The papers of Jerome Blum measure 3.0 linear feet and date from 1915 to circa 1969, with the bulk of the material dating from 1919 to 1935. Biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, printed material, artwork, and photographs document the painter's personal and professional life, and extensive travels.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Jerome Blum measure 3.0 linear feet and date from 1915 to circa 1969, with the bulk of the material dating from 1919 to 1935. Biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, printed material, artwork, and photographs document the painter's personal and professional life, and extensive travels.
Correspondence with friends, relatives, colleagues, publishers, galleries, museums, and collectors document Blum's personal and professional life. Noted correspondents include Sherwood Anderson and Theodore Dreiser.
Blum was an avid writer. He published several short stories, and recorded reminiscences, thoughts, and daily events in a series of notebooks. These notes were the basis for Life Answered, an unpublished autobiography (eventually, edited and completed by Frances Blum). Also included are extensive notes and writings on a variety of subjects, including his extensive travels to Tahiti. Writings by other authors consist of critical statements about Jerome Blum and some of Frances Blum's writings on Theodore Dreiser.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1915-1933 (4 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1915-1966 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, 1915-circa 1969 (2 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1916-1965 (0.3 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 5: Artwork, circa 1920-1930 (2 folders; Box 3)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1915-1945 (6 folders; Box 3)
Biographical Note:
Jerome Blum (1884-1956) was a world traveler who found artistic inspiration while living in France and traveling to the American west, Hawaii, Japan, China, Cuba, and the South Seas (including a 10 month stay in Tahiti). Blum painted landscapes and seascapes of Southern France, and the many places he visited, as well as still lifes of exotic plants and fruits. He was living in Paris at the height of the Fauve movement and incorporated some of its ideas into his work, first inserting bold colors into his fairly conservative Post-Impressionist style. Later, he used significantly more saturated color, intense light, and bold forms.
Blum studied at the Francis J. Smith Art Academy in his native Chicago, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He went to Paris in 1906 with Lucile Swan, a sculptor and fellow student who eventually became his wife. There, he enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts for a brief period, studying with Luc Olivier Merson. Blum remained in Paris until 1910, participated in the 1909 and 1910 Salons d'Automne and received exhibition offers from Galerie Sagot, Paris, and Anderson Galleries, New York. While in France, Blum knew expatriates Jo Davidson, Arthur Dove, Samuel Halpert, Alfred Maurer, and John Marin. Halpert became a mentor of sorts, instructing him in painting Post-Impressionist landscapes, to which Blum soon added Fauvist color.
Once back in Chicago, Blum developed close friendships with writers Sherwood Anderson, Theodore Dreiser, and Ben Hecht that lasted for decades. His one-man show at Thurber's Art Gallery in 1911 received very mixed reviews--most likely it was the first time the Fauve palette was seen by Chicagoans, and most thought it too radical. When the mayor purchased a Blum painting from a 1912 Art Institute of Chicago group exhibition, the proceeds enabled Blum to visit the American west. Later that year, Blum and Lucile Swan traveled in Europe. They were married in Paris and took an extended honeymoon, continuing to travel in France until the fall of the following year.
For a period of approximately 20 years, he exhibited extensively and enjoyed critical acclaim. During his many years of foreign residence, Blum returned to the United States periodically for exhibitions and family visits. He participated in a large number of solo exhibitions and group shows in the United States and France, including: Art Institute of Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, O'Brien Galleries, and Albert Roullier Art Galleries in Chicago; Ainslie Galleries, Brooklyn Museum, Delphic Studios, Katz Gallery, M. Knoedler and Co., Whitney Museum of American Art, and Whitney Studio Club in New York; Worcester Art Museum and Boston Art Club in Massachusetts; Montlcair Art Museum in New Jersey; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia; and Galerie de la Renaissance in Paris. Blum is represented in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Blum returned to New York in 1924 and Lucile filed for divorce. An auction of his work was held at the Anderson Galleries that year; Augustus John, George Biddle, Chester Dale, M. Knoedler, Kraushaar Galleries, and Jo Davidson were among the successful bidders.
In 1925, he married Frances Baum, a psychiatric social worker. They settled in Dampierre, France for eight years, and during this period traveled extensively throughout the country. Always an unconventional and fiercely independent person, Blum's mental health was fragile and deteriorated markedly in the early 1930s, during which time his painting output decreased dramatically. The Blums spent part of 1934 at the MacDowell Colony in Petersborough, New Hampshire. Once his fellowship was over, they moved to Key West, Florida, where Blum became increasingly disturbed.
