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Oral history interview with Allan Kaprow

Interviewee:
Kaprow, Allan  Search this
Interviewer:
Roth, Moira  Search this
Names:
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Callahan, Harry M.  Search this
Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this
Ono, Yōko  Search this
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this
Samaras, Lucas, 1936-  Search this
Schapiro, Meyer, 1904-  Search this
Segal, George, 1924-2000  Search this
Extent:
1 Item (Sound recording: 4 hrs. 11 mins. sound cassettes)
63 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1981 Feb. 5-18
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Allan Kaprow conducted 1981 Feb. 5-18, by Moira Roth, for the Archives of American Art.
Kaprow speaks of his family background and the early development of his interest in art; his education at New York University; meeting Meyer Schapiro; his friendship with George Segal; the development of his personal style and of his performance art and Happenings; his teaching career; his views on education; his personal philosophies.
Biographical / Historical:
Allen Kaprow (1927-2006) was a painter and educator from Los Angeles, Calif.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Painters -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews  Search this
Educators -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews  Search this
Happenings (Art)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.kaprow81
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw918ea1f0a-5128-4d2c-b1c7-1232b10ade83
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-kaprow81
Online Media:

Hans Namuth photographs and papers

Creator:
Namuth, Hans  Search this
Names:
Exposition universelle et internationale (1958 : Brussels, Belgium)  Search this
Jewish Museum (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts  Search this
Yale University. School of Art and Architecture  Search this
Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984  Search this
Boynton, Jack, 1928-2010  Search this
Breuer, Marcel, 1902-  Search this
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976 -- Photographs  Search this
Castelli, Leo  Search this
Copland, Aaron, 1900-1990  Search this
Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this
De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this
Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster), 1895-  Search this
Hartigan, Grace  Search this
Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this
Johns, Jasper, 1930- -- Photographs  Search this
Karpel, Bernard, 1911-1986  Search this
Koch, Kenneth, 1925-  Search this
Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984 -- Photographs  Search this
Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969  Search this
Navaretta, Cynthia  Search this
Newman, Arnold, 1918-2006  Search this
Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988 -- Photographs  Search this
Norman, Dorothy, 1905-1997  Search this
Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956 -- Photographs  Search this
Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008 -- Photographs  Search this
Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970 -- Photographs  Search this
Shaw, Elizabeth Roberts, 1921-  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  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.
Identifier:
AAA.namuhans
See more items in:
Hans Namuth photographs and papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw98657f618-8639-4278-8569-19240b164357
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-namuhans

Bernard Harper Friedman papers

Creator:
Friedman, B. H. (Bernard Harper), 1926-2011  Search this
Names:
Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center  Search this
Whitney Museum of American Art  Search this
Asher, Elise, 1914-  Search this
Baur, John I. H. (John Ireland Howe), 1909-1987  Search this
Bertoia, Harry  Search this
Biddle, Flora Miller  Search this
Bluhm, Norman, 1921-1999  Search this
Brooks, James, 1906-1992  Search this
Bultman, Fritz, 1919-1985  Search this
Castelli, Leo  Search this
Copley, William Nelson, 1919-1996  Search this
Dine, Jim, 1935-  Search this
Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011  Search this
Gill, Brendan, 1914-1997  Search this
Goodnough, Robert, 1917-  Search this
Gray, Cleve  Search this
Gray, Francine du Plessix  Search this
Hall, Joellen  Search this
Huebler, Douglas  Search this
Kanovitz, Howard  Search this
Knowlton, Grace, 1932-  Search this
Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984  Search this
Kunitz, Stanley, 1905-2006  Search this
Marca-Relli, Conrad, 1913-2000  Search this
Matter, Mercedes  Search this
McDarrah, Fred W., 1926-2007  Search this
McEwen, Rory, 1932-  Search this
Motherwell, Robert  Search this
Newman, Arnold, 1918-2006  Search this
Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970  Search this
Norman, Dorothy, 1905-1997  Search this
Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990  Search this
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this
Richenburg, Robert  Search this
Rosset, Barney  Search this
Roth, Philip  Search this
Rothschild, Judith  Search this
Salvesen, Magda  Search this
Sandler, Irving, 1925-  Search this
Scarpitta, Salvatore, 1919-2007  Search this
Schueler, Jon, 1916-  Search this
Simon, Sidney, 1917-1997  Search this
Slivka, David, 1913-  Search this
Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980  Search this
Stout, Myron, 1908-1987  Search this
Interviewee:
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Correspondent:
Leary, Timothy Francis, 1920-  Search this
Extent:
30.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Transcripts
Sound recordings
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Date:
1926-2011
bulk 1943-2010
Summary:
The papers of writer, art critic and collector Bernard Harper Friedman, 1926-2011, bulk 1943-2010, measure 30.6 linear feet. Extensive professional and personal correspondence, 41 diaries, a large number of his published and unpublished writings, and subject files document Friedman's career as a writer, relationships with cultural institutions and art world figures, and his personal life. Also included are biographical materials, interviews, printed material, 5 scrapbooks and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of writer, art critic and collector Bernard Harper Friedman, 1926-2011, bulk 1943-2010, measure 30.6 linear feet. Extensive professional and personal correspondence, 41 diaries, a large number of his published and unpublished writings, and subject files document Friedman's career as a writer, relationships with cultural institutions and art world figures, and his personal life. Also included are biographical materials, interviews, 5 scrapbooks, and photographs.

Biographical materials include educational records, documentation of Friedman's World War II service in the U.S. Navy, and birth, marriage, and death certificates.

Correspondence is with friends, family, artists, art world figures and institutions, writers, publishers, and literary agents. Among the correspondents are: John I. H. Baur, Harry Bertoia, Flora Biddle, Norman Bluhm, James Brooks, Fritz Bultman, Leo Castelli, William N. Copley, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Brendan Gill, Robert Goodnough, Cleve and Francine Gray, Howard Kanovitz, Grace Knowlton, Stanley Kunitz, Conrad Marca-Relli, Mercedes Matter, Fred W. McDarrah, Rory McEwen, Robert Motherwell, Arnold Newman, Barnett Newman, Dorothy Norman, Alfonso Ossorio, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Robert Richenburg, Barney Rosset, Philip Roth, Judith Rothschild, Irving Sandler, Salvatore Scarpitta, Jon Schueler, Sidney Simon, David Slivka, Clyfford Still, Myron Stout, Calvin Tompkins, and David Windham.

