Over 600 subject files containing Mann's research on the history of photography; and an extensive interview conducted by Mann with Imogen Cunningham.
REELS 1860-1872: 630 files cover photographers, photo exhibitions, societies, publications, and collections and contain biographical information, correspondence, published and unpublished transcripts by Mann, exhibition catalogs and announcements, price lists, photographs, organization records, clippings and printed material along with Mann's interviews of Wynn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham (partial), and Edward Ruscha. Photographs are by Linda Connor, Imogen Cunningham (includes one of dancer Martha Graham), Judy Dater (of Cunningham), Robert Heinecken, Anne Noggle, Leland Rice, Charles Swedlund, Arthur Tress, Jerry Uelsmann, Todd Walker, Jack Welpott, and Brett Weston.
REEL 5051 (fr. 390-600): Interview (232 p. transcript from 3 sound reels, 3 in.) of Imogen Cunningham conducted by Mann, 1960-1973, in preparation for her book, Imogen Cunningham: Photographs. Cunningham speaks of the sale and exhibition of her prints; being a "darkroom slave"; portrait photography; photographs as documents; the "soft-focus era"; teaching; and the f/64 Group. Cunningham comments on 104 of her photographs, including her portraits of Edward Weston and Margrethe Mather, Martha Graham, Cary Grant, Alfred Stieglitz, Upton Sinclair, Adedee Ozenfant, Frieda Kahlo Rivera, Getrude Stein, Shen Yao, Lyonel Feininger, Morris Graves, Anna Freud, and Minor White. She recalls Diane Arbus, Arthur Fellig, Paul Strand, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Photographer, photography historian and critic; Davis, Calif.
Related Materials:
Files of Margery Mann, 1919-1977, are also located at the National Gallery of Australia.
Provenance:
The Cunningham interview was donated by Mann in 1975; the remainder by Mann's husband, Thomas K. Vasey, 1978.
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.
An interview with Lucy Lippard conducted 2011 Mar. 15, by Sue Heinemann, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts project, at Lippard's home, in Galisteo, N.M.
Lippard discusses her childhood summers in Maine; growing up in New Orleans, La., and Charlottesville, Va.; attending the Abbot Academy and Smith College; her junior year in Paris; working in the Museum of Modern Art Library; living on Avenue D; meeting Bob Ryman and Sol Lewitt; birth of her son Ethan; Dore Ashton as a role model; involvement with various groups and political causes including the Angry Arts movement, the Art Workers' Coalition, Women Artists' Committee, Guerilla Art Action Group, Womanhouse, Political Art Documentation and Distribution (PAD/D), the Ad Hoc Women Artists Committee, and others; the development of Heresies Collective; her publications including, "From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art," (1976), "On the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art and Place," (1999), "Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America," (1990, 2000), "The Lure of the Local: Sense of Place in a Multicentered Society," (1997), and "Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory," (1983) ; curating exhibitions; travels to Argentina and Mexico; moving to Galisteo, N.M.; interest in the Galisteo Basin; teaching; and other topics. She recalls Ad Reinhardt, Donald Judd, Harmony Hammond, Judy Chicago, Gregory Sholette, Carolee Schneemann, Max Koszloff, Joyce Koszloff, May Stevens, Betsy Hess, Mary Miss, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Lucy R. Lippard (1937- ) is a writer and art critic in New York, N.Y. and Galisteo, N.M.
General:
Originally recorded on Edirol R-09HR on 4 secure digital memory cards. Duration is 4 hr., 29 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:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of New York and New Mexico writer, art critic, and curator, Lucy R. Lippard, measure 56.5 linear feet and 0.454 GB and date from the 1930s to 2007, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. Over half of the collection consists of correspondence files documenting Lippard's professional relationships with artists, writers, galleries, art institutions, and political organizations, and her interest in conceptual and minimalist art, feminism and political activism. Also found are Lippard's notes and writings including sound recordings and interviews, teaching and exhibition files, printed and digital material, several works of art, and photographs of artwork and artists. Scattered throughout the collection are a small number of records concerning Lippard's personal life. An addition of 3.0 linear feet donated 2015 includes subject files on feminist and conceptual art as well as land use, development, and local politics and history in New Mexico.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York and New Mexico writer, art critic, and curator, Lucy R. Lippard, measure 56.5 linear feet and 0.454 GB and date from the 1930s to 2007, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. Over half of the collection consists of correspondence files documenting Lippard's professional relationships with artists, writers, galleries, art institutions, and political organizations, and her interest in conceptual and minimalist art, feminism and political activism. Also found are Lippard's notes and writings including sound recordings and interviews, teaching and exhibition files, printed and digital material, several works of art, and photographs of artwork and artists. Scattered throughout the collection are a small number of records concerning Lippard's personal life. An addition of 3.0 linear feet donated 2015 includes subject files on feminist and conceptual art as well as land use, development, and local politics and history in New Mexico.
A small amount of biographical material comprises resumes and an address book.
Correspondence files document all aspects of Lippard's professional life including her relationships with artists such as Carl Andre, Judy Chicago, Hanne Darboven, Ray Johnson, Sol LeWitt, and Henry Pearson; feminist artists including Mary Beth Edelson, Harmony Hammond, Donna Henes, and May Stevens; political and art-related activist groups such as Alliance for Cultural Democracy, Art Workers Coalition, Political Art Documentation/Distribution, Printed Matter, and Women's Caucus for Art; galleries and museums including Addison Gallery of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, and publishers including Art International and Art Forum. The series also traces the development of Lippard's involvement in activist causes including censorship and the rights of artists, Central America and the impact of U.S. policy on the region, and equality and reproductive rights for women, as well as her interest in conceptual and minimalist art. The series includes scattered artwork and photographs of artists.
