Search Results

Author:

Middendorf/Lane Gallery  Search this

Women's Caucus for Art  Search this

Subject:

Bishop, Isabel 1902-1988  Search this

Burke, Selma 1900-  Search this

Neel, Alice 1900-1984  Search this

Nevelson, Louise 1899-1988  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia 1887-1986  Search this

Physical description:

32 p. : b ill. (some col.) 28 cm

Type:

Exhibitions

Date:

1979

20th century

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Call number:

N8354 .W89

N8354.W89

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_128815

Creator:

Whitney Museum of American Art  Search this

Names:

Whitney Studio Club  Search this

Whitney Studio Galleries  Search this

Baziotes, William, 1912-1963  Search this

Bellows, George, 1882-1925  Search this

Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975  Search this

Bloom, Hyman, 1913-  Search this

Burchfield, Charles Ephraim, 1893-1967  Search this

Burlin, Paul, 1886-1969  Search this

Cadmus, Paul, 1904-1999  Search this

Cassatt, Mary, 1844-1926  Search this

Curry, John Steuart, 1897-1946  Search this

Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this

De Creeft, José, 1884-1982  Search this

Dickinson, Edwin Walter, 1891-1978  Search this

Eilshemius, Louis M. (Louis Michel), 1864-1941  Search this

Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973  Search this

Feininger, Lyonel, 1871-1956  Search this

Gatch, Lee, 1902-1968  Search this

Glackens, William J., 1870-1938  Search this

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948  Search this

Graves, Morris, 1910-  Search this

Gross, Chaim, 1904-1991  Search this

Grosz, George, 1893-1959  Search this

Harnett, William Michael, 1848-1892  Search this

Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this

Henri, Robert, 1865-1929  Search this

Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this

Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this

Inness, George, 1825-1894  Search this

Karfiol, Bernard, 1886-1952  Search this

Kuhn, Walt, 1877-1949  Search this

Kuniyoshi, Yasuo, 1889-1953  Search this

Lachaise, Gaston, 1882-1935  Search this

Lawson, Ernest, 1873-1939  Search this

MacIver, Loren, 1909-1998  Search this

Marin, John, 1870-1953  Search this

Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954  Search this

Motherwell, Robert  Search this

Mount, William Sidney, 1807-1868  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986  Search this

Pereira, I. Rice (Irene Rice), 1902-1971  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Prendergast, Maurice Brazil, 1858-1924  Search this

Pène Du Bois, Guy, 1884-1958  Search this

Reder, Bernard, 1897-1963  Search this

Rimmer, William, 1816-1879  Search this

Rivers, Larry, 1925-2002  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Ryder, Albert Pinkham, 1847-1917  Search this

Schnakenberg, H. E. (Henry Ernest), 1892-1970  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Sloan, John, 1871-1951  Search this

Smith, David, 1906-1965  Search this

Stella, Joseph, 1877-1946  Search this

Tobey, Mark  Search this

Twachtman, John Henry, 1853-1902  Search this

Tworkov, Jack  Search this

Walkowitz, Abraham, 1880-1965  Search this

Weber, Max, 1881-1961  Search this

Wyant, A. H. (Alexander Helwig), 1836-1892  Search this

Young, Mahonri Mackintosh, 1877-1957  Search this

Zorach, William, 1887-1966  Search this

Extent:

78 Microfilm reels

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Microfilm reels

Date:

1914-1966

Scope and Contents:

REELS N591-N597: Photographs of the Museum, Juliana Force, Herman Moore; scrapbooks on the Whitney Studio Club, Whitney Studio Galleries and the Museum, 1927-1965.

REELS N599-N604: Notebooks of Edwin W. Dickinson; photographs and provenance information for works by Philip Evergood; a catalog of information and some photographs of Chinese ink drawings and other works by Reginald Marsh; and photographs and information on Bernard Reder, Jack Tworkov, Max Weber (portions also microfilmed on reel NY59-8 (fr. 497-658), reel NY59-9 (fr. 1-51), and William Zorach.

REELS N604-N609: Exhibition catalogs, 1946-1966, for artists and groups shows at the Museum, including Robert Feke, William Rimmer, Ralph Blakelock, Albert Maurer, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Thomas Cole, Max Weber, Arshile Gorky, Mark Tobey, John Sloan, Loren MacIver, I. Rice Pereira, George Grosz, Reginald Marsh, Charles Burchfield, Morris Graves, Theodore Roszak, John Marin, Hans Hofmann, Bradley Tomlin, Stuart Davis, Milton Avery, Lee Gatch, Jose De Creeft, Maurice Prendergast, Edward Hopper, Hyman Bloom, Robert E. Jones, Balcomb Greene, Karl Zerbe, Arthur G. Dove, William Zorach, Philip Evergood, Bernard Reder, Herbert Feber, Oliver O'Connor Barrett,Arthur B. Davies, Jose De Rivera, Paul Burlin, Joseph Stella, Jack Tworkov, Ivan Albright, Stuart Davis, Edwin Dickinson, John Quidor, and Niles Spencer.

REELS N646-N694: Artists' files on: Oliver O'Connor Barrett,William Baziotes, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Peter Blume, James Brooks, Patrick Henry Bruce, Charles Burchfield, Paul Burlin, David Burliuk, Paul Cadmus, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Cole, Glenn Coleman, Jon Corbino, John Steuart Curry, Jo Davidson, Arthur B. Davies, Jose DeCreeft, Charles Demuth, Jose De Rivera, Arthur Dove, Guy Pène du Bois, Stuart Davis, Frank Duveneck, Ralph Earl, Eastman Johnson, The Eight, Philip Evergood, Robert Feke, Lyonel Feininger, Ernest Fiene, George Fuller, Lee Gatch, William Glackens, Arshile Gorky, Balcomb Greene, Chaim Gross, George Grosz, William Harnett, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, John Heliker, Robert Henri, Hans Hofmann, George Inness, Leon Kelly, Franz Kline, Karl Knaths, Leon Kroll, Walt Kuhn, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Gaston Lachaise, Robert Laurent, Ernest Lawson, Jack Levine, Seymour Lipton, George B. Luks,

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Loren MacIver, John Marin, Reginald Marsh, Alfred Maurer, K. H. Miller, Robert Motherwell, William Mount, Jerome Myers, Louise Nevelson, Georgia O'Keeffe (portions also microfilmed on reels NY59-13 (fr. 98-115, 406-424, 586-685), reel NY59-14 (entire), and reel NY59-15 (fr. 1-140, 145-153), I. Rice Pereira, Bernard Perlin, Joseph Pollett, Jackson Pollock, Reginald Pollack, Henry V. Poor, Richard Pousette-Dart, Maurice Prendergast, Abraham Rattner, Bernard Reder, Ad Reinhardt, William Rimmer, Larry Rivers, Hugo Robus, Theodore Roszak, Mark Rothko, Concetta Scarvaglione, Henry Schnakenberg, Ben Shahn, John Sloan, David Smith, Eugene Speicher, Theodoros Stamos, Joseph Stella, Maurice Sterne, Mark Tobey, Bradley Tomlin,Trajan, Allen Tucker, John Twachtman, Jack Tworkov, Abraham Walkowitz (also on reel NY/59-15) , Max Weber, James M. Whistler, Gertrude Whitney, Grant Wood, Alexander Wyant, Mahonri Young, and William Zorach.

REELS NWH 1-NWH 7: Artist files on Charles Sheeler, Bernard Karfiol, Louis Eilshemius; scatterred records of the Whitney Studio Club and Museum, 1914-1945, including minutes, Oct. 15, 1930, and Whitney Studio ledgers, 1928-1931; catalogs of one-man shows, 1932-1945; catalogs of annual painting exhibitions, 1932-1940, sculpture, watercolor and drawing exhibitions, 1933-1945, and group exhibitions, 1932-1945; and clippings, Oct. 1935-1936.

REELS NY59/8 (fr. 256-end)-NY59/10: Files on Max Weber, including biographical material, lists of work, and miscellany. Also found (NY59/8 frames 354-383) are ca.20 letters from Weber to Abraham Walkowitz, 1907-1924.

Biographical / Historical:

Whitney Museum of American Art is an American art museum in New York, New York. Founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and formally opened in 1931. Previous to its opening as a museum it was known as the Whitney Studio Club (1914-28) and Whitney Studio Galleries (1928-30).

Provenance:

The Weber files on reels NY59/8-10 were lent for microfilming 1959 by the Whitney Museum of American Art; the remainder was lent 1964-1967; additional material from the Museum was lent at the same time, and subsequently donated, including the papers of Lloyd Goodrich, Juliana Force, Thomas B. Clarke, the American Art Research Council, and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney; these have each been cataloged separately. Portions of Weber, and O'Keeffe material that was microfilmed in 1959 were refilmed in 1967.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Artists -- Exhibitions -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art, American  Search this

Function:

Art museums -- New York (State)

Identifier:

AAA.whitmuse

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw990da7b91-a3b8-4ace-b8ba-b5c08cfe3284

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-whitmuse

Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Diamonstein, Barbaralee, 1932-  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

A Conversation with Louise Nevelson, 1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)11515

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209292

AAA_collcode_neveloui3

Theme:

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209292

Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Type:

Photographs

Interviews

Sketches

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Louise Nevelson papers, circa 1903-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Works of art  Search this

Sculpture -- Exhibitions  Search this

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9093

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211286

AAA_collcode_neveloui

Theme:

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211286

Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Braun, Barbara, 1939-  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Louise Nevelson interview, 1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9753

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212132

AAA_collcode_neveloiv

Theme:

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_212132

Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Subject:

Nevelson, Louise  Search this

Bolotowsky, Ilya  Search this

Grand Central Moderns (Gallery)  Search this

Citation:

[Louise Nevelson exhibition installation at Grand Central Moderns, Jan. 1958] [motion picture] / filmed by Ilya Bolotowsky, undated. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- Exhibitions  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)6444

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215588

AAA_collcode_neveloui2

Theme:

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_215588

Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Extent:

30.5 Linear feet

40.5 Megabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Megabytes

Photographs

Interviews

Sketches

Scrapbooks

Date:

circa 1903-1982

Summary:

The papers of Louise Nevelson measure 30.5 linear feet and 40.5 MB and date from circa 1903 to 2019. The collection documents aspects of the life and work of the sculptor, focusing especially on her later career. Papers include correspondence, personal business records, writings, scrapbooks, early art work, photographs, interviews, awards and honorary degrees, books, and an extensive amount of printed material.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of Louise Nevelson measure 30.5 linear feet and date from circa 1903 to 1988. The collection documents aspects of the life and work of the sculptor, focusing especially on her later career. Papers include correspondence, personal business records, writings, scrapbooks, some of Nevelson's early art work, photographs, interviews, awards and honorary degrees, books, and an extensive amount of printed material.

