Biographical material, photographs of Kerr, (1957-1969); correspondence (1961); list of artwork (1959-1992); exhibition announcements (1958-1984); clippings (1955-1984); slides of artwork; photocopies from exhibition catalogs (1960-1984); and a video, "The Beach : San Francisco's North Beach, 1950s" directed and produced by Kerr's wife, Mary, c1995 (1 hr.).
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York; b. 1934, d. 1992. Les Kerr was an artist active in New York, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area in the 1950s and 1960s. Formally trained as an painter at UCLA, he studied under William Brice and John Paul Jones in the 1950s. His oeuvre included small sculptures and mixed media boxes, however, Kerr referred to himself as an "abstract" painter mainly within the Beat circle, principally in the North Beach area of San Francisco. Despite the fact that Kerr did not actively exhibit within the mainstream galleries, he did exhibit extensively with the Syndall Gallery, Dilexi Galleries (Los Angeles and San Francisco), and the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, mostly noted for showing the works of Beat and assemblage artists such as Ed Moses and Craig Kauffman.
Provenance:
Donated 1994 and 1996 by Mary Kerr, widow of Les Kerr.
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.
PUBLICATION RESTRICTION for video "The Beach." written permission required.
Occupation:
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
The Wallace Berman papers date from 1907 to 1979 (bulk 1955-1979). The collection measures 5 linear feet and presents a cursory overview of Berman's career as an assemblage artist and poet. The collection contains business correspondence, letters from other artists and writers of the Beat movement, writings by others, scattered artwork by Berman, photographs by Robert F. Heinecken, and sound recordings of poetry readings.
Scope and Content Note:
The Wallace Berman papers, 1907-1979 (bulk 1955-1979), measure 5 linear feet and present a cursory overview of Berman's career as an assemblage artist and poet. The collection is valuable not only for its documentation of the work of Wallace Berman, but for its documentation of the California beat movement of the late 1950s through the early 1970s.
Found are numerous letters, writings, poems, and other published material which portray the thoughts, attitudes, and trends popular in a prominent underground culture which eventually led to radical changes in America and American art. The collection contains business correspondence, letters from other artists and writers of the beat movement, writings by others, scattered artwork by Berman, and photographs by Robert F. Heinecken. In addition, the collection contains files for Berman's mail art publications Semina and S.M.S. Also of note is the large volume of printed material (2.7 feet), much of it in the form of books and other published material. Sound recordings include poets Michael McClure, Kenneth Patchen, David Melzer, and another unidentified writer performing their work.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into nine series which generally reflect material type.
With the exception of the letters in Series 1, each series is arranged chronologically. The original arrangement of the letters has been maintained, with a chronological arrangement of miscellaneous business letters and an alphabetical arrangement of the letters from Berman's more prominent colleagues.
Series 1: Letters, 1957-1979, undated (box 1, 0.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Notes from Interview, 1967 (box 1, 1 folder)
Series 3: Writings by Others, 1972, undated (box 1, 6 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, 1956-1976 (box 1, 4 folders)
Series 5: Semina, 1955-1967 (boxes 1-2, 26 folders)
Series 6: S. M. S., 1968 (box 2, 1 folders)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1907-1976 (boxes 2-5, 2.7 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1956-1976 (box 5, 6 folders)
Series 9: Sound Recordings, 1962-1965 (box 5, 6 folders)
Biographical Note:
Wallace Berman was born in 1926 in Staten Island, New York. In the 1930s, his family moved to the Jewish district in Los Angeles. After being expelled from high school for gambling in the early 1940s, Berman immersed himself in the growing West Coast jazz scene. During this period, he briefly attended the Jepson Art School and Chouinard Art School, but departed when he found the training too academic for his needs.
In 1949, while working in a factory finishing antique furniture, he began to make sculptures from unused scraps and reject materials. By the early 1950s, Berman had become a full-time artist and an active figure in the beat community in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Many art historians consider him to be the "father" of the California assemblage movement. Moving between the two cities, Berman devoted himself to his mail art publication Semina, which contained a sampling of beat poetry and images selected by Berman.
