An interview of William Halsey and Corrie McCallum conducted 1986 Oct. 27, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art.
Halsey and McCallum speak of their education at the University of South Carolina in the 1930s, McCallum's early interest in medical illustration, and her responsibilities as the director of the Federal Art Project in Columbia, S.C. They discuss Halsey's studies at the Boston School with Alexandre Iacovleff and Karl Zerbe; his Paige traveling fellowship (1939-1941) and studies in Mexico; their return to Charleston; teaching at Gibbes Art Gallery, Telfair Academy, and the College of Charleston; founding the Charleston School of Art with sculptor Willard Hirsch; McCallum's printmaking and travels; and their recent exhibitions and publications.
Biographical / Historical:
William Halsey (1915-1999) and Corrie McCallum are painters and art educators from Charleston, S.C.
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 others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- South Carolina -- Charleston Search this
Topic:
Painters -- South Carolina -- Charleston -- Interviews Search this
Federal aid to the arts -- United States Search this
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.
Interview of Ilya Bolotowsky conducted 1968 March 24-April 7, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Bolotowsky, a lively raconteur, recalls a host of episodes from his personal and professional life. He speaks of his childhood in Russia and Azerbaijan; the effects of war and communism; the family's flight as refugees into Georgia and then to present-day Istanbul; and his early education with a private tutor and at a Jesuit school in Istanbul. Bolotowsky recalls his family's emigration to the United States by ship in 1923; his first impressions of New York City; and early visits to the city's museums. He relates numerous anecdotes about faculty and fellow students at the National Academy of Design, including Ivan Olinsky, Raymond Neilson, Charles Hawthorne, Amedee Ozenfant, and William Henry Johnson.
He speaks of various early exhibitions of his work, including those with the Art Students League, G.R.D. Studio, and the J.B. Neumann Gallery. He also describes a stay at Yaddo in 1934.
Bolotowsky recounts his participation in the Public Works of Art Project as a teacher of art to delinquent children; later work on the mural project of the Works Progress Administration; the picketing of WPA offices, providing anecdotes about Max Spivak and Joseph Vogel; military service during World War II, first working on a Russian dictionary of technical terms and then as a liason officer with the Soviet Air Force in Nome, Alaska.
Upon his return from the military, Bolotowsky immediately resumed his painting career, and describes his involvement with artists' organizations such as the American Abstract Artists, the American Artists' Congress, the Concretionists, the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, and the Ten; he mentions in these contexts such personalities as Byron Browne, Burgoyne Diller, Werner Drewes, Arshile Gorky, Clement Greenberg, Balcomb and Gertrude Greene, Harry Holtzman, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian, and Meyer Schapiro.
Bolotowsky gives an extensive description of his experiences filling in for Joseph Albers for a year at Black Mountain College, and goes on to discuss his subsequent teaching positions at the University of Wyoming (including a discussion of the impact of the Wyoming landscape on his painting), Brooklyn College, Southampton College, and SUNY New Paltz. He devotes great attention to the development of his painting, his understanding of neo-plasticism and abstraction, and his efforts in filmmaking and playwriting.
Biographical / Historical:
Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981) was a Russian-American abstract painter in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 37 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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 others. Funding for the interview was provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
A letter to Mrs. Bruce from James N. Rosenberg concerning Bruce's papers, 1960; a reprint of an article, "Edward Bruce" by Edwina Spencer, 1933; and photographs, including 4 of Bruce at a children's Christmas party, 5 of a NBC radio broadcast, picturing Bruce, Secretary of the Treasury Harry Morganthau, John Dewey, and others, and one of a drawing of Bruce by Leon Kroll.
Biographical / Historical:
Bruce, a painter, Washington, D.C., directed the Public Works of Art Project, Dec. 1933 - June 1934 and the Section of Painting and Sculpture (later the Section of Fine Arts), a program in the Treasury Department and later reorganized under the Public Buildings Administration of the Federal Works Agency, established to administer the decoration of public buildings.
