An interview with Bill and Peggy Foote conducted 2014 February 16-17, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project at Bill's office and home in San Francisco, California.
Dr. and Ms. Foote speak of their early days growing up and their introduction to art; their meeting in Stockton; the beginnings of the Lincoln Square Gallery; their introduction to Viola Frey; their increasing involvement as art dealers in the Bay Area in the '60s and '70s; Peggy Foote's time at the California College of Arts and Crafts; their collection of Viola Frey's work and other artists' work; their interactions with Charles Fiske and Viola Frey; Frey's early years in Lodi; Frey's love of collecting jewelry and small ceramic figurines; and Frey's work in relation to gender issues. They also discuss Frey and Fiske's health issues; Frey's time at CCAC; Frey's relationship with Fiske; Frey's work as it related to Robert Arneson and Peter Voulkos and other Bay Area artists; Peggy Foote's gallery Conway Antiques in the 70's and 80's; Bill Foote's remembrances at Frey's memorial. Mr. and Ms. Foote also recall Shirley Hanson, Rena Bransten, Squeak Carnwath, Gary Knecht, Leslie Wenger, Nancy Hoffman, Richard McDonald, Maryanne Schulz, the Wiebe twins, Robert Arneson, Vernon Coykendall, Noni Eccles Treadwell, Sam Perry, Jackie Maybeck, Gloria Champion, Jack Laycox, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Bill Foote (1937- ) and his wife Peggy (1935- ) are art collectors and retired art and antique dealers in San Francisco, California who collected Viola Frey's works of art. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
An interview of Elmer Bischoff conducted 1977 August 10-September 1, by Paul J. Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art.
Bischoff speaks of his family background; the influence of art teachers and attitudes at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1930s; his years of teaching at the California School of Fine Arts (San Francisco Art Institute), first under the directorship of Douglas MacAgy and then under Ernst Mundt and Gurdon Woods; his fellow faculty members Clyfford Still, David Park, Clay Spohn and Hassel Smith, and their work in abstract expressionism. He recalls some of his most successful students, including Joan Brown, Manuel Neri, and William T. Wiley.
Bischoff explains his turning away from abstract expressionism toward figurative painting, and cites the influence of David Park. He credits George Staempfli as the first New York art dealer to be interested in Bay Area figurative painting. He discusses the origins of the Bay Area funk movement. He speaks of teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, and reflects on the differences between teaching in a university environment and an art school. He discusses his move away from the figure to large scale abstraction.
Biographical / Historical:
Elmer Bischoff (1916-1991) was a painter and educator from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 24 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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.
An interview of Nicholas Wilder conducted 1988 July 18, by Ruth Bowman, for the Archives of American Art.
Wilder discusses his education; working for the Lanyon Art Gallery near San Francisco; opening the Nicholas Wilder Gallery in Los Angeles in 1965 and operating it until it closed in 1979; the Los Angeles art scene in the 60s and how it has changed; Charlie Cowles and the founding of ARTFORUM magazine; and artists his gallery handled including Bruce Nauman, Joe Goode and Tom Holland.
Biographical / Historical:
Nicholas Wilder (1937 or 1938-1989) was an art dealer and painter in Los Angeles, California and New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 36 min.
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.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Art dealers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- Los Angeles
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
The records of Seattle's avant-garde Linda Farris Gallery measure 13.4 linear feet and date from 1969-1995. The bulk of the records consist of artists' and exhibition files. Also found are gallery business correspondence, administrative files, event files, reference files, records of sales, scattered legal files, the personal papers of gallery owner Linda Farris, and printed materials.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Seattle's avant-garde Linda Farris Gallery measure 13.4 linear feet and date from 1969-1995. The bulk of the records consist of artists' and exhibition files. Also found are gallery business correspondence, administrative files, event files, reference files, records of sales, scattered legal files, the personal papers of gallery owner Linda Farris, and printed materials.
Business correspondence is with galleries, dealers, publishers, museums, and other businesses. Administrative files are varied and include advertising and promotion materials, exhibition schedules, mailing lists, guest books, a scrapbook, and gallery history.
