The papers of the artist Gene Davis measure 17.7 linear feet and date from 1920-2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1942-1990. Papers document Davis's personal life and his career as an artist and educator, as well as his career as a journalist in the 1940s and 1950s, through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, business records, estate records, writings by and about Gene Davis, printed materials concerning Davis's art career, personal and art-related photographs, and artwork by Davis and others.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of the artist Gene Davis measure 17.7 linear feet and date from 1920-2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1942-1990. Papers document Davis's personal life and his career as an artist and educator, and to a lesser degree his early career as a journalist in the 1940s and 1950s, through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, business records, estate records, writings by and about Gene Davis, printed materials concerning Davis's art career, personal and art-related photographs, and artwork by Davis and others.
Biographical materials include birth and death certificates, awards, biographical narratives by Gene Davis and others, CVs, résumés, personal documents from Davis's family and childhood, documents related to his work as a White House correspondent, documentation related to his death and memorial service, and papers for the family pets. A video documentary about Davis by Carl Colby is found on one videocassette.
Correspondence is mainly of a professional nature, and correspondents include gallery and museum curators, private art collectors, publishers, fellow artists, art educators, academics, and students. Letters document exhibitions, sales, book projects, teaching jobs, visits to studios, local art community events in the Washington, D.C. area, and other projects. Significant correspondents include Gene Baro, Douglas Davis, Clement Greenberg, Gerald Nordland, William Seitz, Alma Thomas, and Donald Wall. Interviews and lectures include sound recordings and transcripts. Many of the interviews were broadcast or published. Also found is a single lecture by Davis given in 1969 at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, entitled "Contemporary Painting." Sound recordings are found for three of the interviews and for the lecture, on 4 sound reels and 1 sound cassette.
Business records include artwork documentation, price lists, sales records, contracts, financial and legal records, gallery and museum files documenting sales and exhibitions, records related to the construction of Davis's home studio in 1970, and a few teaching records. Estate records mainly reflect Florence Davis's efforts to document the works of her husband, and to manage their exhibition, promotion, and sale after his death in April 1985. Estate records include an inventory of artworks, documentation of gifts to museums, correspondence, legal, and financial records. Writings include notes, drafts of essays, artist statements, and articles by Davis, and many articles by others about Davis. Several of Davis's articles reflect specifically on the Washington, D.C. art scene. Also found are drafts of monographs on Davis including one by Donald Wall (1975) and one by Steven Naifeh (1982). Records of Naifeh's book also include photographs of all black and white and color plates from the published book. Among the writings are also notes and research files of Percy North, who worked on an update to Naifeh's 1982 bibliography after Davis's death.
Printed materials include annual reports of museums, published arts-related calendars, auction catalogs, brochures from organizations with which Davis had some affiliation, exhibition announcements and invitations, exhibition catalogs, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, newsletters, posters, press releases, and other published material. Photographs include personal photographs of Gene and Florence Davis and their families, portraits of Gene Davis, photographs of Gene Davis with artworks and working in the studio, Davis' art classes and students, installations of site-specific works, conceptual and video works, exhibition openings, and photographs of artwork, both installed in exhibitions and individually photographed. Found among the photographs are also four videocassettes documenting the Gene Davis retrospective as installed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art in 1987.
Artwork includes photographs, drawings, moving images, and documentation of conceptual art. Works by Davis include documentation of the 1969 "Giveaway" with Douglas Davis and Ed McGowin, "The Artist's Fingerprints Except for One which belongs to someone else," documentation of his "Air Displacement" happening, a short film entitled "Patricia," and a video entitled "Video Puzzle." Other moving images include four reels of film of Davis's stripe paintings, and other experiments with motion picture film and photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1930-1987 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 17)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1943-1990 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 3: Interviews and Lectures, 1964-1983 (0.3 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Business and Estate Records, 1942-1990 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 3-5, 17, OV 20)
Series 5: Writings, 1944-1990 (2 linear feet; Boxes 5-6, 17, OV 19)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1942-1990 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 7-11, 17-18, OV 20, FC 35-37)
Series 7: Photographs, 1920-2000 (3.8 linear feet; Boxes 11-15, 17, OV 19)
Series 8: Artwork, 1930-1985 (2.2 linear feet; Boxes 15-16, 18, FC 21-34)
Biographical / Historical:
Gene Davis (1920-1985) was a Washington, D.C.-based artist and educator who worked in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, collage, video, light sculpture, and conceptual art. Davis is best known for his vertical stripe paintings and his association with the Washington Color School.
Davis was born in 1920 in Washington, D.C. and began his career as a writer. In his twenties he wrote pulp stories and worked as a journalist, reporting for United Press International and serving as a White House correspondent for Transradio Press Service during the Truman administration. Later, he worked in public relations for the Automobile Association of America. A self-taught artist, Davis began painting while still working full-time as a writer, influenced by the prevailing abstract expressionist artists of the time, his frequent visits to the Corcoran Gallery and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and by his friend and mentor, Jacob Kainen. His first one-man show was held in the lobby of the Dupont Theater in Washington in 1952. He had a drawing accepted in the Corcoran Area Show in 1953, and won several local art prizes in the 1950s. He began showing work regularly in galleries around Washington, such as the Watkins Gallery at American University, the Gres Gallery, and the Henri Gallery, and had solo exhibitions at Jefferson Place Gallery in 1959 and 1961. Many of the painters who made up what became known as the Washington Color School also showed there, including Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, and Sam Gilliam. In 1965, the Washington Gallery of Modern Art held a seminal exhibition entitled Washington Color Painters, which included Davis, Noland, Mehring, Morris Louis, Thomas Downing, and Paul Reed.
Davis began showing outside of Washington regularly in the 1960s, including the Poindexter and Fischbach galleries in New York City, and in several important group shows at museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He had three works shown in the 1964 exhibition Post-Painterly Abstraction, organized by the influential art critic Clement Greenberg at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In the late 1960s, he began teaching art classes at the Corcoran School, and spent the summer of 1969 as artist in residence at Skidmore College's "Summer in Experiment" program.
Davis experimented with form continuously throughout his career, including a period of conceptual work in the late 1960s. In 1969 he participated in the "Giveaway," organized by Douglas Davis and Ed McGowin, in which multiple copies of a Davis painting were given away to invited guests in a gesture intended to subvert the art market. Davis also began experimenting with scale, creating a series of tiny paintings he called "Micro-paintings," which were exhibited at Fischbach Gallery in 1968. Around this time he also began working with film and video, recruiting models from his art classes to enact tightly choreographed movement pieces that played with rhythm and interval. Convinced by a lawyer that his videos were a liability without having obtained releases from the models, Davis destroyed all but one of his video works. The surviving video, "Video Puzzle," shows a foreshortened view of a model on the floor of a gallery spelling out a statement by Clement Greenberg at predetermined intervals.