Interviews, awards, and honorary degrees comprise a series of biographical material, along with scattered personal papers such as a graduation program, wedding announcement, teaching certificate, invitations, miscellaneous notes, and material relating to Nevelson's family. Correspondence consists of letters and enclosures from a wide range of professional contacts, including museums and art centers, universities, art associations, women's and charitable organizations, artists, and philanthropists, among others, concerning the exhibition, sale, and donation of Nevelson's art work, and her various arts-related activities, as well as some letters from friends and family. Correspondence can also be found amongst the subject files, which also include clippings, notes, printed and other material organized according to subject and relating to certain exhibitions, and various artistic and professional activities. Whether this organization originates with Nevelson, one of her assistants, or Archives staff is unknown.

Found amongst Nevelson's business records are consignment receipts, statements, correspondence, inventories, disposition cards, notebooks, and lists, stemming from her business dealings with the Martha Jackson Gallery and related matters, usually carried out by her assistant at the time. Business records relate in particular to the large and complex project of inventorying Nevelson's art work undertaken sometime in the early-1960s. Nevelson's writings consist of poems and poem fragments, a short-lived dream journal, scattered writings on art, and drafts from Dawns and Dusks: Taped Conversations with Diana MacKown by Louise Nevelson and Diana MacKown. Also found are a large number of scrapbooks and an extensive amount of printed material, which likely stem in large part from Nevelson's concern to document and keep a record of her accomplishments. Scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and other material documenting Nevelson's early career from roughly the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. Also included are loose items comprising a scrapbook of sorts on son Mike Nevelson and various scrapbooks compiled by others as mementos of particular events. Printed material includes an extensive amount of clippings and publications, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and a variety of other printed material relating or referring to Nevelson or merely featuring her name in print. Also included are several books, some of which are about or feature segments on Nevelson. This material documents both her critical and commercial success, and her role as personality and minor celebrity in the mass media later in her career, especially during the 1960s and 1970s.

Art work consists of early drawings and watercolors made by Nevelson as a child and adolescent and while studying art in high school and New York, which document her artistic tendencies as youth and her early development as an artist and which provide an interesting contrast to her later work in sculpture. Photographs include ones of the Berliawsky family and Nevelson as a child, adolescent, and young woman in the 1920s and 1930s before she became known as an artist; ones of Nevelson from the mid-1950s to the 1980s, once she had become known, and began to be honored, as an artist; and ones of Nevelson's art work, as well as of various exibitions and installations of her work. Also included are a number of slides of the artist and her art work, including photographs taken by Dorothy Dehner in the mid-1950s at Louise Nevelson's house on Thirtieth Street.

There is a 40.5 MB unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes digital photographs of a plaque commemoration installed in Louise Nevelson's birth town of Pereyaslav, Ukraine in 2019. Organizers of the event include Julie Gard, Associate Professor of Writing and Associate Director of the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Superior; Yuri Avramenko, Memorial Organizer in Pereyaslav-Ukraine and Maria Nevelson, Founder and Executive Director and Chair of the Board for the Louise Nevelson Foundation. Materials date from 2019.

Arrangement:

The Louise Nevelson papers are arranged into ten series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1918-1985 (Boxes 1, 17, OV 21, 30, 31, Sol 42; 2.3 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-1984 (Boxes 1-2, 31-35, Sol 42; 6 linear feet)

Series 3: Subject Files, 1955-1988 (Box 3, 35-36; 1.7 linear feet)

Series 4: Business Records, 1946-1981 (Boxes 3-5, 36-38, Sol 42; 3.8 linear feet)

Series 5: Writings, 1936-1980 (Box 5, 38, Sol 42; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1935-1983 (Boxes 5, 18-19, OV 22-27, 38, Sol 42; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 7:Books and Printed Material, 1904-1985 (Boxes 6-13, 19, OV 28, 38-40, Sol 43; 9.5 linear feet)

Series 8: Art Work, 1905-1982 (Boxes 13, 20, 40, Sol 43; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1903-1980s (Boxes 14-15, 20, OV 29, 40-41, Sol 43; 3.5 linear feet)

Series 10: Unprocessed Addition, 2019 (40.5 MB)

Biographical Note:

Louise Nevelson was born in 1899 in Kiev, Russia. Her parents, Isaac and Minna Berliawsky, and their children emigrated to America in 1905 and settled in Rockland, Maine, where the young Louise grew up as a bit of an outsider in local society. She decided upon a career in art at an early age and took some drawing classes in high school, before graduating in 1918. Two years later, she married Charles Nevelson, a wealthy businessman, and moved to New York. She proceeded to study painting, drawing, singing, acting, and eventually dancing. In 1922, Nevelson gave birth to a son, Myron (later called Mike). She eventually separated from her husband in the winter of 1932-1933; and they divorced officially in 1941.

Beginning in 1929, Nevelson began to study art full-time at the Art Students League, where she took classes with Kenneth Hayes Miller and Kimon Nicolaides. In 1931, she went to Europe and studied with Hans Hofmann in Munich before traveling to Italy and France. She returned to New York in 1932 and again studied for a time with Hofmann, who was by now a guest instructor at the Art Students League. In 1933, she met Diego Rivera while he was in New York working on his mural for Rockefeller Center and casually worked as his assistant for a short period. Shortly thereafter, she began to work in sculpture and joined a sculpture class taught by Chaim Gross at the Educational Alliance. She continued to draw and paint, and even took up etching, lithography, and other techniques at different points in her career, but from this time on, she concentrated on sculpture. Her early sculptures were primarily in plaster, clay, and tattistone.

During the thirties, Nevelson exhibited in a number of group shows (both non-juried and competitive ones), garnering some recognition for her work. In 1935, she taught mural painting at the Flatbush Boys Club in Brooklyn, as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), then went on to work in the fine-arts division as an easel painter and sculptor until 1939. In 1941, Nevelson had her first solo exhibition at the Nierendorf Gallery, run by Karl Nierendorf who represented her until his death in 1947. Both this and a one-woman show the following year received favorable reviews. It was around this time that she discovered the decorated shoeshine box of Joe Milone, a local tradesman, and arranged to have it exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, an occasion which received much notice in the press.

In the 1940s, Nevelson produced a great many works in stone, bronze, terra cotta, and wood, most of them being cubist studies of the figure. In 1943, she had a show titled "The Clown as the Center of his World" at the Norlyst Gallery, which featured works on a circus theme constructed from discarded pieces of wood and other material. This new work was not very well received at the time, and it wasn't until the mid-1950s that she began to work with discarded and found objects on a regular basis.

During the early-1950s, Nevelson attempted to exhibit her work as often as possible, eventually receiving various prizes and notices for her work in the press. She continued to struggle financially though and began to teach sculpture classes in the adult education program of the Great Neck, Long Island public schools in order to make ends meet. In 1955, she joined he Grand Central Moderns Gallery, which was run by Colette Roberts, and had several one-woman shows there. These included: "Ancient Games and Ancient Places" in 1955, featuring Bride of the Black Moon, "The Forest" in 1957, featuring First Personage, and "Moon Garden + One" in 1958, featuring her first wall, Sky Cathedral. During this period, she was painting her wood black and putting together entirely black exhibits; she went on to create works in white and gold in the early-1960s. Around this time, she also began to enclose her small sculptures within wooden boxes.

Nevelson joined the Martha Jackson Gallery in 1958, where she received a guaranteed income and finally achieved a certain degree of financial security. Her first show at the gallery, "Sky Columns Presence," took place in the fall of 1959. In 1960, she had her first one-woman exhibition in Europe at the Galerie Daniel Cordier in Paris. Later that year, her work, grouped together as "Dawn's Wedding Feast," was included in the group show, "Sixteen Americans," at the Museum of Modern Art, alongside the work of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenburg, and other younger artists. She made her first museum sale in 1962 when the Whitney Museum of American Art purchased the black wall, Young Shadows. That same year, Nevelson's work was selected for the thirty-first Biennale in Venice.

Over the years, Nevelson took on several assistants, including Teddy Haseltine, Tom Kendall, and Diana Mackown, to help in the studio and with daily affairs. She also participated in various artists' groups, and served as President of the New York Chapter of Artists' Equity from 1957 to 1958, and as President of the national organization from 1962 to 1964. She left the Martha Jackson Gallery in 1962, and after a brief, unhappy stint with the Sidney Janis Gallery, she joined the Pace Gallery, which was run by Arnold Glimcher, in the fall of 1963. She proceeded to have shows of new work there about every two years for the remainder of her career. She had her first museum retrospective at the Whitney Museum in 1967, which featured over a hundred of her works from her drawings from the 1930s to her latest constructions. And in 1968, she was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. By this time, Nevelson had achieved both critical and commercial success as an artist.

Nevelson always experimented with new materials; she continued to construct her black wood walls, but also went on make constructions from aluminium, plastic, and metal. In the fall of 1969, she was commissioned by Princeton University to do a monumental outdoor sculpture in Cor-ten steel (her first), and went on to do commissioned works for the Philadelphia Federal Courthouse, and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, among others. In 1973, the Walker Art Center organized a major exhibition of Nevelson work which traveled around the country over the next two years. In 1975, she designed the chapel for St. Peter's Lutheran Church in midtown Manhattan.

Nevelson was widely honored for her work during her lifetime. Over the years, she received honorary degrees from Rutgers University and Harvard University, among other schools, as well as numerous awards, including the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in Sculpture and the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture in 1971, the gold medal for sculpture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1983, and the National Medal of the Arts in 1985. By the time of her death on April 17, 1988, Nevelson was considered by and large one of the most important American sculptors of the twentieth century.

Sources consulted for this biographical note include Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life by Laurie Lisle and Louise Nevelson by Arnold Glimcher.

Related Material:

Other resources relating to Louise Nevelson in the Archives include oral history interviews with Nevelson conducted by Dorothy Seckler, June 1964-January 14, 1964, and Arnold Glimcher, January 30, 1972. Also related are a 4 part untranscribed audio recording of an interview with Nevelson by Barbaralee Diamonstein, an audio recording of an interview with Nevelson conducted by Barbara Braun in 1983, and a video recording of Nevelson's 1958 exhibition installation at Grand Central Moderns gallery.

