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Creator:

Murch, Walter  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Brooklyn Museum  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Bishop, Isabel, 1902-1988  Search this

Bocour, Leonard, 1910-1993  Search this

Bonnard, Pierre, 1867-1947  Search this

Dubuffet, Jean, 1901-  Search this

Gonzalez, Xavier, 1898-1993  Search this

Kepes, Gyorgy, 1906-2001  Search this

Murch, Katherine  Search this

Murch, Walter Scott  Search this

Scott, Katharine  Search this

Extent:

8.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Diaries

Awards

Woodcuts

Resumes

Lecture notes

Drawings

Photographs

Notebooks

Sketches

Notes

Sketchbooks

Date:

1880-1970

Summary:

The papers of New York City still life painter and art instructor Walter Tandy Murch date from 1880-1970 and measure 8.2 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, four diaries, correspondence with colleagues and family members, personal business records, exhibition files, notes and writings, two sketchbooks and additional art work, printed material, and photographs of Murch, family members, and art work.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of New York City still life painter and art instructor Walter Tandy Murch date from 1880-1970 and measure 8.2 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, four diaries, correspondence with colleagues and family members, personal business records, exhibition files, notes and writings, two sketchbooks and additional art work, printed material, and photographs of Murch, family members, and art work.

Biographical material includes registration documents for births, marriages, and naturalization of Murch family members, biographical accounts, resumes, school and award certificates, passports, Selective Service records, and address books.

One diary by Walter Murch and three diaries by Katharine Murch contain sporadic entries briefly describing daily activities.

Correspondence primarily consists of letters exchanged between Murch, art schools and universities, arts organizations, galleries including the Betty Parsons Gallery, miscellaneous companies and publishers that commissioned commercial art work, and students. There are scattered letters from Isabel Bishop, Leonard Bocour, Xavier Gonzales, and Gyorgy Kepes. There is also correspondence with miscellaneous family members and letters to Katharine Scott.

Personal business records include organizational membership records, family legal documents, insurance records, leases, loan and consignment records, contracts and invoices for art work sold by the Betty Parsons Gallery, expense notebooks, and other routine financial documents.

Exhibition files include documentation of miscellaneous exhibitions of Murch's art work and of exhibitions juried and organized by Murch, including the Jean Dubuffet exhibition organized by Murch and retrospectives of Murch's art work at the Rhode island School of Design and at the Brooklyn Museum.

Notes and writings include the funeral register for Murch, miscellaneous address lists, travel notebooks of Murchs' 1934 trip to Mexico, miscellaneous notebooks concerning various art-related topics, classroom lectures and notes, and miscellaneous writings by others.

Art work includes two sketchbooks, drawings and sketches, woodcuts, sketches for "Novel in Woodcut," an oil portrait of a woman, a mock-up for book Notes on the Hound of Heaven, and art work by others including a sketchbook by Murch's son, Walter Scott Murch.

Printed material includes clippings, a copy of a handmade Collegiate School magazine The New Thinker, and exhibition announcements and catalogs. for Murch and others, press releases, prospectuses, reproductions of art work and book jackets designed by Murch, programs, brochures, a book about Pierre Bonnard, and miscellaneous printed material.

Photographs are of Murch, family members, travel, buildings, Murch's studio, Murch with colleagues, And art work by Murch and others. There are also photographs of various resource subjects.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1924-1968 (Box 1, 10; 24 folders)

Series 2: Diaries, 1941-1965 (Box 1; 3 folders)

Series 3: Correspondence, 1880-1969 (Box 1-3, 10; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1928-1970 (Box 3-5; 2.9 linear feet)

Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1953-1968 (Box 6; 17 folders)

Series 6: Notes and Writings, 1907-1968 (Box 6-7, 10, OV 11; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Art Work, 1891-1967 (Box 7, 10, OV 11; 33 folders)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1926-1968 (Box 7-8, 10, OV 11; 50 folders)

Series 9: Photographs, 1908-1967 (Box 9-10; 41 folders)

Biographical Note:

Walter Tandy Murch (1907-1967) of Toronto, Canada, was a painter and art teacher. His painting were primarily of still life subjects including machine parts, tools, broken dolls, and scientific equipment mingled with fruit, bread and fragments of rock as if seen through frosted glass.

Walter Tandy Murch was born on August 17, 1907, in Toronto, Canada, the son of Clara Louise Tandy and jeweller Walter Murch. Following his studies of architectural drafting and woodworking at the Technical High School in Toronto, he studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto with Arthur Lismer from 1924 to 1927. During the following year, Murch studied at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City with Arshile Gorky. From 1927 to 1929, he studied with Von Schlegel and K. H. Miller at the Art Students League. In 1930, Murch married Katharine Louise Scott.

From 1930 to 1933, Murch designed stained glass windows for Montague Castle, Inc., in New York City. Following a lengthy painting trip to Mexico in 1934, Murch returned to New York City and earned a living painting murals, designing department store windows, and creating illustrations for various magazines including Fortune and Scientific American.

Murch had his first solo exhibition at Betty Parsons' Wakefield Gallery in New York in 1941, and for many years Parsons was his principal dealer. Murch became a United States citizen in 1947.

Beginning in the 1950s, Murch taught at Pratt Institute, Columbia University, New York University, and at Boston University, and attended summer sessions at Yaddo and Skowhegan. In 1966, the Rhode Island School of Design organized Murch's first major retrospective.

Murch's work is in the collections of the Barnes Foundation, Brooklyn Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Walter Tandy Murch died on December 11, 1967 in New York City.

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels N707, N708, N713, and N68-5) including correspondence, notes, sketchbooks, clippings, exhibition catalogs, and photographs. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

In 1967-1968, Walter Tandy Murch loaned the Archives of American Art material for microfilming. The artist's widow, Katharine Scott Murch, donated papers 1969.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Walter Tandy Murch papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painting, American  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Genre/Form:

Diaries

Awards

Woodcuts

Resumes

Lecture notes

Drawings

Photographs

Notebooks

Sketches

Notes

Sketchbooks

Citation:

Walter Tandy Murch papers, 1880-1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.murcwalt

See more items in:

Walter Tandy Murch papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-murcwalt

Creator:

Gray, Cleve  Search this

Names:

Berry-Hill Galleries  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Connecticut. Commission on Arts, Tourism, Culture, History and Film  Search this

Jacques Seligmann & Co  Search this

Neuberger Museum of Art  Search this

Pratt Institute  Search this

Princeton University  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Barzun, Jacques, 1907-  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this

Davis, Jim, 1901-1974  Search this

Dillenberger, Jane  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this

Ernst, Jimmy, 1920-1984  Search this

Gabo, Naum, 1890-1977  Search this

Grace, Louise N.  Search this

Gray, Francine du Plessix  Search this

Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973  Search this

Marin, John, 1870-1953  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Richter, Hans, 1888-1976  Search this

Smith, David, 1906-1965  Search this

Villon, Jacques, 1875-1963  Search this

Weber, Nicholas Fox, 1947-  Search this

Extent:

9.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Poems

Articles

Photographs

Reviews (documents)

Notes

Illustrations

Notebooks

Sketches

Drafts (documents)

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Interviews

Manuscripts

Paintings

Prints

Watercolors

Drawings

Lectures

Date:

1933-2005

Summary:

The Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005, measure 9.2 linear feet. Papers include biographical material, alphabetical files, writings, artwork, audio/visual records, artifacts, printed material, and photographs. Extensive alphabetical files contain personal and professional correspondence as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Especially well-documented are: Gray's involvement with the Vietnam protest movement; and Threnody, his best-known work composed of fourteen large panels lamenting the dead of both sides sides in Vietnam, commissioned by the Neuberger Museum of Art.

Scope and Content Note:

The Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005, measure 9.2 linear feet. Papers include biographical material, alphabetical files, writings, artwork, audio/visual records, artifacts, printed material, and photographs. Extensive alphabetical files contain personal and professional correspondence as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Especially well-documented are: Gray's involvement with the Vietnam movement; and Threnody, his best-known work composed of fourteen large panels lamenting the dead of both sides sides in Vietnam, commissioned by the Neuberger Museum of Art.

Among the biographical material are award and membership certificates, biographical notes, and personal documentation.

The alphabetical files contain Cleve Gray's personal and professional correspondence, as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Correspondence is with friends and family, colleagues, publishers, museum curators and directors, art dealers, collectors, and fans. Among the correspondents of note are: Jacques Barzun, James E. Davis, Naum Gabo, Louise N. Grace, Hans and Fridel Richter, and Jacques and Gaby Villon. Other substantial correspondence includes: Berry-Hill Galleries, Betty Parsons Gallery, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Jacques Seligmann and Co., Neuberger Museum of Art, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, and Rhode Island School of Design. Subject files mostly consist of correspondence, but include printed material and some photographs. Among the subject files are: Art Collection of Cleve and Francine Gray, Artist-Dealer Consignments and Visual Artists' Rights Act of 1989, Artists' Tax Equity Act of 1979, Promised Gifts to Museums, Threnody, Vestments, and Vietnam Protest. Of particular interest are files relating to the Estate of Hans Richter (Cleve Gray, executor), and Gray's research correspondence and illustrations for his Cosmopolitan article "Women-Leaders of Modern Art."

Writings are manuscripts and drafts, research materials, notes, and miscellaneous writings by Cleve Gray and other authors. Those by Gray include articles and catalog introductions on a wide range of art-related topics, as well as book and exhibition reviews. Also found are a book proposal, texts and notes for lectures and talks, miscellaneous notes, poems, political statements, and student papers. Of particular interest are autobiographical notes in the form of a chronology that his biographer, Nicholas Fox Weber, cited as an "autochronology."

Among the writings by other authors are pieces about Cleve Gray including Nicholas Fox Weber's manuscript Cleve Gray. A significant amount of material relates to three books edited by Gray: David Smith by David Smith: Sculpture and Writings, Hans Richter, and John Marin. Research material survives for an unpublished volume, Naum Gabo. Also included are notes relating to his translation of A l'Infinitif by Marcel Duchamp. Jane Daggett Dillenberger is represented by a lecture, "The Resurrection in Art." The remaining items by other authors are unsigned; of particular interest is a small notebook of reminiscences and notes about Jackson Pollock.

Artwork by Cleve Gray consists mostly drawings and sketches, and a small number of paintings, prints, and watercolors. Works by other artists consist are an unsigned mobile of paper cut-outs, possibly by Alexander Calder, and a pencil drawing signed Dick (probably Richard Avedon).

Audio recordings are a radio broadcast featuring Cleve Gray, several lectures by Gray on John Marin, and a lecture titled "Meaning in the Visual Arts." Other recordings are of Hans Richter and an interview with Jimmy Ernst conducted by Francine du Plessix Gray. Also found is a videocassette of "Glenville School Students at SUNY (Lincoln Center Activity)."

Artifacts are a Chinese scroll representative of those that hung in Cleve Gray's studio, two of his paintbrushes, Aberdeen-Angus Breeders' Association blue ribbon, and Neuberger Museum of Art Lifetime Achievement Award.

The vast majority of printed material - articles, clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, reproductions of art work, etc. - are about or by Cleve Gray. Miscellaneous items and publications mentioning Gray consist of annual reports, brochures, calendars, newsletters, programs, etc. Clippings about Vietnam and Vietnam protest memorabilia reflect his passionate involvement in the anti-war movement; a small number of these items mention Gray or were written by him.

Photographs are of artwork, events, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects. Most of the art work appearing in the photographs is by Cleve Gray and includes images of destroyed paintings. Also found is an original print of Photo Abstraction by Gray, circa 1934. Of particular note are photographs of Threnody, among them preparatory drawings and views of the work in progress. Photographs of artwork by other artists include Louise N. Grace, Jacques Lipchitz, John Marin, Hans Richter, and Jacques Villon.

Photographs of people are mainly portraits of Gray, and views of him with his wife and sons. Other individuals appearing in photographs are Hans Richter and some of Richter's descendants. Pictures of places consist of Gray's studio.

Events are an unidentified exhibition opening. Miscellaneous subjects are mostly exhibition installations. Illustrations consist of photographs published in David Smith by David Smith: Sculpture and Writings. Also found are small number of negatives and color transparencies.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into 8 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1943-circa 2001 (Box 1; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 2: Alphabetical Files, 1936-2005 (Boxes 1-5, 9; 4.3 linear ft.)

Series 3: Writings, 1935-2000 (Boxes 5-6; 0.85 linear ft.)

Series 4: Artwork, circa 1933-1987 (Boxes 6, 9, OV 12; 0.45 linear ft.)

Series 5: Audio/Visual Records, 1971-1989 (Box 6; 0.25 linear ft.)

Series 6: Artifacts, 1957-1999 (Box 6, RD 11; 0.45 linear ft.)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1933-2005 (Boxes 7-8; 1.25 linear ft.)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1934-2002 (Boxes 8-10; 1.15 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:

Abstract Expressionist painter, sculptor, and writer Cleve Gray (1918-2004) lived and worked in Connecticut where he was politically active in the Vietnam protest movement and other liberal causes.