Artists' files are found for many contemporary American artists that interested Linda Farris or were represented by the gallery. The contents of each file vary but many include photographs and slides, writings, correspondence, and printed materials. Files for Lynda Barry, Grisha Brusking, Charles Clough, Ronnie Landfield, Charles Luce, Michael Lucerno, Sherry Markovitz, Louise Nevelson, Barbara Noah, and Beverly Pepper are particularly rich. Exhibition files are for Linda Farris Gallery exhibitions and include printed materials, correspondence, loan and consignment agreements, and photographs.
Event files cover anniversary celebrations, lectures, panel discussions, and receptions. There are 17 sound cassette recordings of "Art Now" lectures and "Focus" panel discussions. Scattered reference files contain collected materials on subjects of interest to the gallery. There are scattered financial, sales, and legal files. Sales records cover 1970-1979.
Linda Farris' personal papers contain printed materials about her and the gallery and other materials concerning her professional and curatorial work outside of the gallery. There is also a transcript of an oral history with Farris and a news interview.
Printed materials include published books and magazines, clippings and exhibition catalogs and announcements.
Photographs are scattered throughout adminstrative files, exhibition files, event files, and Linda Farris' personal papers.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1975-1991, undated (Box 1; .7 linear feet)
Series 2: Administrative files, 1970-1995, undated (Box 1-2; 1 linear feet)
Series 3: Artists and Exhibition files, 1969-1995, undated (Box 2-9; 6.6 linear feet)
Series 4: Events files, 1971-1990, undated (Box 9; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Reference files, 1969-1994, undated (Box 9-10; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 6: Financial, Sales and Legal files, 1970-1995 (Box 10; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Linda Farris Papers, 1972-1995 (Box 10-11; .9 linear feet)
Series 8: Printed Materials, 1970-1995 (Box 11-13; 2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The Linda Farris Gallery was Seattle's leading venue for contemporary art during its twenty-five years of operation.
Linda Farris opened Gallery East in Bellevue in 1970, and a year later moved to Pioneer Square in Seattle, changing the name to Linda Farris Gallery in 1973. The gallery continued to present contemporary art there until closing in December 1995. Art dealer Linda Farris began representing a group of promising artists, all graduates of the University of Washington. Greg Kucera of the Greg Kucera Gallery noted in an article for the Seattle Weekly, "Their work could be loosely seen as a movement, complete with aesthetic interrelationships, convenient marriages, an unintelligible manifesto in the form of Dennis Evans' quirky pronouncements…" From the same article he states, "Her avant-garde gallery changed forever the nature of being an art dealer in Seattle." It was among the three or four most influential galleries in the Pacific Northwest.
The gallery held exhibitions of many nationally known contemporary artists, including Sam Francis, Louise Nevelson, and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as Northwest artists Jeffrey Bishop, Dennis Evans, Sherry Markovitz, Nancy Mee, Norie Sato, and Patti Warashina. The latter group started with the gallery and remained loyal at the time of its closing in 1995.
Art dealer, collector and free-lance curator Linda B. Farris (1944-2005), a native of San Francisco and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (1966), was an active participant in and style setter for the Seattle art world for the twenty-five years she was in business. As a member of the art community she actively supported the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, Pilchuck Glass School, and Seattle Art Museum's Contemporary Art Council, and served on the boards of directors of Henry Art Gallery and Factory Visual Arts. Farris curated "Eight Seattle Artists" in 1981 for the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art and "Self Portraits" in 1983 for the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. She also led the movement to keep Henry Moore's "Vertebrae" from leaving Seattle, and instituted a series of talks, panel discussions, performances, and tours in her gallery, and in and around Seattle.
This note draws heavily on the Archives of American Art's West Coast Regional Collector Paul Karlstrom's collection description written upon acquisition of the papers.
Related Materials:
An oral history interview with Linda Farris conducted in 1975 by Sally Swenson, is located in the University of Washington University Libraries Digital Collections.
Provenance:
The Linda Farris Gallery records were donated to the Archives of American Art by owner Linda Farris in 1995 at the time she closed the gallery.
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.