Provenance:

Donated 1966-1979 by Louise Nevelson,and in 2018 by the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine via Michael Komanecky, Chief Curator. The Farnsworth Art Museum received the materials from Louise Nevelson, her son Mike Nevelson, brother Nathan Berliawksy, and others that were close to the artist. Additional material donated in 2022 by Maria Nevelson, Louise Nevelson's granddaughter.

Restrictions:

The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website, with the exception of the 2017 and 2022 addition. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.

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:

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Works of art  Search this

Sculpture -- Exhibitions  Search this

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Interviews

Sketches

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Louise Nevelson papers, circa 1903-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for a portion of the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional processing received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.neveloui

See more items in:

Louise Nevelson papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw99c8dde75-538a-43a6-a68e-fa1db8e7d535

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-neveloui

Collection Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Container:

Box 15, Folder 12

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

late 1950s

Collection Restrictions:

The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website, with the exception of the 2017 and 2022 addition. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.

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:

Louise Nevelson papers, circa 1903-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for a portion of the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional processing received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

See more items in:

Louise Nevelson papers

Louise Nevelson papers / Series 9: Photographs / 9.4: Art Work

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e334de27-c20b-4337-be3d-0afe51a0f9b6

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-neveloui-ref407

Collection Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Container:

Box 15, Folder 14

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs [31027000489753]

Date:

late 1950s

Collection Restrictions:

The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website, with the exception of the 2017 and 2022 addition. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.

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:

Louise Nevelson papers, circa 1903-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for a portion of the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional processing received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

See more items in:

Louise Nevelson papers

Louise Nevelson papers / Series 9: Photographs / 9.4: Art Work

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9b1256b2c-fa00-4e3a-adae-06aaeb176ab7

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-neveloui-ref408

Creator:

Penney, Charles Rand, 1923-2010  Search this

Names:

Charles Rand Penney Collection  Search this

Arp, Jean, 1887-1966  Search this

Audubon, John James, 1785-1851  Search this

Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this

Bertoia, Harry  Search this

Burchfield, Charles Ephraim, 1893-1967  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this

Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this

Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973  Search this

Ganso, Emil, 1895-1941  Search this

Goodnough, Robert, 1917-  Search this

Grooms, Red  Search this

Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this

Marin, John, 1870-1953  Search this

Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954  Search this

Miró, Joan, 1893-  Search this

Moore, Henry, 1898-1986  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988  Search this

Pepper, Beverly  Search this

Segal, George, 1924-2000  Search this

Sloan, John, 1871-1951  Search this

Stamos, Theodoros, 1922-1997  Search this

Steinberg, Saul  Search this

Wilke, Ulfert, 1907-1987  Search this

Extent:

23.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1923-1994

bulk 1945-1994

Summary:

The papers of art collector Charles Rand Penney measure 23.1 linear feet and date from 1923 to 1994 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1945 to 1994. The majority of the collection consists of Penney's art collection files, which include printed materials, correspondence, notes, and photographic materials. Also found within the papers are catalogs from exhibitions that featured artwork from Penney's collection.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of art collector Charles Rand Penney measure 23.1 linear feet and date from 1923 to 1994 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1945 to 1994. The collection consists primarily of Penney's art collection files which include printed materials, correspondence, notes, and photographic materials. Also found within the papers are catalogs from exhibitions that featured artwork from Penney's collection.

Artists of significance represented in Penney's art collection files include Jean Arp, John James Audubon, Milton Avery, Harry Beroia, Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Philip Evergood, Emil Ganso, Robert Goodnough, Red Grooms, Edward Hopper, John Marin, Reginald Marsh, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Beverly Pepper, George Segal, John Sloan, Theodoros Stamos, Saul Steinberg, and Ulfert Wilke, among many others. Also included are files for artists that participated in theToronto 20 portfolio project in 1965. The files do not include Penney's files relating to Charles Burchfield, Wester New York state artists, or objects from the Arts and Craft movement.

A few notable exhibition catalogs found in the series of catalogs of the Charles Rand Penney art collection are Charles Burchfield: The Charles Rand Penney Collection, The Graphic Art of Emil Ganso, Drawings from the Collection of Charles Rand Penney, Quilts Coverlets Hooked Rugs from the Collection of Charles Rand Penney, The Charles Rand Penney Collection: Twentieth Century Art, and An American Visionary: Watercolors and Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 2 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Art Collection Files, 1923-1994 (Box 1-23, OV 24; 22.7 linear feet)

Series 2: Catalogs of the Charles Rand Penney Art Collection, 1966-1991 (Box 23, 0.2 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Charles Rand Penney (1923-2010) was an art collector from Buffalo, New York. He was well known for his collection of art by Western New York artists, but also collected art from Europe, Africa, Oceania, and other regions of the United States. His travels contributed to the eclectic mix of paintings, drawings, sculptures, hooked rugs, quilts, and tribal art found within his art collection.

Penney cited receiving the watercolor Warrior in 1933 from Western New York artist Bob Blair as the beginning of his life as an art collector. Years later, Penney served in World War II, attended law school, and began practicing law in the 1950s. His collections grew quickly during the late 1950s through 1970s. Penney collected over 100,000 works of art during his lifetime, much of it guided by dealers James and Merle Goodman.

In 1963, Penney began donating artwork to the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York. In total, approximately 400 works of art were donated to the gallery including Big Diamond by David Smith and Beverly Pepper's Vertical Ventaglio (1967-1968). Penney also donated over 1000 works of art to the Burchfield Art Center in Buffalo, New York.

Related Materials:

Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Charles Rand Penney conducted by Robert F. Brown on August 14-16, 1981. Additional files relating to the Charles Rand Penney Foundation (1963-1976) are located at the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. Files relating to Western New York state artists, Charles Burchfield, and American Arts and Crafts are located at the Burchfield-Penney Center at Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York.

Provenance:

The collection was donated in 1993-1994 by Charles Rand Penney.

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.

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Citation:

Charles Rand Penney Papers, 1923-1994, bulk 1945-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund.

Identifier:

AAA.pennchar

See more items in:

Charles Rand Penney papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw972c049ec-5929-47d4-a5d2-e8041e6394e0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-pennchar

Creator:

Linda Farris Gallery  Search this

Farris, Linda  Search this

Names:

Barry, Lynda, 1956-  Search this

Bruskin, Grisha, 1945-  Search this

Clough, Charles, 1951-  Search this

Landfield, Ronnie, 1947-  Search this

Luce, Charles, 1947-  Search this

Lucero, Michael, 1953-  Search this

Markovitz, Sherry  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Noah, Barbara  Search this

Pepper, Beverly  Search this

Extent:

13.4 Linear feet (13 Boxes, 1 sol, 1 ov folder)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Scrapbooks

Lectures

Photographs

Sound recordings

Visitors' books

Date:

1969-1995

Summary:

The records of Seattle's avant-garde Linda Farris Gallery measure 13.4 linear feet and date from 1969-1995. The bulk of the records consist of artists' and exhibition files. Also found are gallery business correspondence, administrative files, event files, reference files, records of sales, scattered legal files, the personal papers of gallery owner Linda Farris, and printed materials.

Scope and Contents:

The records of Seattle's avant-garde Linda Farris Gallery measure 13.4 linear feet and date from 1969-1995. The bulk of the records consist of artists' and exhibition files. Also found are gallery business correspondence, administrative files, event files, reference files, records of sales, scattered legal files, the personal papers of gallery owner Linda Farris, and printed materials. Business correspondence is with galleries, dealers, publishers, museums, and other businesses. Administrative files are varied and include advertising and promotion materials, exhibition schedules, mailing lists, guest books, a scrapbook, and gallery history.

Artists' files are found for many contemporary American artists that interested Linda Farris or were represented by the gallery. The contents of each file vary but many include photographs and slides, writings, correspondence, and printed materials. Files for Lynda Barry, Grisha Brusking, Charles Clough, Ronnie Landfield, Charles Luce, Michael Lucerno, Sherry Markovitz, Louise Nevelson, Barbara Noah, and Beverly Pepper are particularly rich. Exhibition files are for Linda Farris Gallery exhibitions and include printed materials, correspondence, loan and consignment agreements, and photographs.

Event files cover anniversary celebrations, lectures, panel discussions, and receptions. There are 17 sound cassette recordings of "Art Now" lectures and "Focus" panel discussions. Scattered reference files contain collected materials on subjects of interest to the gallery. There are scattered financial, sales, and legal files. Sales records cover 1970-1979.

Linda Farris' personal papers contain printed materials about her and the gallery and other materials concerning her professional and curatorial work outside of the gallery. There is also a transcript of an oral history with Farris and a news interview.

Printed materials include published books and magazines, clippings and exhibition catalogs and announcements.

Photographs are scattered throughout adminstrative files, exhibition files, event files, and Linda Farris' personal papers.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 8 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Correspondence, 1975-1991, undated (Box 1; .7 linear feet)

Series 2: Administrative files, 1970-1995, undated (Box 1-2, 14; 1 linear feet)

Series 3: Artists and Exhibition files, 1969-1995, undated (Box 2-9, 15; 6.6 linear feet)

Series 4: Events files, 1971-1990, undated (Box 9, 14; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 5: Reference files, 1969-1994, undated (Box 9-10; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 6: Financial, Sales and Legal files, 1970-1995 (Box 10; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 7: Linda Farris Papers, 1972-1995 (Box 10-11; .9 linear feet)

Series 8: Printed Materials, 1970-1995 (Box 11-14; 2 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

The Linda Farris Gallery was Seattle's leading venue for contemporary art during its twenty-five years of operation.

Linda Farris opened Gallery East in Bellevue in 1970, and a year later moved to Pioneer Square in Seattle, changing the name to Linda Farris Gallery in 1973. The gallery continued to present contemporary art there until closing in December 1995. Art dealer Linda Farris began representing a group of promising artists, all graduates of the University of Washington. Greg Kucera of the Greg Kucera Gallery noted in an article for the Seattle Weekly, "Their work could be loosely seen as a movement, complete with aesthetic interrelationships, convenient marriages, an unintelligible manifesto in the form of Dennis Evans' quirky pronouncements…" From the same article he states, "Her avant-garde gallery changed forever the nature of being an art dealer in Seattle." It was among the three or four most influential galleries in the Pacific Northwest.