Blum was admitted to the Bloomingdale Hospital, a private psychiatric institution in White Plains, New York, in 1935. But after being diagnosed a "hopeless case," he was transferred to a state hospital. While hospitalized, Blum continued writing copious notes and made many appeals for release. He died at the Hudson River State Hospital, Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1956.
Separated Material:
Originals of loaned material, including typescripts of Sherwood Anderson's letters, most of Blum's Theodore Dreiser material, travel in China, scrapbooks, and drafts of portions of Life Answered - "Father and Mother," "Journal of the Last 20 Years," "Lucile," and "Marriage and Divorce" - were returned to Frances Blum after microfilming. Although this material is not technically part of the collection housed in the Archives of American Art, copies are available on microfilm reels D237 and D238.
Provenance:
The majority of the papers were donated or loaned for microfilming between 1965 and 1966 by Blum's widow, Frances Blum. A typescript copy of the final version of Life Answered was received in 1969.
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.
An interview of Howard Ben Tré conducted 2007 July 7, by Josephine Shea, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's studio, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Ben Tré speaks of his childhood in Rockaway Park, New York; his Polish immigrant father who was a woodworker and artist; inheriting a particular aesthetic and sense of hard work from his father; attending Brooklyn Technical High School to play football but not graduating; moving to Marshall, Missouri to attend Missouri Valley College for one year; attending Brooklyn College; becoming involved in Students for a Democratic Society, the antiwar movement and civil rights movement of the 1960s; traveling to Cuba as part of the first Venceremos Brigade to cut sugarcane in 1969; meeting his first wife, Gay, in Cuba and returning to New York with her; organizing a food co-op and community events in Brooklyn; moving to Portland, Oregon; working in construction for the city before going back to school to study veterinarian medicine at Portland State University; discovering the glass studio in a garage at Portland State; meeting Dale Chihuly and working at Pilchuck Glass School; utilizing the foundry skills learned from Brooklyn Technical High to work with glass in casting and cope and drag methods; his series Burial Boxes and the influence of ancient architecture and ceremonial Chinese bronzes; the rise of the studio glass movement as symptomatic of socio-political-economic times, not just the pioneering efforts of Harvey Littleton and Dominic Labino; traveling throughout Europe with Gay; visiting Stanislav Libenský and Jaraslava Brychtová in Czechoslovakia; visiting Dan Dailey at Cristallerie Daum in France; attending Rhode Island School of Design [RISD]; his first show at Hadler/Rodriguez Gallery in 1980; teaching experiences at Haystack Mountain School of Craft and Appalachian Center for Craft; building and installing an oven at Blenko Glass in Milton, West Virginia and at Super Glass in Brooklyn; working with Mold Melted Glass Studio in Pelechov, Czech Republic; the history of glass and early glass-working techniques; his many commissions, including sited public projects such as Post Office Square in Boston; the adoption of his name, Ben Tré; return visits to Cuba; working with RISD to create a winter study session in Havana; and his view of artists as artists, not defined by medium. Ben Tré also recalls Anthony Parker, Italo Scanga, Ron Onorato, Alice Aycock, Ferdinand Hampson, Steven Polander, Karen LaMonte, among others.
Biographical / Historical:
Howard Ben Tré (1949- 2020) was a glass artist from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Josephine Shea is a curator from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.
General:
Originally recorded 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 3 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
The papers of painter and printmaker Eldzier Cortor measure 3.1 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 2015, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1972 to 2015. The papers contain biographical material, correspondence, professional files, exhibition and gallery files, writings, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and printmaker Eldzier Cortor measure 3.1 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 2015, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1972 to 2015. The papers contain biographical material, correspondence, professional files, exhibition and gallery files, writings, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Biographical material consists of awards certificates; Cortor's artist biography; an obituary and prayer cards for his father in law; an address book; and a Christmas list.
Correspondence includes letters from Cortor's family; correspondence with or about individuals or organizations; and general correspondence. Individuals included in the general correspondence are Acklyn Lynch, Leontine Collier, Violetta Harrigan, Halima Taha, David C. Driskell, Carol Anderson, and Betye Saar. Art institutions represented in this series include Sylvan Cole Gallery, Anderson Gallery, and Kenkeleba House.
Professional files include materials related to the Cosby Collection of Fine Arts; publishing; materials related to fake Cortor works; the Public School Mural Project; teaching files; lists of possible titles for paintings; financial documents; materials related to painting and etching plates for storage; and notes of museum and gallery contacts.
Exhibition and gallery files include correspondence; contracts and agreements; exhibition announcements; inventories; other exhibition materials; clippings; press releases; photographs and photocopied images of artwork; and photographs of exhibitions.
