The papers of curator, gallery director, educator, and Latin American art historian Stanton L. Catlin (1915-1997) measure 56.4 linear feet and date from 1911 to 1998 with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1994. The papers are comprised of biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, teaching and project files, professional files, research files, exhibition and subject files, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of curator, gallery director, educator, and Latin American art historian Stanton L. Catlin (1915-1997) measure 56.4 linear feet and date from 1911 to 1998 with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1994. The papers are comprised of biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, teaching and project files, professional files, research files, exhibition and subject files, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical material includes six address books, two annotated calendars, four day books, curriculum vitae, interview transcripts, records of Catlin's personal book collection, and his work as a student. Correspondence is with Catlin's family and prominent artists and colleagues, such as Dawn Ades, Dore Ashton, Alfredo Boulton, Robert Motherwell, Alejandro Obregon, César Paternosto, Octavio Paz, Waldo Rasmussen, David and Nelson Rockefeller, Susana Torruella Leval, Judith Sandoval, Santiago Sebastian, and Amancio Williams. Correspondence with Columbia Records concerns Catlin's Grammy Award for best album.
There are writings and notes by Catlin and others on Latin American art, and three journals kept by Catlin during his time in the Czech Republic and Minnesota.
Teaching files document some of Catlin's work as an art history professor at Hunter College, Syracuse University, and the University of Chile. The project files document his work as a consultant or contributor on various projects abd the professional files include records of Catlin's positions as art gallery curator and director, professional memberships, conference participation, and other professional activities. Research and subject files consist of annotated material related to Latin American art, European art, and various artforms and artists.
Exhibition files are found for Art of Latin America Since Independence (1966) and other exhibitions of Latin American art. Printed materials include books with an inscription, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines, and publications. There are photographs of Catlin, family and friends, colleagues, and artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical material , 1933-1989 (1 linear foot; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1914-1994 (4.5 linear feet; Box 2-6)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1930-1993 (4.5 linear feet; Box 6-10, OV 57)
Series 4: Teaching Files, 1941-1991 (1.5 linear feet; Box 10-12)
Series 5: Project Files, 1940-1993 (3.5 linear feet; Box 12-16)
Series 6: Professional Files, 1939-1994 (13.1 linear feet; Box 16-28, OV 58, 60)
Series 7: Research and Subject Files, 1938-1998 (8.0 linear feet; Box 28-36)
Series 8: Exhibition Files, 1941-1993 (15.6 linear feet; Box 37-51, OV 58-60)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1944-1993 (4.2 linear feet; Box 52-56)
Series 10: Photographs, 1911-1991 (0.5 linear feet; Box 56)
Biographical / Historical:
Stanton L. Catlin (1915-1997) was a curator, gallery director, educator, art historian, and expert on Latin American Art.
Catlin studied art history at Oberlin College and graduated in 1937. After graduation, he studied painting and art history at the Academy of Arts in Prague, Czech Republic for two years. Catlin received a Fogg Museum Fellowship in Modern Art at Harvard University to survey collections of art in Europe. However, the project was canceled because of World War II.
During the war, Catlin served as a Cultural Relations Representative for the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs where he assisted with exhibition arrangements throughout Latin America. In 1942, he also began teaching the history of art in the United States at the University of Chile. After the war, Catlin served in the Field Operations Division of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in the Displaced Persons Operation from 1945-1946.
From 1947 to 1950, Catlin served as the executive director of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He received his graduate degree in art history from New York University in 1952, and shortly thereafter became editor and curator of American art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. From 1958 to 1967, Catlin was the assistant director of the Yale University Art Gallery. While there, he curated the landmark exhibition Art of Latin America Since Independence in 1966, the first exhibition to include only Latin American art and the accompanying catalog remains a standard reference source. That same year, Catlin won a Grammy Award for best album notes for an essay on Mexican mural painting.
In 1967, Catlin left Yale to take a position as director of the Art Gallery at the Center for Inter-American Relations before joining the faculty of Syracuse University in 1971 and becoming director of the university's Art Gallery. He remained at Syracuse for the rest of his career.
Catlin was a consultant on the major retrospective exhibition of the work of Diego Rivera at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1986. He also worked on a project to document Mexican murals in the United States.
Catlin died in Fayetteville, New York in 1997.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview conducted by Francis V. O'Connor with Stanton L. Catlin from July 1 to September 14, 1989.
The University of Texas at Austin holds a significant collection of Stanton Loomis Catlin's papers, some of which are duplicates of the papers held by the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
The collection was donated from 1992 to 1995 to by Stanton L. Catlin.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the 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.
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.
An interview of Fritz Dreisbach conducted 2004 April 21-22, by Susanne Frantz, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Tucson, Arizona.
