Smith, Mary T. (Mary Tillman), 1904-1995 Search this
Extent:
0.4 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Slides (photographs)
Video recordings
Date:
circa 1984-1986
Summary:
The videos and slides on African American folk artists Dilmus Hall, Mary T. Smith, and J.B. Murry measure 0.4 linear feet and date from circa 1984 to 1986. The collection includes recorded interviews conducted by art historian Judith McWillie with the artists about their lives and work, and color slides of Dilmus Hall and Mary T. Smith with their work.
Scope and Contents:
The videos and slides on African American folk artists Dilmus Hall, Mary T. Smith, and J.B. Murry measure 0.4 linear feet and date from circa 1984 to 1986. The collection includes recorded interviews conducted by art historian Judith McWillie with the artists about their lives and work, and color slides of Dilmus Hall and Mary T. Smith with their work.
The materials related to Dilmus Hall include a 1984 interview (dubbed in 1986) in which Hall covers many topics ranging from his childhood to religious influences in his work, as well as 41 color slides of Hall, his home, and his work.
Materials related to Mary T. Smith and J.B. Murry include an interview with Mary T. Smith in December 1986 and one with J.B. Murry in May 1986, both dubbed onto the same tape. Also included are 10 color slides of Mary T. Smith and her artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in two series.
Series 1: Material Related to Dilmus Hall, circa 1984-1986 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 2: Material Related to Mary T. Smith and J.B. Murry, 1986 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Judith McWillie is an artist, art historian, and professor emeritus of drawing and painting at the Lamar Dodd School of Art of the University of Georgia. Much of her work focuses on African American artists.
Dilmus Hall (1900-1987) was a self-taught African American artist. Born in Georgia in 1900, he joined the United States Army Medical Corps in 1917 and served in Europe as a stretcher-bearer during World War I. After he returned to Georgia, he worked as a waiter and a fabricator of concrete blocks, retiring in 1961 to devote himself to art. Hall decorated his house and yard in Athens, Georgia with sculpted animals, devils, and humans, often based on biblical themes. He has also produced hundreds of drawings in a cartoon-like style.
Mary Tillman Smith (1904-1995) was an African American self-taught painter in Mississippi. Her work was often created on readily-available materials such as plywood and corrugated tin. Her work is included in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
J.B. (John Bunion) Murry (also Murray) (1908-1988) was a self-taught African American artist in Georgia. He worked as a sharecropper for the majority of his life. At the age of 70 he experienced a religious vision and began painting, producing an extensive body of work in ten years. Murry was unable to read or write English, but developed his own script which he incorporated into his paintings. His work is included in collections at the American Folk Art Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are J.B. Murray drawings, 1985 on microfilm reel 3667.
Provenance:
Videos and slides on Dilmus Hall, Mary T. Smith, and J.B. Murry were donated to the Archives of American Art by Judith McWillie in 1986 and 1987.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Judith McWillie. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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 papers of art historian, educator, painter, and printmaker Albert Christ-Janer measure 56.3 linear feet and date from 1915 to circa 1993, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1930 to 1981. The papers include biographical materials, personal and professional correspondence, writings, professional files, project files, teaching files, exhibition files, financial and estate records, printed material, scrapbooks and scrapbook material, photographs, artwork, and artifacts.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian, educator, painter, and printmaker Albert Christ-Janer measure 56.3 linear feet and date from 1915 to circa 1993, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1930 to 1981. The papers include biographical materials, personal and professional correspondence, writings, professional files, project files, teaching files, exhibition files, financial and estate records, printed material, scrapbooks and scrapbook material, photographs, artwork, and artifacts.
Biographical material includes address books; awards, certificates and diplomas; chronologies, biographies, and resumes; material relating to Albert Christ-Janer's death, including memorial services and a sound tape reel memorial; and information and blueprints for residences, among other materials.
Correspondence includes Christmas cards from other artists and professional correspondence, much of it relating to his work at various institutions, including Michigan State University, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, Pratt Institution, and foundations. Also included is Virginia Christ-Janer's correspondence regarding Christ-Janer's artwork and career, his death in Italy, as well as general correspondence and letters between Virginia and Albert. Additional correspondence is found within the Professional Files, Project Files, and Teaching Files.
Writings by Christ-Janer include articles, book reviews, essays, notes, and eleven notebooks. There are also a few miscellaneous articles and writings about Christ-Janer written by others. There are 38 annotated appointment notebooks and five of Virginia Christ-Janer's annotated appointment books. Annotations are about meetings, travel, and general thoughts.
Albert Christ-Janer's book projects are documented in the Project Files series. There are drafts, manuscripts, research, and correspondence relating to the research, writing, and publication of five of his books, including George Caleb Bingham of Missouri (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1940), Boardman Robinson (Unversity of Chicago Press, 1946), Eliel Saarinen (University of Chicago Press, 1948), and Modern Church Architecture, with Mary Mix Foley (McGraw-Hill, 1962), and Modern Hymns (1980). Project files also include files regarding proposed projects.
