Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Wilfrid Zogbaum, 1964 November 2. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt, 1875-1942 Search this
Extent:
6.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1891-1977
Summary:
The Morgan Russell papers, 1891-1977, present a good overview of Russell's career as a painter and sculptor, with an emphasis on his development of the color theory movement, Synchromism. The papers include correspondence, biographical material, transcripts of lectures given by Russell, illustrated notebooks and sketches, printed material and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The Morgan Russell papers present a good overview of Russell's career as a painter and sculptor, with an emphasis on his development of the color theory movement, Synchromism. The papers include correspondence with many prominent individuals who played a role in Russell's artistic development; biographical material primarily documenting his activities in Europe; transcripts of lectures given by Russell; illustrated notebooks and sketches documenting his interest in, and development of, color theory, music and Synchromism; printed material such as exhibition announcements, catalogs and clippings; and photographs of Russell, his wife, friends and artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series according to record type and reflecting the lender's arrangement. With the exception of Series 1: Correspondence, all series are arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1909-1964 (Reels 4524-4527)
Series 2: Biographical Material, 1925-1941 (Reel 4527)
Series 3: Business Records, 1911-1946 (Reel 4527)
Series 4: Writings, 1931-1953 (Reel 4527)
Series 5: Unbound Notes and Sketches, 1891-1977 (Reels 4528-4538)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1908-1963 (Reels 4539-4541)
Series 7: Photographs, 1908-1948 (Reel 4542)
Biographical Note:
Painter and sculptor Morgan Russell was born in New York City. He studied at the Art Students League and the New York School of Art with James Earle Fraser, Andrew Dasburg and Robert Henri from 1906 to 1907, before settling in Paris in 1909 where he remained for almost forty years. After meeting Stanton Macdonald-Wright in 1911, he became interested in Synchromism and studied with Canadian color theorist Ernest Tudor-Hart. In 1913 Russell produced the first abstract Synchromies and in 1917 developed a series of Synchromies entitled EIDOS. He visited California in the early 1930s, teaching at the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles from 1931-1932, in addition to lecturing at museums in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Russell left France permanently in 1946 and died in Pennsylvania in 1953.
Provenance:
The Morgan Russell papers were lent to the Archives of American Art for microfilming by the Montclair Art Museum in 1991. The material was returned to the lender in 1992.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
An interview of Reuben Kadish conducted 1992 Apr. 15, by Stephen Polcari, for the Archives of American Art. Kadish discusses designing murals for the WPA in the 1930s; working as an artist in the South Pacific for the U.S. Army during World War II; the N.Y. art scene in the 1940s; and his views on government support of the arts and on art censorship. He recalls Jackson Pollock.
Biographical / Historical:
Reuben Kadish (1913-1992) was a painter, sculptor, and mural painter from New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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.
Topic:
Mural painting and decoration, American Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
This collection, which measures 7.9 linear feet and dates from 1851 to 1995 (bulk 1913-1995), documents the life and career of muralist, sculptor, and educator Reuben Kadish. The papers contain biographical material, letters, personal business records, an exhibition file, notes, writings, artwork, printed material, photographs, and artifacts.
Scope and Content Note:
The Reuben Kadish papers measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1851 to 1995 with the bulk of the material dating from 1913 to 1995. The collection documents the life and career of muralist, sculptor, and educator Reuben Kadish and contains biographical material, letters, personal business records, an exhibition file, notes, writings, artwork, printed material, photographs, and artifacts.
Biographical material, 1938-1992, includes résumés and personal identification items. Letters are from friends and colleagues including Herman Cherry, Philip Guston, Hilaire Hiler, Jules Langsner, Urban Neininger, Charles Pollock, and Jackson Pollock. One letter from the Leonard Stark family contains a small photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe.
Personal business records, 1952-1995, consist of legal documents, including estate papers for Ida and Reuben Kadish, and financial records. The only specific exhibition file documents the 1990 exhibition Reuben Kadish: Works from 1930 to the Present at the New Jersey State Museum in 1990.
Notes include unbound notes on mural painting, printmaking, sculpture, and other art-related topics, and handwritten translations by William H. Thomson of thirty classic texts by Homer, Horace, and Demosthenes. Writings, 1975-1992, consist of an autobiographical manuscript by Kadish, and typescripts concerning Kadish and other art-related topics by other authors including Dore Ashton, Herman Cherry, Howard Conant, and Judd Tully.
Artwork, undated and 1981-1992, includes a hundred sketches and seventeen watercolors by Kadish, and a drawing for DIG (Archeology) by Barbara Kadish. Printed material relates primarily to exhibitions for Kadish and others but also includes a baseball program autographed by Darryl Strawberry. Photographs include prints of Kadish and other artists working on murals, and photographs picturing family and friends.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series, based on type of material. Although acquired as a gift before the rest of the collection was loaned to the Archives of American Art in 1998, eight photographs are described in Series 9: Photographs, with those included in the 1998 loan.
