An interview of Phillip A. Bruno conducted 2009 January 13-21, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at the Archives of American Art, in New York, New York.
Bruno speaks of some his earliest impressions of art while growing up in New York and Paris; attending Columbia University, where he majored in the history of painting and architecture and studied under Meyer Schapiro; his first job at the Weyhe Gallery as a gallery assistant; helping create the Grace Borgenicht Gallery, where he served as director for five years; traveling to Mexico, meeting Jose Cuevas and exhibiting his work at the Edward Loeb Gallery in Paris; traveling to Brazil and meeting a family of naturalist painters who emphasized the importance of painting outdoors, unlike many painters from the New York school; working with Henry Clews and the La Napoule Art Foundation; selling a piece of Salvador Dali jewelry made by Carlos Alamanni to Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Magazine; working as director of The World House Gallery and selling works by Fancis Bacon and Max Ernst to clients such as Joseph Hirshhorn and Roy Neuberger; organizing a exhibition of artists shown at the Brussels World Fair in 1958 at World House and meeting George Staempfli through the artist Joan Brown; moving from World House to the Staempfli Gallery in 1960 to work as co-director; the Staempfli Gallery's role in the international art world; an original drawing by Leonard Baskin inscribed to Phillip in 1954; selling the work of artists such as Harry Bertoia, Fritz Koening, and David Park; meeting Henri Matisse in Paris at the age of 21; visiting the studios of Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko; the difference between galleries that can spot new talent and galleries that sell certain artists well; the art market becoming less idealistic and more commercial; the rising importance of auction houses and the possibility of their taking the place of traditional art galleries; the move of the Staempfli Gallery to the SoHo neighborhood and soon after, leaving Staempfli for Marlborough, where he was one of the New York directors for 18 years; his appreciation for the creativity of others, retirement and current plans to write his memoirs. Bruno also recalls Milton Avery, Gabor Peterdi, Hans Muller, Ralston Crawford, Randall Morgan, Charlotte Willard, Dorthy Satterlee, Masayuki Nagare, Claude Bemardin, Kubach-Wilmsen, Louise Nevelson, Cladio Bravo, Lopez Garcia, Alberto Giacometti, The Barnes Foundation, Richard Estes, Alex Katz, and Neil Wlliver.
Biographical / Historical:
Phillip A. Bruno (1930- ) is an art collector and director of Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 45 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.
Occupation:
Gallery directors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation.
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Letters, scrapbooks, and printed material documenting the development of the Shapiro's art collection. Correspondence, primarily from dealers, museums, art organizations and artists, includes letters from Enrico Baj, Aaron Bohrod (recommending Ben Shahn as a muralist), George Buehr, Jose Luis Cuevas, Leon Golub, Margo Hoff, Miyoko Ito, Sidney Janis, Ellen Lanyon, Pierre Matisse, Ida Meyer-Chagall (discussing her father's work), Abbott Pattison, Irving Petlin, Abraham Rattner, and Kay Sage Tanguy (discussing her husband's work). Printed material consists of 11 exhibition announcements and catalogs (1952-1984), and clippings (1965-1985).
Four scrapbooks (1943-1955) contain clippings, some dealing with the "Art to Live With" program, exhibition catalogs, a letter from Richard Daley (1958), a 3-page typescript "Surrealism Then and Now" by Doris Lane Butler (1958), press releases (1959), and a letter from R. J. Nedved of the Illinois Society of Architects (1967).
Biographical / Historical:
Born 1904. Died 1996. Joseph Shapiro began collecting in 1942 and was drawn to works in the Surrealist tradition. While establishing one of the most important art collections in Chicago, Shapiro and his wife Jory enjoyed personal friendships with artists and used their collection to educate and increase public appreciation of modern art in Chicago. Shapiro was a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art and served on its board as President from 1967 until 1974.
Provenance:
Material on reel 3759 (fr. 1-320) donated 1986; and material on fr. 323-569 lent for microfilming 1986 all by Joseph R. Shapiro.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Marian Gore "Art Scene" interviews and papers measure 2.2 linear feet and date from 1958 to 1969, with all sound recordings dated between 1962 and 1964. The core of the collection consists of 37 radio programs recorded by Marian Gore for KPFK radio in Los Angeles, California, consisting of interviews with artists, collectors, gallerists, and museum curators. A series of artist files contains notes, correspondence and other materials related to her interview subjects, and a printed materials series contains mainly exhibition posters, programs, and announcements produced by the art spaces with which her subjects were affiliated.