Born Cleve Ginsberg in New York City (the family changed its name to Gray in 1936), he attended the Ethical Culture School and at a young age developed a fascination with color and paint. At the urging of friends, Cleve's parents allowed him to accompany a school friend for lessons with George Bellows' student Antonia Nell. She encouraged and inspired the young artist, and a still life he painted in her class was shown at the National Academy of Design's 1932 annual exhibition. Miss Nell also introduced him to Louise N. Grace, an artist who became a good friend and had a lasting influence on him. While a student at Phillips Academy, Cleve studied painting with Bartlett Hayes and aspired to paint in France. Upon his graduation in 1936, he was awarded the Samuel F. B. Morse Prize for most promising art student.

Gray's mother was always supportive of his career choice. His businessman father, who didn't understand his son's desire to be an artist, insisted on a college education. Cleve chose Princeton, where he majored in art and archaeology, and studied painting with James E. Davis. His senior thesis was on Chinese landscape painting; both Eastern philosophy and art were long-term influences on Gray's work and outlook. He graduated summa cum laude in 1940, and then spent several months painting while living at the farm of a family friend in Mendham, New Jersey.

When a doctor suggeted that a dry climate might relieve sinus and asthma problems, Gray moved to Tucson, Arizona. Once settled in the desert, he contacted Louise N. Grace, whom he had met as a young teenager through his art instructor. Miss Grace, an artist and daughter of the founder of W. R. Grace and Co., was a highly cultured and independent woman older than his parents. The summer before Gray entered Phillips Academy, she had hired him to brush ground color onto canvases for murals she was painting for "Eleven Arches," her home in Tuscon then under construction. Miss Grace invited Gray to visit "Eleven Arches" to see the completed murals, and despite the substantial age difference, their friendship deepened; Gray found in her intellectual and spiritual guidance that was lacking in his own family. He remained in Tucson until enlisting in the U. S. Army in 1942, and they corresponded frequently during the the war. When a stroke in 1948 prevented Miss Grace from participating in the extensive tour of Europe she was arranging for a small group of friends, including Gray, she provided sufficient funds and insisted he make the trip on his own. Another stroke, suffered while Gray was traveling, left her in a coma; he was not permitted to see her again. Upon her death in 1954, Gray inherited "Eleven Arches."

Between 1943 and 1946, Gray was stationed in England, France, and Germany, serving in Army Signal Intelligence. Most of his work was performed at night, and he spent his free time drawing. While in London, Gray produced many colored pencil drawings of buildings that had been bombed. In France, a Red Cross volunteered to introduce him to Jacques Villon; although unfamiliar with the artist, Gray knew of Villon's brother, Marcel Duchamp, and accepted the invitation. Jacques and Gaby Villon lived near Gray's billet and he became a frequent visitor. Their friendship was important to his development as an artist. After being discharged from the Army in 1946, Gray remained in France to work with Villon who introduced him to the study of color and the concept of intellectual quality in painting. Gray also studied informally with André Lhote, Villon's former teacher. "American Painters in Paris," an exhibition presented in 1946 at Galerie Durand-Ruel, included work by Cleve Gray.

He returned to New York City in 1946. In the tight post-war rental market Gray managed to find a small room upstairs from a grocery store on East 106th Street for use as a studio. He commenced painting the London Ruins series based on drawings he had made during the war, and began thinking about exhibiting in New York. Gray secured introductions to Pierre Matisse, Curt Valentin, and Dorothy Miller. They encouraged him, but no opportunities came his way until Germain Seligmann, whose gallery was expanding its scope to include contemporary art, followed the advice of Curt Valentin and looked at Gray's work. Gary's first solo exhibition, held at Jacques Seligmann and Co., included selections from the London Ruins series, paintings done in Maine and Arizona, and a few portraits. The New York Times called it "an auspicious first," and one of the London Ruins series was selected by Edward Alden Jewell for the "Critic's Exhibition" at Grand Central Gallery.

Gray found New York City too frenetic. In 1949 he bought a large, old house in Warren, Connecticut, and lived and worked at "Graystones" for the remainder of his life. Half of a 6-car garage was converted to a studio; many years later, his studio moved to a barn, its renovation and design planned by sculptor and architect Tony Smith.

He married Francine du Plessix in 1957. Always interested in literature and philosophy, in the 1960s Francine du Plessix Gray began contributing articles to The New Yorker and is still affiliated with the magazine. Her reviews and articles appeared in prominent publications, and she wrote several award-winning novels and biographies. Their sons, Thaddeus and Luke (now a painter), were born in 1959 and 1961. Francine's mother, Tatiana du Plessix (the hat designer Tatiana of Saks), and step-father, the sculptor Alexander Liberman (also former art director of Vogue and later editorial director of Condé Nast publications) became Cleve Gray's closest friends.

The paintings and drawings of Cleve Gray - first consisting of figures and portraits, and then abstract compositions - were often produced in series. The earliest series, London Ruins, grew from the colored pencil drawings made while stationed in London during World War II. Travels to France, Italy, Greece, Morocco, Hawaii, Spain, Egypt, Japan, and Czechoslovakia, inspired many series, among them: Etruscan, Augury, Ceres, Demeter Landscape, Hera, Morocco, Hawaii, Ramses, Perne, Hatshepsut, Roman Walls, Zen, and Prague. His hometown, the Holocaust, and musicians inspired other series: Warren, Sleepers Awake!, Bela Bartok, and Four Heads of Anton Bruckner. Some series were works on paper, others were collage canvases, and a few series later spawned prints. Gray began using acrylics in the 1940s. Although the medium offered many benefits, he did not always like its appearance and frequently returned to oils. Around 1966 Gray was painting almost exclusively with acrylic, and eventually developed a technique of thinning the paint and applying successive layers of color (sometimes by pouring or with a sponge) on cotton duck rather than traditional canvas.

Gray was attracted to sculpture, too, working in that medium at different points in his career. His first sculpture, in plaster, was completed in 1959. In the early 1960s he visited a commercial sand-casting foundry and became excited about learning to cast in bronze. He made about a dozen sculptures to cast in sand, but due to too much undercutting, their casting became too difficult a problem. Lava flows seen while in Hawaii during 1970 and 1971 inspired a return to sculpture. This time, he used wood, papier maché, and metal. Gray then decided these pieces should be cast in bronze, and he was determined to do it himself. Friends taught him the lost wax process and he began working at the Tallix Foundry in Peekskill, New York where, over the next year, he cast about forty bronzes.

Gray's best known work is Threnody, a lament for the dead of both sides in Vietnam. In 1972, Gray received a commission to fill a very large gallery of the soon-to-open Neuberger Museum of Art (State University of New York, College at Purchase) designed by Philip Johnson. Friends of the Neuberger Museum paid his expenses and Gray, who was enormously excited about the project he considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, donated his time. Developing plans for the execution of Threnody consumed most of his time during 1972 and 1973. Composed of a series of fourteen panels, each approximately twenty feet square, the piece presented a number of technical challenges. It was constructed and painted in situ during the summer and early fall of 1973. Since then, Threnody has been reinstalled at the Neuberger Museum of Art on several occasions.

Gray was commissioned to design liturgical vestments for two Episcopal churches in Connecticut in the 1970s. A chasuble, stoles, and a mitre were commissioned by the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut in 1984.

He won the "Outdoor Art at the Station Competition," for Union Station, Hartford, Connecticut. His very large porcelain enamel tile mural, Movement in Space, was installed on the façade of the transportation center in 1988.

Gray began writing occasional articles and exhibition reviews in the late 1940s. His concern with rational structure in art led him to question Abstract Expressionism and write "Narcissus in Chaos." This article, published in 1959 by The American Scholar, drew considerable attention. In 1960, Cosmopolitan published "Women - Leaders of Modern Art" that featured Nell Blaine, Joan Brown, Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Sonia Gretchoff, Grace Hartigan, Ethel Magafan, Louise Nevelson, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Between 1960 and 1970, Gray was a contributing editor of Art In America, producing numerous articles (a few co-authored with Francine) and reviews for the periodical. He edited three books, David Smith by David Smith: Scupture and Writings, Hans Richter, and John Marin, all published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, and translated Marcel Duchamp's A l'Infinitif.

During the early 1960s, Gray became intensely focused on the situation in Vietnam. His first artistic response came in 1963 with Reverend Quan Duc, painted to commemorate a Buddhist monk who had immolated himself. Francine, too, felt strongly about the issue and over time the couple became increasingly active in the anti-war movement. They joined a number of organizations and helped to found a local chapter of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The years 1968 and 1969 were an especially intense and active period for the Grays. They protested, wrote and spoke out against the war, raised funds to support anti-war political candidates, and on a few occasions were arrested and jailed. Writing for Art in America, editing the book series, and anti-war activities left little time for his art. In 1970 Gray refocused his attention on painting.

Beginning in 1947, Gray was always represented by a New York Gallery: Jacques Seligmann and Co. (1947-1959), Staempfli Gallery (1960-1965), Saidenberg Gallery (1965-1968), Betty Parsons Gallery (1968-1983), Armstrong Gallery (1984-1987), and Berry-Hill Galleries (1988-2003). He was represented by galleries in other cities, as well, but not as consistently or for such long periods.

He exhibited extensively in group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally. In addition to numerous solo exhibitions presented by the dealers who represented Gray, there were retrospective exhibitions at: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, Columbus Museum of Art, Krannert Art Museum (University of Illinois, Champaign), Princeton University Art Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wadsworth Atheneum.

Many museums' permanent collections include the work of Cleve Gray, among them: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Butler Institute of American Art, Columbus Museum of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art (SUNY, College at Purchase), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Newark Museum, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Phillips Collection, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), Smithsonian Institution, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Yale University Art Gallery.

Cleve Gray served as artist-in-residence at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 1963 and at the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1970, both sponsored by Ford Foundation programs. In 1980, he was appointed an artist-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome, where Francine concurrently served as a writer-in-residence; they returned for shorter periods during each of the subsequent seven years. Cleve Gray was presented the Connecticut Arts Award in 1987, and the Neuberger Museum of Art Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Hartford in 1992, and was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998. In addition, he was a trustee of the Neuberger Museum of Art, New York Studio School, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wadsworth Atheneum.

Cleve Gray hit his head and suffered a massive subdural hematoma after falling on ice outside of his home. He died the following day, December 8, 2004.

Separated Material:

Exhibition catalogs and announcements and two scrapbooks donated to the Archives in 1967 and 1968 were microfilmed on reels D314-D315. Items on reel D315, transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library in 1975, are not described in this finding aid.

Provenance:

The Cleve Gray papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Mr. Gray in 1967 and 1968. The bulk of the collection was given by his widow, Francine du Plessix Gray, in 2007 and 2008.

Restrictions:

Use of original material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordigs with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Rights:

The Cleve Gray papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Painters  Search this

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Women artists -- Photographs  Search this

Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 -- Protest Movements -- United States  Search this

Sculptors  Search this

Designers  Search this

Genre/Form:

Poems

Articles

Photographs

Reviews (documents)

Notes

Illustrations

Notebooks

Sketches

Drafts (documents)

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Interviews

Manuscripts

Paintings

Prints

Watercolors

Drawings

Lectures

Citation:

Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.grayclev

See more items in:

Cleve Gray papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-grayclev

Creator:

Coggeshall, Calvert, 1907-1990  Search this

Names:

Artists Space (Gallery)  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Bowdoin College, Museum of Art  Search this

Jack Tilton Gallery  Search this

William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum  Search this

Evans, Walker, 1903-1975  Search this

Lekakis, Michael, 1907-  Search this

Morgan, Priscilla  Search this

Penn, Arthur, 1922-  Search this

Perkins, Frances  Search this

Shoji, Sadao, 1937-  Search this

Tworkov, Jack  Search this

Washburn, Gordon B. (Gordon Bailey), 1904-1983  Search this

Extent:

1.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Architectural drawings

Oral histories (document genres)

Notes

Transcripts

Essays

Blueprints

Photographs

Drafts (documents)

Poems

Date:

1920-1999

bulk 1965-1989

Summary:

The papers of Maine abstract painter and interior designer Calvert Coggeshall measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1920-1999, with the bulk of the material dating from 1965-1989. They consist of scattered biographical material, personal and business related correspondence, writings, exhibition files, design business files, printed material, and photographs of Coggeshall, his friends, and his work.

Scope and Contents note:

The papers of Maine abstract painter and designer Calvert Coggeshall measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1920-1999, with the bulk of the material dating from 1965-1989. They consist of biographical material, personal and business correspondence, personal writings, exhibition and business files, printed material, and photographs. The bulk of the material documents Coggeshall's professional work and his friendships with other artists.

Biographical material includes Coggeshall's personal address books and day planning notes, oral history transcripts, including an interview discussing his friendship with Walker Evans, a copy of his Guggenheim application and acceptance letters, and miscellaneous records.

Correspondence is predominantly in the form of cards, postcards, and short letters received from family and friends. These include correspondence from Coggeshall's father, children, his older grandchildren, and his mother-in-law, Frances Coralie Perkins. Other frequent correspondents include family friend Daphne Cox, artists Michael Lekakis, Loren McIver, Jack Tworkov, and museum director Gordon Washburn.