Each series is arranged chronologically, except Series 2: Letters and Series 6: Writings, which are arranged alphabetically according to the surname of the writer.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1992 (box 1, 3 folders)
Series 2: Letters, 1934-1995, undated (boxes 1-3, 2.5 linear ft.)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1952-1995 (boxes 3-4, 37 folders)
Series 4: Exhibition File, 1989-1991 (box 4, 1 folder)
Series 5: Notes, 1851-1853, 1937-1992, undated (boxes 4-5, 35 folders)
Series 6: Writings, 1963-1992, undated (box 5, 14 folders)
Series 7: Artwork, 1981-1992, undated (boxes 5, 10, 8 folders)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1934-1993, undated (boxes 5-7, 76 folders)
Series 9: Photographs, 1913-1992, undated (boxes 7-9, sol 10, 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 10: Artifacts, undated (box 9, 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Reuben Kadish was born in Chicago on January 29, 1913. His father and mother were from Latvia and the Ukraine respectively.
In 1921, the family moved to East Los Angeles, California, where Kadish studied painting under Lorser Feitelson. During this time, he befriended Jackson Pollock and Philip Guston, who attended the Manual Arts High School.
During a trip to New York City in 1930, Kadish was impressed with the modern art, especially the work of the Surrealists, which he saw there. Upon his return to Los Angeles the following year, Kadish attended the Otis Art School, the Stickney School of Art in Pasadena, and Los Angeles City College. He also shared a studio with Philip Guston.
In 1933, Kadish, Guston and Jules Langsner were apprenticed to Mexican muralist, David Alfaro Siqueiros. Their most notable work being the mural "Triumph of Good Over Evil", at the University of Morelia in Mexico. During the next three years, the three young artists collaborated on painting murals in California and Mexico. After another visit to New York, Kadish was invited to San Francisco by Bill Gaskin to head the art division of the WPA project there, a position he occupied until 1940.
From 1940, Kadish worked as a coppersmith and welder at the Bethlehem Steel Works in San Francisco until 1942, when he joined the Army as a member of the War Artist Unit, serving in India and Southeast Asia during World War II. In 1944, he rejoined his wife Barbara in the Bay Area, but they soon returned to New York City, where Kadish worked for Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17. In the summer of 1945, the Kadish painted with Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in a shared Long Island house on Slow's Point in Amagansett.
In 1946, the Kadishes moved to a dairy farm in Vernon, New Jersey, where they supported themselves by farming until 1957. A catastrophic fire in the studio destroyed most of Kadish's paintings in 1947, causing him to turn his interest to creating sculpture.
After teaching art and design at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art in 1957, Kadish taught sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1958-1959. In 1960, he began his thirty-year teaching career at Cooper Union, which ended only a few months before his death on September 20, 1992 in Manhattan.
Related Material:
Other resources relating to Reuben Kadish in the Archives of American Art include an oral history interview with Kadish, April 15, 1992.
Provenance:
The eight photographs on Reel 5660 were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1984 by Reuben Kadish. The other material on Reels 5655-5660 was lent for filming in 1998 by Morris and Ruth Kadish, brother and sister-in-law of Reuben Kadish, and executors of his estate, and subsequently donated to the Archives of American Art in 2002.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment. Microfilmed portion must be consulted on microfilm.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Peter Agostini conducted in 1968, by Colette Roberts, for the Archives of American Art at 151 Avenue B, New York, New York.
Mr. Agostini speaks of his childhood spent living throughout the five boroughs of New York; his interactions with clients of his father's acting employment agency; his early education in Catholic school and the creative freedom allotted by the nuns; his first feelings of isolation as an artist at the age of seven; the development of a sense of communication as the result of the loss of his mother at the age of three and time spent at a school for orphans; his early realization and vision of artistic destiny; his religious interests which lead to mysticism in his earlier work; his time spent working freely in the DaVinci Studio with Spaventa; the discovery by Hess of his works in Gallerie Grimaud; his attainment of the Longview Grant; his working experience throughout the Depression as part of the WPA casting plaster mannequins while working indirectly with Pollack as well as Marca Relli; his subsequent move to designing department store windows (use of Mondrian-like forms and lines); his feelings of his position as an observer; the importance of communication through art (communication without words); his rejection of the Abstract Expressionist group and choice of independence; the influence of the sculpture of Kolbe and Bache in the thirties; Clement Greenberg's distaste for his work; his feelings about the relative failure to sell his work due its unusual edginess and mystery; his role in the introduction of the work of contemporary European artists (Chausserian, Gauthier, Modrian) to the American group; his description of his own work as "traditionless"; his feelings of self-importance as one of the most original sculptors in the art world; his influence on the younger generation, particularly Marisol; the enslavement to originality that the younger generation faces; his attitudes towards American Art forms and their lack of rebellious spirit; the virtues of the American writers, such as Poe, Whitman, and Melville as American "knapsack" writers; his personal technique which places an emphasis on the "skin" or volume of something; his attempt to create quiet art, or art that merely indicates features; his frustration with teaching and the problems of regurgitated knowledge; the role of Meyer Shapiro in his teaching career at Columbia; the formation of the Club and its similarity to the Cubist's café scene; his opinions on the relationship of sex and sensuality in American art; his personal struggles, including the loss of his second wife and two of his brothers, in addition to the estrangement of his only daughter by his first wife; his feelings on the role of psycho analysis and personal history in a work of art; his present works which feature the "swell." For the majority of the second half of the interview Ms. Roberts asks Mr. Agostini to express his opinions on the work of: Kline; DeKooning; Duchamp; Oldenburg; La Tour; DeChirico; Maillol; Pompon; Rothko; Chardin; Cezanne; Giacometti; Reinhardt; Chryssa; Tony Smith; Segal; Lachaise; Zorach; Manship; Flannagan; Kelly; Lassaw; David Smith; Hare; Lipton; Ferber; Lippold; Roszak; Nakian; Noguchi; Hague; Kohn; di Suvero; Chamberlain; Kaprow; Sugarman; Stankiewicz; Bontecou; Scarpitta; Cornell; Keinholz; Rivera; Judd; Robert Morris; O'Keeffe; Samaras; Mark Tobey; Marin; Pollock; Hartley; Dove; Macdonald-Wright; Demuth; Sheeler; Hopper; Mirot; Matisse; DuBuffet.