Scope and Contents:
The Marian Gore "Art Scene" interviews and papers measure 2.2 linear feet and date from 1958 to 1969, with all sound recordings dated between 1962 and 1964. The core of the collection consists of 37 radio programs recorded by Marion Gore for KPFK radio in Los Angeles, California, consisting of interviews with artists, collectors, gallerists, and museum curators. A series of artist files contains notes, correspondence and other materials related to her interview subjects, and a printed materials series contains mainly exhibition posters, programs, and announcements produced by the art spaces with which her subjects were affiliated.
The "Art Scene" Interviews series contains 36 interviews from Gore's "Art Scene" radio series of interviews relating to the contemporary art scene in Los Angeles, particularly galleries and artists showing on La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood. Also found is a single episode of another KPFK program called "Seen at the galleries" and hosted by Earl Carter, featuring an interview with Jacques Lipchitz on the occasion of his retrospective at UCLA. Two interviews, with Mathias Goeritz and David Siqueiros, were conducted in Mexico City. Other interview subjects include Michel Albert, Josef Albers, Joan Ankrum, Streeter Blair, Nick Brigante, Robert Cremean, José Luis Cuevas, James Elliott, Claire Falkenstein, Balcomb Greene, Paul Gerchik, Jurgen Hansen, Walter Hopps, Roger Kuntz, Rico Lebrun, Dr. Thomas Leavitt, Jacques Lipchitz, Mario Luna, Robert Mallary, Louise Nevelson, Emilio Ortiz, Esther Robles, Otto Schniede, Fritz Schwaderer, Rufino Tamayo, Esteban Vicente, Robert Wark, and June Wayne.
Artist files include mainly brief, typewritten notes created for Gore's radio interviews, with the questions she asked her interview subjects and brief introductory or concluding remarks. Correspondence is also found in files for Robert Cremean, Iqbal Geoffrey, Balcomb Greene, Robert Mallary, Emilio Ortiz, and Esteban Vicente. Louise Nevelson's file also contains a transcript of her interview with Gore. Also found scattered in some files are notes, photographs, clippings, press releases, resumes, and exhibition programs. Note that not every person in this series has a corresponding sound recording in Series 1, and not every interviewee in Series 1 has a corresponding file in this series.
Most of the material in the Printed Materials series consists of exhibition announcements, programs, and posters from Galleries in the Los Angeles, California area, particularly those along La Cienega Boulevard. Of these, Ankrum Gallery, Ceeje Gallery, Comara Gallery, Dwan Gallery, Ferus Gallery, and Silvan Simone Gallery on Olympic Boulevard contain the most material, with many of the other files containing only one or two pieces. Of note are original prints promoting exhibitions at the Ferus and Ceeje Galleries, and a poster for an art walk along La Cienega Boulevard in the file for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in 3 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: "Art Scene" Interviews (1.3 linear feet, Boxes 1-2, 4)
Series 2: Artist Files (0.2 linear feet, Boxes 2, 4)
Series 3: Printed Materials (0.7 linear feet, Boxes 3-4, OV 5)
Biographical / Historical:
Marian L. Gore (1914-2009) volunteered as a radio interviewer for KPFK between 1962-1964, conducting a series of interviews with Los Angeles-area artists, curators, collectors, and gallerists in response to a growing awareness of Los Angeles' rapidly growing role as a creative center and art market.
Born Marian Lucille Moore on Feb. 27, 1914, in Los Angeles to Fred and Lucille Moore. Fred Moore, an attorney, defended Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in the infamous 1921 trial. Following her divorce in the early 1960s, Gore approached the radio station KPFK, who was looking for someone to interview local artists. In a 1997 letter that accompanied her donation of the collection to the Archives, Gore writes,
"The early 1960's were an interesting and probably unique period for the Southern California art world. In Los Angeles on La Cienega Boulevard galleries had sprung up like mushrooms, and on Friday nights those who were interested in this scene would go from one gallery to another noting what artists were featured and what trends were apparent. It was a pleasurable way to meet artists as well as a social event where one could see friends and exchange impressions.