There are transcripts of interviews with B. H. Friedman, his daughter and wife conducted by the Yale University School of Medicine's "Adult Development Study," and 2 recordings of interviews with Friedman for radio broadcast.

Writings by Friedman include manuscripts of novels, short stories, plays, articles, monographs, and art criticism, some published versions of his work, and a variety of notes. Also found are recordings of lectures by B. H. Friedman and panel discussions in which he participated. Other authors represented are John Cage, W. B. Henry, and Jon Schueler. Friedman's diaries, 1948-1993 (41 volumes) record activities, thoughts, and events.

Subject files compiled by Friedman reflect professional and personal interests, activities, and projects. Many concern publicity for published writings or efforts to find publishers. Especially well documented is his interest in Jackson Pollock, Timothy Leary, and Alfonso Ossorio, and his affiliation with the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The majority of printed material is about or mentions Friedman. Five scrapbooks consist mainly of printed material.

Most photographs are of B. H. and Abby Friedman, their family, and friends. Among the individuals pictured are: Elise Asher, Cary and Norman Bluhm, Sandy Friedman, Joellen Hall, Doug Huebler, Howard Kanowitz, Stanley Kunitz, Lee Krasner, Sheridan Lloyd, Barnett and Annalee Newman, Alfonso Ossorio, Magda Salvesen, Salvatore Scarpitta, John Schueler, and Myron Stout. A photograph album records scenes from a 1979 performance of Whispers, a stage adaptation by Alan Wynroth from Friedman's novel of the same title.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1926-2011 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1946-2011 (Boxes 1-15; 14.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Interviews, 1969-2001 (Box 15; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, 1940s-2010 (Boxes 16-23; 8 linear feet)

Series 5: Diaries, 1948-1993 (Boxes 24-25; 1.75 linear feet)

Series 6: Subject Files, 1940-2010 (Boxes 25-30; 4.45 linear feet)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1954-2010 (Box 30-31; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1960-2006 (Boxes 30-32; 0.8 lilnear feet)

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1950s-2008 (Box 30; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Bernard Harper Friedman (1926-2011), a writer best known as the author of the first biography of Jackson Pollock, was also an art critic and art collector involved in the cultural life of New York City.

Bernard Harper Friedman, known professionally as B. H. Friedman, was called Bob by family and friends. After interrupting his studies at Cornell University to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he graduated in 1948 with a degree in English. Friedman and his new bride, fellow student Abby G. Noselson (1926-2003), returned home to New York City and he began a real estate career in his uncles' firm, Uris Buildings Corporation. While a businessman, Friedman spent much of his spare time writing. He produced fiction, plays, and criticism; Friedman's articles on art, literature and music appeared in a wide variety of periodicals. During this period, Friedman also pursued his interests in jazz, collecting abstract art, and psychedelic drug experiences with Timothy Leary.

His first published novel, Circles, about the Abstract Expressionist milieu, appeared in 1962. A year later, B. H. Friedman became a full-time writer. For nearly 20 years, he divided his time between New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he was affiliated with the Fine Arts Work Center as a director and consultant. During this period, he published several novels and two biographies: Jackson Pollock: Energy Made Visible and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, written with Flora Biddle. More novels and short story collections were published, and staged readings of seven plays were presented between 1987 and 2007. Tripping, a memoir of using psychedlics with Timothy Leary, appeared in 2006.

A founding member of Fiction Collective, a nonprofit publishing group run by and for writers, Friedman was also a member of several national writers' organizations. He served as a trustee of the Whitney Musuem of American Art, 1961-1968, and then as honorary trustee. B. H. Friedman died from complications of pneumonia on January 4, 2011 in New York City.
Related Materials:
Also available is an oral history interview with Bernard Harper Friedman, 1972 November 10, conducted by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
The Bernard Harper Friedman papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2012 by his daughter, Daisy Friedman.
Restrictions:
The collection is ACCESS RESTRICTED; written permission is required. Use of original materials requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Interviews  Search this
Genre/Form:
Diaries
Transcripts
Sound recordings
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Bernard Harper Friedman papers, 1926-2011, bulk 1943-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.friebern
See more items in:
Bernard Harper Friedman papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw97a7e6f48-cdda-41ab-921f-8919151a0609
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-friebern

Cosmos Andrew Sarchiapone papers

Creator:
Sarchiapone, Cosmos Andrew, 1931-2011  Search this
Names:
Parsons School of Design -- Faculty  Search this
Push Pin Studios  Search this
School of Visual Arts (New York, N.Y.) -- Faculty  Search this
Arbus, Diane, 1923-1971  Search this
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Glaser, Milton  Search this
Hay, Alex  Search this
Huebler, Douglas  Search this
Israel, Marvin  Search this
Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this
Kelly, Ellsworth, 1923-  Search this
Scull, Robert C.  Search this
Sonneman, Eve  Search this
Extent:
49.2 Linear feet
0.367 Gigabytes
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Gigabytes
Drawings
Ephemera
Illustrations
Music
Photocopies
Photographs
Posters
Prints
Sketchbooks
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Place:
New York (State) -- New York City -- Photographs
Date:
circa 1860-2011
bulk 1940-2011
Summary:
The papers of New York City photographer, conceptual artist, and musical composer Cosmos Sarchiapone measure 49.2 linear feet and 0.367 GB and date from circa 1860-2011, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1940-2011. The collection includes biographical material and personal business records; correspondence; extensive writings, including written and recorded music compositions; teaching files; printed material and published sound and video recordings; photographic material; artwork; artifacts; and unpublished sound recordings and born-digital material. Highlights of the collection are more than 40,000 photographic images documenting New York's avant-garde art scene of the 1970s, along with celebrity parties, concerts, exhibition openings and other occasions in the art, music, and theater world. Extensive and somewhat rare printed materials offer users a visual chronical of the downtown art world in the form of posters from the 1970s, including a number of Milton Glaser's, and hundreds of exhibition announcements, theater programs, and playbills.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York City photographer, conceptual artist, and musical composer Cosmos Sarchiapone measure 49.2 linear feet and 0.367 GB and date from circa 1860-2011, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1940-2011. The collection includes biographical material and personal business records; correspondence; extensive writings, including written and recorded music compositions; teaching files; printed material and published sound and video recordings; photographic material; artwork; artifacts; and unpublished sound recordings and born-digital material. Highlights of the collection are more than 40,000 photographic images documenting New York's avant-garde art scene of the 1970s, along with celebrity parties, concerts, exhibition openings and other occasions in the art, music, and theater world. Extensive and somewhat rare printed materials offer users a visual chronical of the downtown art world in the form of posters from the 1970s, including a number of Milton Glaser's, and hundreds of exhibition announcements, theater programs, and playbills.