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, printmaker, and sculptor Peter Krasnow (1886-1979) and his wife, writer Rose Krasnow (1885-1984), measures 6.9 linear feet and date from 1914 to 1984. Papers include biographical materials, a sound recording, correspondence, essays, poetry, short stories, notes, transcripts of lectures and radio talks, five diaries of Peter Krasnow, personal business records, exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings, magazines, five sketchbooks, sketches and drawings in multiple media, prints, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter, printmaker, and sculptor Peter Krasnow (1886-1979) and his wife, writer Rose Krasnow (1885-1984), measures 6.9 linear feet and date from 1914 to 1984. Papers include biographical materials, a sound recording, correspondence, essays, poetry, short stories, notes, transcripts of lectures and radio talks, five diaries of Peter Krasnow, personal business records, exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings, magazines, five sketchbooks, sketches and drawings in multiple media, prints, and photographs.
Biographical materials include documentation of Rose Krasnow's service as a member of the Army Air Forces Ground Observer Corps, programs and other materials from various memorial services, a sound recording with commentary on a Peter Krasnow exhibition, and documentation of a project to publish Rose Krasnow's poetry.
Correspondence consists of Peter and Rose Krasnow's personal and professional correspondence as well as a small amount of third party correspondence. Personal correspondence with friends and family involves health, work, daily events, and other life updates. Professional correspondence with art dealers, curators, gallery and museum directors, collectors, and colleges and universities concerns exhibitions, sales, loans, and donations of artwork. Primary correspondents include Leslie Burton and Harriet Blades, Dan Budnik, Grace Clements, Conrad Crocker, Dudley Howe, Lilly Weil Jaffe, Grace L. McCann Morley, Dale and Elaine Owen, Aimée Brown Price, Ernest and Ina Raboff, Irving Stone, and Edward Weston. There are also numerous scattered letters from artists, writers, curators, critics, museums, arts associations, and Jewish organizations.
Writings and notes are by Peter Krasnow, Rose Krasnow, and others. Writings by Peter Krasnow include a draft autobiography, essays, lectures on wood sculpture, typescripts, notes, and writings on art. Writings by Rose Krasnow include essays, plays, poetry, and short stories. Writings by others consist of essays, lectures, notes, plays, poetry, short stories, and typescripts. Other writers include Grace Clements, Fidel Danieli, Robert DeLuce, Alfred S. Drake, and Philip Noer. There are also five handwritten personal diaries by Peter Krasnow.
Personal business records include Rose Krasnow's bank book from 1980, Peter Krasnow's naturalization certificate and passport, an inventory of paintings on index cards, tax applications for the Peter Krasnow Arts Foundation, materials relating to Peter Krasnow's estate and the purchase of his artwork, and various receipts.
Printed materials include exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings, bound books, magazines and journals, a Chicago Society of Artists block print calendar, and two printed posters from Peter Krasnow's exhibit at the Galerie Pierre in 1934.
Artwork is mostly by Peter Krasnow, and includes five sketchbooks, sketches and drawings, watercolors, preliminary studies in oil, and prints.
Photographs include personal photographs, photographs of major sculpture projects in progress, and artwork. Personal photographs are of Peter and Rose, family members, and friends, as well as a few scattered images of landscapes and architecture, possibly travel photographs. There are also photographs of Edward and Flora Weston. There are three photograph albums, one contains images of Krasnow's relief sculptures for the Sinai Temple's Kohn Chapel. Two photograph albums were compliled by Susan Ehrlich for Peter and Rose Krasnow. Also found are photographs of works of art. Some of the photographs in the papers were taken by Dan Budnik.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1942-1983 (Boxes 1, 6; 7 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-1984 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1916-1980 (Boxes 1-2; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Diaries, circa 1955-1968 (Box 2-3; 5 folders)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1914-1982 (Box 3; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Materials, circa 1922-1981 (Boxes 3-4 and OV 9; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1918-1980 (Boxes 4-6 and OV 7-8, 10; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Sketchbooks, circa 1918-1973 (Box 5; 5 folders)
Series 9: Photographs, circa 1914-1981 (Boxes 5-6; 0.6 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Peter Krasnow (1886-1979) was a painter, sculptor, and printmaker who lived and worked primarily in Southern California. His wife, Rose Krasnow (1885-1984), was a prolific writer of poems, short stories, and plays.