Provenance:
Donated 1986 by Public Buildings Service, General Sevices Administration.The file had been found in the desk of Karel Yasko, the GSA's Counsellor for Fine Arts and Historic Preservation.
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.
Letters and telegrams; a list; a clipping; notes; and a sketchbook.
REEL 1309: Sketchbook presented to Thorp by his staff when he resigned as State Supervisor of the Illinois WPA Art and Craft Program in 1941. Included are sketches by about 30 persons.
REEL 3480: A carbon copy of Thorp's letter of resignation as State Supervisor of the Federal Art Project, Illinois WPA Art and Craft Program, August 1, 1941; letters and telegrams regarding his resignation received from Chicago administrators and artists, including Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Daniel Catton Rich; "Homage a George Thorp," a list of events scheduled for the dinner in honor of Thorp's work with WPA; a clipping on Thorp, 1947; and Thorp's notes on acrylic collage.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, teacher, administrator; Illinois.
Provenance:
Material on reel 1309 lent for microfilming; and material on reel 3480 donated 1977 by Isabel Thorp, widow of Thorp.
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.
Letters received; notes and printed material regarding his activities with the WPA-FAP in Massachusetts; a diary, 1936-1937, including later memoranda; a travel journal recounting Smith's trip to Alaska; 2 sketches; records of Smith's works exhibited; vouchers; and photographs of Smith and friends.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Orleans, Mass.
Provenance:
Donated by Vernon B. Smith.
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.
Correspondence relating to the Federal Arts Bill, 1938, and the work of the Office of Civilian Defense. Correspondents include Olin Dows and Emma Roche. In addition there are reports of the WPA-FAP, Alabama; a list of project and wages for WPA-FAP, New York; instructions for silkscreening, finishing and other technical details; 5 photos of WPA artists at work; a cost list for an Alabama mural; clippings and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor and painter; Alabama. Smith served as volunteer chairman for the Alabama bureau of the Office of Civilian Defense, 1942, and was also Supervisor of Federal Art and Museum Projects for the WPA-FAP, Alabama.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1972 by E. Herndon Smith.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
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.
Selected records, including scrapbooks, 1874-1954; letterbooks of the Dalton Dorr administration, 1876-1904; Board of Trustees letterbooks regarding the Pottery and Porcelain exhibitions, 1888-1890; and Fiske Kimball correspondence relating to the PWAP and the WPA, 1933-1942.
REELS P14-P16 and 4557-4758: Scrapbooks, 1874-1954, containing clippings relating to the museum.
REEL P16, frames 350-375: "Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art" (No. 1-8, Jan. 1903-Oct. 1904).
REELS 1395-1396: Correspondence and other papers of Director Fiske Kimball, 1933-1942, relating to various federal and state relief projects, particularly the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), of which he was chairman of Region 3 (Del, Penn., N.J.), and the WPA, which financed several projects at the Museum. Much of the correspondence relates to the selection of artists to be given employment under the PWAP, and to the controversy surrounding the administration of the program by Mary Curran, including complaints from artists and groups. Frequent correspondents include Forbes Watson, Edward Bruce, and Holger Cahill.
REELS 4549-4557: Letterbooks of Acting Director Dalton Dorr, 1876-1904 (incoming) and 1876-1901 (outgoing), and of curator Edwin Atlee Barber, 1893-1901, and President William Platt Pepper, 1893-1901. Correspondence pertains to acquisitions, the collection, staff, Memorial Hall repairs, and the overall establishment of the museum and school. Also included are letterbooks of the Board of Trustees, 1888-1890, relating to the 1888-1889 Pottery and Porcelain exhibitions at the museum, containing correspondence with firms and individuals regarding submissions and prizes.
Biographical / Historical:
Art museum; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Est. 1876 as the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. In 1929 the name changed to the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, and in 1938 to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and School of Industrial Art. Dalton Dorr served as director, 1876-1904. Fiske Kimball was director 1925-1954.
