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Gregory Battcock papers

Creator:
Battcock, Gregory, 1937-1980  Search this
Names:
Bronx Museum of the Arts  Search this
International Association of Art Critics  Search this
Trylon & perisphere  Search this
William Paterson College of New Jersey -- Faculty  Search this
Battcock, Elizabeth  Search this
Beker, Gisela  Search this
Brown, Cee  Search this
Burton, Scott  Search this
Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976 -- Photographs  Search this
Carsman, Jon, 1944-  Search this
Christo, 1935-  Search this
Dalí, Salvador, 1904-1989  Search this
Dreva, Jerry, 1945-1997  Search this
Frank, Peter, 1950-  Search this
George, John  Search this
Glusberg, Jorge  Search this
Goldstein, Al  Search this
Halbert, Jacques  Search this
Hess, Emil, 1889-1945  Search this
Levine, Les, 1935-  Search this
Livingston, Braniff  Search this
McGeehan, Robert, 1933-  Search this
Morley, Malcolm, 1931-  Search this
Nakagawa, Naoto, 1944-  Search this
Neri, Julio  Search this
Paik, Nam June, 1932-2006  Search this
Partch, Harry, 1901-1974  Search this
Peña, Rolando, 1942-  Search this
Picard, Lil  Search this
Pocock, Philip  Search this
Schult, Ha, 1939-  Search this
Van Baron, Judith  Search this
Varble, Stephen  Search this
Warhol, Andy, 1928-  Search this
Wechter, Vivienne Thaul  Search this
Whyte, Ron  Search this
Extent:
10.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Scrapbooks
Diaries
Photographs
Interviews
Date:
1952-circa 1980
Summary:
The papers of New York art critic, writer, educator, and painter, Gregory Battcock, measure 10.6 linear feet and date from 1952 to circa 1980. The collection includes biographical material, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, artists' files, personal business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographic materials, and artifacts that detail his involvement in both the mainstream and fringe art scenes of the 1970s.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York art critic, writer, educator, and painter, Gregory Battcock, measure 10.6 linear feet and date from 1952 to circa 1980. The collection includes biographical material, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, artists' files, personal business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographic materials, and artifacts that detail his involvement in both the mainstream and fringe art scenes of the 1970s.

Biographical materials contain address lists, six appointment books, a diploma and certificate, family history, identification documents, interviews, resumes, obituaries, a William Paterson College of New Jersey teaching file, and membership files for The Bronx Museum, International Association of Art Critics, and other organizations. Correspondence is with Battcock's mother, Elizabeth; friends and colleagues Peter Frank, John George, Al Goldstein, Braniff Livingston, Robert McGeehan, Julio Neri, Judith Van Baron, Ron Whyte, and others regarding social events, reprint permissions, book projects, travel arrangements, real estate, and freelance work.

Writings and notes include personal journal entries, drafts for articles and essays, manuscripts for published and unpublished works including "The Story of Film" and Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Critical Anthology of the New Music, his dissertation titled "Constructivism and Minimal Art: Some Critical, Theoretical and Aesthetic Correlations," book proposals, lectures, limericks, restaurant reviews, notes and writings by Jorge Glusberg and Vivienne Thaul Wechter.

Files for artists contain mostly printed material on Gisela Beker, Cee Brown, Jon Carsman, Christo, Jerry Dreva, Jacques Halbert, Emil Hess, Les Levine, Naoto Nakagawa, Nam Jun Paik, Harry Partch, Lil Picard, Philip Pocock, HA Schult, Andy Warhol, and others. The file for Salvador Dalí contains one video recording. Battcock's personal business records include contracts and payments for his writing, real estate papers, business agreements, papers regarding his father's estate, a loan agreement for Andy Warhol's "Self Portrait," and files detailing the theft of two painting by Malcom Morley from Battcock's residence.

Found in printed materials are clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, flyers, post cards, magazines, press releases, issues of Trylon & Perisphere and Gay magazines, and other material that features Battcock's writings. Additional clippings of Battcock's writings that appeared in the New York Free Press, New York Review of Sex and Politics, Domus, The Soho Weekly News, New York Arts Journal, Gay, and other publications are contained in ten scrapbooks.

Photographs are of Battcock, colleagues and friends, works of art from his personal collection, travel, and artists Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Nam Jun Paik, Julio Neri, Rolando Peña, Stephen Varble, and Scott Burton. Several keys with a detached keychain labeled 'studio' are in artifacts.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1958-1980 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1960s-circa 1980 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-3, 12)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1966-1980 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 4-6)

Series 4: Artists' Files, 1960s-1980 (0.6 linear feet; Box 6)

Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1966-1980 (0.5 linear feet; Box 6-7)

Series 6: Printed Materials, 1952-1980 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 12-13)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1959-1980 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 8-9, 12)

Series 8: Photographic Materials, 1960s-1980 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 9-11)

Series 9: Artifacts, circa 1970s (0.1 linear feet; Box 11)
Biographical / Historical:
Gregory Battcock (1937-1980) was an art critic, writer, educator, and painter from New York, N.Y. He attended Michigan State University, the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, and Hunter College for his undergraduate and graduate studies before receiving his Ph.D. from New York University in 1978. His dissertation was titled "Constructivism and Minimal Art: Some Aesthetic, Theoretical and Critical Correlations."

