Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Peter Saul, 2009 Nov. 3-4. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Interview of Peter Saul conducted in 1972, by Barry Schwartz, for the Archives of American Art "Art World in Turmoil" oral history project.
Biographical / Historical:
Peter Saul (1934- ) is a painter in Mill Valley, California.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
An interview of Peter Saul conducted 2009 Nov. 3-4, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art, at Saul's studio, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Saul speaks of his childhood in San Francisco; boarding school in Canada; his time at the San Francisco Art Institute and Washington University in St. Louis; his travels to and extended stay in Europe: Bergen ann Zee, Netherlands; Paris, France, where he first saw Mad Comics and found his style and became recognized as an artist; and Rome, Italy where he was neighbors to Madame Nhu; his time as a teacher at the University of Texas; his relationship to funk art of the Bay Area, the Chicago imagists and pop art; his thoughts on American popular culture, the ever-shifting concept of being an interesting artist and the contemporary art world; his gallery partnerships with Allan Frumkin and David Nolan; Saul also recalls Max Beckmann, Wally Barker, Fred Conway, James Bishop, Cy Twombly, Peter Selz, Roy De Forest, William T. Wiley, Clayton Bailey, Robert Storr, Robert Crumb, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Peter Saul (1934-) is painter, in New York, N.Y. Interviewer Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is former Executive director of iCI in New York, N.Y.
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:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by theTerra Foundation for American Art.
Peter Saul. Peter Saul, Mill Valley, Calif. letter to Ellen H. Johnson, 1967 July 12. Ellen Hulda Johnson papers, 1872-2018. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The records of Galerie Darthea Speyer measure 17.2 linear feet and 1.58 GB and date from 1953 to 2010. The majority of the collection consists of artists' files containing a wide variety of materials documenting the Paris gallery's relationship with American and European artists, as well as gallery exhibitions. Also found are scattered financial records, guestbooks, documentation on the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome art collection, exhibition announcements, posters, and additional photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of Galerie Darthea Speyer measure 17.2 linear feet and 1.58 GB and date from 1953 to 2010. The majority of the collection consists of artists' files containing a wide variety of materials documenting the Paris gallery's relationship with American and European artists, as well as gallery exhibitions. Also found are scattered financial records, guestbooks, documentation on the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome art collection, exhibition announcements, posters, and additional photographs.
Artists' files are varied but may contain biographical materials, correspondence and business records, printed materials, photographs, digital photographs, and slides. Correspondence is with artists and others primarily concerning the exhibition or sale of the artists' work. Also filed with the correspondence are other scattered business records regarding the artists' dealing with the gallery including exhibition documents and sales records. Photographs depict artists, artwork, exhibition installations and exhibition openings at Galerie Darthea Speyer. Printed material includes exhibition announcements, catalogs, and extensive press clippings. Files for prominent American artists such as Roy De Forest, Beauford Delaney, Llyn Foulkes, Leon Golub, Sam Gilliam, Richard Luboski, Ed Paschke, Peter Saul, Deborah Remington, and others, document a long relationship between the artist and the gallery.
This collection also includes scattered financial records from 2000 to 2002. Eight gallery guestbooks, and documentation on the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome art collection, which was organized by Darthea Speyer.
Printed material consists of posters and Galerie Darthea Speyer exhibition announcements. Included with the exhibition announcements are lists of exhibitions by year. Many of the posters advertise exhibitions organized by Darthea Speyer at the Musee National D'Art Moderne and Centre Culturel Americain, including 12 Modern American Painters and Sculptors (1953). Additional posters advertize exhibitions at Galerie Darthea Speyer and elsewhere for artists such as Leon Golub, Beauford Delaney, Ed Paschke, Peter Saul, Hugh Weiss, and several others.
Photographs include an unidentified exhibition opening, exhibition installations at Galerie Darthea Speyer, and artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Artists' Files, 1955-2010 (Boxes 1-15; 14.8 linear feet, ER01-ER07; 1.58 GB)
Series 2: Financial Records, 2000-2002 (Box 15; 6 folders)
Series 3: Guestbooks, 1997-2009 (Box 16; 8 folders)
Series 4: Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome Art Collection, circa 1980s-2009 (Box 16; 4 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1953-2008 (Boxes 16, 17, OV 19-22; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1960s-1970s (Boxes 17-18; 0.7 linear feet)
Historical Note:
Galerie Darthea Speyer was founded in 1968 by Darthea Speyer at 6, rue Jacques Callot, Paris, France. The gallery was notable for promoting American painting and sculpture in France until it closed in 2009.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Darthea Speyer began collecting art at the age of 15. She studied art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and in 1950 went to Paris as a cultural attaché for the United States Information Services (USIS). In 1953 she helped organize the exhibition 12 Modern American Painters and Sculptors at the Musee National D'Art Moderne, a show that initiated a change in the way Europeans viewed American Art. While working for the USIS, Speyer founded the Centre Culturel Americain where she gave many American artists their first European exhibition. She continued to work for the USIS until 1965.
Speyer opened Galerie Darthea Speyer during the May 1968 riots in Paris with an inaugural show of works by Deborah Remington. The gallery was designed by her brother, A. James Speyer, and primarily exhibited sculpture and paintings by Americans, as well as works by some European artists. Over the next 40 years Darthea Speyer remained a powerful advocate for American artists in the European market.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Darthea Speyer conducted by Paul Cummings, June 28, 1976.
Provenance:
Records were donated in 2010 by Emmanuelle Gelzer, owner of Galerie Darthea Speyer.
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.
