campus to WWII and the Japanese interment; her experience working as a welder in the shipyards which she considers her introduction to sculpture; her introduction to the art community in San Francisco through the cooperative Artists' Guild Gallery; her association with the Abstract Expressionists at the California School of Fine Arts in the 1940s; her foray into writing fiction and her success as a mystery writer; her work on the Archives of American Art's oral history project documenting the WPA art project in California; her first significant publication on the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism, Period of Exploration, and the interviews she conducted in the mid-late 1960s for the project.
She describes her attitudes and philosphies about art; living at Point Richmond with her husband Robert McChesney, Edward Corbett, Hassel Smith, and poet Weldon Kees during the late 1940s; her impressions of the Cedar Bar and New York artists during the mid-late 1960s; her own artistic evolution and career as a sculptor; the intellectual and artistic sources of her work; her subjects and techniques; her public commissions; her audience and market; and her experiences and perspectives as a woman artist and feminist. She recalls Edward Corbett, Willem De Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Weldon Kees, Douglas MacAgy, Bea Mandelman, Conrad Marca-Relli, Agnes Martin, Robert McChesney, David Park, Ad Reinhardt, Louis Ribak, Hassel Smith, Clay Spohn, Clyfford Still, and Esteban Vicente.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary Fuller McChesney (1922- ) is a sculptor and art historian of San Francisco and Petaluma, Calif.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 58 min.
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. Funding for this interview was provided by the Margery and Harry Kahn Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Communal Fund of New York.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