Writings are primarily by Lippard and include correspondence, manuscript drafts, extensive notes, and publication records for some of her best-known books such as The Graphic Work of Philip Evergood (1966), Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object (1973), Eva Hesse (1976), Ad Reinhardt (1985), and Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990), as well as essays for publications such as Art Forum and Studio International and contributions to exhibition catalogs. Also found are edited transcripts from conferences, symposia and interviews conducted by and of Lippard, some audio recordings of interviews and symposia, including an interview with Donald Judd, and notes and typescripts for lectures and speeches.
A small number of files document Lippard's teaching work during the 1970s and 1980s, primarily at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she taught several courses and seminars.
Exhibition files document Lippard's involvement with exhibitions she helped to organize or curate such as A Different War: Vietnam in Art (1989-1991) 557,087 and 955,000 (1969, 1970), 2,972, 453 (1971) c.7,500 (1973-1974) and those for which she wrote catalog contributions.
Printed material includes a collection of articles written by Lippard and a small amount of material concerning events, such as speaking engagements, in which Lippard was involved. Other printed material reflects Lippard's wide range of artistic, political and activist interests and documents exhibitions and performances and the activities of art-related and political groups. Material includes many exhibition catalogs, announcements, invitations, printed posters, news clippings, journal articles, brochures, pamphlets and other publications.
Artwork includes sixteen items by unidentified artists, including two by children. Photographs consist primarily of photographs of works of art in addition to a small number of photos of exhibition installations.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as eight series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1960s-circa 1980s (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1950s-2006 (Boxes 1-28, 51, OVs 54-63; 28.8 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1930s-1990s (Boxes 28-41, 51-52, OVs 64-66; 13.24 linear feet, ER01; 0.454 GB)
Series 4: Teaching Files, 1966-1993 (Boxes 41, 52; 0.76 linear feet)
Series 5: Exhibitions, 1960s-1990s (Boxes 42-45, 52, OVs 67-68; 4.2 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1940s-2007 (Boxes 45-49, 52, OVs 69-77; 5.3 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork and Ephemera, circa 1960s-circa 1990s (Boxes 50, 53; 4 folders)
Series 8: Photographs, 1950s-circa 1990s (Boxes 50, 53, OV 71; 1.0 linear foot)
Biographical / Historical:
New York and New Mexico writer and art critic, Lucy R. Lippard, is the curator of numerous exhibitions and the author of over twenty-four books and other writings that trace the emergence of minimalist and conceptual art and document Lippard's commitment to feminism and political activism.
Born in New York City in 1937, Lippard earned a B.A. from Smith College in 1958 and an M.A. in 1962 from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. In the 1960s she began writing art criticism for the journals Art International and Artforum. In 1966 she curated the landmark exhibition Eccentric Abstraction at the Fischbach Gallery in New York City. Lippard then curated the first of four defining conceptual art exhibitions that became known as her "numbers" shows, each titled after the populations of the cities in which they took place, with catalogs in the form of a set of 10 x 15 cm index cards. Opening at the Seattle Art Museum in 1969, 557,087 was followed by 955,000 in Vancouver, Canada, a few months later. 2,972,453 was held at the Centro de Arte y Comunicacíon in Buenos Aires in 1971 and c.7500 opened in Valencia, California, in 1973-1974 before traveling to several other venues in the United States and Europe.
Lippard's first book, The Graphic Work of Philip Evergood was published in 1966, followed by Pop Art the same year, and a collection of her early essays, Changing, in 1971. Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object (1973) and From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art (1976) documented the emergence of conceptual art and the early years of feminist art respectively. In 1976 Lippard published her seminal book on the life and work of Eva Hesse.
Between 1977 and 1978 Lippard lived on a farm in Devon, England, and worked on a novel, The First Stone, about the role of politics in the lives of three generations of women. During her walks across the English countryside she became interested in landscape art and conceived of her book Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory which was subsequently published in 1983. Other books include Get the Message?: A Decade Of Art For Social Change (1984), Ad Reinhardt (1985), and Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990). Lippard has also written regular columns on art and politics for the Village Voice, In These Times and Z Magazine, and has been a contributing editor of Art in America.
Lippard was radicalized during a trip to Argentina in 1968 when she was invited to be a juror at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. On her return to the United States she became heavily involved in anti-war activities and the Art Workers Coalition. She is a co-founder of several feminist and artist organizations including the feminist collective Heresies, which produced Heresies: A Feminist Journal on Art and Politics from 1977-1992, Ad Hoc Women Artists, Alliance for Cultural Democracy, Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, Women's Action Coalition, and Women's Art Registry. In 1976 she was a founder of Printed Matter, a New York nonprofit dedicated to producing artists' publications. She also worked closely with Franklin Furnace, an artist-run space devoted to the promotion of artists' books, installation art, and video and performance art, and served on the organization's International Committee.
Lippard has been a visiting professor at the School of Visual Arts, the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the University of Queensland, Australia, and was Eminent Artist in Residence at the University of Wyoming Department of Art in 2015. She has received honorary doctorates in fine arts from Maine College of Art, the Massachusetts College of Art, Moore College of Art, San Francisco Art Institute, and others, and awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants in criticism, the Smith College Medal, the ArtTable Award for Distinguished Service to the Visual Arts, and the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies Award for Excellence.