Davis made several large-scale site-specific works using the stripe motif in public places. The first of these was created in the Bal Harbour, Florida, Neiman Marcus department store in 1970. Later works included Franklin's Footpath, executed in the road leading to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1972, and Niagara (1979) at ArtPark in Lewistown, NY, promoted at the time as the largest painting in the world. Interior large-scale works were created twice at the Corcoran Gallery, with Magic Circle (1975) and Ferris Wheel (1982), both executed in the museum's rotunda. Black Yo-Yo was created for the Cranbrook Academy in 1980, and Sun Sonata (1983), an illuminated wall of colored liquid-filled tubes, was created as an architectural feature of the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia. Plans for an unexecuted work called "Grass Painting," for a site near the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., were exhibited in the 1974 "Art Now" festival.
In the late 1970s and 1980s Davis consistently exhibited his work in several solo gallery shows a year, and also had numerous solo exhibitions in major museums. A major exhibition, Recent Paintings, was organized by the Walker Art Center in 1978, and traveled to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1979. A drawing retrospective was held at the Brooklyn Museum of art in 1983, and the same year the Washington Project for the Arts organized an exhibition entitled Child and Man: A Collaboration, featuring drawings Davis made in response to childrens' drawings. Davis died suddenly in April 1985 at the age of 65, and a major retrospective of his work was held at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art in 1987.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Gene Davis conducted by Estill Curtis Pennington on April 23, 1981. A transcript is available on the Archives of American Art website.
Provenance:
Donated 1981 by Gene Davis and 1986 by his wife, Florence. Additional material donated 1991 and 1993 from Smithsonian American Art Museum via a bequest to them from the Gene and Florence Davis estate. Much of the 1993 addition was assembled by art historian Percy North at the request of Florence Davis. An additional folder of photographs of Davis taken in 1969 but printed in 2000 was later added to the collection.
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. Contact Reference 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:
Reporters and reporting -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Gene Davis papers, 1920-2000, bulk 1942-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 47
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
[ca. 1935-1937]
Scope and Contents:
Job Number: 29403
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
African American painters -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 1930-1940 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 47
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Portraits
Date:
[ca. 1935-1937]
Scope and Contents:
Job Number: 29403
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
African American painters -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 1930-1940 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Portraits -- African American women -- 1930-1940
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 61
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Scope and Contents:
African American male subject holds paint brush and palette, while several paintings are displayed on easels behind him.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
From the soaring skyscrapers of New York City to the adobe churches of New Mexico, from the sturdy stone walls of New England to the majestic monuments of the nation's capital, master craftworkers in the building arts have brought enduring beauty to our built environment. Working in wood, stone, brick, and metal, in plaster, paint, glass, and clay, they transform designs on paper into three-dimensional works of art. Much depends on their workmanship and skill: on their deep understanding of raw materials, their careful selection and use of tools, their mastery of technique. The final product is the result not only of their knowledge and abilities, but also their creativity and care - their will to excellence.
Artisans in the building trades share a deep appreciation for the aesthetic value and expressive power of technical perfection. They delight in skill and find meaning and pleasure in the poetic qualities of workmanship - in their ability to craft objects of beauty and strength through their special touch. Their great pride and creative spirit, their love for their work, and their commitment to excellence are manifested in a lasting legacy of architectural achievement left behind for generations to come.
The 2000 Festival program celebrated the extraordinary artistry of craftspeople in the building arts and explored the many challenges they face today as they work to preserve our nation's past and build for the future. The Festival brought together a selection of master artisans - stone carvers, masons, carpenters, terra cotta artisans, plasterers, blacksmiths, stained glass artisans, and adobe builders - who have enriched our world with the work of their hands, and who educated and informed Festival visitors not only with their skills but also with their knowledge and lore.
Marjorie Hunt was Curator and James Deutsch was Program Coordinator; Betty Belanus was Education Specialist and Family Activity Guide Coordinator. An Advisory Committee included: J. Bryan Blundell, Kurt Dewhurst, William Dupont, Cynthia Field, Henry Glassie, Norman Koonce, Betty Monkman, Peter Nabokov, Joanna Reagan, Rex Scouten, William Seale, Chris Sturbaum, John Michael Vlach, and Ed Worthy.
The program was produced in collaboration with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and the International Masonry Institute, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Building Museum, the American Institute of Architects, and the Preservation Trades Network. Major funding was provided by Homestore.com, the Marble Institute of America, Allied Stone Industries, the Building Stone Institute, the Indiana Limestone Institute, and the National Building Granite Quarries Association. Major contributors included Target Stores, the Associated General Contractors of America, the National Association of Realtors, and the Smithsonian Women's Committee. Additional donors included the School of the Building Arts, Duron, Inc., the Brick Industry Association, the Laborers' International Union of North America, the Smithsonian Educational Outreach Fund, and the Copper Development Association, Inc.
Researchers:
Jane Beck, Betty Belanus, Ray Brassieur, Amanda Dargan, James Deutsch, Kurt Dewhurst, Karen Duffy, Lynn Martin Graton, Dwight Pauahi Kauahikaua, Winnie Lambrecht, Tim Lloyd, Gregory Sharrow, Gary Stanton, David Taylor, Elaine Thatcher, John Michael Vlach
Presenters:
Betty Belanus, Barry Bergey, Ray Brassieur, Olivia Cadaval, Amanda Dargan, William Dupont, Brian Finnegan, Lynn Martin Graton, Tim Lloyd, Philip "Pete" Pederson, Clift Seferlis, Peter Seitel, Gregory Sharrow, Angelo Simone, Nick Spitzer, Gary Stanton, David Taylor, Elaine Thatcher, Cynthia Vidaurri, John Michael Vlach
Participants:
David Adams, historic preservation specialist, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Robert Alger, stone carver, sculptor, Spencerville, Maryland
Joseph Alonso, stone mason, Vienna, Virginia
Onofre Anguiano, terra cotta hand presser, mold maker, Lincoln, Calif.
