An interview of Raymond Horowitz conducted 2004 Oct.20-Nov. 5, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art, in New York, N.Y.
Horowitz speaks of his privileged childhood in New York; the effects of the Depression on his family's finances; attending Columbia University for Law and the anti-Semitism he faced there; his ingratiation into art appreciation through Meyer Shapiro; employment under then-New York City comptroller Joseph McGoldrick; the formation of his law practice; and his marriage to his wife, Margaret Goldenberg. Horowitz also mentions his involvement in left-wing political movements; how he managed relationships with different dealers; his experiences with misattributed artworks and forgeries, particularly his luck in avoiding them; the hobbies of himself and his wife; how he avoids relationships with the artists of his works; sharing information with other collectors; the economics of donating artworks and the subsequent tax breaks; the importance of credit in art purchasing; how he and Margaret conferred on purchases; their affinity for Chase; his habits on lending to exhibitions; the differences between the management of the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery; his summer homes in East Hampton and Provincetown; the problems with contemporary art scholarship; and the importance of dealers in affirming the interest in American art. Horowitz spends most of the interview reflecting upon others in the art world whom he has met. He recalls Ira Spanierman, Dan and Rita Fraad, Charles Merill Mount, Victor Spark, Abraham Adler, Nicolai Cikovsky, Phillipe de Montebello, Theodore Stebbins, Jack Levine, Daniel Terra, Joseph Hirshhorn, Norman Hirschl, John Canaday, Doris and Harry Rubin, Paul Mellon, Bill Gerdts, Paul Magriel, Bernard Meyers, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Raymond Horowitz (1916-2005) was a collector from New York, N.Y. Avis Berman is an art historian from New York, N.Y.
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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Lawyers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
The papers in this series include notes made by Strong, materials used by other anthropologists in their classes, and student papers. A number of the papers by Columbia University students are biographies or obituaries of anthropologists. Not all the student papers could be firmly assigned to the year of writing.
Concerning the two boxes of lecture notes, the notes under many of these subject headings may be from more than one class and from more than one year. Apparently Strong borrowed information from other courses and other years for his lectures. The result is that the cards are not necessarily in order by class number, but were maintained in the order in which they were found.
Strong's class notes from his student days at the University of California at Berkeley can be found in Series 1: Miscellaneous personal papers.
See Series 8: Writings by other authors and Series 11: Miscellany for more obituaries.
Arrangement:
Arranged by subject.
Collection Restrictions:
The William Duncan Strong papers are open for research.
Access to the William Duncan Strong papers requires and appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
William Duncan Strong papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
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