Lippard has lived in New Mexico since 1992 and works as a freelance writer and speaker.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Lucy Lippard conducted in 2011 March 15, by Sue Heinemann, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts project, funded by a grant from the A G Foundation.
Provenance:
Lucy R. Lippard donated her papers in several increments between 1972-1995, and 2006.
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:
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of art historian, dealer, critic, and curator Katharine Kuh measure 12 linear feet and date from 1875-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930-1994. The collection documents Kuh's career as a pioneer modernist art historian and as the first woman curator of European Art and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence with family, friends and colleagues; personal business records; artwork by various artists; a travel journal; writings by Kuh and others; scrapbooks; printed material; photographs of Kuh and others; and audio recordings of Kuh's lectures and of Daniel Catton Rich reading poetry.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of art historian, dealer, critic, and curator Katharine Kuh measure 12 linear feet and date from 1875-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930-1994. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence with family, friends and colleagues; personal business records; artwork by various artists; a travel journal; writings by Kuh and others; scrapbooks; printed material; photographs of Kuh and others; and audio recordings of Kuh's lectures and of Daniel Catton Rich reading poetry.
Biographical material consists of copies of Kuh's birth certificate, resumés, passports, award certificates, honorary diplomas, and address books listing information about several prominent artists and colleagues.
Four linear feet of correspondence offers excellent documentation of Kuh's interest in art history, her travels, her career at the Art Institute of Chicago, her work as a corporate art advisor, and as an author. There are letters from her mother Olga Woolf, friends, and colleagues. There is extensive correspondence with various staff members of the Art Institute of Chicago, the First National Bank of Chicago, and The Saturday Review. Also of interest are letters from artists and collectors, several of whom became life-long friends including Walter and Louise Arensberg, Cosmo Campoli, Serge Chermayeff, Richard Cox, Worden Day, Claire Falkenstein, Fred Friendly, Leon Golub, Joseph Goto, David Hare, Denise Brown Hare, Jean Hélion, Ray Johnson, Gyorgy and Juliet Kepes, Len Lye, Wallace Putnam, Kurt Seligmann, Shelby Shackelford, Hedda Sterne, and Clyfford Still. Many letters are illustrated with original artwork in various media.
There are also scattered letters from various artists and other prominent individuals including Josef Albers, George Biddle, Marcel Breuer, Joseph Cornell, Stuart Davis, Edwin Dickinson, Joseph Hirshhorn, Daniel Catton Rich, and Dorothea Tanning.
Personal business records include a list of artwork, Olga Woolf's will, inventories of Kuh's personal art collection, miscellaneous contracts and deeds of gift, receipts for the sale of artwork, files concerning business-related travel, and miscellaneous receipts.
Artwork in the collection represents a wide range of artist friends and media, such as drawings, watercolors, paintings, collages, and prints. Included are works by various artists including lithographs by David Hare and a watercolor set, Technics and Creativity, designed and autographed by Jasper Johns for the Museum of Modern Art, 1970.
Notes and writings include annotated engagement calendars, travel journals for Germany, a guest book for the Kuh Memorial gathering, and many writings and notes by Kuh for lectures and articles concerning art history topics. Of interest are minutes/notes from meetings for art festivals, conferences, and the "Conversations with Artists Program (1961). Also found are writings by others about Kuh and other art history topics.
Six scrapbooks contain clippings that document the height of Kuh's career as a gallery director and museum curator. Scrapbook 6 contains clippings about Fernand Léger, the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953.
Additional printed material includes clippings about Kuh and her interests, a comprehensive collection of clippings of Kuh's articles for The Saturday Review, exhibition announcements and catalogs, calendars of events, programs, brochures, books including Poems by Kuh as a child, and reproductions of artwork. Of particular interest are the early and exhibition catalogs from the Katharine Kuh Gallery, and rare catalogs for artists including Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Stanley William Hayter, Hans Hofmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Kline, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Pablo Picasso.
Photographs provide important documentation of the life and career of Katharine Kuh and are of Kuh, family members, friends, colleagues, events, residences, and artwork. Several of the photographs of Kuh were taken by Will Barnet and Marcel Breuer and there is a notable pair of photo booth portraits of Kuh and a young Ansel Adams. There are also group photographs showing Angelica Archipenko with Kuh; designer Klaus Grabe; painters José Chavez Morado and Pablo O'Higgins in San Miguel, Mexico; Kuh at the Venice Biennale with friends and colleagues including Peggy Guggenheim, Frances Perkins, Daniel Catton Rich, and Harry Winston; and "The Pre-Depressionists" including Lorser Feitelson, Robert Inverarity, Helen Lundeberg, Arthur Millier, Myron Chester Nutting, and Muriel Tyler Nutting.
Photographs of exhibition installations and openings include views of the Katharine Kuh Gallery; Fernand Léger, Man Ray, and László Moholy-Nagy at the Art Institute of Chicago; and Philip Guston, Jimmy Ernst, Seymour H. Knox, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. There are also photographs depicting three men posing as Léger's "Three Musicians" and the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to the Art Institute of Chicago. There is a photograph by Peter Pollack of an elk skull used as a model by Georgia O'Keeffe.
Additional photographs of friends and colleagues include Ivan Albright, Alfred Barr, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Willem De Kooning, Edwin Dickinson, Marcel Duchamp, Claire Falkenstein, Alberto Giacometti, poet Robert Graves with Len Lye, Philip Johnson, Gyorgy and Juliet Kepes, Carlos Mérida, José Orozco, Hasan Ozbekhan, Pablo Picasso, Carl Sandberg, Ben Shahn, Otto Spaeth, Hedda Sterne, Adlai Stevenson, Clyfford Still, Mark Tobey, and composer Victor Young.