Biographical / Historical:
Peter Agostini (1913-1993) was a sculptor from New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 28 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hrs., 37 min.
Transferred from 4 3" reels.
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:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Harold Lehman conducted 1997 Mar. 28, by Stephen Polcari, for the Archives of American Art. Lehman speaks of his early educational and artistic experiences in New York; taking sculpture classes; moving to California; going to school at Manual Arts; going to Ojai and learning the religious philosophy of Krishnamurti; participating in literary discussion groups and the books he read; his years at Otis Art Institute; working with Sisqueiros, and how the frescoes they created were destroyed by the Red Squad; when he became interested in painting; working with Lorser Feitelson; working with the Public Works of Art Project; moving back to New York and working with the Federal Arts Project; his experiences with Sisqueiros and the artist workshop they set up; his thoughts on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Stalin and Trotsky; his thoughts on social realism; the project he did on Rikers Island; doing mural art; breaking both his arms two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor and how he managed to stay out of the army; working on his mural in Woodstock; working on war bond painting for the government; his art work during the war years; recollections of Jackson Pollack and his interest in Indian Art; going to see the Picasso show; his artistic influences; his thoughts on America's involvement in World War II; his life after the war and what inspired him; his memories of Phil Guston; thoughts on Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg; his life after the war, and other recollections about his life and friends. He recalls Max Maikowski, Jean de Laffiere, Rutolo, Frederick J. Schwankovsky, Phil Guston, Jackson Pollack, Manuel Tolegian, Rueben Kadish, George Stanley, Roger Noble Vernon, D.A. Siqueiros, Luis Arenal, Lorser Feitelson, Helen Lundberg, Leo Katz, Merle Armiduke, Stanley McCoy, Axel Horr (Horn), Carla Mahl (Clara Moore), Louie Serstadt, Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, Arnold Blanch, Harold Rosenberg, Clement Greenberg, Arnold Blanch, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Harold Lehman (1913-2006) was a painter, lithographer, designer, and sculptor from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hrs., 39 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.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Scrapbook compiled by Greenbaum relating to various artists; and untranscribed interviews, including two of Herman Somberg conducted by Greenbaum, ca. 1965; two of Greenbaum conducted by Vivienne Wechter, 1961 and 1978; and one of Greenbaum conducted by Hilda Weltman, 1968.
The scrapbook contains photographs of Greenbaum and artists George Segal, Miles Forst, and Willem de Kooning; photographs of works of art by Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Chryssa, Isamu Noguchi, Will Barnet, Barbara Hepworth, and Ilya Bolotowsky; sketches by Herman Somberg and Henry Pearson; a sketch of Greenbaum by Hugo Weber; a catalog, "The 30's -- Painting in New York"; clippings; and printed miscellany.
The interviews of Somberg conducted by Greenbaum include one (5 5" tapes) in which Somberg discusses Pop and Op movements; artist's motivations; realism vs. reality and tradition vs. modern art; the elements of structure, texture, composition and pigment in modern art; social commentary in painting; "pure painting"; Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning; happenings; and Somberg's disdain for art history. In the second interview (1 5" tape), painter Raymond Hendler is also present; they discuss their favorite television shows, an Op exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, and the meanings of the words "good," "like," "taste," and opinion" in relation to contemporary art.
The interviews of Greenbaum, include: one (on 2 5" tapes), conducted by Hilda Weltman, July 13 & 20, 1968 in which Greenbaum speaks of the conflicts and opportunities of American artists and his views on Pop art, strobe lights, civil rights, religion, existentialism, the Catholic Church, Vietnam, technology, hippies, and demonstrations at Columbia University; one (on 1 7"tape) conducted by Viviene Wechter, 1961 wherein Greenbaum speaks of collecting, art and affordability, abstract art, the arrangement of paintings on walls, his collection, and artists as personalities independent of their aesthetic; and the third, conducted in 1978, also by Wechter (on 1 cassette) for a radio program entitled "Today's World" on FM radio station WFUV.