Battcock was a prolific writer and wrote numerous articles as a correspondent for Art & Artists and Domus magazines. His column, "The Last Estate," appeared in Gay magazine as well as other publications. In 1977, Battcock co-founded the short-lived magazine, Trylon & Perisphere, with his close friend, playwright Ron Whyte. Even though only three issues were printed, the magazine exhibited Battcock's predilection for art society gossip, and provocative imagery and prose. E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. published several of Battcock's books including Why Art: Casual Notes on the Aesthetics of the Immediate Past, Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Critical Anthology of the New Music, and Idea Art: A Critical Anthology. In addition to his writing career, Battcock taught fine art at William Paterson College of New Jersey, was art critic for New York Free Press from 1967 to 1970, Editor-in-Chief of Arts Magazine from 1973 to 1975, and appeared in the Andy Warhol films The Illiac Passion, Horse, and Batman Dracula.

Battcock was murdered in Puerto Rico on December 25, 1980. At the time of his death he was working on "The Story of Film," which remains unpublished, and The Art of Performance: A Critical Anthology, which was published posthumously in 1984.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an audio interview recorded on December 11, 1969 with Gregory Battcock for the University Roundtable radio series. The recording forms part of the WFUV radio interviews relating to art, 1969-1973 collection.
Provenance:
The Gregory Battcock papers were donated in 1992 by Nancy Mahl, an artist who occupied a studio in Jersey City, N.J. that had formerly been leased by a moving and storage company, and who came upon Battcock's papers in the building. The papers had been shipped to the Jersey City building without the knowledge of Ron Whyte (executor of Battcock's estate) and the Rev. Paul William Bradley, who had arranged to have Battcock's papers stored after his death. Additional papers were donated 2003 by Rev. Paul W. Bradley, who inherited the papers after the death of his partner Ron Whyte.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Constructivism (Art)  Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Minimal art  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Study and teaching  Search this
Art thefts  Search this
Genre/Form:
Video recordings
Scrapbooks
Diaries
Photographs
Interviews
Citation:
Gregory Battcock Papers, 1952-circa 1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.battgreg
See more items in:
Gregory Battcock papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9173ed1ab-2aac-4e20-85fe-1a96e7acf785
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-battgreg
Online Media:

Gregory Battcock papers, 1952-circa 1980

Creator:
Battcock, Gregory, 1937-1980  Search this
Subject:
Livingston, Braniff  Search this
Partch, Harry  Search this
Levine, Les  Search this
Frank, Peter  Search this
Hess, Emil  Search this
Dalí, Salvador  Search this
Dreva, Jerry  Search this
Nakagawa, Naoto  Search this
Whyte, Ron  Search this
Brown, Cee  Search this
Christo  Search this
McGeehan, Robert  Search this
Warhol, Andy  Search this
Morley, Malcolm  Search this
Beker, Gisela  Search this
Varble, Stephen  Search this
Van Baron, Judith  Search this
Battcock, Elizabeth  Search this
Wechter, Vivienne Thaul  Search this
Halbert, Jacques  Search this
Neri, Julio  Search this
Paik, Nam June  Search this
Pocock, Philip  Search this
Glusberg, Jorge  Search this
Calder, Alexander  Search this
Burton, Scott  Search this
Schult, Ha  Search this
Carsman, Jon  Search this
George, John  Search this
Picard, Lil  Search this
Peña, Rolando  Search this
Goldstein, Al  Search this
William Paterson College of New Jersey  Search this
Bronx Museum of the Arts  Search this
International Association of Art Critics  Search this
Trylon & perisphere  Search this
Type:
Video recordings
Scrapbooks
Diaries
Photographs
Interviews
Citation:
Gregory Battcock papers, 1952-circa 1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Constructivism (Art)  Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Minimal art  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Study and teaching  Search this
Art thefts  Search this
Theme:
Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this
Diaries  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)10960
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214742
AAA_collcode_battgreg
Theme:
Sketches & Sketchbooks
Diaries
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_214742
Online Media:

Goldstein, Al

Collection Creator:
Battcock, Gregory, 1937-1980  Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 55
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1976
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Gregory Battcock Papers, 1952-circa 1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Gregory Battcock papers
Gregory Battcock papers / Series 2: Correspondence
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93d62c7c0-fdfe-438a-a2cb-da3e84bda21e
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-battgreg-ref72

I, Goldstein : my screwed life / by Al Goldstein and Josh Alan Friedman

Author:
Goldstein, Al  Search this
Friedman, Josh Alan  Search this
Subject:
Goldstein, Al  Search this
Physical description:
271 p., [12] p. of plates : ill ; 24 cm
Type:
Books
Date:
2006
C2006
Topic:
Pornography  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_841267

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