Photographs of artwork include totem poles in Alaska; work by various artists including Claire Falkenstein, Paul Klee, and Hedda Sterne; and work donated to the Guggenheim Museum.
Four audio recordings on cassette are of Katharine Kuh's lectures, including one about assembling corporate collections, and of Daniel Catton Rich reading his own poetry. There is also a recording of the Second Annual Dialogue between Broadcasters and Museum Educators.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series. Undated correspondence, artwork, and photographs of individual artists are arranged alphabetically. Otherwise, each series is arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1945-1992 (Box 1; 16 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1908-1994 (Boxes 1-5, 13-14, OV 15; 4.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1941-1989 (Box 5; 19 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, 1931-1986 (Boxes 5, 13-14, OVs 15-23; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1914-1994 (Boxes 5-7; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1935-1953 (Box 7; 8 folders)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1916-1992 (Boxes 7-10, 13, OV 22; 3.0 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1875-1993 (Boxes 10-13; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 9: Audio Recordings, 1977 (Box 12; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) worked primarily in the Chicago area as an modern art historian, dealer, critic, curator, writer, and consultant. She operated the Katharine Kuh Gallery from 1935-1943 and was the first woman curator of European and Art and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Katharine Kuh (née Woolf) was born on July 15, 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of the three daughters of Olga Weiner and Morris Woolf, a silk importer. In 1909, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois. While traveling with her family in Europe in 1914, Katharine contracted polio, causing her to spend the next decade in a body brace. During this time of restricted movement, she developed an interest in art history through the collecting of old master prints.
After her recovery, Katharine Woolf attended Vassar College where one of her professors, Alfred Barr, encouraged her to study modern art. She graduated from Vassar in 1925 and received a master's degree in art history from the University of Chicago in 1929. Later that year, she moved to New York to pursue a Ph.D. in Renaissance and medieval art at New York University.
In 1930, Katharine Woolf returned to Chicago and married businessman George Kuh and began to teach art history courses in the suburbs of Chicago. After divorcing George Kuh in 1935, she opened the Katharine Kuh Gallery, the first gallery devoted to avant-garde art in Chicago. It was also the first gallery to exhibit photography and typographical design as art forms, and featured the work of Ansel Adams, Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, and Man Ray, among others. From 1938 to1940, Kuh was the Visiting Professor of Art at the University School of Fine Arts, San Miguel, Mexico.
After the Katharine Kuh Gallery closed in 1943, Kuh was hired by museum director Daniel Catton Rich to fill a position in public relations at the Art Institute of Chicago. During the following years, Kuh edited the museum's Quarterly publication, took charge of the museum's Gallery of Interpretive Art, and began a long term relationship with Rich. In 1946, Kuh was sent on a special mission for the U. S. Office of Indian Affairs to make a detailed study of Native American totemic carvings in Alaska.
In 1949, Kuh persuaded Mr. and Mrs. Walter Arensberg of Los Angeles to exhibit their collection of modern art, creating the first post-war exhibition of modern art in Chicago. She published her first book Art Has Many Faces in 1951, and in the following year, she began writing art criticism for The Saturday Review. In 1954, Kuh was appointed the first woman curator of European Art and Sculpture at the Art Institute. She assembled the American contribution for the Venice Biennale in 1956 and during these years, Kuh helped acquire many of the works of modern art currently in the museum's collection.
A year following Daniel Catton Rich's 1958 resignation from the Art Institute of Chicago, Kuh also resigned and pursued a career in New York as an art collection advisor, most notably for the First National Bank of Chicago. In 1959, Kuh was made art critic for The Saturday Review, and she continued to publish books, including The Artist's Voice in 1962, Break-Up: The Core of Modern Art in 1965, and The Open Eye: In Pursuit of Art in 1971.
Katharine Kuh died on January 10, 1994 in New York City.
Provenance:
The Katharine Kuh papers were donated in several installments from 1971 to 1989 by Katharine Kuh and in 1994 by her estate. Artwork was donated in 1995 by Kuh's former employer, the Art Institute of Chicago.
Restrictions:
Authorization to quote, publish or reproduce requires written permission until 2019. Contact the Archives of American Art Reference Services department for additional 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.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Extent:
14 Pages
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
1988 Aug. 17
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Nancy Crow conducted by Jean Robertson, Aug.17, 1988, as a part of Robertson's research for the book, "Nancy Crow: Quilts and Influences" by Nancy Crow and Jean Robertson, Collector Books, Dec. 1989. Crow speaks about her childhood and early artistic aspirations; her dissatisfaction with her first quilts in the early 1970s; traditional quiltmaking; her work in tapestry weaving; meeting Francoise Barnes and Virginia Randles and learning to quilt; the difference between the weaving and quilting process; working in series; her interest in Mexican folk art and African American quilts; living on an isolated farm and drawing inspiration from nature; her use of titles, colors, patterns, scale, and fabrics; the importance of her training in ceramics; and she compares her work to quilts by Michael James.
Biographical / Historical:
Nancy Crow (1943-) is a quiltmaker from Baltimore, Ohio. Interviewer Jean Robertson is an art critic and curator from Indianapolis, Ind.
Provenance:
Donated 2003 by Jean Robertson as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Researchers note: A separate 2002 interview of Crow, also conducted by Robertson and a part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is also available.