The gallery held exhibitions of many nationally known contemporary artists, including Sam Francis, Louise Nevelson, and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as Northwest artists Jeffrey Bishop, Dennis Evans, Sherry Markovitz, Nancy Mee, Norie Sato, and Patti Warashina. The latter group started with the gallery and remained loyal at the time of its closing in 1995.

Art dealer, collector and free-lance curator Linda B. Farris (1944-2005), a native of San Francisco and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (1966), was an active participant in and style setter for the Seattle art world for the twenty-five years she was in business. As a member of the art community she actively supported the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, Pilchuck Glass School, and Seattle Art Museum's Contemporary Art Council, and served on the boards of directors of Henry Art Gallery and Factory Visual Arts. Farris curated "Eight Seattle Artists" in 1981 for the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art and "Self Portraits" in 1983 for the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. She also led the movement to keep Henry Moore's "Vertebrae" from leaving Seattle, and instituted a series of talks, panel discussions, performances, and tours in her gallery, and in and around Seattle.

This note draws heavily on the Archives of American Art's West Coast Regional Collector Paul Karlstrom's collection description written upon acquisition of the papers.

Related Materials:

An oral history interview with Linda Farris conducted in 1975 by Sally Swenson, is located in the University of Washington University Libraries Digital Collections.

Provenance:

The Linda Farris Gallery records were donated to the Archives of American Art by owner Linda Farris in 1995 at the time she closed the gallery.

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 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.

Topic:

Avant-garde (Aesthetics)  Search this

Art -- Washington (State) -- Exhibitions  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Washington (State) -- Seattle  Search this

Artists -- Northwestern States  Search this

Transcripts  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- Washington (State)

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Scrapbooks

Lectures

Photographs

Sound recordings

Visitors' books

Citation:

Linda Farris Gallery records, 1969-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care Pool Fund.

Identifier:

AAA.lindfarr

See more items in:

Linda Farris Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a88eaff1-cd31-4f5b-a7bf-1e2648ae6b2d

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-lindfarr

Creator:

Simon, Sidney, 1917-1997  Search this

Names:

Budd (Firm : New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Century Association (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Colby College  Search this

Graham Gallery  Search this

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts  Search this

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture -- Faculty  Search this

United States. Army. Corps of Engineers  Search this

Emmerich, André  Search this

Gonzalez, Xavier, 1898-1993  Search this

Gotfryd, Bernard  Search this

Hélion, Jacqueline  Search this

Jencks, Penelope  Search this

Kelly, Ellsworth, 1923- -- Photographs  Search this

King, William, 1925-2015  Search this

Meredith, Burgess, 1907-1997  Search this

Motherwell, Robert -- Photographs  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988 -- Photographs  Search this

Pousette-Dart, Richard, 1916-1992  Search this

Watson, Forbes, 1880-1960  Search this

Extent:

23.7 Linear feet

2.21 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Interviews

Illustrated letters

Diaries

Date:

circa 1917-2008

bulk 1940-1997

Summary:

The papers of sculptor, painter, and educator Sidney Simon measure 23.7 linear feet and 2.21 GB and date from circa 1917-2002, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1940-1997. The collection documents Simon's career through biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, subject files, sketches, sketchbooks, printed and digital material, and photographs.

There is a 15.7 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes exhibition files; commission files; project files; ledgers; photograph albums, slides, transparencies and glass plate negatives of works of art and installations and photographs of Simon, family and others; inventories of works of art; files relating to World War II including personal and professional photographs, blank postcards, sketches, printed material, and personnel information; unidentified CDs and a cassette with a letter from mother; journals with sketches and notes; biographical information including certificates and awards; printed material including catalogs and announcements and articles about Simon; appraisals; correspondence including posthumous letters of condolence; sketchbooks and drawings, including oversized student drawings and drawings for commissions and competitions; interviews with Simon on Hi8 tapes, mini DV; a scrapbook; and a zinc metal plate. Materials date from circa 1940-1997 and 2008.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of sculptor, painter, and educator Sidney Simon measure 23.7 linear feet and 2.21 GB and date from circa 1917-2002, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1940-1997. The collection documents Simon's career through biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, subject files, sketches, sketchbooks, printed and digital material, and photographs.

Biographical material chronicles Simon's academic training and professional activities through curriculum vitae, biographical accounts, and awards. Included are letters and memoranda, many from Forbes Watson pertaining to Simon's service as a combat artist in World War II. Also found is a transcript of an interview with Simon recounting his experiences in the Southwest Pacific. Simon's personal correspondence with colleagues, friends, and family includes scattered letters from Jacqueline Helion, Penelope Jencks, William King, Burgess Meredith, among others. Many letters are illustrated by Sidney Simon and others. General correspondence includes letters from artists, galleries, museums, public and religious institutions primarily relating to Simon's exhibitions and commissioned projects. Among the correspondents are Castle Hill, Truro Center for the Arts, Colby College, André Emmerich, Eric Makler Gallery, Xavier Gonzalez, Graham Gallery, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Interspersed among the files are letters of a personal nature. Other correspondence relates to Simon's faculty positions and his activities in professional organizations, e.g., Century Association, National Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

Writings and notes include Simon's 1943 diary entries recording his activities in the Army Corps of Engineers, draft versions of writings and lectures, and notes. Included are digital audio recordings of Simon's lectures at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Subject files provide documentation on Simon's commissioned projects, select exhibitions and competitions, as well as his faculty positions and memberships in several arts organizations. Printed material consists of clippings, invitations, announcements, newsletters, and programs. Exhibition catalogs are of Simon's solo and group shows at galleries, museums, and art organizations from 1959-1966. Photographs are of Simon by Budd Brothers, Richard Pousette-Dart, and Bernard Gotfryd. There are a number of photographs of the artist in his studio and outdoors as well as of Simon's family and friends, including group photographs with Ellsworth Kelly, André Emmerich, Robert Motherwell, and Louise Nevelson. Also found are three personal and family albums and twenty-one photograph albums of Simon's paintings and sculptures.

There is a 15.7 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes exhibition files; commission files; project files; ledgers; photograph albums, slides, transparencies and glass plate negatives of works of art and installations and photographs of Simon, family and others; inventories of works of art; files relating to World War II including personal and professional photographs, blank postcards, sketches, printed material, and personnel information; unidentified CDs and a cassette with a letter from mother; journals with sketches and notes; biographical information including certificates and awards; printed material including catalogs and announcements and articles about Simon; appraisals; correspondence including posthumous letters of condolence; sketchbooks and drawings, including oversized student drawings and for commissions and competitions; interviews with Simon on Hi8 tapes, mini DV; a scrapbook; and a zinc metal plate. Materials date from circa 1940-1997 and 2008.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 10 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1940-1998 (Boxes 1, 9; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1936-2002 (Boxes 1-2; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1943, circa 1960-1997 (Box 2; 0.4 linear feet, ER01-ER03; 2.21 GB)

Series 4: Subject Files, 1940-1941, 1951-1997 (Boxes 2-4, 9; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 5: Sketches, 1937-1942 (Box 4; 1 folder)

Series 6: Sketchbooks, 1939-1995 (Boxes 4-5, 9; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1933, 1942-1998 (Box 5; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1978-1995 (Box 5; 0.1 linear feet)

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1917-1997 (Boxes 5-10; 3.0 linear feet)

Series 10: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1940-1997, 2008 (Boxes 11-27, OV 28-43; 15.7 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Sidney Simon (1917-1997) was a sculptor, painter, and educator who worked primarily in New York City and Truro, Massachusetts. Simon was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of 14, he won a place as a special student at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1934 and from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1936. Simon also studied at the Barnes Foundation from 1937-1940. Simon received professional recognition early in his career; he was awarded the Prix de Rome Collaborative Prize in 1939 and the Edwin Austin Abbey Fellowship in mural painting in 1945.

In 1941, Simon enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Army Corps of Engineers. Assigned to MacArthur's headquarters as an official war artist for the Southwest Pacific Theater, Simon was chosen to paint the signing of the peace treaty between the U.S. and Japan aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. He was discharged from the army with a Bronze Star and five presidential citations. In 1945, along with Bill Cummings and Henry Varnum Poor, Simon co-founded the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, where he later served as a director and a member of the Board of Governors. By the mid-1950s, Simon's interest shifted from painting to sculpture, creating works in wood, clay, and other media. Over the years, Simon collaborated with architects on a number of public and private commissions, including the doorway for the Downstate Medical Center, the Jewish Chapel at West Point, a playground sculpture for Prospect Park, and the totemic column for the Temple Beth Abraham. In addition to serving on the faculty at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Simon also taught at the Art Students League, Brooklyn Museum, and Parsons School of Design. An active champion of artists' rights, Simon established the New York Artists Equity Association. He participated in solo and group shows at the Graham Gallery, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and the Sculptors Guild, among other venues.

In 1997, Sidney Simon died at the age of 80 in Truro, Massachusetts. Simon was divorced from Joan Crowell in 1964. He is survived by his wife, Renee Adriance Simon and five children from his first and second marriages.

Related Materials:

The Archives has two oral history interviews with Sidney Simon conducted by Paul Cummings in October 17-November 8, 1973 and the Karl E. Fortress taped interviews with artists, [1963-1985].

