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Interviewee:

Kuh, Katharine  Search this

Interviewer:

Berman, Avis  Search this

Creator:

Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project  Search this

Names:

Art Institute of Chicago  Search this

Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)  Search this

First National Bank of Chicago -- Art collections  Search this

Katharine Kuh Gallery (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this

Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project  Search this

Vassar College  Search this

Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984  Search this

Albers, Josef  Search this

Albright, Ivan, 1897-1983  Search this

Archipenko, Alexander, 1887-1964  Search this

Arensberg, Louise S. (Louise Stevenson), 1879-1953  Search this

Arensberg, Walter, 1878-1954  Search this

Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this

Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981  Search this

Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959  Search this

Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this

Ernst, Max, 1891-1976  Search this

Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this

Kepes, Gyorgy, 1906-2001  Search this

Klee, Paul, 1879-1940  Search this

Léger, Fernand, 1881-1955  Search this

Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969  Search this

Moholy-Nagy, László, 1895-1946  Search this

Mérida, Carlos, 1891-1984  Search this

Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988  Search this

Paepcke, Walter Paul, 1896-1960  Search this

Porter, Eliot, 1901-1990  Search this

Ray, Man, 1890-1976  Search this

Rich, Daniel Catton, 1904-1976  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Smith, David, 1906-1965  Search this

Stamos, Theodoros, 1922-1997  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980  Search this

Tamayo, Rufino, 1899-  Search this

Tobey, Mark  Search this

Tworkov, Jack  Search this

Weston, Edward, 1886-1958  Search this

Extent:

313 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1982 Mar. 18-1983 Mar. 24

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Katharine Kuh conducted 1982 Mar. 18-1983 Mar. 24, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and His Times oral history project.

Kuh speaks of her invalid childhood in Chicago, the development of her interest in art, classes in art history at Vassar College, and her career as curator of modern art at the Art Institute of Chicago. She recalls in particular the "Sanity in Art" movement against modern art in Chicago. Kuh describes her relationship with Mark Rothko and Rothko's relationships with Mark Tobey, Clyfford Still, Kate Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, Milton Avery, Stanley Kunitz, and Hans Hofmann.

Kuh discusses her parents, the family silk business, travelling in Europe as a child, life in Chicago, the effects of polio and other illnesses on her interests, and her student years at Vassar College. She remembers visiting Bernard Berenson in Italy with her family and again with Daniel Catton Rich, with whom she worked very closely at the Art Institute of Chicago. She speaks of the Katharine Kuh Gallery, which she started in the mid-1930s and its place in the vanguard of the Chicago art scene.

Kuh remembers the effects of the stock market crash on her personal situation, her marriage to businessman George Kuh, distaste for life in the suburbs, and her divorce. She discusses the Katharine Kuh Gallery and the actions taken against her business by members of the reactionary "Sanity in Art" movement (including a very funny anecdote concerning Carlos Merida). She speaks of the classes in modern art that she taught at her gallery and of some of the artists she exhibited there, including the photographers Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston.

Kuh remembers the McCarthy era and the political conservatism in Chicago, including her testimony on behalf of Bill Zimmerman, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs. She criticizes blockbuster exhibitions and the changes in the role of a museum curator. She reminisces about building the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and the art education program she ran there, and recalls Stuart Davis, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Gyorgy Kepes, and Ivan Albright.

Kuh remembers Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Marcel Duchamp, as well as the collectors Walter Paepcke and Walter and Louise Arensberg (whose collection she surveyed in their home for an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago).

Kuh focuses on her memories of Mark Rothko, recalling when they met, their friendship, his manner of working, his feelings about his work, and his worries towards the end of his life. She talks about Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, and Mark Tobey. Some parts of this tape repeat what she said earlier.

Kuh continues discussing Rothko, particularly his Houston chapel murals and the retrospective exhibition at MOMA in 1961. She remembers visiting Rothko's studio and describes his working methods. She relates Rothko's views on other artists, including Milton Avery, Clyfford Still, Turner, Robert Motherwell, and Adolf Gottlieb; parts repeat things said before. Kuh also discusses Rothko's wife and daughter.

Kuh recounts building the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and speaks of the museum staff, trustees, and donors. She remembers Alfred Barr at MOMA.