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 art critic, curator, and educator April Kingsley and painter, sculptor, writer, and educator Budd Hopkins measure 11 feet and 0.209 Gigabytes, and date from circa 1945-2017. Kingsley's papers are comprised primarily of artist files for figures that April had a significant engagement with, project files, interviews with artists, subject file index cards, biographical materials, and miscellaneous correspondence. Hopkins' papers are comprised of biographical material, as well as correspondence with various prominent art world figures including Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Motherwell, Carl Andre, Howardena Pindell, and Robert Rosenblum. Hopkins' personal business records include correspondence and sale and consignment information. Also found are writings, printed material, including exhibition invitations and catalogs and press clippings, and photographic material depicting Hopkins and his artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art critic, curator, and educator April Kingsley and painter, sculptor, writer, and educator Budd Hopkins measure 11 feet and 0.209 Gigabytes, and date from circa 1945-2017. Kingsley's papers are comprised primarily of artist files for figures that April had a significant engagement with, with contents ranging from correspondence to printed material, including invitations and catalogs and press clippings, as well as notes and manuscript material including reviews. Project files include various topics of interest and research for tentative and actualized exhibitions, as well as writing projects and committee work related to Kingsley's tenure at the American Craft Museum and the Kresge Museum at Michigan State University. Also found are recorded interviews with artists and other figures conducted by April Kingsley between the years of 1988 and 1990, most of which are affiliated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. The subject file index cards are comprised of various sets of notes and citations regarding themes, movements, and artists central to Kingsley's ongoing research throughout her career. Also included are various biographical materials and miscellaneous correspondence that comprise the personal papers subseries.
Hopkins' papers are comprised of biographical material including biographies and a chronology, correspondence with various prominent art world figures including Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Motherwell, Carl Andre, Howardena Pindell, and Robert Rosenblum. Personal business records include correspondence and sale and consignment information related to particular galleries, as well as records regarding the Long Point Gallery co-founded by Hopkins and twelve other artists on Cape Cod in 1977. His writings include manuscript material regarding one of Hopkins' titles on UFO abductions, as well as various typescripts for reviews and essays written by Hopkins, as well as one audio recording for a lecture regarding his essay "Modernism and the Collage Aesthetic." Printed material including exhibition invitations and catalogs and press clippings are also found. Photographic materials include images of Hopkins, exhibition installations, and artwork in various formats, such as photographic prints, negatives, slides, and transparencies.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in two series:
Series 1: April Kingsley papers, circa 1960s-2017 (7.7 Linear Feet; Boxes 1-8, 0.209 Gigabytes; ER01)
Series 2: Budd Hopkins papers, circa 1945-2010 (3.3 Linear Feet; Boxes 7, 9-11)
Biographical / Historical:
April Kingsley (1941- ) is an art historian, critic, and curator living in Harwich, Massachusetts. Budd Hopkins (1931-2011) was an Abstract Expressionist artist and writer of both art criticism and UFO and abduction phenomena accounts, who lived primarily in New York City and Cape Cod.
Following a short-lived career as a nurse while married to her first husband, Kingsley completed a Masters of Fine Arts from New York University, and later a PhD in Art History from the City University Graduate Center. Kingsley studied in depth the Abstract Expressionist art movement, and also focused heavily on women artists and contemporary craft art. Kingsley held curatorial positions at a range of institutions including at The Museum of Modern Art, The American Craft Museum, and at the Pasadena Art Museum. She has written major monographs on numerous artists including Jean Miotte and Alice Dalton Bown, and contributed to the catalogs of more than 75 artists. Among her most notable publications are The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art (1992) and Emotional Impact: American Figurative Expressionism (2013). Kingsley and Hopkins were married from 1973-1991, and had one daughter, Grace Hopkins-Lisle. Kingsley currently resides in Harwich, Massachusetts with her husband Donald Spyke, who she married in 2005.
Born Elliott Budd Hopkins in 1931 in Wheeling West Virginia, Hopkins survived an early battle with polio as a toddler, following which a period of convalescence made an early engagement with drawing possible. He graduated from Oberlin College with an art history degree where he heard a lecture from a future mentor Robert Motherwell. After college Hopkins moved to New York City and became a fixture of the Abstract Expressionist circle, and by 1956 had his first solo show of paintings. In 1976 he earned a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1979. His paintings, which range from gestural Abstract Expressionism to color plane geometric compositions are held in major museum collections ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the British Museum. In the 1980s Hopkins turned to making large scale sculptures evocative of ancient ritualist architecture, an addition to his well-known painting practice. Hopkins also published a number of reviews of the work of other artists which were very well received at the time. As much as his art career perhaps, Budd Hopkins is known for spreading the word about alien abduction in his popular books on the subject, following a UFO sighting he recounts in Cape Cod in 1964. While Hopkins does not claim to have been abducted he regularly held support groups for others to share their stories. He passed in 2011 in his home in New York City.
Provenance:
The bulk of April Kingsley and Budd Hopkins papers was donated in 2018 by Grace Hopkins, their daughter. Portions of the Budd Hopkins papers were donated by Budd Hopkins between 1980 and 1983.
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 References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of Jan Butterfield measure 15 linear feet and date from circa 1950 to 1997. Papers contain hundreds of recorded interviews with and lectures by artists, panel discussions of artists and art historians, as well as extensive writings by Butterfield. Also found are project files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and additional sound and video recordings related to art subjects.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Jan Butterfield measure 15 linear feet and date from circa 1950 to 1997. Papers contain hundreds of recorded interviews with and lectures by artists, panel discussions of artists and art historians, as well as extensive writings by Butterfield. Also found are project files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and additional sound and video recordings related to art subjects.