Personal writings consist of poetry notes and drafts and a short essay on church design.

Exhibition files concern Coggeshall's one man shows at the Betty Parsons Gallery during the 1970s and early 1980s, his retrospective at Bowdoin College in 1977, and his inclusion in shows at Artists Space, the Farnsworth Museum, and Jack Tilton Gallery.

Business files related to Coggeshall's interior design work consist of architectural renderings and blueprints, work proposals, invoices, and receipts. Some of the more significant projects include work done for Lisa de Kooning, Priscilla Morgan, Arthur Penn, and Shoji Sadao.

Printed material includes newspaper clippings, exhibition announcements from other artists, and a booklet showcasing abstract artists titled, "Artfully Taught."

Photographs are color and black and white prints of Coggeshall and his friends in his studio and outside his Newcastle, Maine residence. There are also black and white photographs of Coggeshall's early design work in furniture and fabric, as well as documentation of his gallery design work for the Albright Art Gallery.

Arrangement note:

The collection is arranged into 7 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1960-1990 (Box 1, OV 3; 8 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1920-1993 (Box 1, OV 3; 28 folders)

Series 3: Writings, 1965-1989 (Box 1; 5 folders)

Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1970-1992 (Box 1, OV 3; 12 folders)

Series 5: Business Files, 1973-1989 (Boxes 1-2, OV 4-5; 27 folders)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1950-1999 (Box 2, OV 3; 6 folders)

Series 7: Photographs, 1940-1985 (Box 2; 6 folders)

Biographical/Historical note:

Calvert Coggeshall (1907-1990) worked as an abstract painter and interior designer primarily in Maine and New York City. From 1951 to 1978, he exhibited regularly with the Betty Parsons Gallery.

Born in Whitesboro, New York, Coggeshall started his career as an interior designer, working on commissions for clients in the New York City area. He later consulted on the interior designs for Henry Dreyfuss'line of cruise/cargo ships called American Export, popular from the 1940s through the 1960s. In the 1940s, he also worked with inventor Arthur Young to design interiors for the first full-sized scale of Bell helicopter models. By the 1950s, Coggeshall began splitting his time between painting and design work, though he continued to regularly consult and work on several architectural and interior design projects throughout the 1980s.

As a painter, his early monochromatic abstracts were influenced by his friend and abstract expressionist, Bradley Walker Tomlin. An early member of Betty Parson's stable of painters, Coggeshall was friends with other artists, including Jack Tworkov, Grace Hartigan, Katharine Kuh, Nora Sayre, Hedda Sterne, and Richard Tuttle. After summering and eventually moving to Newcastle, Maine in the 1960s, he began introducing color into his abstract paintings. and A major retrospective of his work was held at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine in 1977. In 1978, he received a Guggenheim fellowship in recognition of his work. Working out of his studios in Newcastle and Manhattan, Coggeshall continued producing abstract paintings into the late 1980s. Coggeshall died in 1990.

Provenance:

The papers of Calvert Coggeshall were donated in 2006 by his son Tomlin Coggeshall.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Calvert Coggeshall papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Painters -- Maine  Search this

Topic:

Designers -- Maine  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Poets -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Interior decorators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Architectural drawings

Oral histories (document genres)

Notes

Transcripts

Essays

Blueprints

Photographs

Drafts (documents)

Poems

Citation:

Calvert Coggeshall papers, 1920-1999, bulk 1965-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.coggcalv

See more items in:

Calvert Coggeshall Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-coggcalv

Interviewee:

Rankine, V. V., 1920-2004  Search this

Interviewer:

Kirwin, Liza  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)  Search this

David Herbert Gallery  Search this

Institute of Contemporary Arts (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Jefferson Place Gallery  Search this

Albers, Josef  Search this

Bader, Franz, 1903-1994  Search this

Brooks, James, 1906-1992  Search this

Callahan, Harry M.  Search this

Cunningham, Merce  Search this

Davis, Gene, 1920-1985  Search this

De Kooning, Elaine  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Denney, Alice  Search this

Dorrance, Nesta  Search this

Downing, Thomas, 1928-1985  Search this

Duncan, Augustin  Search this

Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster), 1895-1983  Search this

Gabo, Naum, 1890-1977  Search this

Gilliam, Sam, 1933-  Search this

Gorky, Agnes  Search this

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948  Search this

Graham, John, 1887-1961  Search this

Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this

Halle, Kay  Search this

Hare, David, 1917-1992  Search this

Helburn, Theresa, 1887-1959  Search this

Johnson, Ray, 1927-1995  Search this

Kennedy, Kit  Search this

Kiesler, Frederick  Search this

Kinney, Gilbert H.  Search this

Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984  Search this

Lassaw, Ibram, 1913-2003  Search this

Leopold, Richard  Search this

Louis, Morris, 1912-1962  Search this

Magruder, Esther  Search this

Merrill, Kevin  Search this

Nelson, Wretha  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Newman, Bonnie  Search this

Noland, Kenneth, 1924-2010  Search this

Ozenfant, Amédée, 1886-1966  Search this

Pace, Stephen, 1918-2010  Search this

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Penn, Arthur, 1922-  Search this

Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Renault, Jean  Search this

Richman, Robert  Search this

Russo, Alexander  Search this

Sheridan, Walt  Search this

Sherman, Saul  Search this

Snelson, Kenneth, 1927-2016  Search this

Soyer, Moses, 1899-1974  Search this

Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987  Search this

Sweeney, James Johnson, 1900-  Search this

Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953  Search this

Truitt, Anne, 1921-2004  Search this

Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987  Search this

Yektai, Manoucher, 1922-  Search this

Youngerman, Jack, 1926-2020  Search this

Extent:

34 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1990 Mar. 2-22

Scope and Contents:

An interview of V. V. Rankine conducted 1990 Mar. 2-22, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art.

Rankine discusses the evolution of her nickname, V.V.; discovering her dyslexia; growing up in Boston; auditioning for a part in, "The Philadelphia Story"; her art studies with Amedee Ozenfant from 1944 to 1946; her studies at Black Mountain College with Josef Albers and Willem De Kooning in 1947; her friendship with Morris Louis and watching him work; living with her brother-in-law Arshile Gorky, in New York City; her first one-woman show at the David Herbert Gallery in New York in 1962; exhibiting at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York and at the Jefferson Place Gallery in Washington, D.C.; Robert Richman and the Institute of Contemporary Arts; the relationship between her painting and her sculpture; favorite shapes and materials; and her summer home in East Hampton and artist friends there. Rankine also recalls Robert Rauschenberg, Jack Youngerman, Manoucher Yektai, Betty Parsons, Ibram Lassaw, Buckminster Fuller, Elaine De Kooning, Arthur Penn, Richard Leopold, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Ken Noland, Morris Louis, Ray Johnson, Kenneth Snelson, David Hare, Frederick Kiesler, Raphael Soyer, Moses Soyer, Jean Renault, Agnes Gorky, Esther Magruder, James Johnson Sweeney, Jim Brooks, John Graham, Phillip Guston, Duncan Phillips, Theresa Helburn, Augustine Duncan, Tom Downing, Gene Davis, Alice Denney, Nesta Dorrance, Kevin Merrill, Sam Gilliam, Dylan Thomas, Kay Halle, Kit Kennedy, Naum Gabo, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Anne Truitt, Wretha Nelson, Franz Bader, Louise Nevelson, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Bonnie Newman, Alexander Russo, Walt Sheridan, Gilbert Kinney, Saul Sherman, Steve Pace, Lee Krasner, and others.

Biographical / Historical:

V.V. Rankine (1920-2004) was a painter and sculptor from Washington, D.C. Variable forms of the artist's name are notably E. R. (Elvine Richard) Rankine, Vivian Scott Rankine, and her married name, Mrs. Paul Scott.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 53 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 others.

Occupation:

Painters -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Sculptors -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews  Search this

Women artists -- Washington (D.C.)  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.

Identifier:

AAA.rankin90

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-rankin90

Creator:

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Martha Jackson Gallery  Search this

Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975  Search this

Brooks, James, 1906-1992  Search this

Burkhardt, Rudy  Search this

Cavaliere, Barbara  Search this

Davis, Bill  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994  Search this

Eames, Ray  Search this

Forge, Andrew  Search this

Friedman, B. H. (Bernard Harper), 1926-  Search this

Glaser, Jane R.  Search this

Gray, Cleve  Search this

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this

Gruen, John  Search this

Holmes, Doloris  Search this

Isaacs, Reginald R., 1911-  Search this

Janis, Sidney, 1896-1989  Search this

Johnson, Philip, 1906-2005  Search this

Kadish, Reuben, 1913-1992  Search this

Maddox, Charles  Search this

Matter, Mercedes  Search this

McCoy, Sanford, Mrs.  Search this

Miller, Daniel  Search this

Miller, Robert, 1932 Apr. 17-  Search this

Motherwell, Robert  Search this

Namuth, Hans  Search this

Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990  Search this

Pollock, Charles C.  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956 -- Photographs  Search this

Rose, Barbara  Search this

Rouche, Burton  Search this

Smith, Tony, 1912-  Search this

Still, Clyfford, 1904-  Search this

Valliere, James  Search this

Wasserman, Tamara E.  Search this

Wright, William  Search this

Zogbaum, Wilfrid, 1915-1965  Search this

Extent:

16.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Motion pictures (visual works)

Video recordings

Photographs

Interviews

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Transcripts

Date:

circa 1914-1984

bulk 1942-1984

Summary:

The papers of abstract expressionist painters Jackson Pollock and wife Lee Krasner measure 16.1 linear feet and date from circa 1914 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1942 to 1984. The collection documents their personal and professional lives, as well as the legacy of Jackson Pollock's work after his death. Found are biographical material, correspondence, writings by Krasner and others, research material, business and financial records, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork by others, photographs, interview transcripts, audio and video recordings, and motion picture film.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of abstract expressionist painters Jackson Pollock and wife Lee Krasner measure 16.1 linear feet and date from circa 1914 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1942 to 1984. The collection documents their personal and professional lives, as well as the legacy of Jackson Pollock's work after his death. Found are biographical material, correspondence, writings by Krasner and others, research material, business and financial records, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork by others, photographs, interview transcripts, audio and video recordings, and motion picture film.

The collection is divided into two series, the first of which focuses on Pollock and includes his scattered papers dating from circa 1914 to his death in 1956, as well as Krasner's papers dating from his death to 1984 about managing Pollock's legacy. This series includes biographical materials, including transcripts and audio recordings of an interview with William Wright in 1949; Pollock's and Krasner's correspondence with Thomas Hart Benton, Betty Parsons Gallery, Bill Davis, B. H. Friedman, Reginald Isaacs, Sidney Janis, Violet De Lazlo, Martha Jackson Gallery, Alfonso Ossorio, Tony Smith, and Clyfford Still, and with one another; Krasner's correspondence concerning Pollock's estate and artwork after his death; numerous writings about Pollock, including an original draft of Bryan Robertson's biography and an essay by Clement Greenberg.

James Valliere extensive research files on Pollock for a never-published biography were given to Krasner and filed in Series 1. These include scattered correspondence with Lee Krasner, and Pollock's family and friends, including Charles Pollock, Thomas Hart Benton, and Robert Motherwell. There are also transcripts of interviews Valliere conducted with Pollock's friends and colleagues, including James Brooks, Dorothy Dehner, Clement Greenberg, Reuben Kadish, Lee Krasner, Charles Maddox, Mrs. Sanford McCoy, Daniel T. Miller, Robert Miller, and Tony Smith. The original audio reels and duplicates exist for many and are filed here. Additional interviews were conducted with Willem de Kooning, Alfonso Ossorio, and Burton Rouche, but not transcribed - these are filed in Series 1.10, Audio Recordings and Motion Picture Film.

Also found in Series 1 are scattered business records documenting Krasner's handling of Pollock's estate and legacy; printed materials relating to Pollock, including published biographies, exhibition catalogs, and clippings; two scrapbooks; and a sketchbook by an unidentified artist. Numerous photographs of Pollock include childhood and family photographs, photographs of Pollock in his studio by Hans Namuth, Rudy Burckhardt, and Herbert Matter, photographs of Pollock with Lee Krasner, and exhibition photographs. Audio recordings and motion film in Series 1 include a 1964 16mm film about Pollock (VHS copies are available) and reel-to-reel recordings of untranscribed interviews of Pollock's friends and colleagues by James Valliere, including interviews with Willem de Kooning and Alfonso Ossorio. Additional transcribed interviews are filed in subseries 1.4.

Lee Krasner's papers documenting her own career are arranged in Series 2 and date from 1927-1984. Biographical materials include resumes and awards, school documents, family documentation, and exhibition lists. Her correspondence with artist friends and art colleagues is extensive and includes many letters from artists such as Philip Johnson, Ray Eames, Cleve Gray, and Hans Namuth. She also maintained correspondence with many art historians and critics, curators, gallery owners, collectors, arts-related and social organizations, admirers, and family members.