Peter Krasnow was born on August 20, 1886 in the Ukraine, Russia to Jewish parents. His father's work as an interior designer inspired Krasnow's interest in art.
In 1907, Krasnow emigrated to the United States, first living in Boston. He moved to Chicago in 1908 to attend the Art Institute of Chicago, where he met his future wife, Rose Bloom. To support himself during his studies, Krasnow worked as a security officer and performed other manual jobs. He graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916 and married Rose that same year.
The Krasnows moved to New York in 1919. In New York, Krasnow experienced some artistic success, participating in group and solo exhibitions at the Whitney Studio Club. During this time period, Krasnow often painted city scenes using a dark color palette.
In 1922, the Krasnows moved to Los Angeles, California. Krasnow built a studio near Glendale in 1923, on land purchased from photographer and friend Edward Weston. The studio also served as the Krasnows' main residence for the rest of their lives. In 1923 in Los Angeles, Krasnow exhibited with the Group of Independent Artists, which included Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Boris Deutsch, Nick Brigante, Ben Berlin, and other noteworthy artists. During his first years in California, Krasnow mostly created watercolor paintings, including a series of landscapes, using a lighter color palette than his earlier works. In the 1920s, Krasnow also accepted commissions for carved wood reliefs at the Temple Emmanu-El in San Francisco and the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.
Krasnow received a grant in 1931, and he and Rose temporarily relocated to the Dordogne region of France, where they lived until 1934. During this time, Krasnow painted a series of watercolors and paintings of the French landscape. Before returning to the United States, Krasnow exhibited these landscapes at the Galerie Pierre.
After returning to California, Krasnow began creating carved wood sculptures, which he named 'demountables,' often using wood from trees on his property. Krasnow created these sculptures to celebrate the organic shapes inherent in wood.
In 1934, Krasnow returned to painting, this time creating bright, colorful, geometric designs which often incorporated symbolism from his Jewish heritage. Krasnow focused on these paintings through the remaining years of his life. In 1977, Krasnow received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Peter Krasnow died on October 30, 1979 in Los Angeles. Rose Krasnow died five years later, in 1984.
Provenance:
The Peter and Rose Krasnow papers were donated in several increments between 1976 and 1998 by Peter Krasnow, the Estate of Peter Krasnow, and the Peter and Rose Krasnow Foundation.
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 State of the Arts videorecordings measure 2.4 linear feet and consist of 30 videocassettes (U-matic) and three sets of handwritten notes, all created during the production of a pilot episode for a broadcast television documentary series on contemporary art in 1979. Four stories were produced for the pilot: a staged debate on modern art at the Museum of Modern Art; an investigation into the economics of the contemporary art market, a collaboration between video artist Nam June Paik and sound artist Liz Phillips, and an extended interview with sculptor George Segal on the occasion of his 1979 retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Video footage includes raw footage for each segment and edited versions of the economics of art story, the Nam June Paik and Liz Phillips story, and the George Segal story. The reporter and interviewer for the program was Barry Nolan.
Scope and Contents:
The State of the Arts videorecordings measure 2.4 linear feet and consist of 30 videocassettes (U-matic) and three sets of handwritten notes, all created during the production of a pilot episode for a broadcast television documentary series on contemporary art in 1979. Four stories were produced for the pilot: a staged debate on modern art at the Museum of Modern Art; an investigation into the economics of the contemporary art market, a collaboration between video artist Nam June Paik and sound artist Liz Phillips, and an extended interview with sculptor George Segal on the occasion of his 1979 retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Video footage includes raw footage for each segment and edited versions of the economics of art story, the Nam June Paik and Liz Phillips story, and the George Segal story. The reporter and interviewer for the program was Barry Nolan.
Although the program never aired, the video shot for the pilot documents significant artists and gallerists of its time, with profiles of O.K. Harris Works of Art and its founder, Ivan Karp, as well as art dealer Holly Solomon and critic Barbara Rose, Marcia Tucker in the early days of the New Museum, and footage of artists like Nam June Paik, Liz Phillips, and George Segal in their studios, describing their work in detail. The sound and video piece created by Paik and Phillips with the dancer Robert Kovich was commissioned by the State of the Arts producers for the pilot program, and the four hours of video documenting their collaboration and its product may therefore be unique.