Interviews and Lectures include hundreds of interviews conducted by Butterfield between 1971 and 1987 with contemporary artists about whom she was writing at the time. The artists Robert Irwin and Sam Francis are represented particularly well. Also found are slide talks, class discussions, and lectures given by artists, which are assumed to have been recorded by Butterfield in most cases. Also among the recordings are recorded performances by John Cage, Joe Goode, Newton and Helen Harrison, Jim Roche, and George Greene. Panel discussions include two notable recordings involving Milton Resnick, one with the painter Edward Dugmore in 1959, and the other with the painter Ad Reinhardt at The Club in 1961, which was later dubbed "The Attack."
The bulk of the writings relate to Butterfield's published work The Art of Light and Space, represented here in multiple drafts, research, and photographs of works of art by the artists discussed in the work including Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Maria Nordman, Douglas Wheeler, Bruce Nauman, Eric Orr, Larry Bell, DeWain Valentine, Susan Kaiser Vogel, and Hap Tivey. Also found are extensive drafts and research for catalog essays for exhibitions of Larry Bell, Richard Shaw, Robert Hudson, and Elmer Bischoff. Drafts of articles and publicity writing are mainly about artists but also some galleries and other art events. There are a few transcripts of recorded interviews, and it appears that many of the writings are based on Butterfield's interviews.
Project files include records relating to Butterfield's involvement with the production of a catalog for the corporate art collection of Pacific Enterprises. These also include additional artist interviews and artist files containing research and writing, mainly by her associate Michael Karp. Also found are photographs and sound recordings for the Waterfront Project at the San Francisco Art Institute, an interdisciplinary community-centered development project that involved Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Melinda Wortz, Eric Orr, Dr. E. Wortz, Frank Gehry, Newton and Helen Harrison, Josh Young, and students at the Art Institute. And finally, project files include photographs, interviews, and printed material related to publications of Lapis Press, where Butterfield was Executive Director.
Personal business records include correspondence, price lists, financial records, notes, press releases, and career documentation of Butterfield. Printed materials include articles by Butterfield, articles about Butterfield, and articles by Henry Hopkins, most of which are photocopies. There are also clippings, exhibition catalogs, exhibition posters, and publicity. Of note is a disassembled scrapbook pertaining to the controversial Ed Kienholz exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1966, and a directory of art spaces in Los Angeles from 1978.
Most of the photographs are of works of art by artists about whom Butterfield wrote. Also found are a few files of photographs of artists, some taken by Butterfield, including Philip Guston, Ed Kienholz, Henry Hopkins with Clyfford Still, Robert Irwin, Robert Rauschenberg, and James Turrell. Additional video and sound recordings include artist installations, a documentary on Sam Francis, and an acoustiguide for an Ed Ruscha exhibition.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Interviews and Lectures (Boxes 1-5; 4.2 linear feet)
Series 2: Writings (Boxes 5-7, 16, OV 17; 3.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Project Files (Boxes 8-10, 16; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 4: Personal Business Records (Boxes 10-11, OV 17-19; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Materials (Boxes 11-12, 16, OV 17-19; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs (Boxes 12-14, 16; 2.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Sound and Video Recordings (Box 15; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Jan Butterfield (1937-2000) was an art writer and critic of contemporary art who spent most of her career in California. She is best known for her writings on late twentieth century installation and craft artists, particularly those who worked in California and the American West.
Butterfield was born Jan Van Alstine in Los Angeles, California in 1937 and attended the Univeristy of California, Los Angeles. She received numerous fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts as an art critic, and contributed art writing to dozens of exhibition catalogs and art publications including Art International, Images and Issues, Art News, Art in America, and Flash Art. Her most ambitious work of writing was The Art of Light and Space (Abbeville Press: 1993), which profiles the work of contemporary artists Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Maria Nordman, Douglas Wheeler, Bruce Nauman, Eric Orr, Larry Bell, DeWain Valentine, Susan Kaiser Vogel, and Hap Tivey. She was also the author of a 1972 monograph of the Abstract Expressionist painter Sam Francis.
Butterfield held positions in public relations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from its opening until 1970, and at the Fort Worth Art Museum from 1970 to 1974. She taught at Northwood Experimental Art Institute in Dallas, Texas, the San Francisco Art Institute, San Jose State University, and Mills College in Oakland, California between 1973 and 1983. At the San Francisco Art Institute, she was Director of the extension program and Coordinator of the visiting artist program and the Waterfront Project between 1976 and 1978. In 1984, Butterfield and the artist Sam Francis co-founded the Lapis Press, where she served as Executive Director from its founding until 1988.
Butterfield was married twice, the second time to Henry Hopkins, Museum Director at LACMA, the Museum of Fine Art of Houston, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She died in 2000 after an extended illness.