There are thirteen transcripts of interviews with Krasner by Bruce Glaser, Barbara Cavaliere, Andrew Forge, Emily Wasserman, Barbara Rose, and others. The original audio recordings for these transcripts are filed in series 2.10, along with other audio recordings for which there are no transcripts, including interviews by John Gruen, Delores Holmes, Mercedes Matter, the Martha Dean Radio Show, NBC Today Show, and WQXR radio. There are also audio recordings of Krasner's lectures in series 2.10.

Krasner's papers also include writings and reminiscences by Krasner; writings about Krasner; printed materials such as exhibition catalogs and clippings; and one scrapbook containing clippings and photographs. Numerous photographs are of Krasner, including portrait photographs taken by Hans Namuth; of Krasner with Jackson Pollock and family and friends, and of her exhibitions and artwork.

Users should note that Pollock's and Krasner's papers contain similar types of material that often overlap in subject matter, especially among the correspondence and photographs.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 2 series:

Series 1: Jackson Pollock papers and Lee Krasner papers about Jackson Pollock, circa 1914-1984 (Box 1-7, 16, OV 18, FC 19-22; 7.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Lee Krasner papers, circa 1927-1984 (Box 7-15, 17; 8.6 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Jackson Pollock was born in 1912, in Cody, Wyoming, the youngest of five sons. His family moved several times during his childhood, finally settling in Los Angeles. In 1930 he joined his older brother, Charles, in New York City, and studied with Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York. Pollock worked during the 1930s for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. During 1936 he worked in artist David Alfaro Siqueiros's Experimental Workshop. In 1938 he began psychiatric treatment for alcoholism, and his artwork was greatly influenced by Jungian analysis and the exploration of unconscious symbolism.

In 1943 Pollock had his first one-man exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim's New York gallery, Art of this Century, and continued to exhibit there over the next several years. A major turning point in Pollock's life and art was in 1945 when he married fellow artist Lee Krasner and moved to East Hampton, Long Island. There he developed his mature painting style, and became famous for his abstract pouring technique on large canvases. The height of his creativity spanned from 1947 to 1952, and his work was promoted by art critic Clement Greenberg. Along with other abstract expressionists including Hans Hofmann, Alfonso Ossorio, and Barnett Newman, he joined the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1947. He had his most successful one-man show in 1950 which was widely publicized and praised. This exhibition, combined with a 1949 feature article in LIFE magazine, made Pollock an American celebrity.

In 1952 Pollock moved his work to Sidney Janis Gallery and returned to earlier motifs in a search for new breakthroughs. The last few years of his life he suffered from mental and physical health problems, and in August, 1956 he died in a car accident. His wife, Lee Krasner, oversaw his estate and worked with many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, on Pollock retrospective exhibitions.

Lee Krasner was born Lenore Krassner in 1908 in Brooklyn, New York to Russian immigrant parents. In 1926 she was admitted to the Women's Art School of The Cooper Union, and in 1928 she attended the Art Students League. After graduating from The Cooper Union in 1929, she attended the National Academy of Design until 1932. After briefly attending City College and Greenwich House, she worked for the Public Works of Art Project and the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, and finally became an assistant in 1935 on the WPA Federal Art Project, Mural Division. From 1937 to 1940 she studied at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts and began exhibiting with the American Abstract Artists group.

In 1942 Krasner met Pollock as they were both preparing to exhibit work in the same show. Although they married and she became immersed in his career, she continued to exhibit her own work with other abstract artists and from 1946 to 1949 worked on the Little Image painting series. In 1953 she began working on collages, a medium she would come back to again later in her career. After Pollock's death her work was greatly influence by her sadness and anger, creating a visible evolution of her style.

For the rest of her career, Krasner consistently exhibited her work in both group and solo exhibitions. She had her first retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 1965, and in 1966, she joined Marlborough Gallery, New York which represented Pollock's work as well. In the 1970s and early 1980s Krasner won many awards for her achievement in the visual arts, including the Augustus St. Gaudens Medal and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She returned to the medium of collage, and in 1976 joined the Pace Gallery, New York. In 1981 she joined the Robert Miller Gallery, New York. Lee Krasner continued creating art until her death in 1984.

Related Material:

Found in the Archives of American Art are the Charles Pollock Papers, 1902-1990, which includes correspondence, photographs, and other files relating to his brother, Jackson Pollock. Other resources in the Archives are oral history interviews with Lee Krasner, including a series of interviews conducted by Dorothy Seckler between 1964 and 1968, and interviews conducted by Barbara Rose in 1966 and Doloris Holmes in 1972.

Provenance:

The papers of Jackson Pollock were donated in 1983 by Lee Krasner through Eugene V. Thaw shortly before her death. Additional material about Pollock and the papers of Lee Krasner were donated in 1985 by Eugene V. Thaw, executor of Lee Krasner's estate.

Restrictions:

The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.

Rights:

The Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State)  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Economic aspects  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Genre/Form:

Motion pictures (visual works)

Video recordings

Photographs

Interviews

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Transcripts

Citation:

Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers, circa 1914-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:

AAA.polljack

See more items in:

Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-polljack

Interviewee:

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Interviewer:

Cummings, Paul  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Club (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Wakefield Gallery  Search this

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948  Search this

Graham, John, 1887-1961  Search this

Janis, Sidney, 1896-1989  Search this

Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970  Search this

Okada, Kenzo, 1902-1982  Search this

Extent:

44 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1969 June 4-9

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Betty Parsons conducted 1969 June 4-9, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Parsons speaks of her family background; her years in Paris; living in California for four years; teaching sculpture and drawing; the Wakefield Gallery; the establishment of her own gallery, and some of her clients and artists; a pre-Columbian show at her gallery; the New York gallery scene; her own collection; her affiliation with Arshile Gorky and John Graham; the importance of The Club; and the influence of critics and art magazines. She recalls Kenzo Okada, Barnett Newman and Sidney Janis.

Biographical / Historical:

Betty Parsons (1900-1982) was a painter and art dealer from New York, N.Y.

General:

Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 7 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 others.

Topic:

Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.parson69

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-parson69

Creator:

Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this

Names:

Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts  Search this

Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts (Provincetown, Mass.)  Search this

Amgott, Madeline  Search this

Dickey, Tina, 1954-  Search this

Hawthorne, Charles Webster, 1872-1930  Search this

Hofmann, Maria, 1885-1963  Search this

Hofmann, Renate Schmitz, 1930-1992  Search this

Mauer, Alfred  Search this

Extent:

29.92 Linear feet

5 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Transcripts

Interviews

Photographs

Date:

circa 1904-2011

Summary:

The papers of painter, teacher, and writer Hans Hofmann measure 29.92 linear feet and 5.00 GB and date from circa 1904 to 2011, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1945 to 2000. The majority of the papers were created after 1932 and document Hofmann's life and professional career after settling in the United States. Among his papers are personal and professional correspondence; records of his schools in Munich, New York City, and Provincetown, Mass.; writings and notes; financial records; photographs; printed matter; estate records; and a small number of personal papers of his second wife, Renate Schmitz Hofmann. Hofmann's personal papers are augmented by a large selection of printed matter, including exhibition catalogs, articles, news clippings, and monographs about Hofmann and modern art, as well as documentary projects including Tina Dickey's compilation of oral histories and records of Hofmann's students, and research materials, sound and video recordings, digital material, and motion picture film created and gathered by Madeline Amgott during the production of two video documentaries about Hans Hofmann released in 1999 and 2002. Hofmann's Library was acquired with his papers; inscribed/annotated volumes have been retained with the collection.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of painter, teacher, and writer Hans Hofmann measure 29.92 linear feet and 5.00 GB and date from circa 1904 to 2011, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1945 to 2000. The majority of the papers were created after 1932 and document Hofmann's life and professional career after settling in the United States. Among his papers are personal and professional correspondence; records of his schools in Munich, New York City, and Provincetown, Mass.; writings and notes; photographs; address and appointment books; artifacts; artwork; biographical information; interview transcripts; sales and estate records; and a small number of personal papers of his second wife, Renate Schmitz Hofmann. Hofmann's personal papers are augmented by a large selection of printed matter, including exhibition catalogs, articles, news clippings, and monographs about Hofmann and modern art, as well as documentary projects including Tina Dickey's compilation of oral histories and records of Hofmann's students, and research materials, sound and video recordings, digital materials, and motion picture film created and gathered by Madeline Amgott during the production of two video documentaries about Hans Hofmann released in 1999 and 2002. Hofmann's Library was acquired with his papers; inscribed/annotated volumes have been retained with the collection.

Correspondence, 1914-1966 (Series 1), consists mainly of incoming letters about professional matters and personal business. A large portion of the letters are from museum directors and curators regarding the exhibition, loan, sale or donation of Hofmann's work; publishers, editors, and others preparing catalogs or biographical works; and galleries that showed Hofmann's paintings or represented him. Also among the correspondents are students and former students, art historians, art critics, fans, and friends. Family correspondents are a sister-in-law, nieces, and a nephew in Germany. Additional correspondence concerning administrative matters, and requests for catalogs, transcripts and recommendations are among the Records of the School of Fine Arts (Series 2). Financial Records (Series 4) contain a small amount of correspondence regarding banking, taxes, and Social Security. Estate Records (Series 9) include correspondence relating to taxes, the sale of Hofmann's Provincetown house, and various legal documents. Correspondence among the Papers of Renate Schmitz Hofmann (Series 10) include condolence letters, and a small number of personal letters and business correspondence regarding Hofmann's estate.

School of Fine Arts Records, 1915-1965 (Series 2), include a very small number of items relating to the Hans Hofmann Schule fur Bildende Kunst that operated in Munich from 1915 until 1933. These are printed prospectuses, a financial record, 1925; and "Italian Schools of Painting: The Renaissance in Italy," a printed chart, probably used as a teaching aid. Other items relating to the Munich school are photographs (Series 6) of Hans Hofmann with students in the 1920s, including some taken during the summer course in Capri, circa 1925. Travel photographs, 1920s, may have been taken while teaching summer courses in Europe, and an unidentified photograph, undated, of an exhibition installation in Germany may be school-related.

The Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts was established in New York in 1933, and his summer school in Provincetown, Mass., opened in 1934; both operated continually until Hofmann closed them in 1958 in order to paint full-time. Records of these schools are more substantial, but still quite incomplete. They consist of administrative files containing accreditation records, correspondence, model bookings, inquiries from prospective students, and printed matter about the schools. Financial records are comprised of expense statements and an analysis of income from the 1956 summer session. Student records consist of student ledgers, registration and payment records, and requests for transcripts and recommendations. Miscellaneous items are student artwork and notes. Records postdating the schools' closing are inquiries from prospective students and requests from former students for transcripts or recommendations. Additional letters from former students about matters other than transcripts and recommendations are filed with Correspondence (Series 1).

Writings, circa 1904-1965 (Series 3), are published and unpublished manuscripts by Hans Hofmann and other authors. Hoffman wrote extensively about his philosophy of painting, about himself as a teacher and an artist, and about modern art. Included are manuscripts, drafts, and revisions of Hofmann's book, Das Malerbuch: Form und Farbe in Gestaltung, circa 1904-[1952?], Search for the Real in the Visual Arts and Other Essays, published in 1948, and The Painter and His Problems-A Manual Dedicated to Painting, 1963. Articles and Essays include the constituent essays of Search for the Real in the Visual Arts and Other Essays and others on theoretical aspects of painting, Alfred Maurer, and Charles W. Hawthorne. Talks and Lectures consist of notes, outlines, and some complete texts of Hofmann's speeches. Miscellaneous Writings are shorter, informative pieces, mostly unpublished. Representative titles include: "I Am Often Asked to Explain My Work," 1946, and "About the Relation of Students and Teachers," undated. Poems by Hofmann include some written to Miz Hofmann. Notes and Lists include notes on specific works of art and lists of paintings for exhibitions, framing, and shipping.

Financial Records, 1927-1966 (Series 4), consist mainly of banking records and tax returns with supporting documentation. There are also statements of assets and liabilities, and a few subject files concerning financial matters such as "House Expenses," "Social Security," and "University of California-Financial Standing With." Additional tax records are among the documents of the Estate of Hans Hofmann (Series 9), and expenses are recorded in his 1932 appointment book (Series 5).

Miscellaneous Records, 1906-1966 (Series 5) include Addresses and Appointment Books. Artifacts are a leather wallet and 6 photogravure blocks. Artwork consists of 4 sketches and block prints of 3 red shapes, one the numeral 5. Included with Biographical Information are birth and marriage certificates, immigration and naturalization papers, wills, Hofmann and Wolfegg family documents, biographical notes and chronologies, and a bibliography of writings on and by Hofmann. Interview Transcripts are of 3 interviews with Hofmann conducted for various purposes. Sales Records include lists of paintings sold through galleries and privately, and a list of prices computed by canvas size.