Biographical material and personal business records include address books, calendars, legal paperwork, life documents, resumes, and other material. Correspondence is both personal and professional in nature. Personal correspondence is between Cosmos and friends, family, and pen pals. Professional correspondence is with curators, publishers, and estates and mostly concerns Cosmos's artwork, photographs, or objects he lent for exhibition or publication.

Writings include general writings and notes, including a book layout for a book never realized; fifteen notebooks containing Cosmos's writings about projects, dreams, and miscellany; music compositions in both written form and on sound recordings; and scattered writings by others, including manuscripts and theater scripts.

Teaching files document photography courses taught by Cosmos at the School of Visual Arts in 1974-1976, and the Parsons School of Design in 1980.

Printed materials and commercially published sound and video recordings in the collection are extensive and reflect Cosmos's unique interests and inspirations, and his tendency to save and collect material discarded or rejected by others. There are books and periodicals featuring Cosmos's work, annotated by Cosmos, or of special significance to Cosmos. There is also a list of books in Cosmos's library. Some of the periodicals concern Push Pin Studios and Milton Glaser. There is a large group of ephemera, such as announcements, catalogs, press releases, programs, playbills, posters, and assorted items covering several decades of New York exhibitions, events, concerts, and performances. There are posters for exhibitions, events, performances, film screenings, and concerts. Some of the clippings and other ephemera may have been removed from scrapbooks or other compilations, and some remain collated and mounted on mat board. Some of the printed materials may have been used by Cosmos as source materials.

Photographic material makes up a significant portion of the collection (14.5 linear feet), and illustrates the breadth of Cosmos's documentation of New York City, capturing the avant-garde art and theater worlds, the people and streets, self-portraits, and numerous other subjects. There are images of named people and people at parties, of exhibitions and performances, of New York City streets and buildings, of a more personal and family nature, of artwork, and of miscellaneous subjects. There are also collected photographs, some of which are vintage. There is a large group of unidentified and unsorted negatives, slides, and contact sheets. Where they existed, labeling and descriptive notes have been preserved with the unidentified materials.

Artwork is also quite extensive (10.5 linear feet) and found in a variety of genre, format, and media. There is also a small subseries of artwork by others. One group of artwork consists of titled or named art projects and series, often executed in the form of series that spanned decades. This group includes Cosmos's Reciprocal project that incorporated his photographic work. For this project, he would photograph notable figures, including John Cage, Robert Scull, and others, and ask them to photograph him. There are also several folders of Cosmos's work focusing on photographer Diane Arbus.

A group of artwork identified as "compilations" consist primarily of photocopies of compiled presentations of documents, photographs, fragments, writings, drawings, printed materials and ephemera, and bits and pieces of Cosmos's titled work. These compilations were prepared by Cosmos for individuals in the art world to whom he was close. The original compilations were then photocopied and presented to the intended receiver. The subseries of compilations contains both originals and photocopied versions that do not always correlate with one another. Also found among the artwork are drawings, illustrations, a few paintings, collages, and sketchbooks by Cosmos. Artwork by others includes an artist book, drawings, a sketchbook, and prints by Milton Glaser, Alex Hay, Douglas Huebler, Marvin Israel, Ray Johnson, Ellsworth Kelly, and Eve Sonneman.

Found within the collection are three dimensional artifacts, including eight cameras and other items Cosmos saved and collected to incorporate into his photographs.

There is a large series of unpublished sound recordings and born-digital material, some of which is clearly identified and labeled, and some of which is unidentified. When known, labeling has been incorporated into the folder titles in the container inventory. Users should note that sound recordings that were clearly identified and associated with other projects were arranged in context with those related materials.

Printed material (series 5), photographic material (series 6), and artwork (series 7), include many photocopies. Cosmos used the photocopy process to make copies of his work to share with others, and as a creative form of art in itself, experimenting with tonality, collage, and the degeneration of images from repeated copying. Photocopies were also made of articles, newspapers, and various source material and ephemera that he collected. Many photocopies have descriptive labeling on the back. For some photographs and projects, photocopies are the only form of documentation located in the collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as nine series

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material and Personal Business Records, circa 1949-2011 (1 linear foot; Box 1, 44, OV 49)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1940s-2011 (.7 linear feet; Box 1-2)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1947-2000s (4.2 linear feet; Box 2-6, 44, OV 50-51)

Series 4: Teaching Files, 1970s-1980s (1.9 linear feet; Box 6-8, 44, OV 52)

Series 5: Printed Material, Published Sound, Video Recordings, 1894-2000s (8.3 linear feet; Box 8-13, 44-45, OV 53-73, RD 105)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1860-2000s, bulk 1970-2010 (14.5 linear feet; Box 14-26, 46-47, OV 74-80)

Series 7: Artwork, 1947-2000s (10.5 linear feet; Box 27-34, 47-48, OV 81-104)

Series 8: Artifacts, 1960s-2000s (1.5 linear feet; Box 34-35)

Series 9: Sound Recordings and Born-Digital Material, 1950s-2000s (6.6 linear feet; Box 36-43, 0.367 GB; ER01-ER02)
Biographical / Historical:
Cosmos Andrew Sarchiapone (1931-2011) was a documentary photographer, musical composer, and conceptual artist who worked in New York City.

Cosmos Andrew Sarchiapone was named Cosime Sarchiapone at birth, and was also known as Cosmos, Cosmos Savage, and Richard Savage. His parents, Lois and Aldo, had seven children, including twins Cosmos and Damian. Born in Manhattan, Cosmos graduated from the La Guardia High School of Music and Art in New York City in 1948 and from Syracuse University in 1958 with a concentration in music composition and studio art. After college, he studied musical composition with John Cage at the New School in 1961, art history with Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University from 1963-1965, illustration with Marvin Israel from 1966-1971, design with Milton Glaser from 1968-1973, and photography with Diane Arbus from 1970-1971. He taught photography at the School of Visual Arts from 1974-1976, and at Parsons School of Design in 1980. In the early 1970s, he led experimental theater workshops at Columbia-Barnard University.