In 1963, permanently settled in Topanga Canyon in the Los Angeles area, Berman began work on verifax collages (printed images, often from magazines and newspapers, mounted in collage fashion onto a flat surface, sometimes with solid bright areas of acrylic paint). He continued creating these works, as well as rock assemblages, until his death in 1976.
Provenance:
The Wallace Berman papers were donated by Tosh Berman, Wallace Berman's son, in 1992.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy. Use of 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 Noah Purifoy papers contain biographical material including a high school diploma (1935), awards, and curriculum vitae; personal and professional correspondence (1966-1998); lecture notes; outlines of programs for the California Arts Council (1976) and Artists-in-Education Summer Workshop (1977); publications; scrapbooks containing newspaper and magazine articles; exhibition catalogs and announcements; and photographs.
Biographical / Historical:
Noah Purifoy (1917-2004) was an African American sculptor, assemblage artist, and arts administrator in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, California. He attended Alabama State Teachers College and Atlanta University and later earned a BFA from Chouinard Art Institute in 1954. Purifoy was a founding director of the Watts Towers Art Center in Los Angeles, California and a co-founder of the Watts Summer Festival. In 1989, Purifoy moved to the Mojave desert and constructed large scale assemblages and environmental sculptures which comprise what is now the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Sculpture Museum.
Provenance:
Donated 1998 by Noah Purifoy.
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.
An interview of Llyn Foulkes conducted 1997 June 25-1998 Dec. 2, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Foulkes home and studio, Los Angeles, Calif.
The interview begins with a discussion of Foulkes's move to downtown Los Angeles and "The Brewery" ["The Brewery" was formerly a working brewery that has been transformed into living/studio space for artists] from Topanga. A long discussion takes place about this being where he belongs as opposed to the fashionable westside. The interview continues with a discussion of divorce, his wife, narcissism, and the incorporation of his recent life in his current assesmblage work. He discusses lessons learned from the Old Masters, and Wilhem de Kooning; issues of abstraction vs. representation; and subject vs. style. He proceeds with a discussion about his ideas on music, rock and roll, jazz, black music, and the influence of Spike Jones that led to his own rock group "Rubber Band." There follows a lengthy discussion of the Ferus Gallery, Walter Hopps, Maurice Tuchman, Henry Hopkins, Rolf Nelson, John Coplans, and Christopher Knight. He also discusses Los Angeles as the center of popular art and culture. He reflects on his kinship with Wallace Berman and the spirituality they shared; his isolation as an outsider; his regrets about not responding to others (including Berman and George Herms), seeing it as a lost opportunity to participate more fully in the local art world and cultivating supportive relationships. The political content of his work was also covered at some length.
Biographical / Historical:
Llyn Foulkes (1934-) is an assemblage artist in Los Angeles, Calif.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
Topic:
Painters -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Tony Berlant conducted 2003 August 23-September 20, by David Pagel, for the Archives of American Art, in Berlant's studio, in Santa Monica, California.
Berlant looks back on more than four decades of his work, discusses his family background; his influences and inspirations; his student years; the late 1960s in both Los Angeles and San Francisco; his life-long relationships with artists from both coasts; his teachers and colleagues; his method of working; and his side-career as a collector, dealer, and scholar of Navajo blankets, Mimbres pottery, and early human artifacts.
Biographical / Historical:
Anthony Berlant (1941- ) is a painter and assemblage artist from Santa Monica, California. He is known for large-scale "collages" made of sheets of metal on which various images have been printed.
General:
Originally recorded 6 sound tape cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 6 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:
Painters -- California -- Santa Monica -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Pasadena Art Alliance.
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.
An interview of Ed Bereal, conducted 2016 February 13, by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, for the Archives of American Art at the home of artist Warren Blakely, in Los Angeles, California.