Biographical / Historical:
Jack Greenbaum: collector and dentist; New York, N.Y. and an intimate friend of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Hugo Weber. He did their dental work and was given their paintings in payment.
Provenance:
Donated 1978 by Dr. Jack Greenbaum.
Restrictions:
Microfilmed portion (scrapbook) must be consulted on microfilm. Use of untranscribed interviews requires an appointment and is limited to AAA; Washington, D.C. office.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The collection measures 10.3 linear feet, dates from 1890 to 1959, and documents the career of early twentieth century sculptor Adolph A. Weinman. Found within the papers are scattered biographical materials; project files for Weinman's sculpture and commissions; correspondence with colleagues, friends and family, and letterpress books containing copies of letters concerning specific sculpture commissions; files concerning Weinman's membership in the National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design; records concerning works of art held by dealers and in exhibitions and other miscellaneous financial materials; notes and a notebook; writings and speeches by Weinman; sketches and sketchbooks; printed materials; photographs and glass negatives. This material not only reflects the diversity of projects executed by this prolific sculptor, but illustrates the process of creation for many of his more important works.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of American sculptor Adolph Weinman measure 10.3 linear feet and date from 1890 to 1959. Found within the collection are scattered biographical materials; project files for Weinman's sculpture and commissions; correspondence with colleagues, friends and family, and letterpress books containing copies of letters concerning specific sculpture commissions; a substantial body of files concerning Weinman's membership in the National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design; records concerning works of art held by dealers and in exhibitions and other miscellaneous financial materials; notes and a notebook; writings and speeches by Weinman; sketches and sketchbooks; printed materials; photographs and glass negatives. This material not only reflects the diversity of projects executed by this prolific sculptor, but illustrates the process of creation for many of his more important works.
Much of the collection (6.0 linear feet) consists of project files documenting many of Weinman's sculpture and commissioned public and architectural pieces through correspondence, contracts, financial records, notes, drawings, printed material, and photographs. A complete list of each project or sculpture file is found in the Container Listing. Also found are scattered biographical materials, general correspondence, files relating to Weinman's membership in the National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design, scattered financial files, notes and writings, art work, printed materials, and photographs.
Arrangement:
Most materials have been arranged in chronological order, except for artwork and photographs which are arranged primarily according to subject matter. Glass plate negatives from the Project Files Series and Photographs Series have been removed and housed separately in Boxes 10-13 and are so noted in the Series Description/Container Listing Section at the appropriate folder title. Oversized material from various series has been housed in Box 14 and OV folders 15-22 and are listed with each appropriate series.
Series 5: Notes, 1918-1952 (Box 3; Reel 5887; 14 folders)
Series 6: Writings, 1929-1952 (Box 3; Reel 5887; 14 folders)
Series 7: Artwork, 1892-1933 (Boxes 3, 14, OVs 16-19; Reels 5887-5888; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 8: Project Files, 1896-1955 (Boxes 3-8, 10-14, OVs 15-22; Reels 5888-5891; 6.0 linear feet)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1891-1959 (Box 8, OV 21; Reel 5892; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, 1903-1950 (Boxes 9, 13, OV 21; Reel 5892; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
American sculptor, Adolph Alexander Weinman was born on December 11, 1870 in Germany and came to New York City in 1880. At the age of fifteen, he attended evening classes at Cooper Union. He later studied at the Art Students League. When he was twenty years old, he entered the studio of Philip Martiny and later worked with Olin Warner, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Charles Henry Niehaus, and Daniel Chester French. In 1904, Weinman opened his own studio, and in the same year created the Destiny of the Red Man for the St. Louis Exposition. In 1923, he moved his studio to Forest Hills, New York, where he lived until his death.
Among Weinman's more notable sculpture commissions are the General Alexander Macomb Memorial in Detroit, Michigan, Alexander Johnston Cassatt and Samuel Rea for the Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal in New York City, the Seated Lincoln for Hodgenville, Kentucky, and sculptural group Riders of the Dawn at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. In 1915, he designed The Rising Sun and Descending Night fountains for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. In the following year he designed the "Mercury" dime and "Walking Liberty" half dollar for the U. S. Mint. Weinman also created friezes for the U. S. Supreme Court building, and pediments for the National Archives building, the U. S. Post Office Department Building, and for the Jefferson Memorial, all in Washington, D. C.
Weinman was a member of many organizations, including the National Sculpture Society, of which he was president from 1927 to 1930, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, and the New York City Art Commission.
Adolph A. Weinman died on August 8, 1952, in Port Chester, New York.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of materials lent for microfilming. Reel 283 contains biographical materials, a contract, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous materials, dating 1888-1952. Reel 414 includes correspondence exchanged between Weinman and the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Medallic Art Company between 1930 and 1952. Lent materials were returned to the lenders and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
In 1971 and 1972, Adolph Weinman's sons, Howard and Robert A. Weinman, lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming. Howard Weinman also donated material in 1972 and Robert A. Weinman gave papers in 1976.