Photographs, circa 1925-1966 (Series 6) are of People, Events, Places, Works of Art, and Miscellaneous Subjects; also, Oversize Photographs. People include views of Hofmann alone and with Miz, students, and others; Miz Hofmann; Renate Schmitz Hofmann; and the Hofmann family. Also, there are pictures of identified and unidentified individuals and groups. Events recorded are "Forum 49" at Gallery 200, exhibition installations, openings, and ceremonies for honorary degrees awarded Hofmann. Photographs of places include Miz Hofmann's Munich apartment; interior and exterior views of Hofmann's Provincetown house; exterior views of the Provincetown school; Hofmann's New York studio; and unidentified houses and landscapes. Travel pictures are of Italy, Mexico, California [?], and unidentified locations. Photographs of works of art by Hofmann are mainly 35-mm color slides of works completed from 1935 to 1965. There are also photographs of works by other artists and Hofmann students. Teaching materials are photographs of Old Masters paintings, drawings, and Classical sculpture, some marked to indicate line, form, or proportion. Miscellaneous subjects are a dog, cat, and doll; also, a cover design for Search for the Real in the Visual Arts. The oversize photographs include portraits of Hans Hofmann and Miz, and works of art by Hofmann students.

Printed Matter, 1930-1978 (Series 7), contains articles, essays and a letter to the editor by Hans Hofmann; the remaining material by other authors is categorized by type. Exhibition Catalogs and Related Items (mainly announcements and invitations), 1931-1978, undated, are from group and solo shows that featured the work of Hans Hofmann; also, catalogs and announcements of other artists' exhibitions collected by Hofmann. Newspaper clippings and articles from periodicals include reviews, feature articles, articles with brief references to Hofmann or reproductions of his work, and obituaries. Others are on art-related topics and miscellaneous subjects. Miscellaneous printed matter includes a variety of items such as brochures about art courses (not the Hofmann school), reproductions of works by Hofmann and other artists, book prospectuses, and statements. Art Museum: A Center for Cultural Study, a prospectus showing models and drawings of the proposed University Art Museum, Berkeley, notes the location of its Maria and Hans Hofmann Wing. A Scrapbook, 1944-1962, contains clippings, exhibition reviews, and some catalogs, checklists, and invitations. Nineteen books that mention or are about Hofmann are a part of this series.

Hans Hofmann's Library (Series 8) of art books and general literature was acquired with his papers. Inscribed and annotated volumes have been retained. Books about or mentioning Hofmann are among Printed Matter (Series 7). All other books and periodicals (376 items) were transferred to the Library of the Smithsonian's American Art Museum.

Estate of Hans Hofmann, 1945-1974 (Series 9), consists of records of Hofmann's attorney and co-executor, Robert Warshaw, and includes correspondence and legal documents concerning taxes, the Provincetown house, and miscellaneous business matters.

Papers of Renate Schmitz Hofmann, 1962-1967 (Series 10), include notes, correspondence, condolence letters and records regarding Hans Hofmann's funeral, and information about the theft of Hofmann paintings from his Provincetown house in 1966.

Hans Hofmann Documentary Projects, 1944-2011 (Series 11) includes research materials compiled by Tina Dickey concerning Hofmann's students, correspondence as well as primary source and supplementary research materials produced and gathered by Madeline Amgott for two video documentaries on Hofmann released in 1999 and 2002. Original and edited audiovisual recordings are included in the series, as well as primary source material gathered from a variety of sources. Some material is in digital format.

Arrangement:

The Hans Hofmann papers are arranged into 11 series. Correspondence (Series 1), Financial Records (Series 4), and Papers of Renate Schmitz Hofmann (Series 10) are arranged alphabetically by folder title. Unless noted otherwise, material within each folder is arranged chronologically.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1914-1966 (3 linear feet; Box 1-3)

Series 2: School of Fine Arts records, 1915-1965 (2 linear feet; Box 4-5)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1904-1965 (2.5 linear feet; Box 6-8)

Series 4: Financial records, 1927-1966 (0.5 linear feet; Box 8)

Series 5: Miscellaneous records, 1906-1966 (0.8 linear feet; Box 9)

Series 6: Photographic materials, circa 1925-1965 (1.5 linear feet; Box 9-10, Box 19, MGP 1)

Series 7: Printed material, 1928-1978 (5.2 linear feet; Box 11-15, Box 20)

Series 8: Hans Hofmann Library (2.5 linear feet; Box 16-18, Box 20)

Series 9: Estate of Hans Hofmann, 1945-1974 (0.5 linear feet; Box 18)

Series 10: Papers of Renate Schmitz Hofmann, 1962-1967 (0.1 linear feet; Box 18)

Series 11: Hans Hofmann Documentary Projects, 1944-2011 (12.3 linear feet; Box 19, 21-31, FC 32-44, 5.00 GB; ER01-ER04)

Biographical Note:

German-born Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), a leading figure of the 20th century art world, was the first painter to be called an Abstract Expressionist. An esteemed and influential teacher, Hofmann operated his own school in Munich and later in New York City and Provincetown, Mass. He wrote extensively on theoretical aspects of modern art, and about himself as an artist and teacher, and was in demand as a speaker. Hofmann alternated among a variety of styles and techniques throughout his career. Many paintings combine Fauve-inspired color and Cubist structure; influenced by the Surrealist's automatism, much of Hofmann's abstract work often uses poured and spattered paint.

Johann (Hans) Georg Albert Hofmann showed musical and artistic talent as a boy and excelled in the study of science and mathematics. Technical knowledge acquired through working as assistant to the Director of Public Works of the State of Bavaria enabled him, while still a teenager, to invent several mechanical devices. Hofmann attended Moritz Heymann's Munich art school in 1898. Willi Schwarz, one of his teachers during this period, introduced him to Impressionism, and by visiting galleries Hofmann's awareness of contemporary art movements expanded. Schwarz also introduced him to art collector Phillip Freudenberg whose patronage made a move to Paris possible.

Hofmann arrived in Paris in 1904 and began attending evening sketch classes at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie de la Chaumière where Matisse was among his fellow students. During his 10 years in Paris, Hofmann established a close friendship with Robert Delaunay and met Braque, Arthur B. Carles, Léger, Picasso, and Leo Stein. He painted Cubist landscapes, still lifes, and figure studies, and participated in group shows with Neue Sezessions, Berlin, 1908 and 1909. In 1910, the Paul Cassierer Gallery, Berlin, presented Hofmann's first solo exhibition.

When World War I broke out, Hofmann was visiting Germany. War conditions prevented his return to Paris and terminated Freudenberg's financial assistance. Disqualified for military service due to a lung condition, Hofmann decided to earn his living by teaching. The Hans Hofmann Schule für Bildende Kunst in Munich opened in 1915 and was a success from its earliest days. Beginning in 1917, summer courses were offered in locations such as Italy, France, Bavaria, and Dalmatia. After the war, Hofmann's school began to attract American students including Carl Holty, Alfred Jensen, Louise Nevelson, Worth Ryder, Vaclav Vytlacil, and Glenn Wessels.

Hofmann first came to the United States in 1930, when former student Worth Ryder, art department chairman at the University of California, Berkeley, invited him to teach the summer session at Berkeley. He returned to California the following year, teaching a semester at the Chouinard School of Art, Los Angeles, followed by another summer session at Berkeley. Hofmann moved to New York in 1932 because of the political situation at home and at the urging of his wife, who was to remain in Germany until 1939.

While Hofmann served as guest instructor at the Thurn School of Art, Gloucester, Mass., during the summers of 1932 and 1933, his Munich school offered summer sessions taught by Edmund Daniel Kinzinger. Its 1933 prospectus noted, "Mr. Hofmann will probably conduct the summer school personally..." But he did not return, and the school closed in the fall of 1933.

Hofmann taught at Art Students League in the fall of 1932. The Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts opened in New York City in the autumn of 1933, operating in several locations before moving to permanent quarters at 52 West 8th Street in 1938. He established the summer school at Provincetown, Mass. in 1934. Firsthand knowledge of Picasso, Matisse, and european modern art trends, along with his theories and the freedom he offered students, made Hofmann a widely admired, influential, and important teacher. Among his students were: Burgoyne Diller, Ray Eames, Helen Frankenthaler, Red Grooms, Harry Holtzman, Allen Kaprow, Lillian Kiesler, Lee Krasner, George McNeil, Irene Rice Pereira, and Richard Stankiewicz. In addition, art critic Clement Greenberg was significantly influenced by Hofmann's lectures on artistic theory. Both schools flourished until Hofmann decided to close them in 1958; after teaching for 43 consecutive years, he wanted to paint full-time.

In his writings, Hofmann expanded on theories regarding form, color, and space developed during his years in Paris. His most important text, Das Malerbuch: Form und Farbe in Gestaltung, based on notes begun in Paris circa 1904, was written during his second summer at Berkeley, 1931. That same year, Glenn Wessels translated it into English as Creation in Form and Color. Although Hofmann produced additional notes and revisions over the next two decades, the manuscript remains unpublished. Hofmann wrote essays and articles, many of which were published. A collection of Hofmann's writings, Search for the Real and Other Essays, was published in conjunction with his 1948 retrospective exhibition at the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Mass., the first solo show of an Abstract Expressionist to be organized by a museum. Other published and unpublished articles, essays, and shorter writings that elucidate his theoretical concerns include: "The Mystification of the Two- and Three-Dimensional in the Visual Arts," 1946; "Pictorial Function of Colours," 1950; "Space Pictorially Realized Through the Intrinsic Faculty of the Colours to Express Volume," 1951; "The Color Problem in Pure painting-Its Creative Origin," 1955; "The Creative Process-Its Physical and Metaphysical Performing," 1956; "Nature as Experience and Its Pictorial Realization," undated; and "Pure Colour Space," undated.

Hofmann's lectures to his own students, and talks presented to art groups and the general public addressed many of the same themes. He gave his first American lecture in 1930 at the University of Minnesota, and presented talks to a variety of groups while in California. Hofmann was a frequent speaker at the Provincetown Art Association, and participated in the "Forum 49" series he helped to organize at Gallery 200 in Provincetown, 1949.

In the last decade of his life, Hofmann produced a large number of paintings. He was represented in the XXX Venice Biennale, 1960, and major retrospective exhibitions were organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1957, and the Museum of Modern Art, 1963. In 1963, he made a gift of 45 paintings to the University of California, Berkeley, and funded construction of a wing to house them in the soon-to-be-built University Art Museum. Hans Hofmann died in New York City on Feb. 17, 1966.

1880 -- Hans Hofmann is born in Weissenburg, Bavaria, on 21 March, the son of Theodor and Franziska Hofmann.

1886 -- The family moves to Munich, where Theodor becomes a government official. Hans studies mathematics, science, and music at the gymnasium. He plays the violin, piano and organ and begins to draw.

1896 -- With his father's help, finds a position as assistant to the director of public works of the State of Bavaria. Develops his technical knowledge of mathematics, resulting in several scientific inventions, including an electromagnetic comptometer.

1898 -- Studies with Willi Schwarz at Moritz Heymann's art school in Munich, where he is introduced to Impressionism.

1900 -- Meets Maria (Miz) Wolfegg, his future wife.

1903 -- Through Willi Schwarz, he meets the nephew of a Berlin collector, Philipp Freudenberg, who becomes his patron from 1904-1914 and enables him to live in Paris.

1904 -- Frequents the Café du Dome, a haunt of artists and writers, with Jules Pascin, a friend from Moritz Heymann's school. Miz joins him in Paris. Attends evening sketch class at the Académie de la Grand Chaumière and the Académie Colarossi. Meets Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Henri Matisse.

1908 -- Exhibits with the Neue Sezession in Berlin and again in 1909. Miz designs scarves with Sonia Delaunay (then Sonia Uhde).

1910 -- First one-person exhibition held at Paul Cassirer Gallery, Berlin. Meets Robert Delaunay, with whom he designs patterns for Sonia Delaunay's Cubist fashions. During their close friendship, both men develop as colorists.

1914 -- Hans and Miz leave Paris for Corsica so that Hans can regain his health during a bout of what turned out to be tuberculosis. Called to Germany by the illness of his sister Rosa, they are caught on the Tegernsee by the outbreak of World War I.

1915 -- Disqualified for the army due to the after effects of his lung condition, and with the assistance of Freudenberg terminated by the war, Hofmann decides to earn a living teaching. In the spring, he opens the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts at 40 Georgenstrasse, Munich.

1918-29 -- After the war his school becomes known abroad and attracts foreign students such as Worth Ryder, Glenn Wessels, Louise Nevelson, Vaclav Vytlacil, Carl Holty, Alfred Jensen, and Ludwig Sander. Holds summer session at Tegernsee, Bavaria (1922), Ragusa (1924), Capri (1925-1927), St. Tropez (1928-1929). Makes frequent trips to Paris. Has little time to paint but draws continually.

1924 -- Marries Miz Wolfegg on 5 June.

1929 -- A series of his drawings is reproduced by a photographic process known as Lichtdrucke.

1930 -- At the invitation of Worth Ryder, teaches in a summer session at the University of California, Berkeley, where Ryder is chairman of the Department of Art. Returns to Munich for the winter.

1931 -- In the spring, teaches at the Chouinard School of Art, Los Angeles, and again at Berkeley in the summer. Wessels helps him with the first translation of his book Form und Farbe in der Gestaltung, begun in 1904. Exhibits a series of drawings at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, his first show in the United States.