Related Materials:
Also found among the collections of the Archives of American Art is a 1981 panel discussion on Bay area art criticism sponsored by the National Women's Caucus for Art, in which Butterfield participated, as well as an oral history interview Butterfield conducted with Helen Lundeberg for the Archives' Oral History Program in 1980.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel 1042 including two volumes of scrapbooks. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Jan Butterfield lent material in 1975 for microfilming. She donated the Robert Irwin material in 1980 of and most of the interviews and audio tapes in 1989. An additional 12 feet of papers, including some material previously loaned and microfilmed, along with two additional audio tapes, were donated by Butterfield's brother, and Trustee of the Jan Butterfield Trust, Derek Van Alstine in 2002.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Art historians -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Authors -- California -- San Francisco Search this
The papers of Dore Ashton measure 35.6 linear feet and date from circa 1928-2014, with one letter in the Joseph Cornell subject file dating from 1849. The records document Dore Ashton's career as an art critic, historian and educator, with particular depth for the period of 1952 through 1990. The collection contains a small amount of biographical material, as well as correspondence, writings, subject files, printed materials, artwork, and reference photographs of artworks. An addition to the Dore Ashton papers includes biographical material, correspondence, writings, writing project and subject files, teaching files, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Dore Ashton measure 35.6 linear feet and date from circa 1928-2014, with one letter in the Joseph Cornell subject file dating from 1849. The records document Dore Ashton's career as an art critic, historian and educator, with particular depth for the period of 1952 through 1990. The collection contains a small amount of biographical material, as well as correspondence, writings, subject files, printed materials, artwork, and reference photographs of artworks. An addition to the Dore Ashton papers includes biographical material, correspondence, writings, writing project and subject files, teaching files, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic material.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence with many artists, writers and others, including Pat Adams, James Adley, Rudolf Arnheim, Jake Berthot, Dennis Congdon, George Herbert, Remo Guidieri, Barbara Howes, Fred Licht, Joan Punyet Miro, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, and Hedda Sterne, among others. Smaller amounts of letters are from Joseph Albers, Edward Albee, Richard Avedon, Richard Diebenkorn, David Driskell, Alberto Giacometti, Philip Guston, Lillian Hellman, Alger Hiss, Bernard Malamud, Joan Miro, Robert Motherwell, Lewis Mumford, Claes Oldenburg, and Vassilis Vassilikos.
Writings consist of transcripts of miscellaneous articles or those written for various publications. Research files include reference or research materials for books, exhibitions, individuals and various topics. Individuals and topics include Jacopo Luis Borges, Allan Kaprow, Richard Lindner, Seong Moy, Jean Tinguely, Mark Tobey, Jack Tworkov, Adja Yunkers; and Dadaism, poetry and symbolism.
The addition to the Dore Ashton papers (Series 8) includes biographical material, correspondence, writings, writing project and subject files, teaching files, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic material. Writings make up a significant part of the addition and contain hundreds of manuscripts, as well as lectures, notes, sixty notebooks, ten diaries, and writings by others. Writing project and subject files comprise over half of the addition and encompass a large collection of alphabetical files pertaining to artists, actors, writers, thinkers, and collaborators; work projects including writings, exhibitions, panels, symposia, and lecture series; as well as various other subjects and topics. The addition also contains teaching files related to Ashton's positions at the Cooper Union, the New School for Social Research, and Yale University. The photographic material in this series is also abundant and contains hundreds of original photographs of Ashton throughout all stages of her life, many with friends and family.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1962-1978
Series 2: Correspondence, 1945-2010, undated
Series 3: Writings, 1952-1976, undated
Series 4: Research files, 1849, 1950-1984, 2009, undated
Series 5: Printed Materials, 1931-1981, undated
Series 6: Artwork, 1949, 1952, 1983, undated
Series 7: Photographs of Artwork, circa 1950-2010
Series 8: Addition to the Dore Ashton Papers, circa 1928-2013
Biographical / Historical:
Dore Ashton (1928-) is an art critic, author, and educator living in New York City. She wrote, contributed , and edited more than 30 books. Ashton was born in Newark New Jersey in 1928 and received an MA from Harvard University in 1950. Her many books and articles focus on late 19th and 20th century art and artists. Ashton was associate editor at Art Digest from 1952-1954, and critic for Arts and Architecture at the New York Times, 1955-1960. Starting in 1962 she held several lecturing posts at various institutions including the School of Visual Arts, Cooper Union, and the New School for Social Research. She was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1964 and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant in 1980. Among Ashton's books are Abstract Art Before Columbus, 1956; Poets and the Past, 1959; A Joseph Cornell Album, 1974; Yes, But…A Critical Study of Philip Guston, 1976, About Rothko, 1983; The New York School: a Cultural Reckoning, 1973; Noguchi East and West, 1992; and David Rankin: The New York Years, 2013. Dore Ashton was the first critic to develop a comprehensive and eye-witness account of the history of the Abstract Expressions.
Ashton married artist Adja Yunkers (1900-1983) in 1953, and they had two daughters Alexandra (known as Sasha) and Marina. In 1985 she married writer Matti Megged (1923-2003).
Related Materials:
Among the holdings of the Archives is an oral history interview with Dore Ashton conducted November 21, 2010 by George W. Sampson, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project.
Dore Ashton papers are also located at Emory University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.
Provenance:
The Dore Ashton papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Dore Ashton May 27, 1982, May 8, 1997, June 2, 2011, and March, 25, 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The Berryman family papers measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1829 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1882 to 1961. The collection presents a good overview of the careers of Washington Star cartoonist Clifford Berryman, his daughter, Star art critic, Florence, and to a lesser extent, son Jim Berryman.
Scope and Content Note:
The Berryman family papers measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1829 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1882 to 1961. The collection presents a good overview of the careers of Washington Star cartoonist Clifford Berryman, his daughter, Star art critic, Florence, and his son, Jim Berryman, though the latter's career is not as well represented. The papers also contain material relating to Kate Berryman, including a scrapbook and diaries.
The collection contains biographical material, correspondence, business records, notes and writings, scrapbooks, printed material, photographs, and artwork by Clifford and Jim Berryman and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series according to individual family members; each series is arranged into subseries and material within each subseries is arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Clifford and Kate Berryman papers, 1829-1963, undated (boxes 1-7, 11-12, OVs 14-15, 7.9 linear ft.)