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds materials lent for microfilming (reel D210) including biographical material, correspondence, sketchbooks, scrapbooks, and photographs of Sidney Simon. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Sidney Simon lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming in 1965. Rene Simon, Simon's widow, donated the Sidney Simon papers in 2009. Additional material donated in 2022 by the Renee A. Simon Revocable Trust via trustees Barbara Sussman, Alexa Elam and Susanne Howard.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings and born-digital records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

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:

War artists  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war  Search this

Educators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Function:

Artists' studios -- New York (State)

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Interviews

Illustrated letters

Diaries

Citation:

Sidney Simon papers, circa 1917-2002, bulk 1940-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.simosidn

See more items in:

Sidney Simon papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw973588e01-af09-4ddf-ae4c-721c446d46c3

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-simosidn

Creator:

Miller, Dorothy Canning, 1904-2003  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Chase Manhattan Bank -- Art collections  Search this

Federal Art Project  Search this

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden  Search this

Mark Rothko Foundation  Search this

Municipal Art Exhibition (1st : 1934 : New York, N.Y.)  Search this

PepsiCo, Inc.  Search this

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- Art collections  Search this

Rockefeller University  Search this

Smith College -- Students  Search this

Smith College. Museum of Art  Search this

World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.) -- Art collections  Search this

Asher, Elise, 1914-  Search this

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

Bontecou, Lee, 1931-  Search this

Byars, James Lee  Search this

Cahill, Holger, 1887-1960  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this

Canady, John  Search this

Charlton, Maryette  Search this

Christo, 1935-  Search this

Chryssa, 1933-  Search this

Coggeshall, Calvert, 1907-1990  Search this

Copley, Alfred L.  Search this

Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this

DeFeo, Jay, 1929-1989  Search this

Feininger, Lyonel, 1871-1956  Search this

Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978  Search this

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948  Search this

Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-1979  Search this

Hartigan, Grace  Search this

Hicks, Edward, 1780-1849  Search this

Horwitt, Will  Search this

Johns, Jasper, 1930-  Search this

Karpel, Bernard, 1911-1986  Search this

Levy, Julien  Search this

Mather, Eleanore Price, 1910-  Search this

Matisse, Pierre, 1900-1989  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986  Search this

Pereira, I. Rice (Irene Rice), 1902-1971  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this

Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979 -- Art collections  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Sage, Kay  Search this

Scharf, William, 1927-  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Sterne, Hedda, 1910-2011  Search this

Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980  Search this

Extent:

34.6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Sketches

Christmas cards

Drawings

Date:

1853-2013

bulk 1920-1996

Summary:

The papers of contemporary and folk art curator, historian, and consultant Dorothy C. Miller measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1853-2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1996. The papers primarily concern Miller's private art consulting work outside of her curatorial work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Found are scattered biographical materials, extensive correspondence and subject files, and project files for her art consulting work for the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the World Trade Center, and other miscellaneous corporate and private clients. Miller's work as a trustee and committee member of various public and private boards and commissions is also represented here. Additionally, the papers contain Miller's research files on Edward Hicks and folk art, and a small number of files of her husband Holger Cahill about his work as Director of the Federal Art Project. There is a scattered documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. Also found is Dorothy Miller's collection of artists' Christmas cards and photographs of Miller and others. An addition to the papers includes biographical material; family papers; correspondence; professional files; art collection and client files; printed material; and photographic material. While a small number professional files are included, the majority of the addition relates to her personal life, including correspondence with her husband Holger Cahill, and files pertaining to her personal art collection.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of contemporary and folk art curator, historian, and consultant Dorothy C. Miller measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1853-2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1996. The papers primarily concern Miller's art consulting work outside of her curatorial work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York city. Found are scattered biographical materials, extensive correspondence and subject files, and project files for her art consulting work for the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and other miscellaneous corporate and private clients. Her work as a trustee and committee member of various public and private boards and commissions is also represented here. Additionally, the papers contain Miller's research files on Edward Hicks and folk art, and a small number of files related to Miller's husband Holger Cahill and his work as Director of the Federal Art Project. There is important documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. Artwork includes scattered sketches and drawings enclosed with correspondence and original Christmas cards sent to Miller by various artists. Photographs of Miller date from 1926 - circa 1950.

Scattered biographical material mostly concerns Miller's education at Smith College and awards and honorary degrees that she received. Extensive correspondence and subject files document her professional and personal relationships with family, friends, colleagues, museums, art dealers and artists, as well as her research interests. Individual files may contain a mix of correspondence with, as well as about, the person or subject, compiled research documents, printed materials, and scattered photographs. Files are found for Lewin Alcopley, Alfred Barr, Betty Parsons Gallery, Cahill family members, Lee Bontecou, James Byars, Holger Cahill, Alexander Calder, Christo, Chryssa, Calvert Coggeshall, John Canaday, Maryette Charlton, Stuart Davis, Jay DeFeo, Lorser Feitelson, Arshile Gorky, Peggy Guggenheim, Grace Hartigan, Will Horwitt, Jasper Johns, Julien Levy, Pierre Matisse, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Isamu Nauchi, Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Kay Sage, Charles Sheeler, Hedda Sterne, travel, Clyfford Still, William Scharf, among many others.

Detailed records of Miller's art consulting and advisory work for the Rockefeller family include correspondence with Nelson A. Rockefeller and David Rockefeller about building their personal collections of contemporary and folk art, meeting notes and minutes, research notes and writings, and printed materials. The largest group of records concerns the writing and publication of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art. Miller's curatorial work for David Rockefeller and the Rockefeller University's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Hall art collection is documented in Series 4 through curatorial files, correspondence, printed materials, photographs and slides, artists files, and design records.

Series 5 contains files relating to Miller's work as the first art consutant to the Chase Manhattan Bank and the building of the corporation's extensive collection of contemporary art. There is a draft of Miller's text for the bank's published catalog, Art At Work: Chase Manhattan Bank Collection. A smaller set of records is found in Series 6 documenting Miller's work on the Art Committee of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, including files about selecting artwork for the World Trade Center during the early 1970s. Files concerning Miller's advisory work with additional public and private clients, boards, and commissions are arranged in Series 7 and 8 and concern the Amstar Corporation, Fidelity International Bank, First National Bank of Tampa, First National City Bank, Inmont Corporation, Pepsico, United Mutual Savings Bank, the Empire State Plaza Art Commission, the Hancock Shaker Village, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Mark Rothko Foundation, the Museum of American Folk Art, and the Smith College Museum of Art.

Miller's papers include a small group of files relating to the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP)created by her husband Holger Cahill when he was director of the FAP, Holger Cahill. A small series is devoted to Miller's work with Eleanore Price Mather researching and writing Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdom and Other Paintings. A series of general research files contain miscellaneous research notes and photographs related to Miller's interests in early American art and folk art. Series 12 contains important documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center.

Works of art are primarily in the form of Christmas cards sent to Miller by various artists including Elise Asher, Lyonel Feininger, Bernard Karpel, and Irene Rice Pereira. A small group of photographs includes photographs of Miller from 1926-circa 1950 and a few photographs of others.

The addition includes biographical material; family papers; correspondence; professional files; art collection and client files; printed material; and photographic material. While a small number of professional files are found here, the majority of material relates to Miller's personal life, including correspondence with her husband Holger Cahill, and files pertaining to her personal art collection. Scattered correspondence, inventories, research, and notes created by curator and donor of the papers, Wendy Jeffers, are found throughout the collection. These materials date from the 1980s-2000s.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 15 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-1986 (Box 1; 0.3 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence and Subject Files, circa 1912-1992 (Boxes 1-8, OV 27; 7.2 linear ft.)

Series 3: Rockefeller Family Art Collections, circa 1949-1985 (Boxes 8-12, 25; 3.9 linear ft.)

Series 4: Rockefeller University Collection, 1923-1984 (Boxes 12-13, OV 27; 1.0 linear ft.)

Series 5: Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, 1959-circa 1985 (Boxes 13-14, 26; 1.4 linear ft.)

Series 6: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Art Committee, circa 1965-1987 (Boxes 14-15, OV 27; 0.8 linear ft.)

Series 7: Other Corporate and Private Clients, 1968-1984 (Boxes 15-16; 1.3 linear ft.)

Series 8: Other Boards, Committees and Commissions, 1925, 1949-1985 (Boxes 16-20; 3.6 linear ft.)

Series 9: Works Project Administration Federal Art Project Files, 1935-1979 (Box 20, OV 27; 0.5 linear ft.)

Series 10: Edward Hicks Catalog, 1934-1984 (Boxes 20-22; 1.5 linear ft.)

Series 11: Research Files, 1930s-1980 (Boxes 22-23; 0.8 linear ft.)

Series 12: Exhibition Files, 1932-1986 (Box 23; 0.6 linear ft.)

Series 13: Works of Art, circa 1924-circa 1982 (Boxes 23-25; 1.5 linear ft.)

Series 14: Photographs, 1926-circa 1970s (Boxes 24-25; 0.3 linear ft.)

Series 15: Addition to the Dorothy C. Miller Papers, 1853-2003, bulk 1920-1996 (Boxes 28-38, OVs 39-41; 9.9 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:

Dorothy Canning Miller (1904-2003) worked in New York City as a highly influential curator of contemporary and folk art at the Museum of Modern Art and as the first curator of the museum. Later, she was the primary art consultant for Nelson A. Rockefeller, the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the Port Authority of and New Jersey. Dorothy Miller was also married to Holger Cahill, director of the WPA Federal Art Project.

Dorothy C. Miller was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts in 1904 and received her Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in 1925. She was first introduced to modern art through classes at the Newark Museum taught by John Cotton Dana and Holger Cahill. Miller joined the curatorial staff of the Newark Museum in 1926. The museum was one of the first to organize exhibitions of American folk art, American Primitives (1930-1931) and American Folk Sculpture (1931-1932). Miller worked with Cahill and others on the exhibition and developed a life-long interest in folk art.

After four years at the Newark Museum, Miller moved to New York city, hoping to get involved with the newly opened Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and, likely, to be with Holger Cahill, with whom she lived with on 8th Street prior to their marriage in 1938. Between 1930 and 1932 she took odd jobs and worked with Mrs. Henry Lang cataloging, researching and installing Lang's collection of Native American art Lang donated to the Montclair Art Museum. At the same time, Holger Cahill was serving as Acting Director of the Museum of Modern Art during an absence of Director Alfred H. Barr. In 1932, Cahill asked Miller to assist him with curating the American Painting and Sculpture, 1862-1932 exhibition at MoMA, and together they also curated the First Municipal Art Exhibition, 1934 at the Rockefeller Center.

In 1934, Barr hired Miller as his assistant and one year later appointed her as MoMA's first curator. Miller spent the next 35 years organizing many of this country's most important exhibitions of contemporary art and building personal relationships with new artists and photographers, as well as the collections of MoMA. Miller retired from MOMA in 1969 and focused more on her art consulting work begun in the late 1950s.

Dorothy Miller's most notable client was Nelson A. Rockefeller. She assisted and advised Rockefeller as he acquired a vast personal collection of modern art - some of which was later donated to MoMA. Just prior to her retirement, Miller organized a large exhibition of Rockefeller's collection. The exhibition catalog written by Miller was the basis for the book she worked on with Rockefeller up until and following his death in 1979, ultimately published as The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art. In the preface, Rockefeller credited Miller with being one of the four people to whom he was indebted "for the understanding and endless joy I have found in the collecting of modern art in all forms."

Miller also served as the primary art consultant for projects to furnish federal spaces, including Henry Kissinger's State Department office suite, and the official Vice-Presidential residence at the Admiral's House in Washington D.C.

In 1959 Miller was invited to join the art collection committee of the Chase Manhattan Bank and served on the committee until the mid-1980s, contributing her expertise to the development of one of this country's oldest and largest corporate collections of modern and contemporary art.

