Biographical material, professional and personal correspondence, subject files, financial records, artwork, printed material and an audio cassette.
Biographical information includes a résumé and award. Business correspondence, 1964-1984, regards the opening of The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and Block's teaching position at California State University, Northridge, and personal correspondence includes 5 illustrated letters by Block to his wife and two printed cards from Fritz Faiss. Subject files regard the WPA, 1938-1983, film animation, 1957-1976, and book illustration, 1978-1984. Financial records relate to Block's association with the Ankrum Gallery, 1936-1981. Photographs are of Block, his friends, family and works of art.
Artwork includes 2 sketches, 1962, and approximately 60 pencil figurative drawings and studies done during weekly life drawing sessions established by Block and Hans Burkhardt at the Studio Club on the MGM lot from the 1950s to mid-1970s (among them is a pastel by Burkhardt of Block drawing the nude model); and 16 drawings and one print and one poster, most of which were executed by Irving Block for Santa Susana Press, California State University, Northridge's 1986 broadside of John Updike's poem, A Pear Like a Potato. Printed material, 1941-1982, includes exhibition catalogs and clippings. An audio cassette contains Block's reminiscences of his friendship with Burkhardt and a recording of Block delivering a lecture to a senior seminar class on Walt Whitman.
Biographical / Historical:
Irving Block (1910-1986) was a painter and educator in Los Angeles, California. Block was born in New York City. He was involved in the Works Projects Administration's Federal Art Project in the 1930s, and worked as a matte shot artist at 20th Century Fox during the 1940s and 50s. He taught for many years at California State University, Northridge (1963-1980). Block co-authored with Alan Adler the original story for the science fiction film Forbidden Planet, for which he designed Robbie the Robot.
Provenance:
Donated 1984 by Block and in 1996 by Jill Block, the widow of Irving Block. Additional drawings, print and poster donated 2015 by Virginia Elwood-Akers, a former librarian at California State University, Northbridge who received the drawings from colleague Dean Norman Tanis, head of the Santa Susana Press.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
The papers of art historian and museum educator Ruth Bowman are dated 1936-2006, bulk 1963-1999, and measure 26.7 linear feet and 21.99 GB. Professional correspondence and subject files document Bowman's relationships with colleagues and reflect her interests, activities including curatorial work, and accomplishments as a museum educator. Writings and related research materials include her thesis,"Thomas Pollock Anshutz, 1851-1912" (M.A., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1971), and unfinished projects. Also found are interviews conducted by Bowman with a wide range of individuals for a variety of purposes.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian and museum educator Ruth Bowman are dated 1936-2006, bulk 1963-1999, and measure 26.7 linear feet and 21.99 GB. Professional correspondence and subject files document Bowman's relationships with colleagues and reflect her interests, activities including curatorial work, and accomplishments as a museum educator. Writing and related research materials include her thesis, "Thomas Pollock Anshutz, 1851-1912" (M.A., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1971), and unfinished projects. Also found are interviews conducted by Bowman with a wide range of individuals for a variety of purposes.
Biographical materials consist of certificates, resumes, and a few photographs of Ruth Bowman. Correspondence concerns Bowman's professional activities and interests. Among the most frequent correspondents are: American Association of Museums, Craft and Folk Art Museum (Los Angeles), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art.
Writings by Ruth Bowman, published and unpublished, include a thesis and articles about Thomas Pollock Anshutz, catalogs for American Federation of Arts and The Newark Museum exhibitions, lectures, as well as articles about museum education and visual arts programs. Research relates to her writings about Anshutz, and to unrealized projects concerning Anshutz, Cézanne, Eakins, Picasso, and other subjects. Also found are two brief writings about Bowman.
Subject files--general subjects, artists' files, Ruth Bowman activities, and "Sunrise Semester"--contain the majority of Bowman's professional correspondence along with printed material, writings, photographs, and sound recordings. Among the most thoroughly documented general subjects are: The Brooklyn Museum's Trustees Retreat, Canadian Museums Association, a 1981 Craft Symposium, International Network for the Arts, Long Beach Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "Museum Directors' Forum", New York University Art Collection, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Council for the Arts. Artists' files are comprised mainly of printed material with a small amount of correspondence and some photographs. The Les Levine file consists of the first issue of Art-Rite featuring a brief article about Levine on its cover; Thomas Wilfred's file includes information about Lumia. Ruth Bowman activities include lectures, radio and television appearances, and participation in professional events. "Sunrise Semester," a collaboration between CBS television and New York University, offered early morning courses for college credit. Ruth Bowman was the instructor for "20th Century American Art," which is documented by general information, scripts, and sound recordings of all 46 classes.