Interview subjects for the economics of art story include Ivan Karp, Tom Drysdale, Rick Derman, Cosmo Campoli, Joan Thorne, Holly Solomon, Marcia Tucker, and Barbara Rose. The Marcia Tucker interview takes place at the New School, which was at the time the home of the New Museum. Footage also includes a gallery opening at O.K. Harris Works of Art. Extended interviews with Liz Phillips, Nam June Paik, and George Segal are found in the footage of their respective stories.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as one series.
Series 1: -- State of the Arts -- Production Video, 1979 (2.4 linear feet; boxes 1-3)
Biographical / Historical:
State of the Arts was planned as a broadcast television magazine program on the subject of contemporary art. The pilot was produced in 1979 by Lawrence P. Fraiberg Productions with funding provided jointly by IBM and the National Endowment for the Arts. Fraiberg and Tom Cavanau served as executive co-producers, Rick Derman as field producer, and Barry Nolan as interviewer. The program never aired.
Lawrence P. Fraiberg was a longtime television documentary veteran when the pilot was produced. He graduated from the University of California in 1949 and began his career at television station KPIX in San Francisco. He became vice president and general manager of WNEW-TV in New York in 1965, and was named president of Metromedia Television in 1977. In 1980 he was appointed president of the Television Station Group for Westinghouse Broadcasting. An active member in community and industry organizations, he is a recipient of an honorary degree (1978) from St. John's University, New York, a Peabody Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Broadcasting Industry (1986), and a Trustees Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1990). He died in 2011.
Barry Nolan, the interviewer for State of the Arts, went on to a career as a television magazine host and producer, with credits including Evening Magazine, Hard Copy, Extra!, and Nitebeat, and in 2012 produced the documentary No Way Out But One with his wife, Garland Waller.
Provenance:
Donated 1979-1980 by Lawrence P. Fraiberg.
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:
Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposes of publication requires written permission from Ted Cavanu, Rick Derman and Barry Nolan. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art museum directors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Women museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Video recordings
Citation:
State of the Arts Videorecordings, 1979. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.
The records of San Francisco Focus Gallery measure 11.8 linear feet and date from 1963-1987. The bulk of the collection consists of exhibition files. There are also artists files, sales information, correspondence, and scattered records of the gallery's companion bookshop.
Scope and Contents:
The records of San Francisco's Focus Gallery measure 11.8 linear feet and date from 1963-1987. The bulk of the collection consists of exhibition files. There are also artists files, sales information, correspondence, and scattered records of the gallery's companion bookshop.
Exhibition files comprise the bulk of the collection and generally contain a wide range of materials including correspondence, short biographies, forms requesting artists' background information, flyers, booklets, brochures, checklists, loan agreements, sales records, news releases, and photographs and negatives. Among the many photographers exhibited were Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott, Bill Brandt, Wynn Bullock, Paul Caponigro, Imogen Cunningham, Judy Dater, Robert Heinecken, Eikoh Hosoe, Annie Leibovitz, Eliot Porter, Aaron Siskind, Jerry Uelsmann, and Brett Weston.
A relatively small amount of general business correspondence includes orders and payments for photographic prints, books, and magazine subscriptions, some personal notes, and requests for information about how to submit for exhibitions and for exhibition schedules. Correspondents include customers, photographers, publishers, law firms, museum, and colleges and universities. Correspondence from the founding year contains Johnston's letters to various venues prominent in art photography, such as George Eastman House. There is also a letter to Ansel Adams requesting prints to sell or for a small opening exhibit.
Additional records include artists' files; sales and inventory records containing print and bookshop inventories, general pricing information and receipts for photographs; and printed materials including flyers and brochures, bookshop catalogs and news releases. There are also scattered administrative records, including gallery history, a file on the Toren Gallery and five owner's notebooks, as well as The Imogen Cunningham Trust files documenting Focus Gallery's interactions with the trust before and after Cunningham's death regarding photographs printed and signed by her; financial and legal files; and guest books.