Miller was also an advisor to other members of the Rockefeller family, including David Rockefeller, and assisted with developing the art collections of Rockefeller Institute/University. From 1960 through the late 1980s Miller was a member of the art committee for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANJY) and was responsible for selecting much of the artwork for the World Trade Center in the 1970s. She served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Hancock Shaker Village, the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Empire State Plaza in Albany, Smith College Museum of Art, and the Museum of American Folk Art. She also became a member of the Mark Rothko Foundation Board of Directors after the litigation following Rothko's death between Rothko's executors and his daughter.

In the mid-1970s Miller assisted the Whitney Museum of American with planning an exhibition and supporting catalog of the work of folk artist Edward Hicks. Although the exhibition and catalog were only partially realized in 1980, Miller and Eleanore Price Mather compiled and published a book on Hicks, Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdoms and Other Paintings, published in 1983.

In 1982-1983 Miller received the Art Dealers Association Special Award, an honorary degree from Williams College, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture governor's award. In 1984 she was named honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. In 1985 the Smith College Museum of Art honored her important contributions to museum connoisseurship with the exhibition Dorothy C. Miller: With An Eye to American Art.

Dorothy Miller died in 2003 at the age of 99 at her home in Greenwich, New York.

Related Material:

The Archives of American Art holds two oral history interviews with Dorothy C. Miller. The first was conducted by Paul Cummings between May 26, 1970 and September 28, 1971, and details Miller's life from childhood up to, and including, her years at the Museum of Modern Art. The second was conducted by Avis Berman on May 14, 1981 and covers Miller's relationships with Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. Also found among the holdings of the Archives are the papers of Holger Cahill, Dorothy Miller's husband and colleague.

The Museum of Modern Art Achives holds Dorothy Miller's papers related to her curatorial work at the museum.

Provenance:

The collection was donated by Dorothy C. Miller via Wendy Jeffers between 1986 and 1997, and Reid White, Executor of Miller's estate, in 2004. Two subsequent additions were donated by Wendy Jeffers in 2014 and 2015.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

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 historians -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Corporations -- Private collections  Search this

Art -- Private collections  Search this

Folk art  Search this

Women museum curators  Search this

Women art historians  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Sketches

Christmas cards

Drawings

Citation:

Dorothy C. Miller papers, 1853-2013, bulk 1920-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.milldoro

See more items in:

Dorothy C. Miller papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f1ed6cb6-f194-4b76-a8dd-fce3352c09b8

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-milldoro

Creator:

Lane, Bettye, 1930-  Search this

Names:

Azara, Nancy J., 1939-  Search this

Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994  Search this

Epstein, Beatrice G.  Search this

Freund, Marjorie  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Extent:

0.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1979-1980

Summary:

The scattered papers of photographer Bettye Lane measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1979 to 1980. Found are eleven photographs of women artists and resumes for Bettye Lane and her subjects.

Scope and Contents:

The scattered papers of photographer Bettye Lane measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1979 to 1980. Found are eleven photographs of women artists and resumes for Bettye Lane and her subjects.

Arrangement:

Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.

Biographical / Historical:

Bettye Lane (1930-2012) was a photojournalist in New York City, New York. Her work covered the feminist movement, the gay rights movement, and the civil rights movement.

Provenance:

The collection was donated in 1980 by Bettye Lane.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' 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:

Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women photographers  Search this

Function:

Artists' studios

Citation:

Bettye Lane papers, 1979-1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Processing of this collection received support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.

Identifier:

AAA.lanebett

See more items in:

Bettye Lane papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9efe0759c-4277-4ee8-a110-b66420179580

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-lanebett

Creator:

Ross, Gloria F.  Search this

Names:

Atelier Raymond Picaud  Search this

Denver Art Museum  Search this

Dovecot Studios  Search this

Pace Editions (Firm)  Search this

Pinton Atelier  Search this

Temple Emanu-El (Bayonne, N.J.)  Search this

Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this

Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988  Search this

Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this

Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011  Search this

Motherwell, Robert  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Noland, Kenneth, 1924-  Search this

Extent:

14.5 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Paintings

Video recordings

Photographs

Date:

circa 1924-1998

Summary:

The papers of New York tapestry éditeur Gloria Ross measure 14.5 linear feet and date from circa 1924-1998. The bulk of the papers consist of project files that document her collaborations with artists to make tapestries of their paintings and collages. Also found are scattered biographical material, professional correspondence, exhibition files, professional activity files, personal business records, printed material, photographs, and artwork.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of New York tapestry éditeur Gloria Ross measure 14.5 linear feet and date from circa 1924-1998. The bulk of the papers consist of project files that document her collaborations with artists to make tapestries of their paintings and collages. Also found are scattered biographical material, professional correspondence, exhibition files, professional activity files, personal business records, printed material, photographs, and artwork.

Biographical material includes resumes and career summaries, as well as an interview of Ross on one videocassette, and a few Frankenthaler family documents. Correspondence is with artists, weavers, workshops, publications, and galleries and is of a professional nature.

Project files document Ross's collaborations with prominent artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Romare Bearden, Louise Nevelson, Milton Avery, Stuart Davis, and others. Project files may include correspondence, contracts, invoices, notes, photographs, yarn samples, and a few maquettes and cartoons. Also of note are extensive files regarding her collaborations with Navajo weavers to create tapestries based on geometric paintings by Kenneth Noland. Other project files include a commissioned tapestry for Temple Emanu-El in New York.

Exhibition files document various solo and group exhibitions of Gloria Ross tapestries and includes one videocassette from a 1978 exhibition. Records of her professional activities include her participation in symposia, lectures, and public events. Files may include correspondence, draft lectures, programs, and event publicity. Two short documentaries found on two videocassettes were produced for the Denver Art Museum. Personal business records document Ross's business relationships with weaving workshops and art galleries, most notably Atelier Raymond Picaud, Pinton atelier, Edinburgh Tapestry Company (Dovecot Studios), and Pace Editions, the major sales agent of Gloria Ross tapestries.

Printed material consists of catalogs, announcements, press releases, and other publications regarding exhibitions of Gloria Ross tapestries and Navajo tapestries. Photographs depict Ross, the Frankenthaler family, Ross's tapestries, weaving studios, and Navajo weavers. Artwork includes one painting by Paul Jenkins and unidentified textile and yarn samples.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged as 9 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1926-1998 (5 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1965-1998 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-1998 (7.3 linear feet; Boxes 1-7, 14-15, 17-19, OVs 20, 22-24, Artifact)

Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1967-1994 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 17)

Series 5: Professional Activities, 1955-1997 (0.7 linear feet; Box 8)

Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1964-1998 (1.8 linear feet; Boxes 8-10, OV 21)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1970s-1990s (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 10-11, 14)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1924-1990s (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 11, 16)

Series 9: Artwork, circa 1970s-1990s (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 11-14, 17, 19)

Biographical / Historical:

Gloria F. Ross (1923-1998) was a tapestry éditeur in New York, New York.

Ross was born Gloria Frankenthaler in New York in 1923. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1943 and married Alfred Ross. They had three children: Alfred, Beverly, and Clifford. In 1954, Gloria Ross made her first needlepoint work from a design by her sister, abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler, and by the mid-1960s, she was exhibiting her tapestries and hooked rugs in New York. She established Gloria F. Ross Studio in 1966 and began regularly collaborating with artists such as Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, Jack Youngerman, and Jean Dubuffet to make their works into tapestries. She created business partnerships with weaving workshops in Scotland and France to produce the works. In 1973 she had her first exhibition at Pace Editions, Inc., beginning a long relationship with the gallery as her main sales agent.

In 1979, Ross first traveled to the Navajo Nation to find weavers for a collaborative project with artist Kenneth Noland. She continued to visit the Southwest at least once a year until 1994, and she donated her collection of Navajo rugs and other textiles to the Denver Art Museum. Throughout the 1980s Ross traveled extensively for projects, exhibitions, and symposia. Her final commissioned project, completed in 1997, was a tapestry designed by artist Mark Podwol for Temple Emanu-El in New York. That same year she established the Gloria F. Ross Center for Tapestry Studies in Tucson, Arizona.

Provenance:

Donated in 2013 by the Gloria Ross estate via Michael I. Katz, executor, with assistance from the Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Program, University of Arizona, via Ann Lane Hedlund, director.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. 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.

Topic:

Tapestry -- Design  Search this

Tapestry -- Production control  Search this

Tapestry -- Technique  Search this

Designers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Navajo weavers  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Paintings

Video recordings

Photographs

Citation:

Gloria Ross papers, circa 1924-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.rossglor

See more items in:

Gloria Ross papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw98a5d5eb6-9a0b-441f-82c9-8f6b53b795ee

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-rossglor

Creator:

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Lisle, Laurie  Search this

Type:

Sound Recording

Date:

1982 September 15 and October 13

Citation:

Louise Nevelson and Laurie Lisle. Interview with Louise Nevelson and Interview with Marjorie Eaton, 1982 September 15 and October 13. Laurie Lisle research material on Georgia O'Keeffe and Louise Nevelson, 1902-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Record number:

(DSI-AAA)23904

See more items in:

Laurie Lisle research material on Georgia O'Keeffe and Louise Nevelson, 1902-1990

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_item_23904

Creator:

Roberts, Colette, 1910-  Search this

Names:

British Broadcasting Corporation  Search this

Grand Central Moderns (Gallery)  Search this

Le Point Cardinal (Gallery)  Search this

New York University -- Faculty  Search this

Bauermeister, Mary, 1934-  Search this

Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988  Search this

Chryssa, 1933-  Search this

Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this

Ferren, John, 1905-1970  Search this

Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974  Search this

Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this

Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012  Search this

Le Prat, Thérèse  Search this

Lindner, Richard, 1901-1978  Search this

Marisol, 1930-2016  Search this

Moy, Seong  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

O'Doherty, Brian  Search this

Ray, Man, 1890-1976  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967 -- Photographs  Search this

Schwabacher, Ethel, 1903-1984  Search this

Sterne, Hedda, 1910-  Search this

Vieira da Silva, Maria Helena, 1908-1992  Search this

Extent:

10.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Transcripts

Reviews (documents)

Interviews

Articles

Notes

Manuscripts

Photographs

Sound recordings

Date:

1918-1971

Summary:

The papers of New York City and Paris art historian, educator, and gallerist Colette Roberts measure 10.2 linear feet and date from 1918 to 1971. Papers include correspondence, writings, teaching records, project proposals, gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, exhibition catalogs, posters, photographs, and a few works of art on paper. Also found are 124 interviews with contemporary artists conducted by Roberts.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of New York City and Paris art historian, educator, and gallerist Colette Roberts measure 10.2 linear feet and date from 1918 to 1971. Papers include correspondence, writings, teaching records, project proposals, gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, exhibition catalogs, posters, photographs, and a few works of art on paper. Also found are 124 interviews with contemporary artists conducted by Roberts.