Interviews conducted by Bowman are with English museum administrators and educators; people knowledgeable about a controversial proposal for an Annenberg Fine Arts Center at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; guests on KUSC radio shows "Sounds of Seeing" and "Live from Trump's"; and guests on the WNYC radio program "Views on Art." Interviews with miscellaneous individuals include Josef Albers, Hans Burkhardt, Carl Holty, Isamu Noguchi, and Helen Farr Sloan. Bowman interviewed a dozen American abstract artists, including Ilya Bolotowsky, Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne, Burgoyne Diller, John Ferren, Carl Holty, Harry Holtzman, Ibram Lassaw, Jacques Lipchitz, Alice Mason, George McNeil, George L. K. Morris, and Ad Reinhardt for a thesis on the subject, but eventually wrote on a different topic. Two interviews with Bowman were conducted by Duncan MacDonald and an unidentified interviewer.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1964-1984 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1963-1996 (Box 1; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Related Research, 1942-1999 (Boxes 1-3; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1936-2006 (Boxes 3-12, 26; 9.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Interviews, 1963-1989 (Boxes 12-25; 9.2 linear feet, ER01-ER70; 21.99 GB)
Biographical / Historical:
Ruth Bowman (b. 1923) is an art historian and museum educator who worked in New York City and Los Angeles. She is known for her interest in using new communications technology for museum education, discovering Arshile Gorky's long forgotten murals at Newark Airport, and expertise in the work of Thomas Anshutz.
A graduate of Bryn Mawr College (B.A. 1944), where she had studied art history and classical archaeology, Ruth Bowman began a museum career in New York as an assistant curator at the Jewish Museum in the early 1960s. From 1963-1974 Ruth Bowman served as curator of the York University Art Collection and was involved in its transition to the Grey Art Gallery and Study Center. Bowman wrote her master's thesis on Philadelphia artist Thomas Pollock Anshutz and received a degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in 1971. During this same period, she was a staff lecturer at The Museum of Modern Art and taught art history in divisions of New York University. She was the instructor for a "Sunrise Semester" 20th century American art course broadcast nationally on CBS.
In 1974 Bowman and her family moved to California and she began an association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as Director of Education. She attended summer courses in arts administration at Harvard University (1975) and similar training provided by the British Arts Council (1976). She taught at University of California Santa Barbara, as well as at California State University at Fullerton and Long Beach. Bowman was active in the Council of the American Association of Museums (vice president), the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles (vice president), and has served as a consultant to several museums and a corporate collection.
Ruth Bowman with her friend Harry Kahn (1916-1999) developed a collection of self-portraits by 20th century American artists, which she donated to the National Portrait Gallery in 2002. Mrs. Bowman is the widow of R. Wallace Bowman and currently resides in New York City.
Provenance:
Donated by Ruth Bowman in 2004.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
Research material including correspondence, writings and notes, photographs, and printed material on Cezanne, Thomas Eakins, and Picasso: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Ruth Bowman. 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 historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Resumes, awards, and memberships; letters thanking the Burkhardts for paintings, regarding visits to their home and studio, and from scholars and institutions requesting information about his own work as well as his collection of works by Mark Tobey and Arshile Gorky; writings and notes by and about Burkhardt; 2 bound sketchbooks, undated and 1961, containing black felt-tip pen drawings; exhibition related materials including lists of works exhibited, acknowledgements of gifts, loan agreements, and receipts; exhibition announcements and catalogs; clippings, press releases, and bulletins, and 2 scrapbooks of clippings; and photographs of Burkhardt, his wife Thordis, and others including Mark Tobey and Willem de Kooning.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter and collector; Los Angeles, Calif.; d. 1994.
Provenance:
Donated 1975-1981 by the Burkhardts.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
An interview of Hans Burkhardt conducted 1974 November 25, by Paul J. Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art. Burkhardt speaks of his experiences in New York in the 1930s; studying with Arshile Gorky; his career in Los Angeles; his friendships with artists including Mark Tobey; Los Angeles in the 1930s; his work; and teaching. Also present were Jean-Luc Bordeaux and Thordis Burkhardt.