Documents in the collection that pre-date the founding of the gallery are found in the Toren Gallery file and a few of the exhibition files.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1963-1985 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1966-1987 (Boxes 1-2; 1 linear foot)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1966-1985 (Boxes 2-10; 8.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Artists Files, 1966-1978 (Boxes 10-11; 0 .5 linear feet)
Series 5: Financial and Legal Files, 1966-1987 (Box 11; 0 .2 linear feet)
Series 6: Sales and Inventories, 1966-1987 (Box 11; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1966-1987 (Boxes 11-12; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 8: Guest Books, 1966-1970, 1978-1985 (Boxes 12-13; 0.6 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Focus Gallery was founded by Helen Head Johnson (1916-1989) in 1966 on Union Street in San Francisco. The gallery exhibited and sold primarily art photographs and other contemporary art.
Helen Head Johnston believed that photography deserved its own exhibition space. As stated in the gallery's first press release, "in seeking to encourage print collecting it (the gallery) offers not only a show place but also a market place for photographers." While retaining an emphasis on Bay Area photographers, the gallery's exhibitions soon became international in scope, featuring little known and well-established photographers through both solo and group exhibitions. With few exceptions, the gallery's policy was to feature an artist only once. To help keep the gallery going in its early days, Johnston started a bookshop mail-order business. At the time of its closing in August 1985, Focus Gallery was the longest continuously operating photography gallery in the country. The bookshop continued in another location for an additional two years.
The collection is arranged as 8 series
Series 1: Administrative records, 1963-1985, (Box 1 8 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1966-1987, undated (Box 1-2 1 linear foot)
Series 3: Exhibition files, 1966-1985 (Box 2-10 8.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Artists files, 1966-1978, undated (Box 10-11, 9 folders)
Series 5: Financial and Legal files, 1966-1987 (Box 11 6 folders)
Series 6: Sales and Inventories, 1966-1987, undated (Box 11 11 folders)
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1966-1987, undated (Box 11 and Hol 12 7 folders)
Series 8: Guest Books, 1966-1985 (Hol 12-13 6 folders)
Related Materials:
Among the holding of the Archives of American Art is an untranscribed interview of Helen Johnston by Louise Katzman or Irene Borger in the collection Interviews of California Photographers 1981 Jun.-Nov.20.
Helen Johnston left her private photography collection to the de Saisset Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Provenance:
The Focus Gallery records were donated by the estate of owner Helen Johnston, care of Gerald O'Conner, executor.
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 dealers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
The records of the Charles Campbell Gallery in San Francisco date from 1960 to 2001 and measure 17.6 linear feet. The records include business correspondence with galleries, curators, trusts, and individual buyers and sellers; business records consisting of administrative files, business notebooks, and financial material; artist and exhibition files; and Charles Campbell's related personal files that include correspondence, catalogs, newsletters, and clippings about jazz, and photos and travel. Substantial artist files exist for Nathan Oliveira, which contain original artwork and photos of the artist, Peter Allegaert, Gordon Cook, Charles Griffin Farr, Morris Graves, Robert Harvey, Geer Morton, Fred Reichman, Jean Rustin, Stephani Sanchez, and Wayne Thiebaud, among others.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Charles Campbell Gallery in San Francisco date from 1960 to 2001 and measure 17.6 linear feet. The records include business correspondence with galleries, curators, trusts, and individual buyers and sellers; business records consisting of administrative files, business notebooks, and financial material; artist and exhibition files; and Charles Campbell's related personal files that include correspondence, catalogs, newsletters, and clippings about jazz, and photos and travel. Substantial artist files exist for Nathan Oliveira, which contain original artwork and photos of the artist, Peter Allegaert, Gordon Cook, Charles Griffin Farr, Morris Graves, Robert Harvey, Geer Morton, Fred Reichman, Jean Rustin, Stephani Sanchez, and Wayne Thiebaud, among others.
The records are a rich resource for documenting the Bay Area Figuration art movement in the San Francisco region.