Kuh continues speaking about the Art Institute of Chicago, describing the circumstances of her resignation and subsequent move to New York. She talks of knowing Peggy Guggenheim, Max Ernst, and Fernand Leger.

Kuh describes her work as a consultant to college museums and her writings. She discusses the field of art criticism and her career as art editor at Saturday Review. She recalls Clyfford Still's retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and his death.

Kuh describes her work as a collector for the First National Bank of Chicago.

Kuh recounts more about her work at Saturday Review and her resignation. She goes into great detail about her travels in Alaska and British Columbia surveying Northwest Indian art for a government report. She speaks again about the McCarthy era.

Kuh speaks again about the Katharine Kuh Gallery and the artists she exhibited there, including Josef Albers (and his Black Mountain College), Alexander Archipenko, Stuart Davis, Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, and Man Ray.

Kuh continues her discussion of artists she exhibited at the Katharine Kuh Gallery, including Mark Tobey, Paul Klee, and Isamu Noguchi.

Kuh continues talking about artists she exhibited at the Katharine Kuh Gallery, including David Smith, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Eliot Porter, Rufino Tamayo, and Jack Tworkov.

Biographical / Historical:

Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) was an art consultant, curator, and critic from Chicago and New York City.

General:

Originally recorded on 16 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 31 digital wav files. Duration is 21 hrs., 52 min.

Provenance:

This interview was conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and his Times oral history project, with funding provided by the Mark Rothko Foundation.

Others interviewed on the project (by various interviewers) include: Sonia Allen, Sally Avery, Ben-Zion, Bernard Braddon, Ernest Briggs, Rhys Caparn, Elaine de Kooning, Herbert Ferber, Esther Gottlieb, Juliette Hays, Sidney Janis, Buffie Johnson, Jacob Kainen, Louis Kaufman, Jack Kufeld, Stanley Kunitz, Joseph Liss, Dorothy Miller, Betty Parsons, Wallace Putnam, Rebecca Reis, Maurice Roth, Sidney Schectman, Aaron Siskind, Joseph Solman, Hedda Sterne, Jack Tworkov, Esteban Vicente and Ed Weinstein. Each has been cataloged separately.

Restrictions:

Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Rights:

Authorization to quote or reproduce for the purposes of publication requires written permission from Avis Berman. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Occupation:

Art critics -- Interviews  Search this

Artists -- United States  Search this

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Curators -- Interviews  Search this

Art museum curators -- Interviews  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- Illinois -- Chicago

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

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.

Identifier:

AAA.kuh82

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-kuh82

Creator:

Lawrence, Sidney, 1948-  Search this

Names:

Adrian, Dennis, 1937-  Search this

Baum, Don, 1922-  Search this

Brown, Roger, 1941-1997  Search this

Kind, Phyllis, 1933-2018  Search this

Yoshida, Ray  Search this

Extent:

13 Items (sound cassettes (5 transcripts))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1986

Scope and Contents:

A collection of 5 interviews conducted by Sidney Lawrence used in research for the Roger Brown exhibition held at the Hirshhorn Museum in 1986. Interviewees include Roger Brown, Phyllis Kind, Dennis Adrian, Roy Yoshida, and Don Baum.

Biographical / Historical:

Sidney Lawrence was a curator; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Roger Brown is a Chicago painter.

Provenance:

Donated 1986 by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Occupation:

Painters -- Interviews  Search this

Art critics -- Interviews  Search this

Art dealers -- Interviews  Search this

Art historians -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Educators -- Interviews  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.lawrsidn

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-lawrsidn

Author:

Collischan, Judy  Search this

Physical description:

x, 300 p. : ill. ; 25 cm

Type:

Books

Place:

United States

Date:

1984

Topic:

Women art critics--Interviews  Search this

Women art dealers--Interviews  Search this

Call number:

N7482.5 .V36 1984

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_651538

Author:

Collischan, Judy  Search this

Physical description:

ix, 300 p. : ill. ; 25 cm

Type:

Books

Place:

United States

Date:

1984

Topic:

Women art critics--Interviews  Search this

Women art dealers--Interviews  Search this

Call number:

N7482.5.V36 1984X

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_204264