Walter S. Arnold, stone carver, Skokie, Illinois
Sam Baca, program director, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Earl A. Barthe, 1932-2010, plasterer, historian and consultant, New Orleans, Louisiana
Hurchail Barthe, plasterer, New Orleans, Louisiana
Terry Barthe, plasterer, historic housing specialist, New Orleans, Louisiana
Nick Benson, stone carver, letterer, Newport, Rhode Island
Johan Bjurman, decorative painter, Cheshire, Connecticut
Anna Bowen, stone carver, letterer, Newport, Rhode Island
Tom Weddle, restoration carpenter, Bloomington, Indiana
Bob Wooldridge, slater, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Jeff Wooldridge, slater, project manager, Bethesda, Maryland
Bill Yeingst, curator, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Pauli Zmolek, decorative painter, Takoma Park, Maryland
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF BRICKLAYERS AND ALLIED CRAFTWORKERS (BAC), INTERNATIONAL MASONRY INSTITUTE (IMI)
Frank Baiocchi, marble mason, Mt. Airy, Maryland
Ed Bellucci, IMI deputy director of Apprenticeship and Training, Jefferson, Maryland
Robert Bernardon, marble mason, Suitland, Maryland
Lewis Carrara, mosaic worker, Fortville, Indiana
Raoul Cervantes, bricklayer, Claremont, California
Kurt Colo, bricklayer, New Baltimore, Michigan
Laird Donaldson, IMI regional director, Auburn, Washington
James Farris, stone mason, Stafford, Virginia
Richard Francescon, marble mason, South Easton, Massachusetts
Greg Hartseil, IMI Job Corps regional director, Lorida, Florida
Dennis Holloway, IMI Scola Training Center director, West Babylon, New York
Mike Kassman, IMI pointing, cleaning, and caulking instructor, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Tony Kassman, IMI National Safety, pointing, cleaning, and caulking coordinator, Tonawanda, New York
John Kitchen, bricklayer apprentice, Dryden, New York
Frank Koletar, refractory bricklayer, Orchard Park, New York
Annette Ludwig, tile layer, Bellevue, Washington
Nelson McMath, BAC Local 9 Michigan field representative, Saline, Michigan
Tom McQuaid, BAC Local 1 DC, MONA secretary, treasurer, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Steve Martini, IMI Strategic Programs director, Cascade, Maryland
Steve Mason, terrazzo apprentice, Washington, D.C.
Antoine Matthews, bricklayer, Baltimore, Maryland
Michael Menegazzi, IMI terrazzo instructor, South Gate, California
Bob Mion, IMI tile, marble, and terrazzo instructor, Binghamton, New York
Guillermo Moreno, stone mason, Hyattsville, Maryland
Colleen Muldoon, coordinator of Education Programs, bricklayer, Baltimore, Maryland
Clarence Nichols, IMI deputy director of Apprenticeship and Training, Cumberland, Maryland
Angela Olszewski, tile layer, Jersey City, New Jersey
Lester Parnell, bricklayer, Detroit, Michigan
Bob Perry, IMI regional director, Culver City, California
Darren Raines, tile layer, Chicago, Illinois
Matthew Redabaugh, IMI coordinator of Special Projects, Cascade, Maryland
Butch Rovder, BAC stone craft director, South Riding, Virginia
Joe Stewart, BAC pointing, cleaning, and caulking craft director, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Gene Stinner, IMI director of Apprenticeship and Training, Cascade, Maryland
Dennis Studley, IMI Job Corps regional director, Yucaipa, California
Harold Sugg, refractory bricklayer, West Seneca, New York
Jimmy Ternent, marble mason, Westminster, Maryland
John Totten, IMI plaster instructor, Clintondale, New York
Drew Vecchione, IMI stone instructor, Flourtown, Pennsylvania
Battista Yon, bricklayer, Hyattsville, Maryland
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2001 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
What does it mean to be a person of Asian or Pacific Island descent living in the United States today? What are the primary strategies for adaptation and change versus sustainability and continuity? These were the questions underlying the 2010 Festival program.
The Asian Pacific American (APA) population of metropolitan Washington, D.C., provided an excellent cross-section of the national APA community. Moreover, its rapid growth made it a good example of the "global/local" and "preservation/transformation" themes that were celebrated at the 2010 Festival. The large number of federal workers and the location of foreign embassies in the nation's capital have brought APAs here from all fifty states and from all Asian countries. While the majority of APAs are foreign-born, those based in D.C. combine both Asian and American influences into many aspects of their lives.
The Festival program brought together people from diverse communities in the Washington, D.C., area to highlight the breadth of traditions practiced by APA cultures. It emphasized the ways in which APAs make connections not only to each other, but also to the broader communities in which they live, work, and play. Through theater, music, dance, and sports performances; demonstrations of language and calligraphy traditions; martial arts, healing arts, and ritual arts; crafts and foodways presentations; and children's activities, Festival visitors could learn about APA identity, history, and culture, discovering shared and integrated traditions.
The Asian Pacific American program was part of a collaborative research and public presentation project between the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Partnering with the University of Maryland, local APA communities, and other organizations, the project researched and documented the cultural heritage of Asian Pacific Americans living in and around the capital region. In addition to the Festival program, the Smithsonian preserves collected stories, images, video, and audio clips of traditional APA culture in its archives and on its Web sites.
Phil Tajitsu Nash was Curator and Arlene Reiniger was Program Coordinator.
The program was produced in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's Asian Pacific American program. AARP was a Major Donor to the program with additional support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Juanita Tamayo Lott in memory of Robert H. Lott, OCA, Pragmatics Inc., and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States.
Presenters:
Gina Inocencio, Terry Liu, Lucy Long, Cliff Murphy, Konrad Ng, Franklin Odo, Mark Puryear, Ang Robinson, Take Toma, Gerald Yamada, Michael Wilpers
Participants:
CRAFT TRADITIONS
Menosh Hashim, Indian American Urdu teacher, Falls Church, Virginia
Hongyi He, Chinese American paper cutter, Astoria, New York
HIRO, Japanese American painter and calligrapher, Alexandria, Virginia
Vu Hoi, Vietnamese American calligrapher, Merrifield, Virginia
Akiko Keene, Japanese American doll maker, Potomac, Maryland
Myoung-Won Kwon, Korean American calligrapher, Silver Spring, Maryland
Mereadani Lomaloma, Fijian American tapa painter, Washington, D.C.
Peni Lomaloma, Fijian American tapa painter, Washington, D.C.
Bertrand Mao, Chinese American calligrapher, Potomac, Maryland
Sushmita Mazumdar, Indian American bookmaker, Arlington, Virginia
Helen Sze McCarthy, Taiwanese American painter, Silver Spring, Maryland
Gankhuyag Natsag, Mongolian American mask maker and calligrapher, Arlington, Virginia
Khin Mg San, Burmese American chinlone master and ball maker
Teresiter Sauler, Fijian American tapa painter, Washington, D.C.
Melissa Mokihana Scalph, Hawaiian lei maker, Alexandria, Virginia
Sala Sucu, Fijian American tapa painter, Washington, D.C.
Sivoni Sucu, Fijian American tapa painter, Washington, D.C.