Between 1968-1969, Cosmos worked with Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast at their Push Pin Studios, a graphic design and illustration studio.

Sometime between the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Cosmos began photographing New York City, capturing the art and theater worlds, the people and streets, self-portraits, and numerous other subjects. As a freelance photographer for New York magazine (founded by Milton Glaser) and other mass-market publications, Cosmos photographed Andy Warhol and his circle, Halloween parties at the Waldorf, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon convention, the Jesus Joy Jubilee at Carnegie Hall, the Beat Poets' reunion and private parties attended by Hollywood actors and directors, often capturing the overlapping worlds of art, movies and music. Cosmos's photographs have been published in numerous books and publications. His work was featured in several exhibitions in the 1970s, including shows at the Jamie Gallery, the Fine Arts Building, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. But he created the bulk of his work for himself and much of it remains unpublished.

Throughout the 1970s, Cosmos documented the avant-garde art scene in New York City. He captured performances at The Kitchen and La Mama, the offices of New York magazine and Push Pin Studios, Tom O'Horgan's Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, and much more. He photographed performances and installations at 112 Greene Street in SoHo, an interdisciplinary art space that nurtured the experiments of a number of now significant American artists, dancers and musicians, including Chris Burden, Vito Acconci, Suzanne Harris and Phillip Glass, all of whom were photographed by Cosmos. He also photographed numerous images of 112 Greene Street's sister space, Matta-Clark's FOOD, an artist-run eatery at the corner of Prince and Wooster Streets where exotic meals were offered up as both performance art and nourishment. Cosmos used his camera as a way to get close to artists he admired, including Diane Arbus, Milton Glaser, and Marvin Israel.

According to Milton Glaser, "Cosmos was a brilliant photographer who was never without a camera….He was always everywhere. In terms of documentation of that period, there was no one like him."

Cosmos often incorporated aspects of his photography into conceptual art pieces, including two serial works that Cosmos made from fragments of Diane Arbus' discarded photographs, transforming her iconic work. Many of Cosmos's conceptual art pieces often took the form of a series, and were continuously revisited. In Reciprocal, Cosmos photographed figures—including those he admired like John Cage, Meyer Schapiro, Robert Scull, and others—then asked each to photograph him. Many of Cosmos's art projects were based in photographic documentation of his "performances", as in Sheet Music, where he is seen tearing a white sheet outside Bloomingdale's during the 'white sale.' Cosmos's convictions about smoking, its hazards, and the nefarious actions of tobacco companies led to several related projects, among them, Photo Arrest, where Cosmos captured on camera people smoking illegally in hospitals, classrooms, grocery stores, and elevators.

Cosmos created scores for plays and dance performances, including Churchyard by the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1970, and numerous Off-Off Broadway theater productions in the 1960s. He wrote an opera, Vox Humana #3. The opera is about three heroines of history: Antigone, Joan of Arc, and Patty Hearst, and synthesizes a variety of media, including music composition, stage direction, and video (Patty Hearst in Chains), into a four hour performance that was staged at La Mama in 1976 and The Kitchen in 1977.

Cosmos lived at Westbeth Artists' Community from 1970-2011, but had largely withdrawn from the world by the 2000s. Cosmos Sarchiapone died in 2011.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives of American Art in 2015 by Tom Sarchiapone, Cosmos Sarchiapone's brother, via Catherine Morris, curator and friend of Cosmos.
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.

Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Composers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Conceptual artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Art -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Conceptual art  Search this
Music--New York (State)--New York  Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Photography -- Study and teaching  Search this
Photography--New York (State)--New York  Search this
Theater--New York (State)--New York  Search this
Genre/Form:
Drawings
Ephemera
Illustrations
Music
Photocopies
Photographs
Posters
Prints
Sketchbooks
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Citation:
Cosmos Andrew Sarchiapone papers, circa 1860-2011, bulk 1940-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.sarccosm
See more items in:
Cosmos Andrew Sarchiapone papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9bf441ea1-b8c9-46c4-a9ec-01ea133658fb
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-sarccosm
Online Media:

Rose Slivka papers

Creator:
Slivka, Rose  Search this
Names:
American Craft Council  Search this
Craft Horizons  Search this
Craft International  Search this
World Crafts Council  Search this
De Kooning, Elaine  Search this
Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this
Kunitz, Stanley, 1905-2006  Search this
Larsen, Jack Lenor  Search this
Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988  Search this
Slivka, David, 1913-  Search this
Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002  Search this
Interviewee:
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Extent:
20.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Diaries
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Date:
circa 1947-2006
Summary:
The papers of craft expert Rose Slivka, an editor, writer, critic, and educator, measure 20.8 linear feet and date from circa 1947-2006. The papers reflect Slivka's work with associations and universities to encourage the recognition of crafts as an international and broadly defined art form. The routine business of publishing Craft Horizons magazine and the founding and operation of Craft International magazine are documented by correspondence and subject files. Correspondence is mainly professional with some scattered personal letters. Subject files concern various organizations, individuals and events related to Slivka's work and interests. Among the writings are manuscripts, notes, and research materials for her book about Peter Voulkos; also included are shorter writings on a variety of topics, poems, 2 diaries, lectures and talks. There are many interviews with craftspeople and artists conducted by Slivka and others, some undertaken as research for articles. Photographs include views of Slivka, craftspeople she observed when traveling abroad, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of craft expert Rose Slivka, an editor, writer, critic, and educator, measure 20.8 linear feet and date from circa 1947-2006. The papers reflect Slivka's work with associations and universities to encourage the recognition of crafts as an international and broadly defined art form. The routine business of publishing Craft Horizons magazine and the founding and operation of Craft International magazine are documented by correspondence and subject files. Correspondence is mainly professional with some scattered personal letters. Subject files concern various organizations, individuals and events related to Slivka's work and interests. Among the writings are manuscripts, notes, and research materials for her book about Peter Voulkos; also included are shorter writings on a variety of topics, poems, 2 diaries, lectures and talks. There are many interviews with craftspeople and artists conducted by Slivka and others, some undertaken as research for articles. Photographs include artwork, views of Slivka, and craftspeople she observed when traveling abroad.

