An interview of Emmy Lou Packard conducted 1964 May 11-12, by Mary Fuller McChesney, for the Archives of American Art.
Packard speaks of her early interest in art and her education; meeting Diego Rivera, studying under him; working with him on murals; Rivera's personality; his marriage to Frida Kahlo and reaction to her death; his political views and his influence on art during the 1930s. She describes her feelings about art of the Work Project Administration period, and she recalls Anton Refregier and Jose Moya del Pino.
Biographical / Historical:
Emmy Lou Packard (1914-1998) was a painter and a mural painter.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 29 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Muralists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
An interview of Leo Holub conducted 1997 July 3, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in San Francisco, Calif.
Holub discusses his background, being born in Arkansas, moving to New Mexico, and then to Oakland, Calif. (1923); early educational experiences in Oakland, and later at the Art Institute of Chicago; seeing Edward Weston's photographic work at an exhibition in Chicago, and admiring Weston's nude studies of Charis Wilson; his return to the Bay Area; his studio on Montgomery St. (Monkey Block); meeting painter Matthew Barnes, who had assisted Diego Rivera with his murals at the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA), 1931-1932; his experiences as a student at CSFA- its program and instructors which included Maurice Sterne, Gottardo Piazzoni, Lee Randolph, Dick Hackett, Otis Oldfield, William Gaw, Spencer Mackey, and Victor Arnautoff; fellow students including Hassel Smith, Ed Corbett, and Florence Michelson (his future wife); and his beginning awareness of modernism.
Holub discusses his involvement with the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939); apprenticeship with industrial designer Joe Sinel and the advent of the product design era; his founding of Design Development Associates, and staying only a year before moving to Grass Valley, Calif. for his son's health; his return to the Bay Area, succeeding Emmy Lou Packard at the San Francisco Planning Office graphic arts dept.; working at the housing agency and redevelopment agency and as chief designer for the Bay Area Rapid Transit report.
He recalls his encounter with Ansel Adams at the 1955 Yosemite workshop where Holub produced a pictorial map of Yosemite; Adam's "zone system" of exposing for shadows and developing for highlights; going on to teach at CSFA (1955-1957), where Imogen Cunningham was a guest instructor; Minor White replacing him; his ten years at Stanford University's planning office (1960-1970); his campus views "Stanford Scene" that were used by the university to appeal for more space for the art dept., and his shows at Stanford's art gallery in 1964 and at the Washington, D.C. home of Vice President Walter Mondale in 1980.
Biographical / Historical:
Leo Holub (1916-2010) was a photographer, lithographer, and teacher from San Francisco, Calif.
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.
Topic:
Photographers -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Art -- Study and teaching -- California Search this
Emmy Lou Packard. Interview with Emmy Lou Packard conducted by John Fullmer for News Watch television series, circa 1975. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Emmy Lou Packard draft letter to Milton Meltzer, New York, New York, 1976 May 18. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Emmy Lou Packard letter to Robert De Velbiss, San Francisco, CA, 1968 Aug. 01. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Dorothea Lange. Dorothea Lange letter to Emmy Lou Packard, 196-. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo, New York, New York letter to Emmy Lou Packard, San Francisco, California, 1940 October 24. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Note about photograph of Ralph Stackpole with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, 1984 June 8. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Translation of "Discurso en el Aniversario de la Muerte de Frida Kahlo", 198-?. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Draft of chapter from unpublished book on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, 1977. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Photograph of Diego Rivera eating at a table, 1941. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Photograph of Frida Kahlo at her home in Coyoacan, Mexico, 1941. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Emmy Lou Packard. Photograph of Diego Rivera with a spider monkey, 1941. Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