Professional files document Christ-Janer's work at various institutions, as a consultant, on juried art exhibitions, memberships in arts associations, activities at conferences and committees, and the development of art centers in cities and educational institutions. There is significant documentation of his work planning and developing an arts center in New York City and at New York University, as well as his positions at Pennsylvania State University, Pratt Institute, University of Chicago, and University of Georgia. Also found are materials relating to professional trips taken to El Paso, Italy, Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe.
Teaching files consist of syllabi, lecture notes and course materials, class record books, and other documents for positions at New York University, Pennsylvania State University, Stephens College, University of Georgia, and other institutions. Exhibition files are comprised of lists, prizes and awards, and other scattered documentation of Christ-Janer's solo and group exhibitions.
Financial and estate records include five account books, miscellaneous bills and receipts, a will and estate taxes and financial papers, and files for gallery transactions, lists of galleries representing Christ-Janer, lists of museum and private collectors of Christ-Janer's artwork.
Printed materials include exhibition catalogs and announcements, published versions of Christ-Janer's books, books written by others and annotated by Christ-Janer, clippings, magazines, reviews, and printed material relating to Pratt Institute. There is one bound scrapbook and several files of loose scrapbook materials.
The scrapbooks series consists of one completed scrapbook concerning Christ-Janer's book on George Caleb Bingham, as well as several folders of general scrapbook files.
Photographs and slides depict Albert Christ-Janer, family, friends, artists, colleagues, exhibitions, and also include photographs compiled for published books.
Artwork includes numerous drawings, sketches, one sketchbook, and 111 lithographs by Albert Christ-Janer. There are also sketches and drawings by Charles Massey, John D. Whiting, Edwin Zoller, and others. Miscellaneous artifacts include a business card die, exhibition medals and trophy, handmade paperweight, a block-printed piece of fabric, and three graduation hoods.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 14 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1930-circa 1986 (Boxes 1-2, 51, 53, 67, OV 54, OV 57; 2.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1937-1990 (Boxes 2-16, 51, 67, OV 55; 15.1 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1930s-1972 (Boxes 16-18, 51; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Appointment Books, 1939-1973 (Boxes 18-21; 2.9 linear feet)
Series 5: Professional Files, circa 1933-circa 1986 (Boxes 21-28, 51-52, 67-69; 10 linear feet)
Series 6: Project Files, 1937-circa 1981 (Boxes 28-34, 51, 69; 6.1 linear feet)
Series 7: Teaching Files, circa 1939-circa 1973 (Boxes 34-35; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 8: Exhibition Files, circa 1938-circa 1992 (Boxes 35-38; 2.7 linear feet)
Series 9: Financial and Estate Records, circa 1947-1992 (Boxes 38-40; 2.4 linear feet)
Series 10: Printed Material, 1915-circa 1993 (Boxes 40-49, 51-52, 69; 8.7 linear feet)
Series 11: Scrapbooks, circa 1936-circa 1952 (Boxes 49, 51; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 12: Photographs, circa 1937-circa 1986 (Boxes 49-51, OV 56; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 13: Artwork, circa 1933-circa 1970s (Boxes 50-52, 69, OV 58-66; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 14: Artifacts, 1923-circa 1986 (Boxes 50, 53; 0.9 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Albert Christ-Janer (1910-1973) was a painter, printmaker, art historian, writer, and educator active at colleges and universities across the U.S.
Albert Christ-Janer was born in Appleton, Minnesota in 1910 and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University. Christ-Janer wrote about American artists Boardman Robinson and John Caleb Bingham, and taught at a variety of institutions, including Stephens College, Cranbrook Academy, Pratt Institute Art School, and the University of Georgia. He was also an artist-in-residence at Tamarind Lithography Workshop in 1972.
Christ-Janer began his teaching career at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri in 1934, and soon became head of the art department. He moved to Michigan to accept the position of head of the art department and professor of art at Michigan State University in 1942. In 1945, he began working for the Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, serving as director of the educational program, director of the museum and library, and professor of art history.
In 1947, Christ-Janer moved to Chicago and worked at the University of Chicago and the Arts Center Association, Inc. In the 1950s, he served as director of Arts Center Development at New York University, director of the School of Arts at Pennsylvania State University, and on the Lake Erie College Board of Trustees. In 1958, he moved to New York and become dean of the School of Art and Design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, later becoming director. He left Pratt in 1970 to accept the position of Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Art at the University of Georgia, where he remained until his tragic death in 1973.
Christ-Janer was the author of several books: Art in Child Life (University of Iowa Press, 1938), George Caleb Bingham of Missouri (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1940), Boardman Robinson (Unversity of Chicago Press, 1946), Eliel Saarinen (University of Chicago Press, 1948), and Modern Church Architecture, with Mary Mix Foley (McGraw-Hill, 1962).