Biographical / Historical:
Hans Burkhardt (1904-1994) was a painter, printmaker, educator, and collector from Los Angeles, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 58 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
Educators -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
Painters -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
Printmakers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
The Los Angeles Art Association records measure 12.6 linear feet and date from 1922-1990. Almost a third of the collection consists of artists' files containing a wide variety of materials documenting the association's relationship with numerous California and international artists. Also found are ten scrapbooks documenting exhibitions and events over the course of 50 years, administrative files, correspondence, subject files, exhibition files, financial and legal records, printed material, and photographic material depicting artists, events, and artwork. Scattered files of Executive Director Helen Wurdemann's are also found throughout the collection.
Scope and Contents:
The Los Angeles Art Association records measure 12.6 linear feet and date from 1922-1990. Almost a third of the collection consists of artists' files containing a wide variety of materials documenting the association's relationship with numerous California and international artists. Also found are ten scrapbooks documenting exhibitions and events over the course of 50 years, administrative files, correspondence, subject files, exhibition files, financial and legal records, printed material, and photographic material depicting artists, events, and artwork. Scattered files of Executive Director Helen Wurdemann's are also found throughout the collection.
Administrative records include board of trustees' meeting minutes, membership correspondence, materials relating to publicity, visitor and artist registers, founding documents, and files on the history of the organization. Files about or created by Executive Director Helen Wurdemann are also found.
Correspondence, including greeting cards and notes, documents the LAAA's relationship with artists, other associations, museums, and collectors. Hans Burkhardt, Emil J. Kosa Jr., Roger Kuntz, Stanton MacDonald-Wright, Arnold Menches, and Peter Selz are among the correspondents.
Subject files compiled and maintained by the LAAA document special interests, events, and projects. There are files for various arts organizations, Stendhal Gallery, and the Watts Towers Commission.
Exhibition files are found for "Loan Exhibition of International Art" (1937), "Photographs of the George Eastman House Collection 1840-1915" (1968), "Independent Artists of Los Angeles" (1923), and "Top Flight Artists of Southern California" (1941), among others.
Almost a third of the collection consists of artists' files documenting the LAAA's relationship with many California and international artists over the years. Files are varied but often include artists' biographical information, resumes, photographs, price lists, artist statements, and printed materials. Artists include Hans Burkhardt, Jules Engel, and Jack Zajac, among many others.
Financial and legal records consist of daily and exhibition ledgers, art rental and sales files, audit reports and financial statements, billing receipts, bankruptcy legal papers, a prints price list, and miscellaneous financial notes.
Printed material consists of museum and LAAA bulletins, clippings, art school catalogs and brochures, exhibition announcements and catalogs, bulletins and newsletters from other organizations, periodicals, proofs of the "Loan Exhibition of International Art" (1937) exhibition catalog, and a limited edition copy of the book, Paintings by William Merritt Chase signed to the LAAA by B. M. Newhouse.
Photographs, slides, negatives, and copy prints depict LAAA events and gallery openings, artists and people, Executive Director Helen Wurdemann, and works of art by various artists. There are also photographs for publications and a photograph album of artwork by Douglass Parshall.
Ten scrapbooks document LAAA events and exhibitions through clippings, articles, photographs, notes and annotations, announcements, and printed materials.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series. Records are generally arranged by material type and chronologically thereafter.
Missing Title
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1925-1989 (Box 1; 0.75 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1933-1990 (Boxes 1-2; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Subject Files, 1924-1987 (Box 2; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1923-1982 (Boxes 2-3; 0.45 linear feet)
Series 5: Artists' Files, 1926-1986 (Boxes 3-6; 3.6 linear feet)
Series 6: Financial and Legal Records, 1932-1987 (Boxes 6-8; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1922-1987 (Boxes 8-9; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, 1925-1980 (Boxes 9-10, 13; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1934-1985 (Boxes 10-12, 14; 2.8 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Originally founded as the Museum Patrons Association in 1925, the Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA) supported California artists and played an integral role in developing the Los Angeles art community.
The original intent of the Museum Patrons Association was to purchase works of art for the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. In 1933, the organization separated from the museum and was renamed the Los Angeles Art Association with a primary goal to connect to the broader Los Angeles art community through exhibitions, limited sales, rentals, events, and education. In 1944, with Helen Wurdemann (1892-1988) as Executive Director, the LAAA began to focus more on contemporary local artists, providing a place for the Southern California "hard-edge" abstractionist movement to flourish. In 1951, California painter Lorser Feitelson curated an exhibition of Hans Burkhardt, the LAAA's first solo exhibition of a local artist. Throughout its existence and continuing today, the LAAA has served as a place for arts education, outreach, and community-from its representation of artists studying under the GI bill between 1953 and 1965, to its participation in Monday night art-walks after its move to "Gallery Row" in 1960.