Sue Tun, Burmese American muralist, Alexandria, Virginia
Paiboon Uthikamporn, Thai American calligrapher, Rockville, Maryland
Debi Velasco, Hawaiian lei maker, Lanham, Maryland
FOODWAYS TRADITIONS
Roohi Ahuja, Sikh
Karuna Baskaran, Bangladeshi American, Sterling, Virginia
Lok Tiwari, Nepalese American, Silver Spring, Maryland
Arnedo "Nedo" Valera, Filipino American, Fairfax, Virginia
Benita Wong, Chinese American, Vienna, Virginia
PERFORMANCE TRADITIONS
Aloha Boys (Hawaiian) -- Aloha Boys (Hawaiian)Glen Hirabayashi, McLean, VirginiaIsaac Ho'opi', McLean, VirginiaIrv Queja, McLean, Virginia
American Bando Association (Burmese American) -- American Bando Association (Burmese American)Dara Brown, Bryan Carr, Sidney Grandison, Richard Gray, Fredericka Prevost, Levron Scuchalter, John Tolbert, André Turner, Duvon Winborne
Bhangra and Giddha: Folk Dances of Punjab
Burma American Buddhist Association
Burmese American Dance -- Burmese American DanceKyaw Tha Hla, Myat Yin Chaw
Cambodian American Heritage Inc. -- Cambodian American Heritage Inc.Solei Becker, Paula Chea, Bonavy Chhim, Juliana Dos, Angela Ea, Laura Kun, Marina Kun, Lynna Lam, Alyssa Lim, Davina Lim, Maleena Lim, Samontha Lushinski, Victoria Mam, Diana Ouk, Kristina Ouk, Aleeyha Sophia Prak, Grace Rafferty, Megan Jean Smith, Chhomnimol Murielle Sokhon, Voleak Evelyn Sokhon, Kesarah Touch, Elizabeth Yap, Erica Yap, Katherine Yap, Regina Yap, Stephanie Yap, Darlene You, Vannika Jasmine You
Cambodian Buddhist Society Culture Group -- Cambodian Buddhist Society Culture GroupAnthony, Khalarath Bloesch, Kim Bloesch, Rachna Chhay, Rachny Chhay, Ngek Chum, Sovan Chum, Key Ek, Viphas Heng, Sophy Hoeung, Ra Klay, Elizabeth Korn, Dinita Mani, Masady Mani, Sok Nou, Chanversa Omkar, Chris Omkar, Joanna Pecore, Annong Phann, Dante Phann, Bobbharath Rithipol, Manida Sam, Vathana Say, Suejane Tan, Sunny Tech, Allsya Thao, Victor Thao, Sochietah Ung, Ganbott Voey
Chinatown Community Cultural Center and the Wong People, Washington, D.C. -- Chinatown Community Cultural Center and the Wong People, Washington, D.C.Sifu Raymond Wong, Mei Cao, Sue Lin Li, Damian Ma, Charles Meadows, Michael Peters, Dat Phan, Can-Ye Wong
Chinese Opera (Society for Kunqu Arts)
Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company (Korean American), Washington, D.C.
Dhroopad (Bangladeshi American)
Fiji Vesi Tagitagi Ensemble -- Fiji Vesi Tagitagi EnsembleLitia Lomalagi, Sili Lomalagi, Louise Lomaloma, Sala Sucu, Saula Sucu
Ganga (Bengali American) -- Ganga (Bengali American)Hitabrata Roy, Vienna, VirginiaKrishna RoyBroto Roy, Falls Church, VirginiaNupur LahiriIndrajit Roy ChowdhuryGautam Adhikari
Hakka Association in the Washington Metropolitan Area
Hakka TungFa Chorus of Greater Washington, D.C.
Halau Ho'omau (Hawaiian)
Halau O'Aulani (Hawaiian)
Hawaiian Serenaders and Dancers
Himalayan Music Group from Nepal with Prem Raja Mahat
India International School
Kaur Foundation (Sikh)
Korean American Cultural Arts Foundation
Lao American Break-dancers -- Lao American Break-dancersBinly AKA Lancer, Kennedy Phounsiri, Ranny Sitthideth, Issy Visarayachack
Lao American Women's Association of Greater Washington, D.C. -- Lao American Women's Association of Greater Washington, D.C.Sue Chaison, Reagan Naughton, Sengpheth Sandara, Nicky Tummatip
Lao Heritage Foundation Musicians -- Lao Heritage Foundation MusiciansBriana Chaisone, Bobby Inthavong, Khamsa Sounviengxay, Xai Souphom
Lao Swan Dance Group -- Lao Swan Dance GroupMimi Chanthaphone, Sivilay Phabmixay, Silidavone Phanthavong, Christina Sivanthaphanith
Marshallese Community
Mongolian School of Greater Washington
Mongolian Wrestlers
Nen Daiko—Ekoji Buddhist Temple (Japanese American) -- Nen Daiko—Ekoji Buddhist Temple (Japanese American)Cordula Dahal, Brant Horio, Maya Horio, Emily Ihara, Lisa Iwahara, Diane Miyasato, Greg Nakamura, Lisa Noguchi, Kevin Shin
Sulu D.C. (Asian Pacific American) -- Sulu D.C. (Asian Pacific American)Kilusan Bautistsa, Lily Bee, Regie Cabico (host), Alexander Cena, Simone Jacobson, Gowri K, Jenny C. Lares, iLL-Literacy, The Pinstriped Rebel (deejay), SNRG, Tiayi Sun, Yoko K
Sutera Malaysia
Sutradhar Institute (Indian American)
Tae Kwon Do
Ultimate Kali-Eskrima (Filipino American) -- Ultimate Kali-Eskrima (Filipino American)Walter H. Crisostomo, Wesley H. Crisostomo, Lexi D. Crisostomo, Kibok Kim, Ron Laster, Hans Ege Werger
Washington Gu-Zheng Ensemble -- Washington Gu-Zheng EnsembleGrace Chu, Alice Kan, Kent Kan, Jane Li, Li Li, Phoebe Liu, Angela Wang
Washington Toho Koto Society -- Washington Toho Koto SocietyZainab Abdul-Rahim, Miya Aoki, Jim Best, Kyle Brady, Wanda Butler Hardie, Colin Khem, Lombar Martinez, Kyoko Okamoto, Keiko O'Rourke, Sachiko Smith, Izumi Tamanaha, Yoshiko Tucker
Wat Thai of Washington, D.C.
TALKSTORY DISCUSSION STAGE -- TALKSTORY DISCUSSION STAGEKiran Ahuja, Keola Akana, Chris Baltazar, Kumar Barve, Ahmad Borhani and family, Hung Bui, Eric Byler, Yoonmee Chang, Nicholas Chen, Wendy Cheng, Laura Chin, Harry Chow, Sandy Hoa Dang, Judith Do, Tammy Duckworth, Kimmie Duong, Ryan Edgar, Eni Faleomavaega, Theo-dric Feng, Cora Foley, Jennie Chin Hansen, Lisa Hasegawa, HIRO, Mazie Hirono, Vu Hoi, Michael Honda, Bel Leong Hong, Terry Hong, Nasima Hosain, Kun-yen Huang, Hoa Tu Huong, Tommy Hwang, Grant Ichikawa, Gina Inocencio, Tim Johnson, Tanya Joshua, Harminder Kaur, Mark Keam, Phyllis Khaing, Jeong H. Kim, Yann King, Harold Koh, Howard Koh, Soohyun Julie Koo, Ford Kuramoto, Chin-fun Kwok, Myoung-Won Kwon, Cherry Kwunyeun, Rosetta Lai, Jenny Lares, Brigitte Le, D. Lee, Susan Lee, Wendy Lim, Michael Lin, Lawrence Liu, Juanita Tamayo Lott, Gerald Maa, Harpal S. Mangat, Bertrand Mao, Gale Awaya McCallum, Lurline McGregor, Norman Mineta, V. Mirandah, Ruby Moy, Myamya Myaing, Hiu Newcomb and family, Long Nguyen, Franklin Odo, Annabel Park, H.K. Park, Alakananda Paul, Dilip Paul, Saswati Paul, Mali Phonpadith, Lili Qi, Shirley Queja, Sonia Reynolds, Anna Rhee, Amy Rider, Miriam Riedmiller, Noriko Sanefuji, Larry Shinagawa, Eric Shinseki, Shiro Shintaku, Sala Sucu, Saula Sucu, Carol Takafuji, Annie Tao, Take Toma, Sandi Tun, Carmelita Tursi, Kris Valderrama, Yeni Wong, Gerald Yamada, Bruce Yamashita, Joanne Yamauchi, Al Yanger, Charlotte Yeh, Joanna Zhao
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
The Shirley Gorelick papers measure 6.1 linear feet and date from circa 1940-1996. Included is biographical information; price lists; personal and professional correspondence; photographs, contact sheets, negatives, transparencies and slides of works of art, Gorelick, people, studies, installations and events; printed material including magazine and newspaper articles, brochures and exhibition catalogs regarding Gorelick's exhibitions; and nine sketchbooks and loose sketches.