Significant correspondents include Sam Adler, Erwin Barrie, Hubert Damisch, George Deem, Mesdames de Harting and de Tinan, Lamar Dodd, Hélène Drude (Le Point Cardinal gallery), Arne Ekstrom, Albert M. Fine (Fluxus artist), Iqbal Geoffrey, R.G. Gilllet, Adolph Gottlieb, Cleve Gray, Leon Hartl, Jennett Lam, Alberto Cifolelli Lamb, Mike Nevelson, Norman Norotzky, Jacqueline Pavlowsky, Abe Rattner, Ad Reinhardt, H. Sandberg, Philippe Stern, Russell Twiggs, and Zuka.

Writings by Roberts include manuscripts and articles about artists, writings about her own art, personal writings, working notes from interviews and classes, reviews, and translations between English and French.

Among the personal records are Robert's files relating to teaching, charitable activities, and exhibitions. Also found are gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, including artist résumés, a card file of artworks with provenance information, exhibition catalogs and announcements, membership records, posters, publicity, and sales records.

Printed materials in the collection include clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, and other exhibition catalogs and announcements. Photographs are of Roberts, artists, including Ad Reinhardt, classes, art spaces, and works of art. A small number of artworks on paper are also found, including Fluxus art stamps and a printed picture of Ray Johnson stamped "DOUGHNUT FESTIVAL."

Documentation of interviews with artists conducted by Roberts includes a card index file, a few transcripts, and the original sound recordings. Most of the recordings are interviews with artists that Roberts created during a class she taught at New York University between 1957 and 1971 called "Meet the Artist," including Mary Bauermeister, Romare Bearden, Dorothy Dehner, John Ferren, Ray Johnson, Ivan Karp, Thérèse Le Prat, Richard Lindner, Marisol, Seong Moy, Brian O'Doherty, Man Ray, Ethel Schwabacher, Hedda Sterne, Marie Helena Vieira da Silva, and many others. In preparation for magazine articles, Roberts conducted more extensive interviews with Chryssa, Marcel Duchamp, Adolph Gottlieb, and Louise Nevelson. A few of the recordings of Marcel Duchamp were not created by Roberts. In all, over 100 artists are represented in Roberts' interviews. Other recordings found include lectures and interviews conducted by people other than Roberts.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 8 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Correspondence, 1918-1971 (Box 1, 0.5 linear feet)

Series 2: Notes and Writings, 1936-1970 (Box 1, 0.3 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Records, 1944-1971 (Box 1-2, 11; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 4: Grand Central Moderns Gallery Records, 1952-1970 (Box 2-3, 11; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1938-1971 (Box 3-5, 11-12; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographs, 1930-1971 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 7: Artwork, 1940-1969 (Box 5; 4 folders)

Series 8: Interviews with Artists, 1959-1971 (Box 5-10; 5.5 lienar feet)

Biographical Note:

Colette Roberts was a French artist, curator, gallery director, and scholar who emigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City and remaining there until her death in 1971.

Roberts was born in Paris, France in 1910. She studied art with Roger Bissière at the Académie Ranson and with Henry Focillon at the Ecole du Louvre, and she later attended the Institut d'Art et Archeologie at the Sorbonne. Roberts came to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City, and became an American citizen three years later. In her early years in the United States, Roberts lectured and wrote on art and literature, and was active in various war-relief organizations, raising money and organizing benefits for organizations such as the American Red Cross and UNICEF. She was the gallery director for the National Association of Women Artists' Argent Galleries from 1947 to 1949, secretary to the curator of Far Eastern Art at New York's Metropolitan Museum from 1950 to 1951, and art editor for "France Amérique," the French-language newspaper in New York, beginning in 1953.

Roberts became gallery director of the Grand Central Moderns Gallery (New York, NY) in 1952 and remained in that position until 1968, when the gallery closed. The gallery was opened in 1946 by Erwin S. Barrie of the Grand Central Galleries for the promotion of living American artists. Among the artists represented there were Jennett Lam and Seong Moy. During this period she was also an instructor at New York University and Queens College, teaching art history and contemporary art. In 1957, she began a course at New York University called "Meet the Artist," for which she took her classes to the studios of working artists to see and discuss their work. In the early 1960s, she began to tape record her interviews of artists for this course, a practice which continued until her death in 1971. In 1968, Roberts worked briefly as Gallery Director for the A.M. Sachs Gallery (New York, NY), and as an oral history interviewer for the Archives of American Art.

Roberts wrote extensively on contempoary art, including articles and monographs on Mark Tobey (1960, Grove Press), Louise Nevelson (1964, The Pocket Museum), and Marcel Duchamp. She was a regular contributor to Aujourd'hui and Art and Architecture magazines.

Related Material:

Additional papers and recordings of Colette Roberts are held by Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center.

Separated Material:

A copy of a 1967 oral history with Adolf Gottlieb conducted by Dorothy Seckler for the Archives of American Art oral history program, which was found in Roberts' papers, has been returned to the Archives' oral history collection.

Provenance:

The sound recordings and transcripts of interviews with artists, were donated by Colette Roberts in 1970. The remaining papers were donated by her son, Richard B. Roberts, in 1973.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. 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.

Occupation:

Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Fluxus (Group of artists)  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Transcripts

Reviews (documents)

Interviews

Articles

Notes

Manuscripts

Photographs

Sound recordings

Citation:

Colette Roberts papers and interviews with artists, circa 1930-1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Identifier:

AAA.robecoli

See more items in:

Colette Roberts Papers and Interviews with Artists

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9bb878da1-c929-41fc-aa11-e3a678ffd3f1

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-robecoli

Creator:

Brooklyn Museum  Search this

Names:

Listening to pictures (1968-1973: Brooklyn Museum)  Search this

Anderson, Lennart, 1928-2015  Search this

Antonakos, Stephen, 1926-2013  Search this

Arisman, Marshall  Search this

Barker, Walter  Search this

Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000  Search this

Bauermeister, Mary, 1934-  Search this

Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975  Search this

Bishop, Isabel, 1902-1988  Search this

Brackman, Robert, 1898-  Search this

Butchkes, Sydney, 1922-  Search this

Casarella, Edmond, 1920-1996  Search this

Constant, George  Search this

Dash, Robert  Search this

De Creeft, José, 1884-1982  Search this

Dombek, Blanche, 1914-  Search this

Doyle, Tom, 1928-  Search this

Ernst, Jimmy, 1920-1984  Search this

Estern, Neil, 1926-  Search this

Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973  Search this

Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011  Search this

Freilicher, Jane, 1924-2014  Search this

Goldin, Leon, 1923-  Search this

Goodman, Sidney  Search this

Graziani, Sante, 1920-  Search this

Greene, Balcomb, 1904-1990  Search this

Grillo, John, 1917-  Search this

Gropper, William, 1897-1977  Search this

Gross, Chaim, 1904-1991  Search this

Gussow, Roy, 1918-2011  Search this

Gwathmey, Robert, 1903-1988  Search this

Hartigan, Grace  Search this

Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this

Jaffe, Nora  Search this

Jenkins, Paul, 1923-2012  Search this

Kawabata, Minoru, 1911-  Search this

Kienbusch, William, 1914-1980  Search this

Knaths, Karl, 1891-1971  Search this

Koch, John, 1909-1978  Search this

Kosama, Yayoi  Search this

Lam, Jennett, 1911-  Search this

Lang, Steven, 1944-1971  Search this

Laurent, Robert, 1890-1970  Search this

Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000  Search this

Levine, Jack, 1915-2010  Search this

Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973  Search this

Lipton, Seymour, 1903-1986  Search this

Margo, Boris, 1902-1995  Search this

Meyer, Ursula, 1915-  Search this

Moller, Hans, 1905-  Search this

Murch, Walter  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Odate, Toshio  Search this

Offner, Elliot  Search this

Ohlson, Douglas Dean, 1936-  Search this

Okada, Kenzo, 1902-1982  Search this

Palmer, Amanda, 1931-  Search this

Pereira, I. Rice (Irene Rice), 1902-1971  Search this

Peterdi, Gabor  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this

Richards, Bill, 1936-  Search this

Rivers, Larry, 1925-2002  Search this

Sanchez, Emilio, 1921-1999  Search this

Schrag, Karl  Search this

Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Sopher, Aaron, 1905-1972  Search this

Soyer, Moses, 1899-1974  Search this

Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987  Search this

Thon, William, 1906-2000  Search this

Weinberg, Albert  Search this

Zorach, Marguerite, 1887-1968  Search this

Zorach, William, 1887-1966  Search this

Interviewer:

Jacobowitz, Arlene  Search this

Extent:

7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Transcripts

Interviews

Date:

1965-1968

Summary:

Interviews of 72 artists, and transcripts for all but five, conducted by Arlene Jacobowitz, the Associate Curator for the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum, between 1965 and 1968. The artists discuss their work in the museum collection. Also included are 38 edited excerpts of the interviews, approximately 2-3 min. in length, used as "audio-labels" in the 1968 "Listening to Pictures" installation at the museum.

Scope and Content Note:

Interviews of 72 artists, and transcripts for all but five, conducted by Arlene Jacobowitz, the Associate Curator for the Department of Painting and Sculpture, between 1965 and 1968. The artists discuss their work in the museum collection. Also included are 38 edited excerpts of the interviews, approximately 2-3 min. in length, used as "audio-labels" in the 1968 "Listening to Pictures" installation.