Series 2: Florence Berryman Papers, 1902-1984, undated (boxes 8-10, 13, 2.3 linear ft.)
Series 3: Jim Berryman Papers, 1919-1964, undated (boxes 10, 13, 1.1 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
The patriarch of the Berryman family, Clifford Kennedy Berryman, was born in Versailles, Kentucky, in 1869. His first job was in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. He became a cartoonist for the Washington Post in 1891. From 1907, until his death in 1949, Clifford Berryman was political cartoonist for the Washington Star, earning a reputation as the "Dean of American Cartoonist," and winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1944. His cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt, "Drawing the Line in Mississippi," 1902, began the American Teddy Bear craze, and created Berryman's cartoon trademark. He was also the first cartoonist to become president of the Gridiron Club. His wife, Kate, was an avid member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Their daughter, Florence Berryman, 1900-1992, abandoned her study of music because of a loss of hearing and turned her attention to art. In the 1920s, she became a free-lance local art critic, writing articles for newspapers. She later assisted Leila Mechlin, as an art critic for the Washington Star. In 1946, Florence Berryman succeeded Mechlin and worked for the Star until her retirement in 1961. She also served as editor for the American Federation of Arts until 1944.
Clifford and Kate Berryman's son, James Thomas Berryman, 1902-1976, attended George Washington University and the Corcoran School of Art. He worked as a reporter for the New Mexico State Tribune, until his return, in 1923, to Washington, D.C. because of his mother's illness. He worked at the Washington Star, as an editorial artist and illustrator, until 1933, when he became a sports cartoonist. When his father suffered a storke in 1935, Jim intermittently drew political cartoons for the STAR. Jim Berryman also won a Pulitzer Prize for his political cartoons.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel D111) including a scrapbook of memorabilia, 1905-1945, collected by Kate Berryman regarding her husband. The scrap book includes letters from Bernard Baruch, William Jennings Bryan, Harry Flood Byrd, Jay Darling, John Nance Garner, Herbert Hoover, Henry Cabot Lodge, Harry Truman, and Woodrow Wilson; clippings; cartoons; printed material; and photographs of Clifford, family members, William Jennings Bryan, John Nance Garner, Brenda Putnam, and William Howard Taft. Though some items in the scrapbook were subsequently donated, lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Portions of the Berryman family papers were donated in 1965 by Florence Berryman, and in 1992 by her estate. The latter donation included portions of a scrapbook of memorabilia which had previously been lent for filming (reel D111) by Florence Berryman in 1962. The whearabouts of the other items in the scrapbook which were donated is unknown.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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 Nina von Eckardt conducted 2012 July 31 and August 13, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art, at von Eckardt's home, in West New York, N.J.
Biographical / Historical:
Nina von Eckardt (née Sutherland) (1940- ) worked as Leo Castelli's secretary at Leo Castelli Gallery. She is an art critic, writer, and illustrator under the name Nina ffrench-frazier. Avis Berman (1949- ) is an art historian and author in New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded as 4 sound files. Duration is 5 hr., 56 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:
The transcript and audio recording are open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview of Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne conducted 1968 January 29, by Irving Sandler, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne (1916-1979) was a painter, art critic and teacher in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 20 min.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of painter and critic Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne measure 3.2 linear feet and date from the 1910s to 1980. The papers document Browne's career through biographical materials including sketches and photographs, correspondence with friends, artists, and institutions, writings, professional files, and printed material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter and critic Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne measure 3.2 linear feet and date from the 1910s to 1980. The papers document Browne's career through biographical materials including sketches and photographs, correspondence with friends, artists, and institutions, writings, professional files, and printed material.
Biographical material includes a transcript of an interview with Susan C. Larsen. Correspondence includes letters from Ethel Baziotes, Romare Bearden, Sid Gotcliffe, and Philip Evergood. Writings include sound recordings of a monologue by Browne concerning her husband Byron Browne and Sam Kootz. Professional files may include correspondence, printed material, writings, and agreements relating to Browne's various roles as a critic, an artist, and an educator. Of note are files on the American Abstract Artists organization and the WPA Federal Art Project.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1910s-1980 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1929-1979 (Box 1, 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1934-1978 (Box 2; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1930-1978 (Boxes 2-3; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1930-1979 (Box 4; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne (1916-1979) was an abstract painter, critic, educator, and writer active in New York City, New York.
Born in New York City in 1916, Rosalind Bengelsdorf studied at the Art Students' League as a teenager. She continued her study of art under her mentor Hans Hofmann, developing her artistic beliefs and style of abstract painting. In 1936, she became a founding member of the American Abstract Artists of New York City. That same year, she joined the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Arts Project and completed murals at the Central Nurses Home on Welfare Island under Burgoyne Diller.
In 1940, Bengelsdorf married fellow artist Byron Browne, and the couple decided that she would end her art career to focus on teaching and writing. Browne subsequently worked as an art critic for Pictures on Exhibit, The New York Star, and Woman's Day and taught at the New School for Social Research until the late-1970s. After her husband's death in 1961, she returned to painting.
Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne died in Manhattan in 1979.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds an interview of Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne conducted 1968 January 29, by Irving Sandler. Also found are the papers of Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne's husband: the Byron Browne papers, 1930-1963.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 1978 and 1979 by Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne and her son, Stephen B. Browne.
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 References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne papers, 1910s-1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection received federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program