Provenance:
The Los Angeles Art Association records were donated to the Archives of American in 1990 and 1991 by Richard Campbell of the Los Angeles Art Association.
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:
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.
Topic:
Art -- Exhibitions -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
121 Photographic prints (b&w ; color, 8 x 10 in. 11 x 14 in.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Date:
1969-2007
Scope and Contents:
Photographs of Southern California artists, taken by Arnold Chanin.
Artists include Chuck Arnold, Florence Arnold, Robert Bassler, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Karl Benjamin, Anthony Berlant, Natalie Bieser, Irving Block, Nicholas Brigante, Hans Burkhardt, Aldo Casanova, George Chann, William Crutchfield, George Csengeri, Dan Cytron, Yvonne De Miranda, Edie Danieli, Fidel Danieli, Richard Diebenkorn, Lucienne Bloch Dimitrov and Steve Dimitrov, David Elder, Linda Elder, Fred Eversley, Fritz Faiss, Claire Falkenstein, Keith Finch, Max Finkelstein, Tom Fricano, Hal Gebhardt, Peter Gebhardt, George Gibson, Robert Gino, Claire Hanzakos, Mike Hanzakos, Donald Hartman, Sandra Jackman, Ynez Johnston, Kaija Keel, Peter Krasnow, Edmond Kohn, Gabriel Kohn, Don Lagerberg, Linda Levi, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Brian Mains, La Nelle Mason, John McLaughlin, Vasa Velizar Mihich, Arnold Mesches, Judith Miller, Lee Mullican, Gwynn Murrill, Peter Plagens, Bruce Richards, Betye Saar, Arnold Schifrin, Jilda Schwartz, Harry Steinberg, James Strombotne, Jan Stussy, Maxine Kim Stussy, J. B. Thompson, Joyce Trieman, William Tunberg, James Valerio, Alex Vilumsons, Gordon Wagner, Emerson Woelffer, and Janet Wullner-Faiss. Also included is one photograph of Kaija Keel, Claire Hanzakos and Jilda Schwartz and an exhibition brochure, undated, from the Arts Options Foundation "War & Peace & Clay", regarding sculpture by Keel, Hanzakos and Schwartz.
Photographs of Diebenkorn and Hans Burkhardt, one 11 x 14 in. collage print of Diebenkorn. Three of the photographs and the collage are duplicates of filmed photographs on reel 1818. Also included is one photograph of Chanin by Steve Cohen.
Biographical / Historical:
Arnold Chanin (1934-) is a photographer from Encino, Calif.
Provenance:
Donated 1975-2007 by Arnold Chanin. Additions are expected.
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.
Sixteen original linoleum print (signed, dated and numbered) Christmas cards from Hans Burkhardt to Fannie and Alan Leslie sapnning the years 1977-1992. Some cards have personal greetings to the Leslies from Thordis and Hans Burkhardt.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, printmaker. Artist Hans Burkhardt (1904-1994) was a painter, and printmaker. Artist Hans Burkhardt (1904-1994) was born in Basel, Switzerland, and moved in 1924 to New York to join his father who had established himself there as cabinetmaker/foreman at Schmieg & Co. Burkhardt worked there from 1925 for about ten years, moving to Los Angeles in 1937 where he found work as a furniture finisher. While in New York Burkhardt studied painting on the side with Arshile Gorky, with whom he collaborated on two compositions, The Circus (1936) and Abstraction (1936-37). When Gorky suffered financial difficulties, Burkhardt brought food to the studio and and provided support by purchasing about thirty paintings. He also met Willem de Kooning at Gorky's studio. In Los Angeles, where he remained until his death, Burkhardt met artists such as Lorser Feitelson, Man Ray, Eugene Berman, and Knud Merrild, whose abstractions reinforced Burkhardt's natural tendency in that direction. He has been described as the West Coast's first true abstract expressionist, but over the years figurative elements--notably nudes--played an important part in his numerous pastels and prints. Burkhardt worked as a prop painter at MGM and taught at UCLA, Chouinard Art Institute, and later at California State University (formerly College), Northridge. Upon his death, a large gift of paintings was made to the CSUN art gallery. In 1947 he met Thordis Haaversen Westhassel (1913-1993) whom he married in 1955. They lived together in the house and studio he built off Laurel Canyon Blvd. in the Hollywood Hills. Among his artist neighbors was Ed Kienholz. Alan and Fannie Leslie collected his work as well as that of Stanton Macdonald-Wright, both of whom were personal friends.
Provenance:
Donated 2001 by Alan and Fannie Leslie.
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.
