An interview of James Boynton, Louise Ferrari, Jim Love, Richard Stout and Dick Wray conducted 1979 November 28, by Sandra Curtis Levy, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
James Boynton, (1928-2010), painter of Fort Worth, Texas. Richard Stout, (1934-), painter of Beaumont, Texas. Dick Wray, (1933-), painter of Houston, Texas. Louise Ferrari, art dealer, of Houston, Texas. Jim Love, (1927-2005), sculptor of Houston, Texas.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 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.
Files on artists and people associated with the gallery, including: Forrest Bess, James Boynton, Lawrence Calcagno, Joseph Cornell, André Emmerich, Max Ernst, Walter Kuhlman, Peter Plagens, Hassel Smith, Richard Steinberg, Jean Varda, and others. The files usually contain correspondence, exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings, and photographs. Also included are exhibition files, material on the Contemporary Arts Association in Houston, and miscellaneous catalogs and announcements.
Biographical / Historical:
Art gallery; Houston, Tex. Founded 1956, closed ca. 1974.
Provenance:
The donor, Kathryn Swenson, was the owner and director of the gallery.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Artists' files, containing mainly correspondence with Jackson and her son David Anderson concerning exhibitions. Some files also contain resumes, price lists, exhibition catalogs, checklists, and receipts. Also included is a letter from John Hultberg, 1963.
Reel D246: Files on: Karel Appel, Francis Bacon, Tom Benrimo, James W. Boynton, Fritz Bultman, Alberto Burri, Lawrence Calcagno, Sam Francis, Gottfried Honegger, John Hultberg, Paul Jenkins, Paul Haller Jones, Louise Kruger, Alfred Leslie, Frank Lobdell, Marino Marini, Ben Nicholson, Alejandro Otero, Rudy Pozzatti, Germaine Richier, William Scott, Sofu Teshigahara, Walasse Ting and others. Included is a file on the Gutai avant-garde artists group of Japan.
Reel 2814: a letter, March 29, 1963, from John Hultberg in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Hultberg writes of the artist colony there, the difficulty of acquiring artist supplies in Mexico, studio arrangements, his sense "of serenity," his plans, and arrangements for an upcoming exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery.
Biographical / Historical:
Martha Jackson opened her Gallery in New York City at 22 E. 66th St., moving three years later to 32 E. 69th St. The gallery specialized in modern American and European painting and sculpture, particularly Abstract Expressionists. Her son, David Anderson, worked with Jackson and took over the gallery after her death in 1969.
Related Materials:
Additional Martha Jackson Gallery records are available at the University of Buffalo Art Galleries.
Provenance:
Material on reel D246 was lent for microfilming by the Martha Jackson Gallery, September 1965. One letter from John Hultberg (reel 2814) was donated.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Correspondence with Forrest Bess, Jack Boynton, Roy Fridge, Harry Hilson, David McManaway, Harvey Quaytman, and others; clippings, exhibition catalogs, and announcements; and photographs of Love and his friends, of his art works, and his exhibitions.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, Houston, Texas; born in Amarillo, Texas. Represented in the Menil Collection in Houston and Museum of Modern Art, New York in addition to other collections. Works primarily in steel.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1979 by Jim Love.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Biographical information; printed materials; correspondence; photographs; a 30-second film; and price lists.
REEL 3476: Biographical data; a letter to Boynton from Bill Jacklin; handwritten drafts of letters to Mimi Crosley; a price list of works by Boynton; an unsigned agreement from the Bolles Gallery, San Francisco; exhibition announcements, catalogs, and invitations, 1952-1984; newspaper and magazine clippings, 1951-1983; photographs of Boynton and his works; and ca. 100 drawings.
REELS 1781-1782: Business and personal correspondence with Haydon Calhoun, Margo Leavin, Meredith Long, George W. Staempfli, the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, John B. Taub, and others; fellowship and job applications; 34 sketches; exhibition catalogs and announcements; and clippings and other printed material. Also includes a 30-second film concerning Boynton's commissioned work for the Houston National Bank (not microfilmed).