1932 -- Returns to the Chouinard School of Art in the summer. Advised by Miz not to return to Munich because of a growing political hostility to intellectuals, settles in New York. Vaclav Vytlacil helps arrange a teaching position for him at the Art Students League.

1932-33 -- Summer sessions at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts continue in St. Tropez (1932) and Murnau (1933), taught by Edmund Daniel Kinzinger. The school closes in the fall of 1933, and Miz gives up the lease in 1936.

1933 -- Spends the summer as guest instructor at the Thurn School of Art in Gloucester, Mass. In the fall, opens the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts at 444 Madison Avenue in New York. After a prolonged period of drawing, begins to paint again.

1934 -- Upon the expiration of his visa, travels to Bermuda to return with a permanent visa. Opens a summer school in Provincetown, Mass. The Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts opens at 137 East 57th Street in New York. In 1936, the Hofmann School moves to 52 West 9th Street.

1938 -- The Hofmann School moves to 52 West 8th Street. A planned European summer session (traveling to Paris, the Cote d'Azure, Italy, and Capri) is called off after Hitler moves into Austria in the Spring. Delivers a lecture series once a month at the school in the winter of 1938-39, which is attend by the vanguard of the New York art world, including Arshile Gorky and Clement Greenberg.

1939 -- Miz Hofmann arrives in America. After a stay in New Orleans, joins her husband in Provincetown. They spend five months each summer in Provincetown and the rest of the year in New York.

1941 -- Becomes an American citizen. Delivers an address at the annual meeting of the American Abstract Artists at the Riverside Museum. One-person exhibition at the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans.

1942 -- Hofmann's former student Lee Krasner introduces him to Jackson Pollock.

1944 -- First exhibition in New York at Art of This Century Gallery, arranged by Peggy Guggenheim. "Hans Hofmann, Paintings, 1941-1944" opens at the Arts Club in Chicago and travels on to the Milwaukee Art Institute in January 1945. Howard Putzel includes Hofmann in "Forty American Moderns" at 67 Gallery, New York. He is also included in "Abstract and Surrealist Art in America" at the Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York (arranged by Sidney Janis in conjunction with publication of Janis's book of the same title).

1947 -- Exhibitions at Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, in Pittsburgh, and at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The Texas show travels to Denton, Tex.; Norman, Okla.; and Memphis, Tenn. Begins to exhibit with the Kootz Gallery in New York. Kootz holds a one-person show of Hofmann's work each year until his death (with the exception of 1948 and 1956).

1948 -- Retrospective exhibition a the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Mass., in conjunction with publication of his book, Search For the Real and Other Essays.

1949 -- Travels to Paris to attend the opening of his exhibition at the Galerie Maeght and visits the studios of Picassso, Braque, Constantin Brancusi, and Joan Miro. Helps Fritz Bultman and Weldon Kees organize Forum 49, a summer series of lectures, panels, and exhibitions at Gallery 200 in Provincetown.

1950 -- Participates in a three-day symposium at Studio 35 in New York with William Baziotes, James Brooks, Willem de Kooning, Herbert Ferber, Theodoros Stamos, David Smith, and Bradley Walker Tomlin. Joins the "Irascibles"-a group of Abstract Expressionists-in an open letter protesting the exclusion of the avant-garde from an upcoming exhibition of American art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

1951 -- Juries the 60th Annual Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago with Aline Louchheim and Peter Blume.

1954 -- One-person exhibition held at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

1955 -- Designs mosaic murals for the lobby of the new William Kaufmann Building, architect William Lescaze, at 711 Third Avenue, New York. Retrospective held at the Art Alliance in Philadelphia.

1957 -- Retrospective exhibitions held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, which then travel to Des Moines, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, Utica, and Baltimore.

1958 -- Hofmann ceases teaching to devote himself full time to painting. He moves his studio into the New York and Provincetown schools. Completes a mosaic mural for the exterior of the New York School of Printing (Kelley and Gruzen, architects) at 439 West 49th Street.

1960 -- Represents the United States with Philip Guston, Franz Kline, and Theodore Roszak at the XXX Venice Biennale.

1962 -- Retrospective exhibition opens in Germany at the Frankische Galerie am Marientor, Nuremberg, and travels to the Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, and the Kongreilhalle, Berlin. In Munich, Neue Galerie im Kunstlerhaus presents "Oils on Paper, 1961-1962." Awarded an honorary membership in the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Nuremberg and an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Dartmouth College in Hanover, N. H.

1963 -- Miz Hofmann dies. Retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art organized by William Seitz travels throughout the United States and internationally to locations in South America and Europe, including Stuttgart, Hamburg, and Bielefeld. Signs a historic agreement to donate 45 paintings to the University of California at Berkeley and to fund the construction of a gallery in his honor at the new university museum, then in the planning stage. The exhibition "Hans Hofmann and His Students," organized by the Museum of Modern Art, circulates in the United States and Canada.

1964 -- Awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Serves on the jury for the 1964 Solomon Guggenheim International Award. Becomes a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York. Renate Schmitz inspires the Renate series.

1965 -- Awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Pratt Institute, New York. Marries Renate Schmitz on 14 October.

1966 -- Hans Hofmann dies on 17 February in New York.

Related Material:

The holdings of the Archives of American Art include papers and oral history interviews of many former students and friends of Hofmann; among these collections are correspondence, photographs, reminiscences, writings, and printed items relating to Hofmann and his school. The Lillian Kiesler Papers, 1920s-1990s include records of the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts. Researchers are advised to conduct a name search in the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS).

Other Hans Hofmann Papers, 1929-1976 (1.65 linear ft.) are owned by The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (Collection number: BANC MSS 80/27 c). An inventory is available on The Bancroft Library's website at http//www.lib.berkeley.edu/BANC/

Separated Materials:

Monographs and periodicals (376 items) from Hofmann's Library not directly related to the artist were transferred to the Library of the Smithsonian's American Art Museum in 2001. The Library retained relevant volumes, dispersed others to appropriate libraries within the Smithsonian Institution, and made final decisions regarding disposition of any remaining items.

Provenance:

Renate Schmitz Hofmann, widow of the artist, donated to the Archives of American Art 313 35-mm color slides of work by Hans Hofmann in 1974. The remainder of the collection was a gift of the Estate of Hans Hofmann in 1997. Tina Dickey donated her research material in 2000 and 2001 under the auspices of the Renate, Hans, and Maria Hofmann Trust. In 2006, additional manuscripts, notes, and illustrations for Hofmann's Das Malerbuch: Form und Farbe in der Gestaltung were received from the Trust. In 2015, the Trust donated additional correspondence, research and video production materials related to two documentaries on Hans Hofmann by Madeline Amgott. 13.0 linear ft. books, exhibition catalogs, and periodicals (376 items) from Hofmann's library, received with the collection, were transferred to the Smithsonian's American Art Museum-National Portrait Gallery Library.

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 Hans Hofmann papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Authotization to quote or reproduce, for purposes of publication, the 1998 May 27 interview of Max Spoerri by Tina Dickey requires written permission from Max Spoerri.

Occupation:

Painters  Search this

Art teachers  Search this

Topic:

Motion pictures (visual works)  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Art -- Philosophy  Search this

Authors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Authors -- Massachusetts  Search this

Art schools -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Art schools -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Study and teaching  Search this

Art students -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Transcripts

Interviews

Photographs

Citation:

Hans Hofmann papers, circa 1904-2011, bulk 1945-2000. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.hofmhans

See more items in:

Hans Hofmann papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-hofmhans

Creator:

Hall, Lee  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Ajay, Abe  Search this

De Kooning, Elaine  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Extent:

7.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Video recordings

Date:

circa 1870s-2017

bulk 1975-2010

Summary:

The papers of painter, author, and arts administrator Lee Hall measure 7.4 linear feet and date from circa 1870-2017, bulk 1975 to 2010. The papers document Hall's career through biographical material, correspondence, writings, studio records, printed material, photographic material, and artwork. Included is significant documentation on Hall's book projects, including biographies of Betty Parsons, Abe Ajay, and Willem and Elaine de Kooning.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of painter, author, and arts administrator Lee Hall measure 7.4 linear feet and date from circa 1870-2017, bulk 1975 to 2010. The papers document Hall's career through biographical material, correspondence, writings, studio records, printed material, photographic material, and artwork. Included is significant documentation on Hall's book projects, including biographies of Betty Parsons, Abe Ajay, and Willem and Elaine de Kooning.

Biographical material includes business cards, résumé and biographical texts, travel documents, and awards. Correspondence is professional and personal in nature and includes some collected historic correspondence from unknown authors. Correspondence regarding specific writing projects is found in the Writings series. The Writings series includes journals and notebooks focusing primarily on Hall's travels and study of Classics including the Greek language. The Writing Projects subseries includes titles intended for publication as well as college papers, essays, and lectures. Published titles are often accompanied by book proposals, contracts, research material, interviews, and correspondence. Also included are writings by others including reviews regarding Hall's art career. Studio records include artwork inventories, loan paperwork, and the mechanical for an exhibition catalog. Printed material includes exhibition invitations for Lee Hall's art career, exhibition catalogs for Hall's exhibitions and that of Betty Parsons, and general printed material regarding Elaine de Kooning, as well as press clippings on various topics. Photographic materials include images of Lee Hall and her circle of friends including Betty Parsons, images of Hall in her studio, installation images of Hall's exhibitions at the Betty Parsons Gallery, and extensive photographs of Hall's travels to the Mediterranean, primarily to Greece and Turkey. The Artwork series includes sketches, watercolors and other small paintings by Lee, as well as illustrated manuscripts for children's book titles.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in seven series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1970-2010 (0.2 Linear Feet; Boxes 1, 7)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1870-2016 (0.3 Linear Feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1920-2010 (4.0 Linear Feet; Boxes 1-5)

Series 4: Studio Records, circa 1973-2010 (0.2 Linear Feet; Box 5)

Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1914-2016 (0.4 Linear Feet; Boxes 5, 7)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1940-2017 (1.7 Linear Feet; Boxes 5-9)

Series 7: Artwork, circa 1950-2010 (0.6 Linear Feet; Boxes 6-7, Oversize 10)

Biographical / Historical:

Lee Hall (1935-2017) was a painter, author, and arts administrator who served as president of the Rhode Island School of Design from 1975-1983. Born in Lexington, North Carolina and raised in Florida following her parents' divorce, Lee Hall later returned to her birth state to attend the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina. She received her bachelor of fine arts in 1955, studying under the abstract painter John Opper. She eventually earned a masters degree in art education and a PhD in creative arts, both from New York University. Hall's paintings shared an Abstract Expressionist sensibility common with many of her peers at the Betty Parsons Gallery, imparted on the figurative tradition of landscape painting. Hall showed her paintings at the Betty Parsons Gallery from the late seventies until 1982 when the gallery closed following Parsons' death, after which she ceased exhibiting her work almost entirely until the last decade of her life. Hall maintained a studio at her home in South Hadley, Massachusetts throughout her life. A few years before Parson's death Hall had agreed to write Parsons' biography, finally released in 1991, on the condition that she and papers were made available for intensive research. Hall published titles on a wide variety of subjects including a comprehensive survey of American clothing (1992), and perhaps most notably the controversial biography of painters Elaine and Willem de Kooning (1993).

Separated Materials:

Three linear feet of Betty Parsons papers donated as part of the Lee Hall papers were transferred to the collection of Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, also located at the Archives of American Art.

Provenance:

Donated in 2018 by the Lee Hall Estate via Carolyn Crozier and Deborah Jacobson, co-executors.

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 -- Massachusetts  Search this

Authors -- Massachusetts  Search this

Arts administrators -- Rhode Island  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Video recordings

Citation:

Lee Hall Papers, circa 1870s-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.halllee

See more items in:

Lee Hall papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-halllee

Creator:

Parsons, Betty, 1900-1982  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Subject:

George, Thomas  Search this

Feely, Paul  Search this

Janis, Sidney  Search this

Bigelow, Larry  Search this

Congdon, William  Search this

Alloway, Lawrence  Search this

Bess, Forrest  Search this

Baker, Adge  Search this

Pousette-Dart, Richard  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad  Search this

Still, Clyfford  Search this

Reichek, Jesse  Search this

Roberts, Colette  Search this

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Pollock, Jackson  Search this

Liberman, Alexander  Search this

Lipton, Seymour  Search this

Lazzari, Pietro  Search this

Margo, Boris  Search this

Rothko, Mark  Search this

Youngerman, Jack  Search this

Stamos, Theodoros  Search this

Calder, Alexander  Search this

Newman, Barnett  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Wakefield Gallery  Search this

Mortimer Brandt Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Type:

Sketchbooks

Interviews

Video recordings

Drawings

Topic:

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Women art dealers  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Abstract expressionist  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)7211

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209348

AAA_collcode_parsbett

Theme:

Art Movements and Schools

Art Gallery Records

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209348

Collection Creator:

Lanux, Eyre de  Search this

Extent:

10 Folders (Box 1)

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1933-1989

Scope and Contents note:

Personal business records consist of addresses of friends, a calendar, consignment and loan agreements concerning the sale of Eyre's art collection, receipts, rental and lodging forms, stocks, and a copy of a will. Sales arrangements include records from the Betty Parsons Gallery, through which de Lanux sold her personal collection of artwork.

