An interview of Zoltan Sepeshy conducted 1973 April 26, by Dennis Barrie, for the Archives of American Art. Sepeshy speaks of his early years at Cranbrook Academy and describes the scene at Cranbrook in 1930, its staff, and nucleus of creative artists. He discusses the prevailing philosophy of freedom and independence for students at Cranbrook. He recalls George Booth, Eliel Saarinen, and Carl Milles.
Biographical / Historical:
Zoltan Sepeshy (1898-1974) was a painter.
General:
Originally recorded 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 18 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Correspondence; financial records; a draft of a proposed publication about Cranbrook; letters regarding a biography of founder, George G. Booth, and of the Scripps family; miscellaneous items, including an address by George Booth to the Cranbrook School; and clippings.
Among the individual correspondents are Albert Kahn, M. W. Childs, Emil Lorch, Oscar Bach, Mario Karbel, Francis Scott Bradford, Jr., Katherine McEwen, I. Kirshmayer, René Gimpel, Sheldon Cheney, Carl Milles, John M. Lyle, Cecil Billington, Cyril Arthur Player, and Arthur Neville Kirk. Organizations figuring in the correspondence include the American Federation of Arts, the Society of Arts and Crafts, Detroit, the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1974 by the Cranbrook Foundation.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Records documenting silversmith production by Arthur J. Stone, his workshop, and Stone Associates.
Included are ca. 11,000 drawings, including bench drawings, designer's master drawings, architect's drawings, and ca. 1,000 "scales" or templates, made from full scale drawings; files from Stone's workshop containing an index to photographs, information on clients, and work summaries including dimensions, name, craftsmen's initials, hours, weight, and price; stock number cards, circle and gauge cards, and daily hours cards; files for Stone Associates containing work summary and stock cards.
Also found are photographs of Stone, his workshop, and silver pieces, (mainly taken by his wife, Elizabeth Bent Stone, 1912-1937), and objects made by Stone Associates; photograph albums of duplicate prints; clippings, 5 exhibition catalogs, and brochures; 17 letters; 2 essays on silverware by Jerome A. Heywood; records on stock number card categories; lists of silver gauges, weights, and circles; ten sections of plaster casts of chased silver forms by Arthur J.Stone; and a trade catalog of James Dixon and Son, Sheffield, England, undated. A microfiche of a card file is included with the records.
Records from the Arthur J. Stone workshop, including measured drawings; templates; albums of photographs of work, including commissions for leading Episcopal churches and churchmen, Yale and Harvard Universities, private patrons in Boston and N.Y., and for Stone's leading client, George Booth of Cranbrook, Michigan; photographs of an exhibition, and of Stone, his workmen, and his shop. Also included are Stone's copies of a few English silver and metalwork trade catalogs, ca. 1824-ca. 1937.
Biographical / Historical:
Arthur J. Stone was a leading silversmith from Gardner, Massachusetts. He was trained and worked in Sheffield, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland prior to coming to the U.S. in 1884. He was one of the last silversmiths in America to train apprentices to carry out designs in handwrought silver.
In 1901, Stone set up a workshop in Gardner, which operated under his name until its sale in 1937 to Henry Heywood, a Gardner businessman, who renamed it first as The Stone Silver Shop, changing it later to Stone Associates. Heywood died in 1945, and his sons Henry, Jr. and Jerome ran it until 1957, when they disbanded.
Provenance:
Donated by Jerome A. Heywood, 1979-1980 and Janet J. Loop, 1997. When Stone sold his shop to Heywood, he included the records to insure the continuity of the work. Stone retained records relating to his early work. These were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Stone's family. According to Stone's niece, Elenita Chickering, who processed the papers, approximately 3 trunks of accounts and letters were destroyed in the 1940s by Stone's widow, Elizabeth Bent, to insure client's anonymity. The 1 ft. of records donated by Janet Loop, daughter of Herman Glendenning, were given to Glendenning by Stone's widow. Loop donated them along with some of her father's own designs and other papers, which are cataloged separately under Glendenning.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Silversmiths -- Massachusetts -- Gardner Search this
Topic:
Decorative arts -- Massachusetts -- Gardner Search this
Correspondence relating primarily to the Cranbrook Academy and Cranbrook School, and some to the Detroit School of Design, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Art Alliance of America, and the American Federation of Arts; a history of Cranbrook by Booth; a diary and visitors' book; Booth's proposal for an Academy of Art and one for the reorganization of the Cranbrook Foundation; a history of the Cranbrook Press; biographical data on the Booth family; addresses by Booth; material relating to the League to Enforce Peace and the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts; and ca. 100 letters of Carl Milles, resident artist at Cranbrook.
Biographical / Historical:
Publisher, art administrator, art patron, founder of Cranbrook Academy, 1932; Detroit, Mich. Died 1949. Booth was president of the Detroit School of Design which was absorbed by the Detroit Museum of Art. The Detroit Museum of Art subsequently became the Detroit Institute of Art. Booth bought his estate in 1904 calling it Cranbrook, a family name. In 1932 he established it as the Cranbrook Academy and named Finnish-born architect, Eliel Saarinen, president.
Provenance:
Lent 1974 by Henry Booth, descendant of George G. Booth.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