Interviews with craftsmen and other artists were conducted by Rose Slivka and others. Peter Voulkos is espcially well-documented. Among the artists interviewed are: Elaine de Kooning, Philip Guston, Jack Lenor Larsen, Louise Nevelson, and David Slivka. Also found are intereviews with John Cage, Stanley Kunitz, and Rose Slivka.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1947-2005 ( Box 1; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1950-2004 (Boxes 1-4: 3.6 linear feet)

Series 3: Interviews, 1974-2001 (Boxes 5-6; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, Notes, and Related Research, 1954-2001 (Boxes 6-11, OV 23; 4.8 linear feet)

Series 5: Subject Files, 1958-2004 (Boxes 11-18, 22, OV 23; 7.4 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1952-2006 (Boxes 18-20, OV 23; 1.9 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1947-1990s (Boxes 20-21; 1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Crafts expert Rose Slivka (1919-2004) was an editor, educator, and critic in New York City and East Hampton, NY. Slivka edited Craft Horizons magazine from 1957-1979, and then founded Crafts International, which published its first issue in 1980.

Rose Slivka was very active in the American Crafts Council and World Crafts Council, and promoted crafts by participating in conferences around the world, acting as a juror of competitions, writing, and teaching. The author of books and articles about crafts, including the entry on "Handicrafts" in the 1961 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, Slivka was tireless in her search for information pertaining to crafts of all nations. Her study of the subject was integrated into a strong, far-reaching campaign to include sculpture as a craft and promote crafts on a par with fine art. She was also interested in poetry and taught courses in art criticism at New York University and the New School for Social Research.

Many of Slivka's articles on craft, painting and sculpture have been published in periodicals such as Art in America, Architectural Digest, and The New York Times. Books and exhibition catalogs include The Crafts of the Modern World (1964); The Object as Poet (1976), Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC; Peter Voulkos: A Dialogue in Clay (1978); California Clay (1979), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and The Book as Art and Artist (1979), Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY. Slivka's writings have been translated into at least 7 languages.

Slivka was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Critics Fellowship in 1976 and between 1980 and 1982 conducted a research project on "Criticism and Scholarship in Modern Craft" also sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded The Rhode Island School of Design President's Fellows Award in 1982, and its highest honor, the Athena Medal. In addition, she served on the boards of directors for several New York City organizations including Clayworks Studio Workshop, New York Experimental Glassworks, and Center for Book Arts.

Following her career as a magazine editor, international speaker on crafts, writer, and educator, Slivka moved to East Hampton, Long Island, where she continued to write poetry and was art critic for The East Hampton Star newspaper.

Rose Slivka's was married to sculptor David Slivka; the couple had 2 children and eventually divorced. She died of heart failure in Southampton, NY, on September 2, 2004.
Provenance:
The Rose Slivka papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Slivka's daughter, Charlotte Slivka, in 2008 and 2012.
Restrictions:
Use of original materials 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.
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:
Editors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Interviews  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Women art critics  Search this
Women educators  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Diaries
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Citation:
Rose Slivka papers, circa 1947-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.slivrose
See more items in:
Rose Slivka papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e61796b1-d82d-43f5-bf61-c595421a8fd0
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-slivrose

Jan Butterfield papers

Creator:
Butterfield, Jan  Search this
Names:
Lapis Press  Search this
Pacific Enterprises  Search this
Bell, Larry, 1939-  Search this
Bischoff, Elmer, 1916-1991  Search this
Dugmore, Edward, 1915-  Search this
Francis, Sam, 1923-1994  Search this
Gehry, Frank O., 1929-  Search this
Goode, Joe, 1937-  Search this
Greene, George  Search this
Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this
Harrison, Helen Mayer, 1929-  Search this
Harrison, Newton, 1932-  Search this
Hopkins, Henry, 1928-2009  Search this
Hudson, Robert, 1938-  Search this
Irwin, Robert, 1928-  Search this
Karp, Michael  Search this
Kienholz, Edward, 1927-  Search this
Nauman, Bruce, 1941-  Search this
Nordman, Maria  Search this
Orr, Eric, 1939-1998  Search this
Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this
Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this
Resnick, Milton, 1917-2004  Search this
Roche, Jim  Search this
Ruscha, Edward  Search this
Shaw, Richard, 1941 Sept. 12-  Search this
Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980  Search this
Turrell, James  Search this
Wheeler, Douglas  Search this
Wortz, E.  Search this
Wortz, Melinda  Search this
Young, R. Joshua  Search this
Interviewee:
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Extent:
15 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Transcripts
Interviews
Scrapbooks
Date:
1950-1997
Summary:
The papers of Jan Butterfield measure 15 linear feet and date from circa 1950 to 1997. Papers contain hundreds of recorded interviews with and lectures by artists, panel discussions of artists and art historians, as well as extensive writings by Butterfield. Also found are project files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and additional sound and video recordings related to art subjects.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Jan Butterfield measure 15 linear feet and date from circa 1950 to 1997. Papers contain hundreds of recorded interviews with and lectures by artists, panel discussions of artists and art historians, as well as extensive writings by Butterfield. Also found are project files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and additional sound and video recordings related to art subjects.

Interviews and Lectures include hundreds of interviews conducted by Butterfield between 1971 and 1987 with contemporary artists about whom she was writing at the time. The artists Robert Irwin and Sam Francis are represented particularly well. Also found are slide talks, class discussions, and lectures given by artists, which are assumed to have been recorded by Butterfield in most cases. Also among the recordings are recorded performances by John Cage, Joe Goode, Newton and Helen Harrison, Jim Roche, and George Greene. Panel discussions include two notable recordings involving Milton Resnick, one with the painter Edward Dugmore in 1959, and the other with the painter Ad Reinhardt at The Club in 1961, which was later dubbed "The Attack."

The bulk of the writings relate to Butterfield's published work The Art of Light and Space, represented here in multiple drafts, research, and photographs of works of art by the artists discussed in the work including Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Maria Nordman, Douglas Wheeler, Bruce Nauman, Eric Orr, Larry Bell, DeWain Valentine, Susan Kaiser Vogel, and Hap Tivey. Also found are extensive drafts and research for catalog essays for exhibitions of Larry Bell, Richard Shaw, Robert Hudson, and Elmer Bischoff. Drafts of articles and publicity writing are mainly about artists but also some galleries and other art events. There are a few transcripts of recorded interviews, and it appears that many of the writings are based on Butterfield's interviews.