Restrictions:
A digitized version of the microfilm of this collection is available online via the Archives of American Art 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.
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Adolph A. Weinman papers, 1890-1959. 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. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Zorach, William, 1887-1966 -- Photographs Search this
Extent:
28.1 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Diaries
Interviews
Scrapbooks
Sketches
Date:
1871-2004, bulk 1910s-1980s
bulk 1910-1990
Summary:
The papers of Spanish-born sculptor and educator José de Creeft measure 28.1 linear feet and date from 1871 to 2004 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1910s to the 1980s. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, fifty diaries, writings, subject files, personal business records, printed materials, twenty-seven photo albums and other photographs, scrapbooks, and scattered sketches.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Spanish-born sculptor and educator José de Creeft measure 28.1 linear feet and date from 1871 to 2004 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1910s to the 1980s. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, fifty diaries, writings, subject files, personal business records, printed materials, twenty-seven photo albums and other photographs, scrapbooks, and scattered sketches.
Biographical materials include address books, awards, recorded interviews with and about de Creeft, membership materials, naturalization records, resumes, and travel documents.
Correspondence is primarily professional in nature and concerns exhibitions, de Creeft's involvement in arts organizations, and awards. There are also scattered personal letters from family and friends. Correspondents include Alexander Calder, Nina, Alice, Barbara and William de Creeft, Hunt Diederich, Joseph Escudar, and Gil Gomez, Jacques Lipchitz, Edwin Dickinson, James Johnson Sweeney, Costantino Nivola, Abraham Rattner, and Lamar Dodd, among others.
De Creeft's fifty diaries are nearly complete for the period dating from 1926 to 1981. Some are bound volumes and others are loose pages. The bulk of the diaries are in Spanish and many include sketches. Additional writings, called "escritos varios" by José de Creeft, are mostly in Spanish and consist of typed manuscripts and essays, including "Roosty Was My Friend, 1957, notebooks, an artist's statement, and writings by others, including drafts for The Sculpture of de Creeft by Jules Campos, and a video recording entitled José de Creeft by Bob Hanson. There is one sound recording of Lorrie Goulet reading poetry.
Subject files are varied and include files on de Creeft's teaching positions at the New School for Social Research, Black Mountain College, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Art Students League. There are files for some of his sculpture projects, inlcuding Alice in Wonderland, Poet, and a proposed model for the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial in Georgia, as well as compiled information about various art related topics of interest.
De Creeft's business records include appraisals, contracts, leases, price lists, and scattered receipts. Also found are art inventories in the form of three sets of index cards, some of which include photographs.
Printed materials include books, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, exhibition labels, postcards, and posters.
There are loose photographs and twenty-seven photograph albums depicting de Creeft, his family, friends, and works of art. There are photos of Alexander Calder; de Creeft and Goulet with Raphael Soyer, posing with Soyer's portrait of them; Gertrude Lawrence; art juries, which also include images of Chaim Gross, Jacques Lipchitz, Theodore Roszak, and William Zorach; students, friends, and faculties of Black Mountain College, the Art Students League, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Norton School of Art, which also includes images of Joseph Albers, Alexander Calder, Julio De Diego, Walter Gropius, J. B. Neumann, and Abraham Rattner.
Seven mixed media scrapbooks document de Creeft's career from 1929 to 1982. Also found are scattered pen and pencil sketches and one sketchbook dating from the 1920s.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1914-1979 (Boxes 1, 27; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1910s-1980s (Boxes 1-6; 4.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Diaries, 1926-1981 (Boxes 6-11; 5.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1871-1977 (Boxes 11-13, 28; 2.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Subject Files, 1924-1980 (Boxes 13-16, 27; 2.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1909-1980s (Boxes 16-17, 27; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1921-1980s (Boxes 17-21, 27, 33; 4.7 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1900-2004 (Boxes 21-25, 29, 31; 5.1 linear feet)
Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1929-1982 (Box 26, 30, 32; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 10: Artwork, 1920s-1930s (Box 26; 2 folders)
Biographical / Historical:
José de Creeft (1908-1982) was a Spanish-born sculptor active in New York City, New York.
José de Creeft was born in Guadalajara, Spain and raised in Barcelona. In 1900, he apprenticed to sculptor Don Augustine Querol and studied drawing with Idalgo de Caviedas. De Creeft moved to Paris in 1905 and began formal art training at the Académie Julianand. He also took a studio in the Batteau Lavoir in Montmartre, where he interacted with Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Manolo, and Pablo Gargallo, all of whom also had studios there. During this period, de Creeft became friends with the artist Mateo Hernandez.