REEL 1781, frames 450-632: Letters from friends and artists, including Donald Barthelme, Lawrence Calcagno, Jim Love, Hassel and Donna Smith, Richard Stout and Kathryn Swenson.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter and printmaker; Houston, Tex. Nickname is Jack.
Provenance:
Lent and donated by Jack Boynton, 1979.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Painting, American -- Texas -- Houston Search this
Wyeth, Andrew, 1917-2009 -- Photographs Search this
Extent:
4.5 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Photographs
Transcripts
Place:
Massachusetts -- Boston
Date:
1945-1985
Summary:
The papers of New York photographer and filmmaker Hans Namuth measure 4.5 linear feet and date from 1945 to 1985. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs taken by Namuth of New York artists. Also included are papers regarding Namuth's film about Alfred Stieglitz and other professional files.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York photographer and filmmaker Hans Namuth measure 4.5 linear feet and date from 1945 to 1985. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs taken by Namuth of New York artists. Also included are papers regarding Namuth's film about Alfred Stieglitz and other professional files.
The first series contains materials related to the planning and production of Namuth's film Alfred Stieglitz, Photographer. Documentation includes articles, correspondence, exhibition materials, grant program request sheets, magazines and catalogs, photo requests, photographs and photographic materials, notes and research, shot lists, script drafts and fragments, interview transcripts, and correspondence. Interviewees include Ansel Adams, Arnold Newman, Aaron Copland, Dorothy Norman, and others.
The second series contains various writings and papers relating to Namuth's professional activities, including Namuth's exhibition at the 1958 Brussels World Fair, business and financial records, papers on The Construction of Boston by Kennth Koch, correspondence, a notebook, and various printed materials. Namuth's correspondence is with James Boynton, Bernard Karpel, the Museum of Modern Art, Cynthia Navaretta, Elizabeth Shaw, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Yale University School of Art and Architecture.
Photographs taken by Hans Namuth depict prominent American (primarily New York-based) artists, architects, writers, musicians, and art critics. Artists are shown in their studios or homes, either at work or posing for the camera, and include Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Lee Krasner, Isamu Noguchi, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, and Andrew Wyeth, among many others. Photographs of other individuals include Marcel Breuer, John Cage, Leo Castelli, Buckminster Fuller, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and others. Also found are photographs of exhibitions, openings, and art-related events from the 1950s and 1960s, such as a traveling Picasso exhibit and a Robert Rauschenberg opening at the Jewish Museum. Most photographs are black and white, but a few color prints are included.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 3 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Alfred Stieglitz Film Project, 1945-circa 1981 (Box 1, OV 11; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Professional Files, 1953-1985 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Photographs, 1945-1984 (Box 2-10; 3.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Hans Namuth (1915-1990) was a German-American photographer and filmmaker who lived and worked in New York. He was primarily known for his work photographing prominent American artists in the 1950s and 1960s.
Namuth was born in Germany but left for France in 1933 after the rise of the Nazi Party. While in France, he struck up a friendship with fellow German Georg Reisner. From 1935 to 1939, Namuth and Reisner worked together as photographers primarily in Paris. His first works to catch the public's attention came from an assignment in Barcelona that accidentally coincided with the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Following a short internment in Nazi-occupied France, Namuth left for the United States.
After taking photography classes with Alexey Brodovitch, art director of Harper's Bazaar, Namuth met Jackson Pollock at an exhibition in 1950 and asked to photograph the artist at work. His subsequent photographs of Pollock raised both artists' profiles. Namuth would spend the next three decades photographing major New York artists, architects, and art-related events for commission and for his own studio. He directed a number of films in collaboration with Paul Falkenberg and published several books of photographs. Namuth died in Long Island in 1990.
Related Materials:
Also at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Hans Namuth, Aug. 12-Sept. 8, 1971. Additional Hans Namuth papers are located at the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona.
Provenance:
The collection was donated 1972-1985 by Hans Namuth.
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.
Rights:
All Photographs by Hans Namuth: All requests for image reproductions are to be sent to: Assistant Registrar for Rights & Reproductions; Center for Creative Photography. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Musicians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Filmmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Photographs
Transcripts
Citation:
Hans Namuth photographs and papers, 1945-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