Project files include records relating to Butterfield's involvement with the production of a catalog for the corporate art collection of Pacific Enterprises. These also include additional artist interviews and artist files containing research and writing, mainly by her associate Michael Karp. Also found are photographs and sound recordings for the Waterfront Project at the San Francisco Art Institute, an interdisciplinary community-centered development project that involved Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Melinda Wortz, Eric Orr, Dr. E. Wortz, Frank Gehry, Newton and Helen Harrison, Josh Young, and students at the Art Institute. And finally, project files include photographs, interviews, and printed material related to publications of Lapis Press, where Butterfield was Executive Director.

Personal business records include correspondence, price lists, financial records, notes, press releases, and career documentation of Butterfield. Printed materials include articles by Butterfield, articles about Butterfield, and articles by Henry Hopkins, most of which are photocopies. There are also clippings, exhibition catalogs, exhibition posters, and publicity. Of note is a disassembled scrapbook pertaining to the controversial Ed Kienholz exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1966, and a directory of art spaces in Los Angeles from 1978.

Most of the photographs are of works of art by artists about whom Butterfield wrote. Also found are a few files of photographs of artists, some taken by Butterfield, including Philip Guston, Ed Kienholz, Henry Hopkins with Clyfford Still, Robert Irwin, Robert Rauschenberg, and James Turrell. Additional video and sound recordings include artist installations, a documentary on Sam Francis, and an acoustiguide for an Ed Ruscha exhibition.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 7 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Interviews and Lectures (Boxes 1-5; 4.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Writings (Boxes 5-7, 16, OV 17; 3.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Project Files (Boxes 8-10, 16; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 4: Personal Business Records (Boxes 10-11, OV 17-19; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Printed Materials (Boxes 11-12, 16, OV 17-19; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographs (Boxes 12-14, 16; 2.2 linear feet)

Series 7: Sound and Video Recordings (Box 15; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Jan Butterfield (1937-2000) was an art writer and critic of contemporary art who spent most of her career in California. She is best known for her writings on late twentieth century installation and craft artists, particularly those who worked in California and the American West.

Butterfield was born Jan Van Alstine in Los Angeles, California in 1937 and attended the Univeristy of California, Los Angeles. She received numerous fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts as an art critic, and contributed art writing to dozens of exhibition catalogs and art publications including Art International, Images and Issues, Art News, Art in America, and Flash Art. Her most ambitious work of writing was The Art of Light and Space (Abbeville Press: 1993), which profiles the work of contemporary artists Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Maria Nordman, Douglas Wheeler, Bruce Nauman, Eric Orr, Larry Bell, DeWain Valentine, Susan Kaiser Vogel, and Hap Tivey. She was also the author of a 1972 monograph of the Abstract Expressionist painter Sam Francis.

Butterfield held positions in public relations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from its opening until 1970, and at the Fort Worth Art Museum from 1970 to 1974. She taught at Northwood Experimental Art Institute in Dallas, Texas, the San Francisco Art Institute, San Jose State University, and Mills College in Oakland, California between 1973 and 1983. At the San Francisco Art Institute, she was Director of the extension program and Coordinator of the visiting artist program and the Waterfront Project between 1976 and 1978. In 1984, Butterfield and the artist Sam Francis co-founded the Lapis Press, where she served as Executive Director from its founding until 1988.

Butterfield was married twice, the second time to Henry Hopkins, Museum Director at LACMA, the Museum of Fine Art of Houston, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She died in 2000 after an extended illness.
Related Materials:
Also found among the collections of the Archives of American Art is a 1981 panel discussion on Bay area art criticism sponsored by the National Women's Caucus for Art, in which Butterfield participated, as well as an oral history interview Butterfield conducted with Helen Lundeberg for the Archives' Oral History Program in 1980.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel 1042 including two volumes of scrapbooks. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Jan Butterfield lent material in 1975 for microfilming. She donated the Robert Irwin material in 1980 of and most of the interviews and audio tapes in 1989. An additional 12 feet of papers, including some material previously loaned and microfilmed, along with two additional audio tapes, were donated by Butterfield's brother, and Trustee of the Jan Butterfield Trust, Derek Van Alstine in 2002.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Art historians -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Authors -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Topic:
Women art critics  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Transcripts
Interviews
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Jan Butterfield papers, 1959-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.buttjan
See more items in:
Jan Butterfield papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9cc490739-2463-4f67-9f43-570692783628
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-buttjan
Online Media:

John Held papers relating to mail art

Creator:
Held, John, 1947-  Search this
Names:
Gutai Bijutsu Kyōkai  Search this
San Francisco Art Institute  Search this
Ackerman, Blaster Al, 1939-2013  Search this
Andre, Carl, 1935-  Search this
Bloch, Mark, 1956-  Search this
Braumuller, Hans, 1966-  Search this
Brown, Jean, 1911-1994  Search this
Cavellini, Guglielmo Achille, 1914-  Search this
Cohen, Ryosuke, 1948-  Search this
Durland, Steve  Search this
Gaglione, Bill  Search this
Higgins, Dick, 1938-  Search this
Janssen, Ruud, 1959-  Search this
Kaprow, Allan  Search this
Leigh, Michael  Search this
Shimamoto, Shozo, 1928-  Search this
Summers, Rod  Search this
Interviewee:
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this
Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this
Extent:
12.9 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Interviews
Date:
bulk 1973-2013
1947-2018
Summary:
The papers of rubberstamp and artistamp artist, performance artist, collector of mail art, and fine arts librarian John Held, Jr. date from 1947-2018, bulk 1973-2013, and measure 12.9 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical material, 18 printed diaries, letters received by Held from mail artists around the world, art work consisting of artistamps designed by miscellaneous mail artists, interview transcripts, writings, project and event files, printed material, mail art sent for the Gutai Historical Survey Exhibition held at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2013, and a collection of biographical material presented by Held at a Mail Art Study Day held at the Archives of American Art in 2018.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of rubberstamp and artistamp artist, performance artist, collector of mail art, and fine arts librarian John Held, Jr. date from 1947-2018, bulk 1973-2013, and measure 12.9 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical material, 18 printed diaries, letters received by Held from mail artists around the world, art work consisting of artistamps designed by miscellaneous mail artists, interview transcripts, writings, project and event files, printed material, and mail art sent for the Gutai Historical Survey Exhibition held at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2013.

Scattered biographical material consists primarily of miscellanous biographical writings and accounts. Eighteen printed diaries provide very brief descriptions of daily activities and more detailed descriptions of art mail events, conferences, and travel experiences.