In 1915, de Creeft rejected the traditional technique of reproducing sculpture in stone from clay and plaster models and turned to direct carving in wood and stone. He was also one of the first sculptors who practiced assemblage and incorporated found objects into his work. His notable assemblage sculpture El Picador, a large figure on horseback, received worldwide press coverage and was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Independents in 1926. Between 1919 and 1928, his work was exhibited in various Paris salons. In the late 1920s, he created 200 stone carvings for Roberto Ramonje's Forteleza (fortress) in Mallorca. It was around this time frame when de Creeft met Alexander Calder, who became his student in direct carving. De Creeft encouraged Calder to display his mechanical toys and Calder put his Circus together for the first time in de Creeft's studio.
De Creeft emigrated to the United States in 1929, right after marrying fellow sculptor Alice Robertson Carr. They divorced nine years later.
While in New York, de Creeft began sculpting with lead sheets beaten into three-dimensional forms and established a studio at 1 Washington Square. His first solo exhibition was at the Ferargil Galleries in New York City and included The Portrait of Cesar Vallejo in chased lead and The Silver Fox of found materials.
In 1932, de Creeft accepted a teaching position in sculpture at the New School for Social Research. He also taught courses at Black Mountain College, where he met his second wife, sculptor Lorrie Goulet, the Art Students League, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Norton Gallery and School of Art. In 1946, de Creeft and Goulet purchased a hundred-acre farm in Hoosick Falls, NY where they established a studio and part-time residence.
Perhaps De Creeft's most well-known monumental scuplture is Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, New York City. The 12' x 16' bronze was dedicated during a public event in 1959 and gave de Creeft worldwide recognition. In 1995 a short film about the making of the sculpture was produced by J. D'Alba and narrated by Lorrie Goulet.
De Creeft was as founding member of the American Artist's Congress, the Sculptors Guild, and the Artist's Equity Association. De Creeft was represented by the Georgette Passedoit Gallery from 1936 to 1949. Later, he joined The Contemporaries (gallery) and exhibited there until 1966. Kennedy Galleries represented de Creeft from 1970 until his death in 1982.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds an interview of José De Creeft conducted October 1-8, 1968 by Forrest Selvig and the papers of de Creeft's wife Lorrie Goulet.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels D150 and 375-378). While most of the items were included in subsequent gifts, material not donated to the Archives remain with the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The José de Creeft papers were first lent for microfilming by the artist in 1963 and 1972. Lorrie Goulet, José de Creeft's widow, donated most of this material along with additional items in 1985 and 2009.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of painter, photographer and sculptor Lowell Nesbitt measure 50.2 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from circa 1903-1993 (bulk 1950-1993). The collection documents Nesbitt's career through biographical material, correspondence, subject files, business and financial records, source material, artwork, photographs and audiovisual records, printed material and scrapbooks.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of painter, photographer and sculptor Lowell Nesbitt measure 50.2 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from circa 1903-1993 (bulk 1950-1993). The collection documents Nesbitt's career through biographical material, correspondence, subject files, business and financial records, source material, artwork, printed and digital matter, photographs and audiovisual records and scrapbooks.
Biographical Material includes documentation of Nesbitt's education and other personal documents. Plans and designs for Nesbitt's properties on West Twelfth Street, New York City and Kent, New York are arranged in the series for architectural records for homes and studios
Correspondence and Subject Files are voluminous and record Nesbitt's interaction with individuals, businesses and organizations and includes personal and family correspondence in addition to correspondence relating to galleries, exhibitions, commissions he undertook and committees on which he served.
Artwork by Nesbitt includes a small collection of collages, drawings, paintings, prints and sketchbooks. Source material comprises approximately 11 linear feet of material, primarily newspaper and magazine clippings and photographs, relating to a large variety of subjects that inspired Nesbitt, such as flowers, fruits and vegetables, dogs and other animals and the studios of other artists including Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.
Photographs are of Nesbitt, his friends, family, colleagues and his pets, as well as subjects of interest to him in his work. Also of note are twenty-seven folders of photographs taken by photographer Jack Mitchell of Nesbitt and others.
Printed Material contains publicity material and documents exhibitions of Nesbitt's work. Additional photographs and printed material are found in the Scrapbooks.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1932-1988 (Boxes 1, 40, OV 58; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 2: Architectural Records for Homes and Studios, 1977-1992 (Boxes 1-2, 40; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1981-1990 (Boxes 2-3; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 4: Calendars and Addressess, 1973-1993 (Boxes 3-5; 1.25 linear ft.)
Series 5: Correspondence and Subject Files, 1940-circa 1990s (Boxes 5-12, 40, OV 51; 8.0 linear feet, ER01; 0.001 GB)
Series 6: Business and Financial Records, circa 1910-1993 (Boxes 12-14; 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1948-1989 (Boxes 15-16, 41-42, OVs 52, 55; 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 8: Source Material, 1965-circa 1990s (Boxes 16-26, 43-45, OV 53; 12.0 linear ft.)
Series 9: Photographs and Audiovisual Records, 1965-circa 1990s (Boxes 16-26, 43-46, OV 53, FC 76-78; 12.3 linear ft.)