The artists interviewed are: Lennart Anderson, Stephen B. Antonakos, Marshall Arisman, Walter Barker, Leonard Baskin, Mary Bauermeister, Thomas Hart Benton, Isabel Bishop, Robert Brackman, Sydney Butchkes, Edmund Casarella, George Constant, Robert Warren Dash, Jose DeCreeft, Blanche Dombek, Tom Doyle, Jimmy Ernst, Neil Estern, Philip Evergood, Helen Frankenthaler, Jane Freilicher, Leon Goldin, Sidney Goodman, Sante Graziani, Balcomb Greene, John Grillo, William Gropper, Chaim Gross, Roy Gussow, Robert Gwathmey, Grace Hartigan, Edward Hopper, Nora Jaffe, Paul Jenkins, Minoru Kawabata, William Kienbusch, Karl Knaths, John Koch, Yayoi Kosama, Jennett Lam, Steven Lang, Robert Laurent, Jacob Lawrence, Jack Levine, Jacques Lipchitz, Seymour Lipton, Boris Margo, Ursula Meyer, Hans Moller, Walter Murch, Louise Nevelson, Toshio Odate, Elliot Offner, Douglas Ohlson, Kenzo Okada, Amanda Palmer, Irene Rice Pereira, Gabor Peterdi, Ad Reinhardt, Bill Richards, Larry Rivers, Emilio Sanchez, Karl Schrag, Ben Shahn, Charles Sheeler, Aaron Sopher, Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, William Thon, Albert Weinberg, and William and Marguerite Zorach.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as a single series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Interviews, 1965-1968 (Box 1-7; 7 lin. ft.)

Historical Note:

The interview program at the Brooklyn Museum was begun by Arlene Jacobowitz in the spring of 1965 with artists whose works were on exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. In 1968, excerpts from the interviews were incorporated into an exhibition entitled "Listening to Pictures," in which visitors could access the sound recordings using headphones while standing before the painting being discussed. The exhibition opened April 28, 1968, and was gradually disassembled, 1971-1973.

Related Material:

The Brooklyn Museum Archives houses the records of the Departments of European Painting and Sculpture, American Painting and Sculpture, Contemporary Art (1897-2005), which contain records relating to the work of Arlene Jacobowitz.

Provenance:

This collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Dierdre Lawrence of the Brooklyn Museum in 1989.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Researchers may view the original reels for the archival notations on them, but original reels are not available for playback due to fragility.

Rights:

Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposes of publication requires written permission from the interviewee. Citations must read:"Interview between [artist's name] and [interviewer's name] from the "Listening to Pictures" program of the Brooklyn Museum. Archives of American Art. Gift of the Brooklyn Museum." 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:

Artists -- United States -- Interviews  Search this

Art, American -- Exhibitions  Search this

Genre/Form:

Transcripts

Interviews

Citation:

Interview between [artist's name] and [interviewer's name] from the "Listening to Pictures" program of the Brooklyn Museum. Gift of the Brooklyn Museum. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.broomuse

See more items in:

Brooklyn Museum interviews of artists

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9bdcd26e1-568c-4c81-8ba1-e07f5afbdfad

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-broomuse

Creator:

Slivka, Rose  Search this

Names:

American Craft Council  Search this

Craft Horizons  Search this

Craft International  Search this

World Crafts Council  Search this

De Kooning, Elaine  Search this

Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this

Kunitz, Stanley, 1905-2006  Search this

Larsen, Jack Lenor  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Slivka, David, 1913-  Search this

Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002  Search this

Interviewee:

Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this

Extent:

20.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Diaries

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Date:

circa 1947-2006

Summary:

The papers of craft expert Rose Slivka, an editor, writer, critic, and educator, measure 20.8 linear feet and date from circa 1947-2006. The papers reflect Slivka's work with associations and universities to encourage the recognition of crafts as an international and broadly defined art form. The routine business of publishing Craft Horizons magazine and the founding and operation of Craft International magazine are documented by correspondence and subject files. Correspondence is mainly professional with some scattered personal letters. Subject files concern various organizations, individuals and events related to Slivka's work and interests. Among the writings are manuscripts, notes, and research materials for her book about Peter Voulkos; also included are shorter writings on a variety of topics, poems, 2 diaries, lectures and talks. There are many interviews with craftspeople and artists conducted by Slivka and others, some undertaken as research for articles. Photographs include views of Slivka, craftspeople she observed when traveling abroad, and artwork.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of craft expert Rose Slivka, an editor, writer, critic, and educator, measure 20.8 linear feet and date from circa 1947-2006. The papers reflect Slivka's work with associations and universities to encourage the recognition of crafts as an international and broadly defined art form. The routine business of publishing Craft Horizons magazine and the founding and operation of Craft International magazine are documented by correspondence and subject files. Correspondence is mainly professional with some scattered personal letters. Subject files concern various organizations, individuals and events related to Slivka's work and interests. Among the writings are manuscripts, notes, and research materials for her book about Peter Voulkos; also included are shorter writings on a variety of topics, poems, 2 diaries, lectures and talks. There are many interviews with craftspeople and artists conducted by Slivka and others, some undertaken as research for articles. Photographs include artwork, views of Slivka, and craftspeople she observed when traveling abroad.

Interviews with craftsmen and other artists were conducted by Rose Slivka and others. Peter Voulkos is espcially well-documented. Among the artists interviewed are: Elaine de Kooning, Philip Guston, Jack Lenor Larsen, Louise Nevelson, and David Slivka. Also found are intereviews with John Cage, Stanley Kunitz, and Rose Slivka.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1947-2005 ( Box 1; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1950-2004 (Boxes 1-4: 3.6 linear feet)

Series 3: Interviews, 1974-2001 (Boxes 5-6; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, Notes, and Related Research, 1954-2001 (Boxes 6-11, OV 23; 4.8 linear feet)

Series 5: Subject Files, 1958-2004 (Boxes 11-18, 22, OV 23; 7.4 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1952-2006 (Boxes 18-20, OV 23; 1.9 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1947-1990s (Boxes 20-21; 1 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Crafts expert Rose Slivka (1919-2004) was an editor, educator, and critic in New York City and East Hampton, NY. Slivka edited Craft Horizons magazine from 1957-1979, and then founded Crafts International, which published its first issue in 1980.

Rose Slivka was very active in the American Crafts Council and World Crafts Council, and promoted crafts by participating in conferences around the world, acting as a juror of competitions, writing, and teaching. The author of books and articles about crafts, including the entry on "Handicrafts" in the 1961 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, Slivka was tireless in her search for information pertaining to crafts of all nations. Her study of the subject was integrated into a strong, far-reaching campaign to include sculpture as a craft and promote crafts on a par with fine art. She was also interested in poetry and taught courses in art criticism at New York University and the New School for Social Research.

Many of Slivka's articles on craft, painting and sculpture have been published in periodicals such as Art in America, Architectural Digest, and The New York Times. Books and exhibition catalogs include The Crafts of the Modern World (1964); The Object as Poet (1976), Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC; Peter Voulkos: A Dialogue in Clay (1978); California Clay (1979), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and The Book as Art and Artist (1979), Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY. Slivka's writings have been translated into at least 7 languages.

Slivka was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Critics Fellowship in 1976 and between 1980 and 1982 conducted a research project on "Criticism and Scholarship in Modern Craft" also sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded The Rhode Island School of Design President's Fellows Award in 1982, and its highest honor, the Athena Medal. In addition, she served on the boards of directors for several New York City organizations including Clayworks Studio Workshop, New York Experimental Glassworks, and Center for Book Arts.

Following her career as a magazine editor, international speaker on crafts, writer, and educator, Slivka moved to East Hampton, Long Island, where she continued to write poetry and was art critic for The East Hampton Star newspaper.

Rose Slivka's was married to sculptor David Slivka; the couple had 2 children and eventually divorced. She died of heart failure in Southampton, NY, on September 2, 2004.

Provenance:

The Rose Slivka papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Slivka's daughter, Charlotte Slivka, in 2008 and 2012.

Restrictions:

Use of original materials requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington D.C. research center. 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.

Occupation:

Editors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Interviews  Search this

Women authors  Search this

Women art critics  Search this

Women educators  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Diaries

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Citation:

Rose Slivka papers, circa 1947-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.slivrose

See more items in:

Rose Slivka papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e61796b1-d82d-43f5-bf61-c595421a8fd0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-slivrose

Interviewee:

Vevers, Tony  Search this

Interviewer:

Brown, Robert F.  Search this

Names:

City Center Gallery  Search this

Hans Hofmann School (New York, New York)  Search this

Operation Pied Piper  Search this

United States -- Montgomery G.I. Bill  Search this

United States. Army  Search this

Yale University -- Students  Search this

Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this

Blagden, Tom  Search this

Calcagno, Lawrence, 1913-  Search this

Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974  Search this

Halvorsen, Elspeth  Search this

Hartung, Hans, 1904-1989  Search this

Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this

Keller, Deane, 1901-1992  Search this

Kline, Franz, 1910-1962  Search this

Levine, Jack, 1915-2010  Search this

Lippold, Richard, 1915-2002  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-  Search this

Pace, Stephen, 1918-2010  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Vieira da Silva, 1908-  Search this

Weber, Max, 1881-1961  Search this

Zallinger, Rudolph F.  Search this

Extent:

2 Sound cassettes (Sound recording (2 hr., 49 min.), analog)

58 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound cassettes

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Place:

Provincetown (Mass.)

Date:

1998 July 9-August 25

Scope and Contents:

Interview of Tony Vevers, conducted on August 25, 1998, by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Vevers speaks of being sent by his parents to the United States in 1940; secondary schooling in Madison, Connecticut and at the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut (1944); serving in the U.S. Army infantry in Europe, 1944-1946; attending Yale University on the GI Bill and graduating with a BA in painting and drawing, 1950; further art training in Florence, Italy and at the Hans Hofmann School, NYC (1950-1953); his marriage to Elspeth Halvorsen, fellow artist, 1953; his studies in Italy; the unexciting nature of contemporary Italian art; contemporary art in Paris, where Picasso impressed him but work of Hans Hartung and (Marie Elena) Vieira da Silva did not; studying with Hans Hofmann; working at the non-profit City Center Gallery, which was designed to give younger artists exposure through juried exhibitions; and living in poverty in NYC and Provincetown until 1963. Vevers also recalls Tom Blagden, Alfred Stieglitz, Deane Keller, Rudolph Zallinger, Claes Oldenburg, Stephen Pace, Lawrence Calcagno, Hans Hofmann, Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Levine, Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Max Weber, Richard Lippold, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

Tony Vevers (1926-2008) was a painter from Provincetown, Massachusetts.

General:

Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 49 min.

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.

Occupation:

Art teachers -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Art, French -- 20th century  Search this

Art, Italian -- 20th century  Search this

Art, Modern  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching -- Italy  Search this

Painters -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown -- Interviews  Search this

Poverty  Search this

World War, 1939-1945 -- 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.

Identifier:

AAA.vevers98

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9895b7c6b-c510-442a-b997-8973a7d9279f

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-vevers98