Collection Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Collection Rights:

The Eyre de Lanux papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Collection Citation:

Eyre de Lanux papers, 1865-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.lanueyre, Series 2

See more items in:

Eyre de Lanux papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-lanueyre-ref25

Collection Creator:

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Container:

Box 31, Folder 31

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1973-1965

Collection Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Collection Citation:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, circa 1920-1991, bulk 1946-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by Terra Foundation for American Art.

See more items in:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers / Series 6: General Business and Financial Records / 6.2: Shipping and Storage Records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-parsbett-ref1366

Collection Creator:

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Container:

Box 55, Folder 28

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1969-circa 1972

Collection Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Collection Citation:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, circa 1920-1991, bulk 1946-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by Terra Foundation for American Art.

See more items in:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers / Series 2: Exhibition Files / 2.4: General Exhibition Files

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-parsbett-ref2888

Collection Creator:

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Container:

Box 23, Folder 7

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1964-1962

Collection Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Collection Citation:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, circa 1920-1991, bulk 1946-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by Terra Foundation for American Art.

See more items in:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers / Series 3: Correspondence Files / 3.1: Institutions and Dealers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-parsbett-ref940

Interviewee:

Lazzari, Pietro, 1898-1979  Search this

Interviewer:

Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington),, 1920-  Search this

Subject:

United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Section of Fine Arts  Search this

New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Topic:

Federal aid to the arts  Search this

Mural painting and decoration  Search this

Sculptors -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12397

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)213617

AAA_collcode_lazzar64

Theme:

New Deal

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_213617

Interviewee:

Parsons, Betty, 1900-1982  Search this

Interviewer:

Cummings, Paul, 1933-1997  Search this

Subject:

Gorky, Arshile  Search this

Graham, John  Search this

Janis, Sidney  Search this

Newman, Barnett  Search this

Okada, Kenzo  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Club (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Wakefield Gallery  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Topic:

Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12214

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212470

AAA_collcode_parson69

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_212470

Creator:

Lazzari, Pietro, 1898-1979  Search this

Names:

Apollo 17 (Spacecraft)  Search this

Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, 1929-1994  Search this

Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966  Search this

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962  Search this

Rust, John D.  Search this

Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing), 1900-1965  Search this

Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968  Search this

Extent:

12.84 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Prints

Sketchbooks

Photographs

Slides (photographs)

Motion pictures (visual works)

Paintings

Date:

1878-1998

Summary:

The papers of muralist and sculptor, Pietro Lazzari, measure 12.84 linear feet and date from 1878 to 1998. The papers document Lazzari's life and career through biographical material, correspondence, business records, notes, writings, artwork, photographs, and printed material.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of muralist and sculptor, Pietro Lazzari, measure 12.84 linear feet and date from 1878 to 1998. The collection documents Lazzari's life and career through biographical material, correspondence, business records, notes, writings, artwork, photographs, and printed material.

Biographical material includes biographical sketches and various identification documents. Correspondence comprises letters exchanged between Lazzari, family members, and colleagues and includes about a hundred letters concerning post office murals in several states.

Notebooks contain drawings and annotated diagrams in addition to notes on artwork and designs for inventions. Writings are both by and about Lazzari and include autobiographical material. Artwork includes sketchbooks, loose sketches, prints, and paintings.

Almost a quarter of the collection consists of photographs which include images of Lazzari, his family and colleagues, and gallery installations. Also found are photographs of several notable individuals.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as ten series according to material type. For each series, material within folders is arranged chronologically. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1880-1980 (box 1; 4 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1895-1998, undated (boxes 1-2; 1.7 linear ft.)

Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1925-1993, undated (box 2; 0.4 linear ft.)

Series 4: Notes, 1915-1979, undated (boxes 3, 13, OV 14; 1 linear ft.)

Series 5: Writings, 1910-1979, undated (box 4, 13; 0.4 linear ft.)

Series 6: Artwork, 1918-1979, undated (boxes 4-5, 13, OV 14; 0.9 linear ft.)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1905-1994, undated (boxes 5-8, 13, OV 14; 3.8 linear ft.)

Series 8: Photographs, 1878-1980, undated (boxes 8-13, MGP 1, MGP 4; 3.8 linear ft.)

Series 9: Motion Picture Film, undated (FC 15; 1 film can)

Series 10: Artifact, undated (box 12; 1 folder)

Biographical Note:

Pietro Lazzari was born in Rome, on May 15, 1898. At the age of 15, he was apprenticed to Roman sculptor, Jerace. Four years on the Italian front in World War I interrupted his studies, until he could return to the Ornamental School of Rome, where he received a Master Artist degree in 1922. Lazzari's first solo exhibition was at the Theatre of the Independents in Rome. He was also employed by newspaper Il Messaggero to illustrate articles with athletes' portraits.

Lazzari visited the United States in 1925, exhibiting in a group show at the New Gallery in the New York the following year. He also married American social worker Elizabeth Paine in 1926. After four more trips between the United States and Italy, he permanently settled in New York City in 1929. In addition to participating in major art exhibitions, he was hired by a New York newspaper to make courtroom sketches at the Lindbergh kidnapping trial. Divorcing his first wife in 1932, Lazzari married Evelyn Cohen in 1934, and became a U.S. citizen in 1936. Between 1936 and 1942, he worked on four post office murals for the U.S. Section of Fine Arts and began experimentation that led to his own method of painting in polychrome concrete.

In 1942, Lazzari moved to Washington, D.C. and participated in the war effort. He also taught painting and sculpture at The American University, and from 1948 to 1950, he headed the Art Department at Dumbarton College. In 1950, he received a Fulbright Fellowship for research in techniques of Etruscan Art.

Lazzari is known for his bronze busts of humanitarians, most notably Pope Paul VI, Adlai Stevenson, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Represented by the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, he was also very active in the Washngton, D.C. art community, where he was represented by the Caresse Crosby Gallery.

Pietro Lazzari died on May 1, 1979 in Bethesda, Maryland.

Related Material:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is one sound tape reel of a transcribed interview with Pietro Lazzari, conducted by Harlan Phillips in 1964.

Provenance:

The Pietro Lazzari papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1989 by Evelyn C. Lazzari, widow of Pietro Lazzari, and in 1998 by her estate.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Pietro Lazzari papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Topic:

Portrait sculpture, American -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Muralists -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Sculpture, American -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Sculptors -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Genre/Form:

Prints

Sketchbooks

Photographs

Slides (photographs)

Motion pictures (visual works)

Paintings

Citation:

Pietro Lazzari papers, 1878-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.lazzpiet

See more items in:

Pietro Lazzari papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-lazzpiet

Creator:

Gray, Cleve, 1918-2004  Search this

Subject:

Richter, Hans  Search this

Marin, John  Search this

Lipchitz, Jacques  Search this

Pollock, Jackson  Search this

Grace, Louise N.  Search this

Gray, Francine du Plessix  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel  Search this

Dillenberger, Jane  Search this

Gabo, Naum  Search this

Ernst, Jimmy  Search this

Davis, Jim  Search this

Calder, Alexander  Search this

Barzun, Jacques  Search this

Weber, Nicholas Fox  Search this

Smith, David  Search this

Villon, Jacques  Search this

Pratt Institute  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Neuberger Museum of Art  Search this

Jacques Seligmann & Co  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Connecticut  Search this

Princeton University  Search this

Berry-Hill Galleries  Search this

Type:

Poems

Articles

Photographs

Reviews (documents)

Notes

Illustrations

Notebooks

Sketches

Drafts (documents)

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Interviews

Manuscripts

Paintings

Prints

Watercolors

Drawings

Lectures

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Women artists -- Photographs  Search this

Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- United States  Search this

Sculptors  Search this

Designers  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9567

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211768

AAA_collcode_grayclev

Theme:

Art Theory and Historiography

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211768

Creator:

Miller, Dorothy Canning, 1904-2003  Search this

Subject:

Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich)  Search this

Cahill, Holger  Search this

Rothko, Mark  Search this

Coggeshall, Calvert  Search this

Hicks, Edward  Search this

Still, Clyfford  Search this

Calder, Alexander  Search this

Gorky, Arshile  Search this

Charlton, Maryette  Search this

Feininger, Lyonel  Search this

Pereira, I. Rice (Irene Rice)  Search this

Johns, Jasper  Search this

Horwitt, Will  Search this

DeFeo, Jay  Search this

Christo  Search this

Nevelson, Louise  Search this

Sheeler, Charles  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert  Search this

Karpel, Bernard  Search this

Copley, Alfred L.  Search this

Davis, Stuart  Search this

Newman, Barnett  Search this

Sage, Kay  Search this

Byars, James Lee  Search this

Mather, Eleanore Price  Search this

Barr, Alfred H., Jr.  Search this

Feitelson, Lorser  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia  Search this

Hartigan, Grace  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu  Search this

Chryssa  Search this

Levy, Julien  Search this

Asher, Elise  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad  Search this

Scharf, William  Search this

Matisse, Pierre  Search this

Bontecou, Lee  Search this

Canady, John  Search this

Picasso, Pablo  Search this

Guggenheim, Peggy  Search this

Sterne, Hedda  Search this

World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Federal Art Project  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Rockefeller University  Search this

Smith College. Museum of Art  Search this

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey  Search this

Chase Manhattan Bank  Search this

Municipal Art Exhibition  Search this

Mark Rothko Foundation  Search this

Smith College  Search this

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden  Search this

PepsiCo, Inc.  Search this

Type:

Photographs

Sketches

Christmas cards

Drawings

Topic:

Artists -- United States  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Exhibitions  Search this

Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Corporations -- Private collections  Search this

Art -- Private collections  Search this

Folk art  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)6469

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215653

AAA_collcode_milldoro

Theme:

Art Theory and Historiography

Women

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_215653

Creator:

Elsen, Albert Edward, 1927-  Search this

Interviewee:

Golub, Leon, 1922-2004  Search this

Schapiro, Miriam, 1923-2015  Search this

Names:

Jenkins, Paul, 1923-2012  Search this

Lipton, Seymour, 1903-1986  Search this

Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917  Search this

Extent:

11.8 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 1 reel))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1942-ca. 1995

Scope and Contents:

Personal and professional files, the bulk consisting of research material used in publications and his teaching career at Stanford University. Included are correspondence, writings, notes, artists' files, photographs and printed material. A portion of Elsen's files on Seymour Lipton have been microfilmed.

REEL 4047 (0.6 linear ft.): Correspondence between Elsen and Lipton, 1955-1984, including an autobiographical letter written April 1960 by Lipton; draft manuscripts by Elsen, "The Sculpture of Seymour Lipton," with comments by Lipton and his family on Elsen's manuscript, 1965 and 1967, "The Sculpture of Seymour Lipton as a Portrait of the Artist," 1963, and "The Inclusive Sculpture of Seymour Lipton," 1969; writings and notes by Lipton, including his reflections on aesthetics, 1942, and an autobiographical note, 1960; ca. 70 photographs of Lipton's works executed between 1936 and 1968, and nine of exhibition installations at Betty Parsons Gallery, 1958, and the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, 1965; a few clippings; and exhibition catalogs, 1960-1967.

UNMICROFILMED (11.2 ft.): Personal documents, including draft card, army papers, certificates and awards, and a school yearbook; correspondence with art historians, artists, publishers and others; research files for publications on Auguste Rodin, including Elsen's catalog for the 1981 exhibition "Rodin Rediscovered" at the National Gallery of Art, Paul Jenkins (1973), Law, Ethics and the Visual Artists (1979), and others; transcripts of interviews with Leon Golub, Oct. 12, 1986 (20 p.) and Miriam Schapiro, Nov. 9, 1986 (40 p.), both regarding artistic freedom; teaching files; artists' files; and files on various other art topics.

Biographical / Historical:

Art historian and educator; Stanford, California. Died 1995. Author of several publications on Auguste Rodin, and on sculptors Seymour Lipton, Paul Jenkins, James Rosati, and other general works on sculpture and art appreciation, including Purposes of Art: Introduction to the History of Appreciation of Art.

Related Materials:

Papers of Albert Edward Elsen, 1965-1994, are also located at Stanford University's University Archives.

Provenance:

Lipton related material on reel 4047 donated 1987 by Elsen. He donated an additional 0.2 ft. on Lipton in 1991. The remainder donated 1995 by his widow, Sharon Elsen.