Business correspondence is with galleries, curators, trusts, and individuals mostly regarding loans and sales. Correspondents include Allan Stone Gallery, Bryce Bannatyne Gallery, Canfield Gallery, Forum Gallery, Felix Landau Gallery, Henri Ghent, Barbara Guest, Phyllis Hattis, and Trini Gallery, among many others. Although there is scattered correspondence with artists filed among the business correspondence, the bulk of the gallery's correspondence with artists is found in the Artist and Exhibition Files.
Business records include administrative files comprised of mailing lists, business registration records, newsletters, information about affiliated organizations (including The San Francisco Art Dealers Association), and records and clippings about arts law. Gallery notebooks contain information about the gallery's day-to-day activities and also include inventories, contacts, accounting information, and lists of business arrangements and dealings. Financial materials include appraisal and consignment records, invoices, insurance records,donation records, and a vendor analysis report comprise the financial material.
Almost two-thirds of the collection is comprised of artist and exhibition files. In addition to the artistis listed above, there are substantial artist files for Ruth Asawa, E. J. Bellocq, Elmer Bischoff, Robert Berlind, John Battenberg, Joan Brown, William Theophilus Brown, Charles Mattox, Robert Qualters, Beth Van Hoesen, Carlos Villa, Paul Wonner, among many others. The artist files also include artwork, such as pen and ink and pencil sketches by Peter Allegaert, ink and gouache sketches by Nathan Oliveira, and a pen and ink sketch by John Goray. Scattered photos depict artists (notably Oliveira), their studios, artwork and installation shots, and exhibition attendee notebooks document shows from 1978 to 1987.
The collection also contains personal correspondence and files relating to Charles Campbell's interest in jazz and travel. These records include music catalogs, clippings, newsletters, correspondence, brochures, tickets, maps, travel agendas, and photos. Campbell's personal correspondence is scattered throughout the collection, and documents Charles' and his wife Esther's friendships with artists and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series.
Series 1: Business Correspondence, 1968-1996 (Boxes 1-3; 2.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Business Records, circa 1968-2001 (Boxes 3-5; 2.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Artist and Exhibition Files, 1960-1999 (Boxes 5-15; 10.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Personal Files, circa 1972-circa 1998 (Boxes 16-17; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1965-2000 (Boxes 17-19; 0.7 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The Charles Campbell Gallery was established by Charles Campbell in 1972 in North Beach, San Francisco, following his ownership of The Louvre, a frame shop that he established in 1947. The Charles Campbell Gallery was among the most important San Francisco galleries of that era, especially for showing local artists. Campbell was a close friend of many of the leading Bay Area artists, most of whom had exhibibitions at his gallery, including Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud, Hassel Smith, Elmer Bischoff, and Gordon Onslow-Ford. Some of the artists represented and shown at the gallery were later identified with the region's signature art movement, Bay Area Figuration, including Nathan Oliviera, Paul Wonner, Gordon Cook, William Theophilus Brown, James Weeks, and Joan Brown.
Campbell partnered with Paul Thiebaud in 1990 and the gallery changed its name to the Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery, and began to show a fresh roster of artists. The partnership ended on friendly terms in 2001, with the business becoming the Paul Thiebaud Gallery. After this, Campbell re-established his independent gallery for a short while collaborating with a former gallery assistant Steven Lopez. This collaboration ended in a lawsuit resolved in 2007-2008 that essentially dissolved the gallery in all but name.
Campbell was also very interested in jazz and he was at one point the manager of trombone player Turk Murphy. They briefly ran a club together in San Francisco, The Italian Villa.
Charles Campbell died in 2014 at the age of 99.
Provenance:
Charles Campbell donated the Charles Campbell Gallery records in 2002.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Serices for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
An interview of Fletcher Benton conducted 1989 May 2-4, by Paul J. Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, at the artist's studio, in San Francisco, California.
Benton speaks of his education in the Midwest and the decision to pursue an art career in California, and the problems of regionalism and provincialism in art. He describes the art scene in San Francisco in the 1950s, and talks about the effect of the San Francisco environment on him. He also speaks of art dealers and their methods, art criticism and museum politics. He discusses his methods and materials, his early ventures into sculpture, his involvement with kinetic sculpture, his work in watercolor. He recalls his acquaintance with John McLaughlin and discusses the influence of Joan Brown's work on his own.