Bereal discusses growing up in Riverside, California during World War Two; his parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles and their musical activities in and around San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles; the racial make-up of Riverside during the '40s along with the effects of being near March Air Force Base; his time in school and early interest in art and illustration; his applications to art schools and eventual acceptance to Chouinard; the influence of Robert Irwin and Richards Ruben at Chouinard as well as the exposure to national and international artists brought there by Virginia Dwan; the Huysman Gallery group show War Babies in 1961 and the subsequent controversy; his work as an artist under a stipend from Ms. Dwan; his time teaching at UC Riverside and UC Irvine; and his relationships with his wives, girlfriends, and his daughters. Bereal also describes the impact of the Watts Riots in 1965 on his art and his family; his growing political awareness as a black man living in America at the time; his decision to leave the traditional art world and focus on political theater with his guerilla theater troupe Bodacious Buggerrilla; his time at the Watts Writers Workshop with Budd Schulberg; his focus on creating sets and environments for his theater troupe; the FBI questioning of his troupe and the subsequent decision to close it down and start the television studio Bodacious TV Works; his relocation with his wife Barbara Sternberger in the '90s to Bellingham, Washington to teach and work; his interest in holographic art and creating illusion in art; his perspective on the history of black artists in the Los Angeles area in the 1950s and '60s; his show from the same year as the interview at the Harmony Murphy Gallery and the incorporation of graffiti in that show. Bereal recalls Emerson Woelffer, Jerry McMillan, Ron Miyashiro, Laura Sterns, Gerald Buck, and Meade Lux Lewis along with Ed Kienholz, Joe Goode, Mary Pautsch, Barbara Temken, Barbara Lewis, Mike Frimkess, Dr. Cary Kaufman, Buster Jones, and Buddy Jones, among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Ed Bereal (1937- ) is an assemblage artist who worked in Los Angeles, California. Hunter Drohojowska-Philp is an art critic and writer from Beverly Hills, 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.
Occupation:
Assemblage artists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
The papers of inventor and assemblage artist Louis Goodman measure 0.7 linear feet and date from circa 1926 to 1975. The papers document Goodman's career in New York City and California through biographical material, correspondence, writings, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of inventor and assemblage artist Louis Goodman measure 0.7 linear feet and date from circa 1926 to 1975. The papers document Goodman's career in New York City and California through biographical material, correspondence, writings, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Louis Goodman (1905-1973) was an assemblage artist and inventor based in New York, N.Y. and Los Angeles, California. Goodman was born in 1905 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. He and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1922 and settled in California. Based on a short biographical statement written by Goodman that can be found in the collection, he had no formal art or technical training. He created many inventions through his own ingenuity and a few of his inventions were patented. He also worked with found objects to create his artwork assemblages. He lived in New York for a time but eventually returned to California, where he passed away in 1973.
Provenance:
The Louis Goodman papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1976 by Hal Glicksman, whose relationship to Goodman is unclear.
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.
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 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:
Assemblage artists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Assemblage artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Inventors -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Inventors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Drawings
Citation:
Louis Goodman papers, circa 1926-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview with Ed Bereal conducted 2020 July 8, by Matthew Simms, for the Archives of American Art's Pandemic Oral History Project, at Bereal's home in Bellingham, Washington.Â
Biographical / Historical:
Ed Bereal (1937- ) is an assemblage artist who worked in Los Angeles, California. Bereal's work challenges anti-Black racism. He was a founding member of Bodacious Buggerilla and his work was included in the War Babies and Pacific Standard Time exhibitions.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds and oral history interview with Ed Bereal conducted 2016 February 13 by Hunter Drohojowska-Philip.
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 video recording are open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the audio is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the audio recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Assemblage artists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Noah Purifoy : Junk Dada / organized by Franklin Sirmans with Yael Lipschutz ; with essays by Yael Lipschutz, Kristine McKenna, Lowery Stokes Sims ; additional contributions by Dale Brockman Davis, Allison Glenn, Judson Powell, Ed Ruscha, Franklin Sirmans, Sue A. Welsh, C. Ian White ; and special photography by Fredrik Nilsen