Occupation:

Sculptors -- United States  Search this

Art historians -- California  Search this

Biographers -- California  Search this

Topic:

Sculpture, Modern -- 19th century -- United States  Search this

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.elsealbe

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-elsealbe

Creator:

Miller, Dorothy Canning, 1904-2003  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Chase Manhattan Bank -- Art collections  Search this

Federal Art Project  Search this

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden  Search this

Mark Rothko Foundation  Search this

Municipal Art Exhibition (1st : 1934 : New York, N.Y.)  Search this

PepsiCo, Inc.  Search this

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- Art collections  Search this

Rockefeller University  Search this

Smith College -- Students  Search this

Smith College. Museum of Art  Search this

World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.) -- Art collections  Search this

Asher, Elise, 1914-  Search this

Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981  Search this

Bontecou, Lee, 1931-  Search this

Byars, James Lee  Search this

Cahill, Holger, 1887-1960  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this

Canady, John  Search this

Charlton, Maryette  Search this

Christo, 1935-  Search this

Chryssa, 1933-  Search this

Coggeshall, Calvert, 1907-1990  Search this

Copley, Alfred L.  Search this

Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this

DeFeo, Jay, 1929-1989  Search this

Feininger, Lyonel, 1871-1956  Search this

Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978  Search this

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948  Search this

Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-  Search this

Hartigan, Grace  Search this

Hicks, Edward, 1780-1849  Search this

Horwitt, Will  Search this

Johns, Jasper, 1930-  Search this

Karpel, Bernard, 1911-1986  Search this

Levy, Julien  Search this

Mather, Eleanore Price, 1910-  Search this

Matisse, Pierre, 1900-1989  Search this

Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this

Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia , 1887-1986  Search this

Pereira, I. Rice (Irene Rice), 1902-1971  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this

Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979 -- Art collections  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Sage, Kay  Search this

Scharf, William, 1927-  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Sterne, Hedda, 1910-2011  Search this

Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980  Search this

Extent:

34.6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Sketches

Christmas cards

Drawings

Date:

1853-2013

bulk 1920-1996

Summary:

The papers of contemporary and folk art curator, historian, and consultant Dorothy C. Miller measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1853-2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1996. The papers primarily concern Miller's private art consulting work outside of her curatorial work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Found are scattered biographical materials, extensive correspondence and subject files, and project files for her art consulting work for the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the World Trade Center, and other miscellaneous corporate and private clients. Miller's work as a trustee and committee member of various public and private boards and commissions is also represented here. Additionally, the papers contain Miller's research files on Edward Hicks and folk art, and a small number of files of her husband Holger Cahill about his work as Director of the Federal Art Project. There is a scattered documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. Also found is Dorothy Miller's collection of artists' Christmas cards and photographs of Miller and others. An addition to the papers includes biographical material; family papers; correspondence; professional files; art collection and client files; printed material; and photographic material. While a small number professional files are included, the majority of the addition relates to her personal life, including correspondence with her husband Holger Cahill, and files pertaining to her personal art collection.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of contemporary and folk art curator, historian, and consultant Dorothy C. Miller measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1853-2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1996. The papers primarily concern Miller's art consulting work outside of her curatorial work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York city. Found are scattered biographical materials, extensive correspondence and subject files, and project files for her art consulting work for the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and other miscellaneous corporate and private clients. Her work as a trustee and committee member of various public and private boards and commissions is also represented here. Additionally, the papers contain Miller's research files on Edward Hicks and folk art, and a small number of files related to Miller's husband Holger Cahill and his work as Director of the Federal Art Project. There is important documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. Artwork includes scattered sketches and drawings enclosed with correspondence and original Christmas cards sent to Miller by various artists. Photographs of Miller date from 1926 - circa 1950.

Scattered biographical material mostly concerns Miller's education at Smith College and awards and honorary degrees that she received. Extensive correspondence and subject files document her professional and personal relationships with family, friends, colleagues, museums, art dealers and artists, as well as her research interests. Individual files may contain a mix of correspondence with, as well as about, the person or subject, compiled research documents, printed materials, and scattered photographs. Files are found for Lewin Alcopley, Alfred Barr, Betty Parsons Gallery, Cahill family members, Lee Bontecou, James Byars, Holger Cahill, Alexander Calder, Christo, Chryssa, Calvert Coggeshall, John Canaday, Maryette Charlton, Stuart Davis, Jay DeFeo, Lorser Feitelson, Arshile Gorky, Peggy Guggenheim, Grace Hartigan, Will Horwitt, Jasper Johns, Julien Levy, Pierre Matisse, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Isamu Nauchi, Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Kay Sage, Charles Sheeler, Hedda Sterne, travel, Clyfford Still, William Scharf, among many others.

Detailed records of Miller's art consulting and advisory work for the Rockefeller family include correspondence with Nelson A. Rockefeller and David Rockefeller about building their personal collections of contemporary and folk art, meeting notes and minutes, research notes and writings, and printed materials. The largest group of records concerns the writing and publication of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art. Miller's curatorial work for David Rockefeller and the Rockefeller University's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Hall art collection is documented in Series 4 through curatorial files, correspondence, printed materials, photographs and slides, artists files, and design records.

Series 5 contains files relating to Miller's work as the first art consutant to the Chase Manhattan Bank and the building of the corporation's extensive collection of contemporary art. There is a draft of Miller's text for the bank's published catalog, Art At Work: Chase Manhattan Bank Collection. A smaller set of records is found in Series 6 documenting Miller's work on the Art Committee of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, including files about selecting artwork for the World Trade Center during the early 1970s. Files concerning Miller's advisory work with additional public and private clients, boards, and commissions are arranged in Series 7 and 8 and concern the Amstar Corporation, Fidelity International Bank, First National Bank of Tampa, First National City Bank, Inmont Corporation, Pepsico, United Mutual Savings Bank, the Empire State Plaza Art Commission, the Hancock Shaker Village, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Mark Rothko Foundation, the Museum of American Folk Art, and the Smith College Museum of Art.

Miller's papers include a small group of files relating to the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP)created by her husband Holger Cahill when he was director of the FAP, Holger Cahill. A small series is devoted to Miller's work with Eleanore Price Mather researching and writing Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdom and Other Paintings. A series of general research files contain miscellaneous research notes and photographs related to Miller's interests in early American art and folk art. Series 12 contains important documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center.

Works of art are primarily in the form of Christmas cards sent to Miller by various artists including Elise Asher, Lyonel Feininger, Bernard Karpel, and Irene Rice Pereira. A small group of photographs includes photographs of Miller from 1926-circa 1950 and a few photographs of others.

The addition includes biographical material; family papers; correspondence; professional files; art collection and client files; printed material; and photographic material. While a small number of professional files are found here, the majority of material relates to Miller's personal life, including correspondence with her husband Holger Cahill, and files pertaining to her personal art collection. Scattered correspondence, inventories, research, and notes created by curator and donor of the papers, Wendy Jeffers, are found throughout the collection. These materials date from the 1980s-2000s.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 15 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-1986 (Box 1; 0.3 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence and Subject Files, circa 1912-1992 (Boxes 1-8, OV 27; 7.2 linear ft.)

Series 3: Rockefeller Family Art Collections, circa 1949-1985 (Boxes 8-12, 25; 3.9 linear ft.)

Series 4: Rockefeller University Collection, 1923-1984 (Boxes 12-13, OV 27; 1.0 linear ft.)

Series 5: Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, 1959-circa 1985 (Boxes 13-14, 26; 1.4 linear ft.)

Series 6: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Art Committee, circa 1965-1987 (Boxes 14-15, OV 27; 0.8 linear ft.)

Series 7: Other Corporate and Private Clients, 1968-1984 (Boxes 15-16; 1.3 linear ft.)

Series 8: Other Boards, Committees and Commissions, 1925, 1949-1985 (Boxes 16-20; 3.6 linear ft.)

Series 9: Works Project Administration Federal Art Project Files, 1935-1979 (Box 20, OV 27; 0.5 linear ft.)

Series 10: Edward Hicks Catalog, 1934-1984 (Boxes 20-22; 1.5 linear ft.)

Series 11: Research Files, 1930s-1980 (Boxes 22-23; 0.8 linear ft.)

Series 12: Exhibition Files, 1932-1986 (Box 23; 0.6 linear ft.)

Series 13: Works of Art, circa 1924-circa 1982 (Boxes 23-25; 1.5 linear ft.)

Series 14: Photographs, 1926-circa 1970s (Boxes 24-25; 0.3 linear ft.)

Series 15: Addition to the Dorothy C. Miller Papers, 1853-2003, bulk 1920-1996 (Boxes 28-38, OVs 39-41; 9.9 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:

Dorothy Canning Miller (1904-2003) worked in New York City as a highly influential curator of contemporary and folk art at the Museum of Modern Art and as the first curator of the museum. Later, she was the primary art consultant for Nelson A. Rockefeller, the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the Port Authority of and New Jersey. Dorothy Miller was also married to Holger Cahill, director of the WPA Federal Art Project.

Dorothy C. Miller was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts in 1904 and received her Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in 1925. She was first introduced to modern art through classes at the Newark Museum taught by John Cotton Dana and Holger Cahill. Miller joined the curatorial staff of the Newark Museum in 1926. The museum was one of the first to organize exhibitions of American folk art, American Primitives (1930-1931) and American Folk Sculpture (1931-1932). Miller worked with Cahill and others on the exhibition and developed a life-long interest in folk art.

After four years at the Newark Museum, Miller moved to New York city, hoping to get involved with the newly opened Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and, likely, to be with Holger Cahill, with whom she lived with on 8th Street prior to their marriage in 1938. Between 1930 and 1932 she took odd jobs and worked with Mrs. Henry Lang cataloging, researching and installing Lang's collection of Native American art Lang donated to the Montclair Art Museum. At the same time, Holger Cahill was serving as Acting Director of the Museum of Modern Art during an absence of Director Alfred H. Barr. In 1932, Cahill asked Miller to assist him with curating the American Painting and Sculpture, 1862-1932 exhibition at MoMA, and together they also curated the First Municipal Art Exhibition, 1934 at the Rockefeller Center.

In 1934, Barr hired Miller as his assistant and one year later appointed her as MoMA's first curator. Miller spent the next 35 years organizing many of this country's most important exhibitions of contemporary art and building personal relationships with new artists and photographers, as well as the collections of MoMA. Miller retired from MOMA in 1969 and focused more on her art consulting work begun in the late 1950s.

Dorothy Miller's most notable client was Nelson A. Rockefeller. She assisted and advised Rockefeller as he acquired a vast personal collection of modern art - some of which was later donated to MoMA. Just prior to her retirement, Miller organized a large exhibition of Rockefeller's collection. The exhibition catalog written by Miller was the basis for the book she worked on with Rockefeller up until and following his death in 1979, ultimately published as The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art. In the preface, Rockefeller credited Miller with being one of the four people to whom he was indebted "for the understanding and endless joy I have found in the collecting of modern art in all forms."

Miller also served as the primary art consultant for projects to furnish federal spaces, including Henry Kissinger's State Department office suite, and the official Vice-Presidential residence at the Admiral's House in Washington D.C.

In 1959 Miller was invited to join the art collection committee of the Chase Manhattan Bank and served on the committee until the mid-1980s, contributing her expertise to the development of one of this country's oldest and largest corporate collections of modern and contemporary art.

Miller was also an advisor to other members of the Rockefeller family, including David Rockefeller, and assisted with developing the art collections of Rockefeller Institute/University. From 1960 through the late 1980s Miller was a member of the art committee for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANJY) and was responsible for selecting much of the artwork for the World Trade Center in the 1970s. She served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Hancock Shaker Village, the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Empire State Plaza in Albany, Smith College Museum of Art, and the Museum of American Folk Art. She also became a member of the Mark Rothko Foundation Board of Directors after the litigation following Rothko's death between Rothko's executors and his daughter.

In the mid-1970s Miller assisted the Whitney Museum of American with planning an exhibition and supporting catalog of the work of folk artist Edward Hicks. Although the exhibition and catalog were only partially realized in 1980, Miller and Eleanore Price Mather compiled and published a book on Hicks, Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdoms and Other Paintings, published in 1983.

In 1982-1983 Miller received the Art Dealers Association Special Award, an honorary degree from Williams College, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture governor's award. In 1984 she was named honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. In 1985 the Smith College Museum of Art honored her important contributions to museum connoisseurship with the exhibition Dorothy C. Miller: With An Eye to American Art.

Dorothy Miller died in 2003 at the age of 99 at her home in Greenwich, New York.

Related Material:

The Archives of American Art holds two oral history interviews with Dorothy C. Miller. The first was conducted by Paul Cummings between May 26, 1970 and September 28, 1971, and details Miller's life from childhood up to, and including, her years at the Museum of Modern Art. The second was conducted by Avis Berman on May 14, 1981 and covers Miller's relationships with Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. Also found among the holdings of the Archives are the papers of Holger Cahill, Dorothy Miller's husband and colleague.

The Museum of Modern Art Achives holds Dorothy Miller's papers related to her curatorial work at the museum.

Provenance:

The collection was donated by Dorothy C. Miller via Wendy Jeffers between 1986 and 1997, and Reid White, Executor of Miller's estate, in 2004. Two subsequent additions were donated by Wendy Jeffers in 2014 and 2015.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Dorothy C. Miller papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Artists -- United States  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Exhibitions  Search this

Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Corporations -- Private collections  Search this

Art -- Private collections  Search this

Folk art  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Sketches

Christmas cards

Drawings

Citation:

Dorothy C. Miller papers, 1853-2013, bulk 1920-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.milldoro

See more items in:

Dorothy C. Miller papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-milldoro