Provenance:
Material on reels P14-P16 lent for microfilming by the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, 1955. The Fiske Kimball material on reels 1395-1396 was filmed at the Museum in 1963; the remainder on reels 4549-4558 was microfilmed in 1993 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives. 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.
Topic:
Federal aid to the arts -- United States Search this
Biographical sketch, correspondence, exhibition catalog, clippings and photographs.
Reel 3134: Biographical sketch; 2 letters to Melicov from Inslee A. Hopper of the Federal Works Agency, Public Buildings Administration, Section of Fine Arts, May 21, 1941 and April 2, l942; and a letter to Hans Hacher, January 15, 1950.
Reel D254: Correspondence, 1941-1943; exhibition catalog, 1963; clippings, 1926-1964; and photographs of Melicov's work.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter and sculptor; New York, N.Y.; b. 1905; d. 1969
Provenance:
Material on reel D254 lent for microfilming 1966 by Dina Melicov, material on reel 3134 donated, provenance of donor unknown.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Scrapbook containing clippings, theater programs, and newspaper articles about Lewitzky's career as a dancer in the southern California dance troupe the Lester Horton Group and the WPA Federal Theater Dance Group.
Biographical / Historical:
Ballet dancer, San Bernardino, Calif. Attended high school and junior college in San Bernardino. Danced with the WPA Federal Theatre Dance Group before joining the Lester Horton Group in Los Angeles where she became the group's prima ballerina.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1964 by Bella Lewitsky.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Ballet dancers -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
30 diaries, 1930-1969, some illustrated; files on artists, family members and friends containing correspondence, sketches, biographical information and photographs; correspondence and clippings relating to the Indiana Museum for Modern Art; a scrapbook of sketches by artist friends, mostly by Helen West Heller, photographs, poems and short stories written for her; material relating to the Federal Art Gallery of the WPA, 1936-1937; material relating to the Onya La Tour Gallery, 1938-1939; a proposal for an art gallery in Puerto Rico, and miscellany. Among the correspondents are Rifka Angel, Maurice Becker, David Burliuk, Stuart Davis, Katherine Dreier, John D. Graham, Helen West Heller, Roy Hirshburg, Joseph Konzal, Larry Lebduska, Guy and Genoi Pettit McCoy, Emanuel Romano; Robert Morris, Ann Goldthwaite and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector, dealer, artists' model; Columbus, Ind. La Tour founded the Indiana Museum for Modern Art, Brown County, Indiana, which no longer exists. She was director of the Federal Art Gallery, N.Y., and the Onya La Tour Gallery, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material lent for microfilming 1973 by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The Indianapolis Museum of Art also holds additional papers not included on the microfilm.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Letters, 2 diaries, a subject file, art works, printed material, and photographs primarily concern Jones' work for the WPA artist project in Alaska.
Twenty-six letters from friends and colleagues concern the exhibition of Jones' work and the WPA's activities in Alaska (1934-1953). The 2-volume diary was written during Jones' travels in Alaska (1937). A subject file on Jones' work in Alaska contains a letter from the Department of the Interior, a photograph of Jones, Vernon Smith, and Carl Saxild, a diary for June 1937, and a certificate. Other materials include 4 sales receipts (1937-1939), an annotated calendar (1954) and 26 photographs of Jones' works.
Twenty-seven drawings (1937-1976) and 31 sketchbooks (1937-1959) depict landscapes and townscapes in Alaska (1937) and Luzon Island in the Philippines (1945), among other subjects. One sketchbook contains notes on color theory and perspective (ca. 1953). Printed material consists of clippings (1933-1957), exhibition announcements and catalogs (1932-1973).
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at Tufts College and participated in a WPA artist project in Alaska in 1937.
Provenance:
Donated 1982 by James M. Norton, a friend of Jones, and after Norton's death, by his estate via his brother, Richard P. Norton.
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.