Letters comprise the largest and most significant series in the collection. Letters received by John Held, Jr. are from an extensive number of national and international mail artists, including Mark Bloch, Hans Braumüller, Jean Brown, William Gaglione (a.k.a. Picasso Gaglione), Dick Higgins, Ray Johnson, Shozo Shimamoto, Ryosuke Cohen, Michael Leigh, Guglielmo Cavellini, and Rod Summers. There are also scattered letters from Carl Andre and Clement Greenberg, typescripts of letters sent by Held, and a file of letters exchanged with Steve Durland.

There are twelve folders of artistamps, non-official or pseudo-postage stamps designed by miscellaneous participants in the international mail art network.

Transcripts are of interviews conducted by John Held, Jr. with some of the more notable artists involved with the mail art movement including Al Ackerman, John Cage, Ray Johnson, and Allan Kaprow. There are also interviews with John Held, Jr., William (Picasso) Gaglione, and Milan Knizak, including an interview with Held conducted by Ruud Janssen.

Extensive writings by John Held, Jr. consist of catalog essays, miscellaneous essays, bibliographies, miscellaneous box set texts, and miscellaneous typescripts. Project and event files concern miscellaneous projects, tours, lectures, and exhibitions with which John Held, Jr. was involved.

Printed material consists primarily of printouts of Bibliozone issues, a newsletter, exhibition catalogs, and press releases concerning mail art.

The Gutai exhibition project files include printed material related to the 2013 Experimental Exhibition of Modern Art to Challenge the mid-Winter Burning Sun: Gutai Historical Survey and Contemporary Response held at the San Francisco Art Institute. The bulk of the series consists of mail art created by over 135 artists who were asked to submit work inspired by Gutai and the artist Shozo Shimamoto.

The Mail Art Study Day Material consists of mostly biographical material regarding John Held, presented by him at the Archives of American Art's Mail Art Study Day on November 9, 2018. This assortment of largely printed material (news clippings, invitations, and programs) as well as select correspondence and photographs, each representing a year in the life of the artist, accompanied by a key for around 450 items dating from 1947-2018. They serve to document his career with regard to creating and disseminating Mail Art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1990-1999 (5 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Diaries, 1990-2000 (20 folders; Box 1)

Series 3: Letters, 1973-2008 (7.9 linear feet; Box 1-8, Box 12)

Series 4: Artwork, 1985-2007 (12 folders; Box 8)

Series 5: Interview Transcripts, 1977-1995 (7 folders; Box 8)

Series 6: Writings, 1984-2000 (0.5 linear feet; Box 8)

Series 7: Project and Event Files, 1982-2000 (11 folders; Box 8)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1989-2000 (11 folders; Box 8)

Series 9: Gutai Exhibition Project Files, 2012-2013 (Box 9-11, Box 13, OV 14)

Series 10: Mail Art Study Day Materials, 1947-2018 (Box 15)
Biographical Note:
John Held, Jr. (1947-) of San Francisco, California, is a rubberstamp and artistamp artist, participant in the international mail art network, activist, performance artist, collector of mail art, and a fine arts librarian.

Jonathan Held was born on April 2, 1947. In the mid-1970s he took the name of the early twentieth century illustrator, John Held, Jr., famous for his images of "flapper girls" in the 1920s. This name change was both in tribute to the older artist as well as an expression of Dada.

Earning a Bachelor's Degree in 1969, Held received a Master of Library Science Degree from Syracuse University School of Information Studies in 1972 and expanded his interests toward participating in the international mail art network and assembling one of the largest archives of mail art in the United States. He was mentored by mail artist Ray Johnson, and Jean Brown, a leading participant in Fluxus, whose interest in the Dada and Surrealism movements promoted emerging art forms including mail art, visual poetry, and artists' books.

From 1981 to 1995, Held was a Fine Arts Librarian at the Dallas Public Library. In 1982, he began making artistamps, pseudo-postage stamps used as an art medium, and opened the Modern Realism Gallery and Archive in Dallas, Texas, with his future wife Paula Barber. The gallery sought to preserve the record of contemporary avant-garde cultural activity.

Held published Mail Art: An Annotated Bibliography, a five-hundred page listing of secondary sources on the field in 1991. In 1996, Held moved to San Francisco, California, where he established the Modern Realism Gallery and acted as curator of the Stamp Art Gallery, an exhibition space devoted to rubberstamp and artistamp works.

John Held, Jr. has lectured at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Museum of Fine Arts, Havana; and at the National School of Art, Prague. He participated in international exhibitions and, since 1986, engaged in international performance work, appearing in Japan, Russia, Uruguay, and Yugoslavia, as well as in the United States. One of Held's more notable performance creations is the Fake Picabia Brothers, in partnership with artist Picasso Gaglione.

John Held, Jr. lives in San Francisco, California.
Provenance:
John Held donated his papers relating to mail art in 1999, 2008, 2013, and 2018.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning 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:
Mail artists -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Performance artists -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Librarians -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Topic:
Mail art  Search this
Genre/Form:
Diaries
Interviews
Citation:
John Held papers relating to mail art, 1947-2018. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.heldjohn
See more items in:
John Held papers relating to mail art
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93dd2159c-b4cd-4edd-9e2f-9b0b78cc5bf6
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-heldjohn
Online Media:

John Cage letter to Leith Rutherford

Creator:
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Rutherford, Leith  Search this
Subject:
Cunningham, Merce  Search this
Type:
Correspondence
Date:
1962 Dec. 24
Citation:
John Cage. John Cage letter to Leith Rutherford, 1962 Dec. 24. Institute of Contemporary Arts records, 1927-circa 1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Dance  Search this
Music  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA)14879
See more items in:
Institute of Contemporary Arts records, 1927-circa 1985, bulk 1947-1967
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_item_14879

Rolywholyover a circus John Cage ; [editor, Russell Ferguson]

Author:
Cage, John  Search this
Author:
Ferguson, Russell  Search this
Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
Smithsonian Libraries Artists' Books DSI  Search this
Subject:
Cage, John  Search this
Cage, John Friends and associates  Search this
Cage, John (1912-1992) Catalogues d'exposition  Search this
Physical description:
1 box (circa 50 pieces) illustrations (some color), music 26 x 30 x 3 cm
Type:
Books
Exhibitions
Artists' books
Exhibition catalogues
Artists' books (books).)
Exhibition catalogs
Metal boxes (containers)
Place:
United States
Date:
1993
20th century
Topic:
Artists' books  Search this
Friendship  Search this
Call number:
N40.1.C127 L4 1993
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_497524