Series 10: Printed Material, circa 1960s-circa 1990s (Boxes 37-39, 45, OVs 48-50, 54, 56, 60, 79; 3.05 linear feet
Series 11: Scrapbooks, 1964-1992 (Boxes 61-75; 6.6 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Painter, photographer, and sculptor Lowell Nesbitt worked primarily in New York City.
Lowell Nesbitt was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1933. In college he studied stained glass and printmaking, graduating from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1955 and attending the Royal College of Art in London from 1955 to 1956.
After serving for several years in the United States Army in the mid 1950s, Nesbitt received his first exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1958. By 1963 he had moved to New York City and by the 1970s had emerged as one of the most well known artists in the United States. Nesbitt was frequently grouped with the photo realists and was best known for more than four hundred works he created with the flower as his central theme. In addition to flowers, Nesbitt's subjects included studio interiors, dogs, fruits and vegetables, bridges and buildings in New York, and male nudes. He began experimenting with printmaking in the 1960s and produced more than a hundred original prints in the course of his lifetime, primarily in the medium of dry point engraving. In 1963 he began a series of x-ray inspired paintings and was credited with being the first artist to produce a body of work of this kind. During the same period he began a long-standing relationship with the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, a space known for it's devotion to art and new technology.
In 1969 and 1970 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration named Nesbitt the official artist of the Apollo 9 and Apollo 13 missions. In 1980 the United States Postal Service released a series of four postage stamps based on his floral paintings.
Following a major one-man show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC in 1964, Nesbitt's work was exhibitied widely in Europe and the United States. In New York City he was represented by the Stable Gallery, the Robert Stefanotti Gallery and the Andrew Crispo Gallery. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Nesbitt taught at Towson State and Morgan State Colleges in Maryland, and the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Nesbitt was active in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society from the early 1980s until his death, serving as co-chairman on the Society's annual juried Project Rembrandt exhibition for artists with multiple sclerosis. He was also actively involved in fundraising for artists with HIV/AIDS.
Nesbitt's work is represented in many major museum collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Baltimore Museum of Art, Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris), Corcoran Gallery, Detroit Institute of Art, Hirshhorn Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery.
Lowell Nesbitt died in 1993 at the age of 59.
Provenance:
A portion of the papers were donated by Lowell Nesbitt in 1983 and the bulk of the papers were a bequest from Nesbitt's estate in 1994.
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.
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
7.1 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 7 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
1909-1980
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, correspondence, writings, project files, works of art, photographs, and printed material documenting Goodelman's work as a sculptor, his participation in the Jewish community, and his interest in socialism.
Personal and professional correspondence is with artists, art associations, museums, galleries and relief organizations, documenting Goodelman's education in Rome, New York and at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris; his teaching career in New York, particularly with the Jefferson School of Social Sciences; and his participation in art, political and Jewish organizations, such as American Artists' Congress and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
Writings by Goodelman, undated and 1934, include notes, notebooks, and typescripts. There is also a typescript of Elizabeth McCausland's speech "Art and the Atom," 1947. Project files contain information regarding Goodelman's sculpting of memorial gravestones, Passover art, and the Week of Jewish Culture. Works of art by Goodelman, ca. 1920-1930's, include illustrations for the children's journals "Young Israel," "Kinder Journal" and Joseph Gaer's books "the Burning Bush" and "the Unconquered," sketches, portraiture, and figure drawings.
Photographs are of Goodelman, working and teaching sculpture; his childhood in Russia; his family, friends, and students; memorial gravestones, and works of art.
Printed material includes exhibition anouncements and catalogs, entry cards, invitations, clippings, political and art organizations information, adult and art education flyers, clippings and a photocopy of Goodelman's privately microfilmed scrapbook containing letters and printed material.
Also included are files on Goodelman's wife, Sarah, on Jewish children's schools, 1949-1950.
UNMICROFILMED: Two scrapbooks compiled by Sarah Goodelman, containing newspaper clippings, exhibition catalogs and photographs regarding the career of Aaron Goodelman, as well as business cards, addresses, scattered receipts, negatives, and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, illustrator, lecturer, teacher; New York, N.Y. Another apparent name spelling is Aharon Gudlman.
Provenance:
Donated 1977 by Goodelman, and in 1984 by his heir, Connie Weinstock and microfilmed in 1994 with funds provided by the Philip Birnbaum Foundation. Additional scrapbooks were donated in 2008 by Weinstock and do not appear on microfilm.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Resumes; business correspondence; a letter of recommendation from Hans Hofmann, 1952; Christmas cards from Jamie Wyeth and Joseph Kaplan; photographs of him and of his works; an invoice; catalogs, announcements, clippings, and printed miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor. Studied at National Academy of Design, Pratt Institute and Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts.
Provenance:
Gift of Herbert Kallem, New York City, January 11, 1979.
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.
Photographs, business correspondence, printed matter, writings, and miscellaneous files documenting Wilmarth's career as a sculptor and printmaker, 1956-1987, and his teaching activities at Cooper Union, 1970-1980.