Papers relating to Jensen's work as supervisor of the WPA art projects in Maine and her work on the Index of American Design. Included are: several letters received, primarily from the National Gallery of Art's curator for the Index of American Design, 1949 and 1984-1991; notebook of a working list for the Index of American Design, which also contains annotations, notes and newspaper clippings, ca. 1940; notes; photographs of quilting, stencils, painting, and woodcarving; a rendering of a rocking chair; and printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Art administrator; Maine. Supervisor of the Federal Art Project in Maine, 1936-1941; gathering information for the Index of American Design was one phase of their work. The Index of American Design was a research division of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration which produced approximately 20,000 reproductions (photographs and original drawings) and classifications of a wide variety of American art, paintings, sculpture, handicrafts and folk art.
Provenance:
Donated 1992 by Dorothy Hay Jensen.
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.
11.9 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 1 reel))
0.4 Linear feet (Addition)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1931-1987
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material; correspondence; a diary; notes; writings; WPA-FAP reports; project files relating to art history research and publications; lecture slides; clippings; and miscellaneous printed material.
REEL 2814: Thirteen letters between Holt, Holger Cahill, and Thomas Parker; and 5 reports concerning WPA-FAP aid for North Carolina artists, 1935-1936.
UNMICROFILMED: A resume; a bibliography; correspondence with colleagues and publishers, 1934-1987; a diary, 1931-1932; college class notes, 1925-1931; teaching and lecture notes; miscellaneous reference notes; term papers by Holt and her students; miscellaneous unpublished manuscripts including "The Origin of Contemporary Art" and "Wandering in Germany," 1933; Holt's Ph.D. dissertation GRAVESTONE EPITAPHS IN AUGSBURG CATHEDRAL, 1507-1517; a dissertation by Jane Van Nimmen; project files containing notes and printed material relating to proposed films "John Brown: A Conscience Aroused," 1974-1979, "Early Art Along the Ohio," 1975, and "The Life of Isaiah Thomas," 1977;
project files containing notes, drafts of manuscripts, photogaphs, and printed material relating to publications DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF ART (Vol. 3), "Sinner, Will You Come to the Highlands of Heaven?," 1975, "Hymns on Stone: Lithographs of the Jacksonian Era," 1946, THE TRIUMPH OF ART FOR THE PUBLIC, 1968-1969, "Pictures to Serve the People," 1971-1975, THE ART OF ALL NATIONS, 1974-1978, and THE EXPANDING WORLD OF ART, 1966-1986; clippings, 1923-1986; printed material; lecture slides; and 4 reels of microfilm of works of art.
ADDITION: Correspondence and writings, ca. 1947-1982.
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian, educator, and writer; Washington, D.C., Georgetown, Me. Died 1987.
Provenance:
Items on reel 2814 donated by Holt, 1982. Unmicrofilmed material donated 1988-1991 by her daughter, Elizabeth Holt Muench, and her brother, John A. Gilmore.
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.
Papers mainly documenting Goertz's invlovement with the 1977 exhibition "New York City WPA Art: Then 1934-1943 and... Now 1966-1977" and the New York City WPA Artists, Inc. organization. Included are correspondence with Lee Krasner, Ibram Lassaw, Paul Cadmus, and William Meyerowitz; artist files; minutes of meetings and administrative files of the organization; installation photographs and photographs of works of art; guest books; and printed material including an exhibition catalog and poster pertaining to the exhibition. Also included are scattered personal papers including biographical information, photographs of Goertz and his family, and sketches by Goertz.
Biographical / Historical:
Augustus Goerts was an abstract painter and WPA muralist in New York, N.Y. He organized the 1977 exhibition "New York City WPA Art: Then 1934-1943 and... Now 1966-1977," and subsequently founded the New York City WPA Artists, Inc.
Provenance:
This collection was donated in 2007 and in 2008 by Yvette Goertz Janssen, Goertz's daughter.