Judith Wechsler papers

Creator:
Wechsler, Judith  Search this
Names:
Museum at Large Ltd.  Search this
Universal Limited Art Editions (Firm)  Search this
Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984  Search this
Albers, Josef  Search this
Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this
Callahan, Harry M.  Search this
Cohen, John, 1932-2019  Search this
Falkenberg, Paul  Search this
Hockney, David  Search this
Hopps, Walter  Search this
Johns, Jasper, 1930-  Search this
Menil, Dominique de  Search this
Meyerowitz, Joel, 1938-  Search this
Namuth, Hans  Search this
Pearlstein, Philip, 1924-  Search this
Siskind, Aaron  Search this
Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973  Search this
Stella, Frank  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this
Extent:
17.4 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Motion pictures (visual works)
Sound recordings
Date:
circa 1940-2003
bulk 1971-1994
Summary:
The papers of filmmaker and art historian Judith Wechsler measure 17.4 linear feet and consist of film production material from several of Wechsler's documentary films released between 1989 and 1994. Most of the collection consists of sound recordings and motion picture film. Notable content includes interviews with Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, David Hockney, Philip Pearlstein, Joel Meyerowitz, Jo Spence, Yolanda Sonnabend, Dominique de Menil, Walter Hopps, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, as well as footage of artists working in their studios. Production elements found include original sound recordings, original camera negative outtakes, work print picture and soundtrack, trims, various pre-print master material, and video copies of completed works.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of filmmaker and art historian Judith Wechsler measure 17.4 linear feet and consist of film production material from several of Wechsler's documentary films released between 1989 and 1994. Most of the collection consists of sound recordings and motion picture film. Notable content includes interviews with Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, David Hockney, Philip Pearlstein, Joel Meyerowitz, Jo Spence, Yolanda Sonnabend, Dominique de Menil, Walter Hopps, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, as well as footage of artists working in their studios. Production elements found include original sound recordings, original camera negative outtakes, work print picture and soundtrack, trims, various pre-print master material, and video copies of completed works.

Documentaries with production material in the collection include Jasper Johns: Take An Object, produced with Hans Namuth, Harry Callahan (1994), Aaron Siskind: Making Pictures (1991), and five episodes of The Painter's World: Changing Constants of Art from the Renaissance to the Present (1989), a six-part television series produced by WGBH in Boston. Episodes of the series for which records are found include "The Training of Painters," "The Arrested Moment," "Portraits," "Abstraction," and "Painting and the Public". Also found are two reels of soundtrack labeled "Two Photographers," a title for which no other documentation is found.

The Painter's World episodes "Abstraction," "The Arrested Moment," and "Portraits" address the evolution of painting style and traditions, and the "Painting and the Public" episode addresses the role of patronage and the evolution of art museums. Footage found for "The Training of Painters" consists of footage of Josef Albers teaching at Yale University shot around 1955, likely shot by John Cohen.

Jasper Johns: Take An Object was a collaborative project between Wechsler, Hans Namuth, and Paul Falkenberg, who worked together under the corporate name of Museum at Large. Footage consists of multiple interviews with Johns, a 1971 session of Johns working in his Houston Street studio, and a 1989 session of Johns working at Universal Limited Art Editions, as well as additional material of John Cage and others speaking about Johns' work.

In Harry Callahan, Callahan discusses the inspiration behind his work and recollects about his time with Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Aaron Siskind. For Aaron Siskind: Making Pictures, Siskind covers the beginning of his career, and the inspiration and methods behind his work. The "Two Photographers" content and relationship to the collection is unknown.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: -- The Painters World: Changing Constants of Art from the Renaissance to the Present -- Production Records, 1985-1989 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 1, 3-6, 15, 20)

Series 2: -- Jasper Johns: Take an Object -- Production Records, 1971-1972, 1989-1990 (5.9 linear feet, Boxes 2, 7-11, 20-24)

Series 3: -- Aaron Siskind: Making Pictures -- Production Records, 1990-2003 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 2, 11-12, 16-18, 21)

Series 4: -- Harry Callahan -- Production Records, 1992-1994 (3.3 linear feet; Boxes 2, 12-14, 18-19, 21)

Series 5: Unidentified Program Material, circa 1940-1994 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 2, 14, FC 147)
Biographical / Historical:
Judith Wechsler is an art historian, professor, and filmmaker. Wechsler studied at Brandeis University, Columbia University, and earned her Ph.D. at Univeristy of California, Los Angeles in 1972. She published On Aesthetics in Science in 1978 and A Human Comedy: Physiognomy and Human Caricature in 19th Century Paris, focusing on the work of Honoré Daumier, in 1982. She edited the memoirs of her father, literary scholar Nahum N. Glatzer, published in 1998, and has published dozens of articles, reviews, and catalog essays for American and European institutions and publications.

She has taught at Brown University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hebrew University, and Rhode Island School of Design and joined the faculty at Tufts University in 1989, where she remained until her retirement in 2011.

Wechsler first worked on films with designer Charles Eames, co-directing films on her early scholarly subjects, Daumier and Cézanne. In the mid-1980s, she wrote and directed a series of art documentaries for television with the series title The Painter's World: Changing Constants of Art from the Renaissance to the Present. Since that time, Wechsler has directed dozens of films, primarily on artists and photographers, and in recent years has focused on the history of ideas in early twentieth century Europe, with films on Nahum Glatzer, Walter Benjamin, Aby Warburg, and Svetlana Boym.

Wechsler received a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government in 2007, and became professor emerita at Tufts in 2011. She lives and works in Massachusetts.
Related Materials:
Release prints of each of the titles represented in the collection are held by the Harvard Film Archive. Digital video copies of edited films are available on Judith Wechsler's website (http://www.judithwechsler.com/films, accessed 2017).
Provenance:
Donated 2008, 2017, and 2019 by Judith Wechsler.
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 copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Painter's World: Copyright retained by Judith Wechsler.
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 -- Massachusetts -- Boston  Search this
Topic:
Art patronage  Search this
Art museums  Search this
Filmmakers--Massachusetts--Boston  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Women filmmakers  Search this
Women educators  Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Motion pictures (visual works)
Sound recordings
Citation:
Judith Wechsler papers, 1940-2003, bulk 1971-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.wechjudi
See more items in:
Judith Wechsler papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9fc8cc499-eb07-4514-a5ce-77f018cb7e0d
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-wechjudi

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