Writings consist primarily of essays and articles about Eldzier Cortor. Also included are his answers to a questionnaire about art, a diary, and notes, as well as hand-copied excerpts of reviews.
Printed material includes exhibition announcements, exhibition catalogs, newsletters, clippings, research and source material, and books.
Artwork includes ink and watercolor sketches from Cortor's time as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. This series also includes additional sketches, sketchbooks, and a collage by K. Carracio.
Photographs depict Cortor, other individuals, his artwork, and exhibitions. There are also photographs from his time in Cuba and Haiti (circa 1950s).
Arrangement:
The Eldzier Cortor papers are organized into 8 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1947-2012 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1970-2015 (Box 1; 8 folders)
Series 3: Professional Files, 1960, 1972-2015 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet, OV 4)
Series 4: Exhibition and Gallery Files, 1972-2015 (Boxes 1-2; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 5: Writings, circa 1970s-2006 (Box 2; 8 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1940-1976, 1996-2015 (Boxes 2-3; 0.8 linear feet, OV 4)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1930s, circa 1970s-circa 1990s (Box 3; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1939-2002, 2014 (Box 3; 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Eldzier Cortor (1916-2015) spent his professional career as a painter and printmaker in Chicago and New York. He was born in Richmond Virginia to John and Ophelia Cortor. In 1917, the family moved to Chicago along with countless other African Americans as part of the Great Migration.
In 1936, Cortor began taking evening classes at the Art Institute of Chicago prior to enrolling full time. Kathleen Blackshear, an instructor at the Institute, recommended Cortor for employment at the Works Projects Administration in 1940. It was under Blackshear's guidance that Cortor was introduced to African Art. The depiction of African Americans became the defining subject of Cortor's career, specifically the portrayal of the African American woman, which he commonly represented nude in paintings and prints.
In 1941, with funding by the Works Projects Administration, Cortor helped found the South Side Community Arts Center in Chicago. Over the next few years he would receive two Rosenwald Fellowships, which allowed him to travel to the Sea Islands of Georgia. Afterward, Cortor moved to New York, and in 1946 Life magazine published his work Southern Gate. In 1949 he received a Guggenheim fellowship, which provided the opportunity to travel to Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti. He settled in Port-au-Prince, where he taught for two years.
Cortor married Sophia Schmidt on August 20, 1951, and they subsequently had four children: Michael, Mercedes, Stephen, and Miriam. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Studio Museum of Harlem, and the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Boston. Notable exhibitions include Three Masters: Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith, and Archibald John Motley, Jr. at Kenkeleba House in 1988; Southern Gate: African American Paintings from the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution at Duke University Museum of Art, 1999; Eldzier Cortor: Master Printmaker at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, 2002; and Black Spirit: Works on Paper by Eldzier Cortor at the Indiana Art Museum, 2006.
Eldzier Cortor died in November of 2015, at the age of 99.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of materials lent for microfilming on reel N70-47, including biographical material, correspondence, printed material, papers related to exhibitions, photographs, and sketchbooks. Except for three photographs that appear in this collection (Box 3, Folder 19), loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Eldzier Cortor loaned materials to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1970 and donated papers in 2009. His son, Michael Cortor, gave additional materials in 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of 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.
La República de Cuba breve reseña para la exposicion universal de St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. : publicacion especial de la Secretaría de agricultura, industria y comercio, á cargo interinamente del secretario de obras públicas, Manuel Luciano Díaz
Title:
Republic of Cuba : a brief sketch compiled for distribution at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Saint Louis, Mo., U.S.A
Author:
Cuba Secretaría de Agricultura, Industria y Comercio Search this
Subject:
Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 : Saint Louis, Mo.) Search this
Album del Ferrocarril Mexicano : colección de vistas = Album of the Mexican Railway : a collection of views / pintadas del natural por Casimiro Castro ; y ejecutadas en cromo-litografía por A. Sigogne, C. Castro, etc. ; con una descripción del camino y de las regiones que recorre, por Antonio García Cubas
Travels in North America during the years 1834, 1835 & 1836 including a summer residence with the Pawnee Tribe of Indians, in the remote prairies of the Missouri, and a visit to Cuba and the Azore Islands by Charles Augustus Murray
Title:
Murray's Travels in North America
Author:
Murray, Charles Augustus Sir 1806-1895 Search this
Cuba and Porto Rico, with the other islands of the West Indies: their topography, climate, flora, products, industries, cities, people, political conditions, etc., by Robert T. Hill