Biographical / Historical:
Shirley Gorelick (1924-2000) was an abstract and realist painter based in New York and Washington, DC.
Provenance:
Donated in 2021 and 2022 by Jamie Gorelick, Shirley Gorelick's daughter.
Restrictions:
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing and digitization. Contact Reference 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:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of Washington, D.C. area painter and art instructor Robert Franklin Gates date from 1910-1988, bulk 1928-1988, and measure 2.3 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from government agencies, museums, galleries, and colleagues; business records primarily concerning transactions with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery; artwork including scattered drawings by Gates and block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld; two scrapbooks; printed materials; and photographs of Gates, family members, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are also photograph albums and miscellaneous photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Washington, D.C. area painter and art instructor Robert Franklin Gates date from 1910-1988, bulk 1928-1988, and measure 2.3 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from government agencies, museums, galleries, and colleagues; business records primarily concerning transactions with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery; artwork including scattered drawings by Gates and block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld; two scrapbooks; printed materials; and photographs of Gates, family members, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are also photograph albums and miscellaneous photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Biographical material includes resumes, biographical accounts, award certificates, records for employment through a State Department Specialists Grant, address lists, teaching notes, writings about Gates, and a guest book signed by colleagues celebrating Gates' forty years at American University. There is a also a group of Navy Department records documenting Gates' employment designing three-dimensional photo-surfaced topography models for use by troops during World War II.
Letters are primarily from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Works Agency discussing commissions, including the painting of post office murals in Maryland and West Virginia, and from various museums and galleries discussing exhibitions and other art-related activities. There are one or two letters each from colleagues Alice Acheson, Adelyn Breeskin, Charles Burchfield, Alida Conover, John Gernand, Duncan Phillips, Henry Varnum Poor, and Prentiss Taylor. Some letters are Christmas cards decorated with original block prints.
Business records primarily document Gates' interaction with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery in Washington, D.C., but also include miscellaneous sales records and pay stubs from American University.
Artwork consists of scattered drawings of modern houses by Gates and abstract sketches by others, and small block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld. Two Scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and scattered letters.
Additional printed material includes clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Gates and others, prospectuses for art exhibitions, press releases, calendars of events, booklets about color and lenses, brochures for art schools and books, and an unannotated calendar containing a reproduction of one of Gates' paintings.
Photographs are of Robert Gates, various family members including Gates with his first wife photographed by Prentiss Taylor, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are two photograph albums and unbound photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Images of this trip are of Gates and colleagues including Mitchell Jamieson, the ship Doris Hamlin, the crew, markets, a cock fight, miscellaneous buildings, town squares, and the countryside of the Virgin Islands.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series. Each series is arranged chronologically:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1928-1975 (Box 1, OV 4; 34 folders)
Series 2: Letters, 1930-1988 (Box 1; 25 folders)
Series 3: Business Records, 1961-1982 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, circa 1962 (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1932-1939 (Box 1-2; 4 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1916-1988 (Box 2; 48 folders)
Series 7: Photographs, 1910-1982 (Boxes 2-3, OV 4; 20 folders)
Biographical Note:
Robert Franklin Gates was born on October 6, 1906 in Detroit, Michigan. He studied at the Detroit School of Arts and Crafts, and from 1929 to 1930 attended the Art Students' League in New York. Between 1930 and 1932, Gates studied under C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Gallery Art School in Washington, D.C., later becoming an instructor in life drawing and painting there. During this time, he met fellow student Margaret Casey, and they married on January 7, 1933. Between 1934 and 1938, Robert Gates was an art instructor at the Studio House in Washington, D.C.
In 1934, Gates received a commission from the U.S. Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts to create a series of watercolors of Charles Gardens, South Carolina, and from 1929-1940, murals for post offices in Bethesda, Maryland, Oakland, Maryland, and Lewisburg, West Virginia. In 1936, the Treasury Department also commissioned Gates and fellow artists Mitchell Jamieson and Prentiss Taylor to create series of watercolors of the Virgin Islands, arranging for several voyages there.
Between 1937 and 1942, Gates was a guest instructor at the University of Florida, taught art classes at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and at the Washington County Museum of Art in Hagerstown, Maryland. He also taught at the Phillips Gallery Art School in Washington, D.C. while his wife was employed as the school secretary. In 1938, Gates received a summer scholarship to study under Henry Varnum Poor at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
During World War II, Gates worked as a civilian technician for the Navy Department doing model making and camouflage design, receiving the Distinguished Civilian Service Award for his work.
After the war, and the closing of the Phillips Gallery Art School, Gates attended classes taught by Bill Calfee at American University. In 1946, he joined the faculty and eventually becane chairman of the Art Department in 1954. Robert and Margaret Gates were divorced sometime in the mid-1950s. From 1966 to 1967, Gates was Artist-in-Residence at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Department of State Educational and Cultural Exchange Program. In 1967, he married his second wife, Sarita, while in Baghdad.
Gates is represented in the permanent collections of the American University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Dumbarton Oaks collection, the Phillips Collection, and the Lewisshon collection.
Robert Franklin Gates died on March 11, 1982 in Alexandria, Virginia.
Related Material:
Also in the Archives of American Art are the papers of Gates' first wife Margaret Casey Gates, 1934-1988,
Provenance:
The Robert Franklin Gates papers were donated in 1995 by Sarita W. Gates, the artist's widow, via legal representative Bradford G. Weekes III.
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.