"Because I was searching for something to do, at the suggestion of a friend I had gone to radio station KPFK to volunteer my services in any way possible. It turned out to be a most fortuitous time for this offer. The management was interested in possible intervie3ws with artists, and so it all began. I had never done an interview in my life and was astounded to discover how easy it was to get artists, gallery owners, and even museum personnel to talk aobut what they did. Once this began I was swaped with requests for taped interviews, far more than I could manage."
Gore later became an antiquarian bookseller specializing in books on food and drink. She retired in 1994 and donated her book collection to the Los Angeles Public Library.
Provenance:
Donated 1997 by Marian Gore.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
The papers of Cuban born painter Baruj Salinas measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1971-1996. The collection documents the artist's prolific painting career and his friendships and professional relationships with a variety of contemporary artist in the U.S. and Europe. The papers of Baruj Salinas are an important addition to the documentation of Cuban-American art and artists.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Cuban born painter Baruj Salinas measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1971-1996. The collection primarily consists of letters from friends and artists. Also found are diary entries, scattered financial and business papers, printed material, and photographs. Of special interest in the last series are photographs taken of a visit to the home and art studio of Spanish artist Joan Miró.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as six series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Diary Entries, 1982 (box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Letters Received, 1979-1996, undated (box 1; 21 folders)
Series 3: Financial Papers, 1993-1994 (box 1; 1 folder)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1976-1992, undated (box 1; 2 folders)
Series 5: Photographs, 1971-1992, undated (box 1; 3 folders)
Series 6: Miscellany, 1992 (box 1; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Born in Havana, painter Baruj Salinas' (b. 1938) career began in the field of architecture. He graduated from the University of Ohio with an architectural degree and left Cuba permanently in 1959. Salinas settled in Miami and later moved to Barcelona where he studied alongside artists Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies.
Provenance:
Baruj Salinas donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in 1997.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
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.
José Luis Cuevas and Marian L. Gore. Interview with Jose Luis Cuevas for the "Art scene" radio series, 1962 November 13. Marian Gore "Art Scene" interviews and papers, 1958-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Exhibition of drawings and letters by José Luis Cuevas : [exhibition] Tasende Gallery, La Jolla, California, December 8-31, 1979 / [organized by J. M. Tasende ; photos. by Roy Robinson and Daisy Asher]
The Ramón Carulla papers contain letters, photographs, printed material, an interview, sketchbooks, and artwork documenting the career of Cuban American painter Ramón Carulla.
Scope and Content Note:
This collection dates from 1971-1996, comprises 0.3 linear feet, and provides scattered documentation of the career of Cuban American painter Ramón Carulla. The collection contains letters to Carulla from artists and others; writings by others for and about Carulla; the transcript of an interview with Carulla; photographs of Carulla, friends, and his artwork; two sketchbooks; a painting; and printed matter including exhibition announcements and catalogs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into five series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Letters and Biographical Material, 1971-1996 (box 1, 3 folders)
Series 2: Writings About Carulla and Interview, 1986-1995, undated (box 1, 3 folders)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1982-1994, undated (box 1, 2 folders)
Series 4: Photographs, 1980-1989, undated (box 1, 4 folders)
Series 5: Artwork, 1986-1994 (boxes 1-2, 3 items)
Biographical Note:
Ramón Carulla was born in Havana, Cuba in 1938. In 1946 he moved to Miami with his father to attend public school, returning to Havana in 1953 to complete his schooling. In 1963 he began painting and had his first one-man show in 1967 at the Bacardi Gallery in Miami, where he had settled two years earlier. Although his work was initially abstract Carulla had moved towards figurative art by the late 1970s.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Ramón Carulla in 1997.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
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.
José Luis Cuevas, an exhibition of recent works : Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, January 10-February 16, 1975; Phoenix Art Museum, March 7-April 13, 1975; The Achenbach Foundation, California Palace of the Legion of Honor,August 16-October 12, 1975