Biographical / Historical:
Fletcher Benton (1931-2019) was a painter and sculptor from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 14 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 9 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Kinetic sculpture, American. -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Painters -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Sculptors -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Papers created by Asian art historian, curator, and collector Dr. James Francis Cahill. Includes personal and professional correspondence and project files documenting his many publications, lectures and activities in the Asian art field. Documents span his early career at the Freer Gallery of Art, where he served as curator of Chinese art from 1957-1965, and his tenure 1965-1994 as Professor of the History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley.
Scope and Content Note:
The James Cahill Papers span the years 1945 to 1996 and measures 15 linear feet. The collection includes: personal and administrative correspondence with other art historians, art dealers and collectors; lecture manuscripts and administrative material and correspondence with art museums, universities and other organizations in the Asian art community. There are also several personal letters and postcards with family friends of James and Dorothy Cahill. The folder descriptions were retained from Cahill's own folder titles and organized alphabetically within each series.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 2 series:
Series 1 -- Project Files, 1945-1996
Series 2 -- Correspondence with Individuals, 1945-1996
Biographical Note:
1926 -- Born, Fort Bragg, CA
1950 -- Receives BA degree in Oriental Languages from University of California, Berkeley
1952 -- Receives MA degree in Art History from University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor
Circa 1953 -- Holds a museum training fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
1954-1955 -- Studies with Shujiro Shimada at Kyoto University in Japan on a Fulbright Scholarship
1956 -- Works with Osvald Sirén in Stockholm on his seven-volume series "Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles" Joins staff of Freer and Sackler Gallery as Curator of Chinese Art
1958 -- Receives PhD in Art History from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, working principally with Max Loehr
1960 -- Publishes first and highly influential book: "Chinese Painting." In: Treasures of Asia series, Editions d'Art Albert Skira, Geneva, Switzerland 1960. Published also in French and German editions
1965 -- Leaves the Freer and Sackler Gallery to accept position as Professor of History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley
1973 -- Goes to China as member of the Chinese Archaeological Delegation, first group of art historians to visit China from the US
1976 -- Publishes first of projected five-volume series on later Chinese paintings: "Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty"
1977 -- Visits China as chairman of Chinese Old Painting Delegation
1978 -- Publishes second of projected five-volume series on later Chinese painting: "Parting At the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty"
1978-1979 -- Accepts appointment as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard; delivers series of lectures titled, "The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in 17th Century Chinese Painting"
1982 -- Publishes "Barnhart-Cahill-Rogers Correspondence, 1981" (collection of correspondence published for colleagues) The Harvard lecture series: "The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in 17th Century Chinese Painting" published as a book, receives College of Art Association's Morey Prize for Best Art History book
1998-1999 -- Spends a year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton with his wife, the art historian and artist Hsingyuan Tsao
2007 -- Former students organize 80th birthday party/symposium at Berkeley, titled: "Returning to the Shore"
2010 -- Became the 12th Recipient of the Charles Lang Freer Medal
Present -- Living in Vancouver, Canada
Related Material:
The James Cahill website, http://www.jamescahill.info/ which contains digitized versions of selected unpublished papers, correspondence and personal reminisces.
Provenance:
Gift of James Cahill.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Due to cold storage requirements, digital surrogates are prefered for access. One week's notice is required prior to access originals.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
James Cahill papers, 1945-1996. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of James Cahill, December 12th, 2001.
An interview with Nancy Hoffman, conducted 2015 July 15-16, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project at Hoffman's gallery, in New York, New York.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Nancy Hoffman (1944- ) is an art dealer in New York, New York, who was Viola Frey's New York art dealer. Interviewer Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded as 4 sound files. Duration is 3 hr., 4 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:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Artists' Legacy Foundation.
An interview of Patricia (Trish) Bransten, conducted 2015 October 5 and 6, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Viola Frey Oral History Project at Bransten's home in San Francisco, California.
Biographical / Historical:
Patricia (Trish) Bransten (1959- ) is an art dealer in San Francisco, California. Bransten is Gallery Director at Rena Bransten Gallery which represented Viola Frey. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is an independent scholar in San Francisco, California.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Art dealers -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Artists' Legacy Foundation.