The collection measures 20.8 linear feet, dates from 1885 to 1991 (bulk dates 1908-1986) and documents the career of lithographer, teacher, and painter Prentiss Taylor. The collection consists primarily of subject/correspondence files (circa 16 ft.), reflecting Prentiss' career as a lithographer and painter, his association with figures prominent in the Harlem Renaissance, notably Carl Van Vechten and Langston Hughes, his activities as president of the Society of Washington Printmakers and other art organizations, his work in art therapy treating mental illness, and his teaching position at American University. The subject files contain mostly correspondence, but many include photographs and printed material. Also included are biographical, financial, legal and printed material; several hundred photographs; notes and writings; sketchbooks, drawings and a few prints by Taylor; and scrapbooks dating from 1885-1956.
Scope and Content Note:
The collection measures 20.8 linear feet, dates from 1885 to 1991 (bulk dates 1908-1986) and documents the career of Harlem Renaissance lithographer, teacher, and painter Prentiss Taylor. The collection consists primarily of subject/correspondence files (circa 16 ft.), reflecting Prentiss' career as a lithographer and painter, his association with figures prominent in the Harlem Renaissance, notably Carl Van Vechten and Langston Hughes, his activities as president of the Society of Washington Printmakers and other art organizations, his work in art therapy treating mental illness, and his teaching position at American University. The subject files contain mostly correspondence, but many include photographs and printed material. Also included are biographical, financial, legal and printed material; several hundred photographs; notes and writings; sketchbooks, drawings and a few prints by Taylor; and scrapbooks dating from 1885-1956.
The Langston Hughes files contain photocopies of letters from Hughes, greeting cards, ten original photographs of Hughes, and an autographed card printed with Hughes' poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. In addition, there is a contract between Hughes and Taylor, witnessed by Carl Van Vechten, forming the Golden Stair Press, through which many of Hughes' poems were printed with illustrations by Taylor. A rare edition of their first publication, The Negro Mother, is found here. Also found in this file is a 1932 final copy of Scottsboro Limited, another collaborative effort between Taylor and Hughes that focused on a case where nine black youths were falsely accused of raping two white women. The collection contains extensive correspondence about Taylor's lithograph of the same title and the printing of the publication. Other rare Harlem Renaissance publications found within Taylor's papers include Golden Stair Broadsides, Opportunity Journal of Negro Life, The Rebel Poet, and Eight Who Lie in the Death House, several of which were also illustrated by Taylor.
Prentiss Taylor's long association with Langston Hughes and other figures of the Harlem Renaissance stemmed from his early friendship with Carl Van Vechten. Taylor's papers contain correspondence with Van Vechten, autographed copies of Van Vechten's booklets, and numerous photographs of notable Harlem Renaissance figures, many taken by Van Vechten, including Zora Neale Hurston, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Eugene O'Neill, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Paul Robeson, and many others. Also found are period photographs of Charleston, South Carolina and Harlem street scenes.
95 letters from Rachel Field, 75 letters from Langston Hughes, 3 letters from Armin Landeck, 46 letters from Josephine Pinckney, 1 letter from Gertrude Stein, 7 letters from Alice B. Toklas, 1 postcard from Mark Van Doren, and 25 letters from Carl Van Vechten are photocopies. Originals of the Hughes and Toklas letters are located at the Yale University Library. Location of the remaining original letters are unknown.
The Prentiss Taylor papers offer researchers insight into the rich cultural documentation of the Harlem Renaissance and the development of twentieth-century printmaking as an American fine art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series. The largest series housing Subject Files is arranged alphabetically, primarily by name of correspondent, maintaining Taylor's original arrangement. The remaining series are arranged in chronological order. Oversized material from various series has been housed in Box 21 (Sol) and OV 22 and is noted in the Series Description/Container Listing Section at the appropriate folder title with see also/see references.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1918-1985, undated (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 2: Miscellaneous Receipts, 1929-1986, undated (Box 1; 11 folders)
Series 3: Insurance Records, 1960-1976 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 4: Notes, 1921-1984, undated (Box 1; 18 folders)
Series 5: Writings, 1924-1971, undated (Box 1-2; 51 folders)
Series 6: Art Work, 1916-1975, undated (Box 2; 14 folders)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1885-1956 (Box 2, 21; 10 folders)
Series 9: Photographs, 1908-1984, undated (Box 3, 23-24; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 10: Subject Files, 1885-1991, undated (Box 3-21, OV 22; 18.0 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Prentiss Taylor was born in 1907 at the Washington, D. C. residence of his maternal grandmother, his birth assisted by his grandmother's cook, affectionately known as Cookie Belle.
In the 1920s, Taylor studied painting with Charles W. Hawthorne in Provincetown, but turned to lithography in the late 1920s to early 1930s during his enrollment at the Art Students League in New York City. He received further training in that medium at the George C. Miller workshop in New York. During this period, he also designed costumes for the American-Oriental Revue. Taylor worked primarily in the printmaking medium for the rest of his life, experimenting with various techniques and compositions and ultimately achieving a status as one this country's great lithographers. Taylor depicted mostly realistic and narrative scenes of subjects and themes that reflected his personal interests in music, architecture, religion and social justice.
During his time in New York, Taylor developed close friendships with poet Langston Hughes and writer Carl Van Vechten. He collaborated with Hughes in the formation of the Golden Stair Press to produce publications reflecting the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance. Taylor created a number of prints and illustration for the press and its publications.
After returning to Washington, D.C., Taylor's work was included in exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. He was represented by the Franz Bader Gallery in Washington, D.C., and by the Bethesda Art Gallery in Maryland. In 1942, Taylor was elected President of the Society of Washington Printmakers, a position he held for thirty-four years. He also worked as an art therapist for more than thirty years and taught oil painting at American University from 1955-1975.
Prentiss Taylor died October 7, 1991 in Washington, D.C.
Related Material:
Prentiss Taylor papers are also located at the Yale University Library.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 1392) including three notebooks detailing Taylor's lithographs, a gift and sales notebook, a guestbook, exhibition announcements, and a brochure. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Prentiss Taylor lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming in 1978. Papers were donated in 1978 and 1984 by Taylor, and in 1992 and 2004 by his companion, Roderick S. Quiroz, for the estate of Prentiss Taylor.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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.
Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of the microfilm of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the conservation of Prentiss Taylor's photograph album, 1929-1939, was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
An interview of Willem De Looper conducted 1992 January 26 and February 29, by Benjamin Forgey, for the Archives of American Art. De Looper discusses growing up in the Hague, in Holland, during WWII; his family and educational background; moving to the United States in 1950; his U.S. Army service; his studies at American University and his teachers including Robert Gates, Ben Summerford, William Calfee, and Sarah Baker; his early experiments with abstraction; his first studio in Washington, D.C.; exhibiting at the Jefferson Place Gallery in the 1960s and later at the B.R. Kornblatt Gallery; working at the Phillips Collection for twenty-five years; and materials, techniques, and influences in his painting. He recalls Tom Downing, the Institute of Contemporary Art (Washington, D.C.), John Gernand, Sam Gilliam, Michael Clark, Duncan and Marjorie Phillips, Harold Giese, William Woodward, Jim McLaughlin, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Willem De Looper (1932-2009) was a painter from Washington, D.C.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 23 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Painters -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Topic:
Art students -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Calfee, William H. (William Howard), 1909-1995 Search this
Names:
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. -- Faculty Search this
Extent:
650 Items
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1937-1982
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, undated and 1966-1982, mostly letters from friends, including Jack Tworkov, Karel Yasko, and others; photographs of Calfee's studio, of his work, of his designs for a Harrisonburg, Virginia WPA mural, and of paintings by Mary Orwen; notebooks, poetry and essays on numerous subjects, 1954-1981, some with illustrations; an illustrated travel diary, 1977, covering a trip to Italy, and other accounts of travels to France, Greece and Turkey; art works, 1937-1955, including many sketches for the WPA mural; one blueprint for the WPA mural; exhibition announcements, 1962-1965; and clippings, 1940-1981. Also included is a complete set of the periodical, RIGHT ANGLE, published by the American University, 1947-1949; and miscellaneous printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, sculptor; Washington, D.C. area. Calfee worked on WPA mural projects for post offices in the 1930s. He was chair of the art dept. at American University, 1945-1954.
Provenance:
Donated 1977-1982 by William Calfee.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The papers of Washington, D.C. painter Margaret Casey Gates date from 1934-1988, and measure 1.0 linear foot. Gates' papers document her work as a painter, her projects for the New Deal federal arts programs, the Phillips Memorial Gallery and its art school, where she attended school and later worked as secretary and where her husband Robert Franklin Gates was a teacher, and the Washington, D.C. arts scene. Found are scattered correspondence, seven sketchbooks by Gates and two sketchbooks of her divorced husband Robert Franklin Gates. Miscellaneous notes and writings, a scrapbook, printed material, and photographs of Gates, her husband, friends, artwork, and views of the Virgin Islands are also included in the papers.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Washington, D.C. painter Margaret Casey Gates date from 1934-1988, and measure 1.0 linear foot. Gates' papers document her work as a painter, her projects for the New Deal federal arts programs, the Phillips Memorial Gallery and its art school, where she attended school and later worked as secretary and where her husband Robert Franklin Gates was a teacher, and the Washington, D.C. arts scene. Found are scattered correspondence, seven sketchbooks by Gates and two sketchbooks of her divorced husband Robert Franklin Gates. Miscellaneous notes and writings, a scrapbook, printed material, and photographs of Gates, her husband, friends, artwork, and views of the Virgin Islands are also included in the papers.
Twelve folders of scattered correspondence include letters from the Federal Works Agency and one or two letters each from friends and individuals that reflect Gates' wide range of interests and activities. Correspondents include Betty Jean Clark, Arthur G. Dove, D. R. Fitzpatrick, Alice Garrett, John Gernand, Karl Knaths, John L. Lewis, a Brazilian artist named Portinari, Julian Lee Rayford, Alfred Stieglitz, and Prentiss Taylor.
Artwork consists of seven of Margaret Casey Gates' sketchbooks and two of Robert Franklin Gates' sketchbooks of both abstract and figural sketches. Margaret's sketchbooks contain landscapes that illustrate her travels to Colorado, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Virgin Islands. Sketchbook #2 contains pencil, ink, and pastel drawings of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and an intimate drawing of Robert Franklin Gates, Mitchell Jamieson, and Prentiss Taylor asleep on a ship. Artwork also includes a fine caricature of Robert Franklin Gates by Karl Knaths.
Notes and writings primarily consist of scattered notes and brief descriptive accounts of Gates's experiences at the Phillips Gallery, and at the Colorado Springs Art Center. Her extensive descriptions of her travels to the Virgin Islands are also illustrated.
A scrapbook primarily contains clippings, but also includes an award certificate, letters concerning various topics including Pepsi-Cola's annual art competition and Federal Works Agency projects, brochures for the Phillips Gallery Art School and for the McLean Art Club, and a photograph of the mural at the Mebane, North Carolina post office.
Printed material consists of clippings including copies of the rare magazines The Washington Spectator and the American University publication Right Angle, announcements and catalogs for exhibitions of Gates's work, and miscellaneous booklets and brochures. There is also printed material concerning the Armory Show including a copy of the booklet The Story of the Armory Show by Walt Kuhn.
Photographs are of Margaret Casey Gates, Robert Franklin Gates, friends including Prentiss Taylor, her home, and her artwork. Photographs of Margaret and Robert Gates and their artist friends during their visits to the Virgin Islands in the 1930s are of primary interest, offering unique glimpses of that culture during the 1930s. These photographs include aerial photographs of St. Thomas and photographs by Prentiss Taylor.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 6 series. Each series is arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1934-1986 (Box 1; 12 folders)
Series 2: Artwork, 1935-1965 (Box 1; 12 folders)
Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1939-1984 (Box 1; 7 folders)
Series 4: Scrapbook, 1938-1961 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1935-1988 (Box 1; 20 folders)
Series 6: Photographs, 1934-1976 (Box 1; 19 folders)
Biographical Note:
Margaret Casey was born in 1903 in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. She studied art in the studio of Bertha Perry, and from 1924 to 1926 at the Corcoran Art School. She later studied under Henry Varnum Poor at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
After working as a commercial artist from 1928-1929, Casey began studying at the Phillips Memorial Gallery in 1931 under C. Law Watkins. There, she met her husband, painter Robert Franklin Gates, and married on January 7, 1933. Robert Franklin Gates (1906-1982), who came to Washington, D.C. in 1930, also studied at the Phillips Gallery Art School and worked with Karl Knaths between 1934 and 1947.
Between 1934 and 1941, Robert Gates, with other artists including Mitchell Jamieson and Prentiss Taylor, made several painting trips to the Virgin Islands on a fine arts commission from the U. S. Treasury Department. Margaret Gates accompanied her husband and produced artwork of her own. She also documented their travels. During this same time, Robert taught at the Phillips Gallery Art School and Margaret was employed as the Art School's secretary. In 1937, they purchased a house in McLean, Virginia where Margaret lived until 1980.
In 1939, Margaret Gates won honorable mention in a national mural competition held by the Section of Fine Arts of the U. S. Public Buildings Administration and was subsequently commissioned by the Federal Works Agency to execute a mural for the Post office at Mebane, North Carolina. The mural was completed and installed in 1941.
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Margaret Gates wrote articles on art for Washington, D. C. publications including the column "The People vs. Art" for American University's Right Angle, and for the magazine The Washington Spectator.
Margaret and Robert Gates were divorced circa 1955. They had no children.
Margaret Gates exhibited her work in the first exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in 1941, as one of many winners of a national competition sponsored by the Federal Works Agency for artwork to decorate a Marine hospital for lepers in Louisiana. She also exhibited in the "Group Show of Washington Painters" at the Bignou Gallery in New York City, as well as at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Philips Collection, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. A retrospective of her work was exhibited at the Watkins Gallery of American University in 1981. Several of her paintings are in the collection of the Phillips Gallery.