Albert Christ-Janer was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1950, awarded the Rockefeller Award in 1954, and the Guggenheim Award in 1960. He was also awarded multiple grants from the American Philosophical Society and the J. M. Kaplan Fund for research and work in lithography, as well as multiple Arthur Judson grants. In 1972 Christ-Janer was the Tamarind artist-in-residence at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Christ-Janer traveled often. In 1962 he was a guest of the Bonn government for two months to visit museums and schools of design in Germany. And in 1964, he was a guest of the governments of Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden for two months to study schools, museums, and cultural centers. In July of 1973, Christ-Janer was the official NASA artist for the Skylab III launch, and in October of 1973, he was the studio guest of the Norway-America Association and the Norwegian government in Oslo. From November to December of 1973, Christ-Janer was the scholar-in-residence at the Study and Conference Center of the Rockefeller Foundation (Centro Culturale delle Fondazione Rockefeller), at the Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio (Como), Italy.
Albert Christ-Janer was killed in an automobile accident in Bellagio (Como), Italy on December 12, 1973.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Albert Christ-Janer conducted by Dorothy Seckler, March 21, 1964.
Albert Christ-Janer's research materials for his book American Hymns Old and New (1980) are found at the St Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a center for the study of hymns.
Provenance:
The Albert Christ-Janer papers were donated by Virginia Christ-Janer in 1980-1981 and 1994.
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 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.
Research compiled by Jones for her project exploring the role of assistants to self-taught artists. Included are a summary of the project; transcripts of interviews with participants in the project including Rick Berman, Lee Garrett, Richard Gasperi, John Geldersma, Marchall Hahn, Jean Ellen Jones, Jo Kallenborn, Haywood Nichols, Tom Patterson, Luise Ross, Randy Sewell, and Tom Wells; photocopies of two articles by Jones; and a list of artists discussed for the project. Also included is a CD of the summary, transcripts of interviews and lists of artists.
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian; Atlanta, Ga.; b. 1942.
Provenance:
Donated 2006 by Jean Ellen Jones.
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.
The Anne Swartz interviews with artists measure 2.3 linear feet and contain video interviews with contributors to the Pattern and Decoration movement, conducted in 1998 for the production of the documentary Pattern and Decoration: The Great Untold Story (1999). Additional video of exhibitions and studio space are included, as well as the final version of the documentary.
Scope and Contents:
The Anne Swartz interviews with artists measure 2.3 linear feet and contain video interviews with contributors to the Pattern and Decoration movement, conducted in 1998 for the production of the documentary Pattern and Decoration: The Great Untold Story (1999).
Video interviews are conducted with artists Valerie Jaudon, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Jean Lowe, Kim MacConnel, Izhar Patkin, Jeff Perrone, Miriam Schapiro, Ned Smyth, and Robert Zakanitch. Also found are interviews with curators John Perreault of Urban Glass and Holly Solomon of the Holly Solomon Gallery, both of New York City. Interviewees discuss the development, features, and success of the Pattern and Decoration movement from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, particularly as it relates to the feminist art movement. Unedited footage is found on camera original DVCPRO videocassettes, and all cassettes containing interviews also have duplicate VHS videocassettes. Five additional DVCPRO videocassettes contain b-roll production video. The final version of the documentary Pattern and Decoration: The Untold Story is found on both a DVCPRO dub master and a VHS distribution copy.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 2 series.
Series 1: Unedited Video for Documentary, 1998-1999 (Boxes 1-3; 23 folders)
Series 2: Pattern and Decoration: The Great Untold Story, 1998-1999 (Box 4; 1 folder)
Biographical / Historical:
Anne Swartz is an art historian and art history professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Swartz created the interviews while working on a documentary project commissioned by the school.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 2011 by Anne Swartz.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
Copyright for video interviews retained by the donor, Anne Swartz.
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 Jean Ellen Jones research material on African American artist Lizzie Wilkerson measures 0.2 linear feet and date from 1978 to 1984. The collection includes printed material, photographic material, and a video recording, Everything That Grows and Moves: The Art of Lizzie Wilkerson.
Scope and Contents:
The Jean Ellen Jones research material on African American artist Lizzie Wilkerson measures 0.2 linear feet and date from 1978 to 1984. The collection includes printed material, photographic material, and a video recording, Everything That Grows and Moves: The Art of Lizzie Wilkerson.
Printed Material includes photocopies of clippings, an exhibition catalog from the 1983 Georgia State University Art Gallery exhibition curated by Jean Ellen Jones, and cards with reproductions of Wilkerson's work. Photographic material includes a black and white portrait of Lizzie Wilkerson and color slides of her work.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in two series.
Series 1: Printed Material, 1983-1984 (Box 1; 4 folders)
Series 2: Photographic Material, 1978-1983 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Biographical / Historical:
Jean Ellen Jones is an art historian in Atlanta, Georgia. She taught at Georgia State University and curated a traveling exhibition of Lizzie Wilkerson's work for the Georgia State University Art Gallery in 1983.
Lizzie Wilkerson (1895-1984) was an African American self-taught artist. She worked as a share-cropper and a maid and began painting at the age of 77. She worked primarily in watercolor and pen to create images depicting farm animals, crops, fish, Bible stories, and spiritual matters. Her work is held in collections at the American Folk Art Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the High Museum of Art.
Provenance:
The Jean Ellen Jones research material on Lizzie Wilkerson was donated to the Archives of American Art by Jean Ellen Jones in 1986 and 1987.
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 copies requires advance notice.