Photographs, color transparencies, and color slides of pieces of Wilmarth's studio at the time of his death (with estate inventory), of works owned by collectors and museums, and of some destroyed pieces. Business correspondence concerns gallery representation, exhibitions, sales, proposals and commissions, and grants and awards; also documented is Wilmarth's "Studio for the First Amendment," and a dispute with Andre Emmerich Gallery in 1978. Miscellaneous files include information on artists' rights with sample contracts; notes on shipping, crating, framing, and related services, with invoices; detailed installation instructions, both general and for specific pieces; insurance and damage claims.
Printed matter consists mainly of reviews and criticism, exhibition catalogs, and invitations. Records concerning Wilmarth's teaching career include photographs of works by individual students, installation views of student exhibitions, class rosters and grade sheets, course descriptions, class assignments/problems, correspondence with college administrators, and ephemera (possibly souvenirs collected by students on a class trip).
Arrangement:
I. Works in the Wilmarth estate. II. Works owned by others. III. Awards and grants. IV. Commissions and proposals. V. Packing, shipping, and installation notes. VI. "Emmerich War." VII. Studio for the First Amendment. VIII. Studios. IX. Exhibitions. X. Writings. XI. Reviews. XII. Correspondence. XIII. Teaching. XIV. Miscellaneous. Exhibitions filed alphabetically by the name of the museum or gallery, and correspondence arranged alphabetically within the subcategories of publications, individuals, museums and galleries; all other material is arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, printmaker, and educator; New York, N.Y. d. 1987 B.F.A., Cooper Union, 1965.
Provenance:
Donated 1989. Material is from the artist's studio, and was donated by his widow, Susan Wilmarth.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Pereira, I. Rice (Irene Rice), 1902-1971 Search this
Extent:
220 Items
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1927-1972
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, including letters from Irving Block, Phillip Evergood, Louise Nevelson, Elias Newman and Irene Rice Pereira; a photograph of Cohen and photographs of art work and Artists Equity Association of New York banquets, 1967 and 1968; exhibition catalogs and announcements; lecture notes; Artists Equity newsletters; and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, president of Artists Equity Association, 1963-1970; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Donated 1979 by Hy Cohen.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Paul Manship conducted by John Morse for the Archives of American Art. Manship speaks of his training under Solon Borglum, his interest in Greek mythology and the influence of early Greek sculpture on his work, his views on the Federal Art Project, art and nature and modern distortion, the nature of design and the learning process, and abstract art. He discusses his "Prometheus" sculpture at Rockefeller Center.
Biographical / Historical:
Paul Manship (1885-1966) was a sculptor in New York, New York.
General:
Sound has been lost on tape reels; reels discarded.
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.
17.3 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 2 reels))
9 Items (rolled docs)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1900-1990
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, photographs, writings, printed material, and motion picture film.
REEL 145: Ca. 40 letters to Friedlander, mostly about his work, and his interests as president of the National Sculpture Society, including letters from Francis Keally, Pietro Montana, Heinz Warneke, Anthony de Francisci, Arthur Upham Pope, and Upton Clary Ewing. Also included are photographs of Friedlander's sculptures; biographical notes; writings; a speech; and miscellaneous printed material.
REEL 3890: Biographical material; writings by Friedlander; reproductions of drawings by Friedlander; miscellaneous printed material; photographs of Friedlander, and of his works of art.
UNMICROFILMED: A resume; correspondence; scrapbooks, 3 short home movie film reels, drafts and final copies of his articles and speeches; published articles by Friedlander; reproductions of his work; photographs and negatives of art work, glass plate negatives, copper plates, and drawings, greeting cards, blueprints, and miscellaneous personal papers (ca. 1930-1950).
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material on reel 145 donated 1971 by Friedlander's widow. Material on reel 3890 donated 1984 by Syracuse University. The bulk of the papers were donated in 1996 material by Gordon Friedlander, Friedlander's son, and a small portion were transferred from the National Collection of Fine Arts, 1979.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Sculpture, American -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Decoration and ornament, Architectural Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Letters and 2 illustrated notes sent to Kent L. Seavey; catalogs and announcements for exhibitions of Rabinovitch's work and for exhibitions at the Rabinovitch and Guerra Gallery, New York City; clippings and a play written by Rabinovitch and Art Guerra protesting the collecting policies of the Museum of Modern Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, sculptor; New York City.
Provenance:
The donor, Kent L. Seavey, is a friend of Rabinovitch.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Biographical and exhibition data; a list of works; correspondence; a journal; notes and writings; notes by Magherita Flannagan; typescripts of a catalogue preface by Carl Zigrosser and a preface to Flannagan's letters by W. R. Valentiner; an application for a Guggenheim fellowship; a contract; sketches; exhibition catalogues and invitations; and printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor and engraver (New York, N.Y.)
Provenance:
The donor, Margherita Flannagan Montgomery, is John Bernard Flannagan's widow. The papers were received via Anner M. Whitehead, who used the papers in his research on Flannagan.
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.
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