Margaret Casey Gates died on November 4, 1989, in Mitchellville, Maryland.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the papers of Gates' divorced husband Robert Franklin Gates dating from 1910-1988.
Provenance:
The Margaret Casey Gates papers were a bequest from Gates' estate in 1994, executed by her niece Joyce D. Svedberg.
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.
The papers of contemporary Color Field painter and educator Sam Gilliam measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1957 to 1989. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, writings, business records, printed material, subject files, a scrapbook, artwork, and photographic material that document Gilliam's life beginning as a student, through to his teaching, professorial, and artistic career based in Washington D.C. The collection highlights Gilliam's close involvement with the art institutions, racial politics, and artistic innovation from the 1960s through the 1980s, and particularly showcases the planning and creation of Gilliam's large-scale three-dimensional paintings, often associated with the Washington Color School.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of contemporary Color Field painter and educator Sam Gilliam measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1957 to 1989. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, writings, business records, printed material, subject files, a scrapbook, artwork, and photographic material that document Gilliam's life beginning as a student, through to his teaching, professorial, and artistic career based in Washington D.C. The collection highlights Gilliam's close involvement with the art institutions, racial politics, and artistic innovation from the 1960s through the 1980s, and particularly showcases the planning and creation of Gilliam's large-scale three-dimensional paintings, often associated with the Washington Color School.
Biographical material includes résumés, passports, exhibition lists, artists' statements and essays, interview transcripts and recordings. Also included are audio recordings of conversations between Sam Gilliam and artist Benny Andrews, between Gilliam and artist Rockne Krebs, as well as recordings of a 1968 interview conducted by Dorothy Gilliam.
Correspondence spans over 20 years and includes letters to and from museums and galleries such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Carl Solway Gallery, collectors, artists including David Driskell, friends, family, students, and fans.
Writings include notes, statements, and essays by and about Gilliam, writings by university students of Gilliam, and writings related to Gilliam's artwork and public commissions including measurements for artworks, material research, and information regarding prints created for the private home of Walter Mondale.
Business records primarily include the daily records of activities kept by Sam and Dorothy Gilliam's secretary, Debby, from 1973 to 1978. Also present are resumes for a studio assistant for Gilliam, certificates of originality, legal documents, receipts and invoices, a record of donated paintings, financial records, ledgers, contracts, records and paperwork for the Gilliam's company Enterprise 101, and miscellany.
Printed materials include photocopies, exhibition announcements, magazines, and clippings regarding exhibitions, specific artworks, and commissions, and Gilliam and/or his then-wife, Dorothy Gilliam.
The subject file series contains letters, photographic material, business records, sketches, and printed materials concerning specific galleries, public art commissions, arts organizations, workshops, teaching positions, Gilliam's studio, art suppliers, and other topics.
A disbound scrapbook contains photographs, notes, and printed material related to Gilliam and his studio practice.
The artwork series includes sketches, personal notes, and small preparatory drawings by Gilliam.
Photographic material includes negatives, slides, and transparencies of artworks, Gilliam in his studio, and Gilliam and staff preparing museum and gallery exhibition spaces. Also included are records of student artwork, and photos and slides of artwork sent to Gilliam by students and aspiring artists.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1958-1988, (Box 1; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1965-1989, (Boxes 1-2; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1962-1988, (Box 2; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Business Records, 1957-1986, (Boxes 2-3; 1.0 linear foot)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1962-1987, (Boxes 3-4; 1.0 linear foot)
Series 6: Subject Files, 1963-1988, (Boxes 4-7; 2.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbook, 1958-1968, (Box 7; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 8: Artwork, 1970-1980, undated, (Boxes 7-9; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 9: Photographic Material, 1960-1985, (Boxes 8-9; 0.3 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) was an African American artist based in Washington, D.C. He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where he began painting as a child, eventually attending the University of Louisville where he received his B.A. in Fine Art and M.A. in Painting. He went on to teach art to high school students in the Washington D.C. public school system, and university-level students at the Corcoran School of Art, the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), the University of Maryland, and Carnegie Mellon University. His numerous grants and awards include the 1971 Solomon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and multiple Honorary Doctoral degrees.
As an artist, Gilliam is best known for his three-dimensional draped and suspended paintings, covered with large fields of poured paint, pigment, and colorful staining influenced by the movement and colors of Abstract Expressionist painters. He created many public works that incorporated new materials such as custom designed metal forms, quilted canvas, and textiles; his works often included subtle social commentaries through their titling. His suspended paintings cemented Gilliam as an innovative and influential presence in 20th century American art.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Sam Gilliam, one conducted by Kenneth Young, September 18, 1984, and the other by Ben Forgey, November 4-11, 1989.
Provenance:
The Sam Gilliam papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Sam Gilliam in 1989.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Sam Gilliam. 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.
M. Hanks Gallery (Santa, Monica, Calif.) Search this
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Search this
Extent:
1.7 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Date:
1962-2017
Summary:
The papers of African American abstract painter Sylvia Snowden measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1962 to 2017. The collection contains biographical material, including recorded interviews with Snowden; correspondence; material related to professional activities, including exhibitions and symposia; printed material; and photographic material, as well as one sketch.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of African American abstract painter Sylvia Snowden measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1962 to 2017. The collection contains biographical material, including recorded interviews with Snowden, resumes and chronologies, and certificates; correspondence with galleries and museums including M. Hanks Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art; material related to professional activities, including exhibitions and symposia, and related audiovisual and born-digital materials; printed material, including exhibition invitations, exhibition catalogs, calendars, clippings, and magazines; and a small amount of photographic material, as well as one sketch.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as five series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1962, 1985-2004 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1975-2005 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 3: Professional Activities, 1985-2017 (Box1; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1964-2017 (Boes 1-3, OV 4; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographic Material and Artwork, 1989-2005 (Box 3; 0.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Sylvia Snowden (1942- ) is an African American abstract painter in Washington, D.C. known for her large mixed-media works that convey a sense of texture or the "feel of paint."
Snowden earned both a Bachelor and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Howard University. She also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and earned a certificate from le Grande Chaumière in Paris, France. She has served as an instructor, visiting lecturer, panelist, and artist-in-residence at universities, galleries, and art schools across the country and internationally. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Parish Gallery, and the California African American Museum; as well as in exhibitions in Chile, the Netherlands, Ethiopia, Australia, the Bahamas, France, Mexico, Italy, and Japan.
Provenance:
The Sylvia Snowden papers were donated in 2019 by Sylvia Snowden, as part of the Archives' African American Collecting Initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference 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.
An interview of Sam Gilliam conducted 1984 Sept. 18, by Kenneth Young, for the Archives of American Art.
Gilliam speaks of his childhood in the South; discovering his talent and his early attraction to art; his education at the University of Louisville; how his philosophy of art developed; the influence of music; techniques and materials; early shows of his work; Washington artists he knew. He recalls Thomas Downing and Kenneth Noland.
Biographical / Historical:
Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) was a painter from Washington, D.C.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