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:
Art -- Exhibitions -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Federal aid to the arts -- United States Search this
United States. Works Progress Administration Search this
Extent:
5.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Date:
1926-1984
Scope and Contents:
Biographical materials including awards and resumes; correspondence, 1934-1979, regarding his mural work for the Federal Work Agency in New York and elsewhere, with his wife, Barbara, while traveling and working across the country, between Barbara and their children, and with the Mortimer Levitt and Ryan galleries and others; mailing lists of persons to be advised of his upcoming exhibitions; unpublished writings by Fogel, drafts of Barbara's manuscript of Fogel, and other works; sketches and mural designs by Fogel; materials relating to teaching, mural and grant competitions, and the Federal Work Agency;financial records including bank statements, tax forms, exhibition receipts, and lists of works exhibited; exhibition announcements and catalogs; clippings and other printed materials; photographs of Fogel, his family and friends, and his works of art; and six cassette tapes and videotaped interviews with Fogel, 1976-1982.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, mural painter; Weston, Connecticut.
Provenance:
Donated 1975-1985 by Seymour Fogel.
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, writings, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and miscellany.
ADDITION: Biographical material; writings, including notes, drafts, and finished copy for Engel's columns, "Do You Know That?" and "The Bright Palette," manuscripts of articles about collecting autographs, and "Miscellaneous Art Notes-- Michael M. Engel" (1 vol.); art research files; letters from Engel's collection of artists' autographs, many of which are illustrated; and artists' files, containing mainly clippings, exhibition announcements, photographs, and a small amount of correspondence, except for the Hugo Ballin file, which contains a large number of letters with illustrated envelopes.
Also, printed matter, including M. Grumbacher & Co. publicity, promotions, and biographical information on artists featured in their advertisements, articles about Engel and his palette collection, annual exhibition catalogs and other printed matter of Audubon Artists and other art organizations and galleries; photographs and slides of Engel, artists who represented M. Grumbacher & Co., palettes, paintings produced in Grumbacher demonstrations and other works of art, and one album of photographs of paintings by various artists with notes on palettes; files on camouflage, containing printed matter, notes, and photographs; and scrapbooks, including 3 on National Art Week, a WPA-Federal Art Project event, compiled by his wife, Mary Black Diller, an artist active in promoting it, and 3 compiled by Engel containing publicity material on Artists for Victory "Four Freedoms," Florida International Art Exhibition at Grand Central Galleries, and "Wayman Adams Film Painting a Portrait."
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, collector, lecturer, writer; New York, N.Y. Engel worked as public relations director for M. Grumbacher & Co., an artists' supplies firm. He contributed to Art Digest and other magazines, and founded Audubon Artists in 1940.
Provenance:
Donated 1975 by Mary Black Diller, widow of Michael M. Engel, and in 1994-1995, by their son, Michael M. Engel.
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.
1 Microfilm reel (circa 860 items on 1 microfilm reel)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1935-1938
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed Burt Brown Barker papers contain Barker's correspondence as director of the Federal Art Project in Portland, Oregon; reports; memoranda; travel vouchers; lists of artists and art projects; minutes of the Oregon Federal Music Project; a typescript of an article, "The Federal Art Center, Salem, Oregon," and other writings; printed material; and miscellany. Correspondents include Jacob Baker, Frederic Stewart Bartlett, Holger Cahill, Joseph A. Danysh, T. J. Edmonds, George H. Gannon, Carter Glass, Ellis Fuller Lawrence, Charlotte Roberta Mish, Thomas Cleveland Parker, Margery Hoffman Smith, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Burt Brown Barker (1873-1969) was a lawyer and arts administrator in Portland, Oregon. He was director of the Federal Art Project in Portland, president of the Oregan Historical Society, the McLoughlin Memorial Association, and the Herbert Hoover Foundation of Oregon. He also played an active role in the restoration of the John Minthorn House and its transformation into a museum.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Oregon FAP records, 1936-1939.
Willamette University Archives and Special Collections holds the Burt Brown Barker papers, 1890-1935. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library holds the Burt Brown Barker papers, 1885-1976.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1982 by Sarah Munro.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Oregon -- Portland Search this