Dreisbach speaks of growing up in Ohio, in a family of educators and deciding at an early age to become a teacher; taking high school art; pursuing a BA in art and mathematics at Hiram College; getting his MAT and teaching high school math; attending the University of Iowa to study painting; the impact of taking a summer class in glassblowing; visiting Dominick Labino at his studio; researching colored glass and glass chemistry; becoming Harvey K. Littleton's teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; building a hot shop and teaching at the Toledo Museum of Art; teaching at Penland School of Crafts; creating the Glass Art Society with Mark Peiser after attending a NCECA conference; moving to Seattle to make glass colors for The Glass Eye; and working for Spectrum Glass Company. Dreisbach also speaks of the importance of community among glass artists; taking part in glass symposia in Frauenau, Germany; traveling around the country to teach workshops, known as his "Road Show"; making representational pop-style pieces as well as historical reference pieces; collaborating on a stained glass window with Gary Noffke; developing techniques for making goblets; working with Dante Marioni on a series of goblets; his commissioned pieces, including the Corning Pokal; engraving glass; his Mongo series; selling works through galleries; the influence of the Italian glass artists; teaching at Pilchuck Glass School; Dominick Labino's career and innovations in glass technology; being invited to give the Samuel R. Scholes lecture at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University; serving twice as Glass Art Society president; inaccuracies in the history of American studio glass; taking part in GAS conferences at Fenton Glass Factory; the importance of the rise of the university-trained glass artist in the 1960s; going to Pilchuck for the first time; meeting international glass artists; attending symposia at Novy Bor, Czech Republic; and his plans for the future. Dreisbach also recalls Tom McGlauchlin, Clayton Bailey, Erwin Eisch, Dale Chihuly, Bill Brown, Marvin Lipofsky, Joel Myers, Billy Bernstein, Dan Dailey, Dudley Giberson, Harvey Leafgreen, Bill Boysen, Henry Halem, Peter Voulkos, Ruth Tamura, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Fritz Dreisbach (1941- ) is a glass artist from Tucson, Arizona. Susanne Frantz is a writer and curator from Paradise Valley, Arizona.
General:
Originally recorded on 8 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 21 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hr., 41 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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Fritz Dreisbach, 2004 April 21-22. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Howard Ben Tré, 2007 July 7. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Guide to the Bohemian section and to the kingdom of Bohemia [microform] / under the auspices of the city council of the royal capital Prague and under the honorary presidency of Francis Count Lützow and Vladimir Srb
Bohemian Section:
Austrian Exhibition (1906 : London, England) Search this
Webb, Elizabeth N. (possible photographer) Search this
Extent:
53 Slides (53 black and white copy slides)
20 Color slides (circa)
1,500 Prints (circa, silver gelatin (some in photo albums))
1,000 Items (circa 1000 copy color prints (made from slides))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides
Color slides
Prints
Photographs
Place:
India -- description and travel
Japan -- Description and Travel
Singapore -- Description and Travel
Serbia -- description and travel
Scotland -- description and travel
Russia -- Description and Travel
Sri Lanka -- Description and Travel
Spain -- description and travel
South Africa -- Description and Travel
Chile -- description and travel
Somalia -- description and travel
Palestine -- description and travel
Peru -- Description and Travel
Nepal -- Description and Travel
Norway -- description and travel
Egypt -- description and travel
Portugal -- description and travel
Romania -- description and travel
Philippines -- Description and Travel
Poland -- description and travel
Kenya -- Description and Travel
Israel -- Description and Travel
China -- Description and Travel
Morocco -- description and travel
Mozambique -- description and travel
Mexico -- description and travel
Montenegro -- description and travel
Croatia -- description and travel
Denmark -- description and travel
Czech Republic -- Description and Travel
Burma -- Description and Travel
Bulgaria -- description and travel
Canada -- Description and Travel
Austria -- description and travel
Brazil -- Description and Travel
Borneo -- description and travel
England -- description and travel
France -- description and travel
Ecuador -- Description and Travel
Holland -- Description and Travel
Guatemala -- Description and Travel
Greece -- description and travel
Germany -- description and travel
Ireland -- description and travel
Iran -- Description and Travel
Italy -- description and travel
Hungary -- description and travel
United States -- description and travel
Thailand -- description and travel
Taiwan -- description and travel
Switzerland -- description and travel
Yugoslavia -- description and travel
Yucatan -- Description and Travel
Date:
1938-1996
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs made by Robert and Elizabeth Webb in numerous locations across the world, including Asia (China, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Borneo, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Russia); the Balkans (Czech Republic, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Poland); Europe (Spain, England, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and Portugal); the Middle East (Egypt, Iran, Israel, and Palestine); Africa (Kenya, Morocco, Somalia, Mozambique, and South Africa); South America (Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Yucatan, and Guatemala); and North America (Canada, Florida, Washington state, Alaska, Hawaii, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah). The photographs largely document architecture and art, including historical sites, though there are additional images of parades, transportation, cities, villages, markets, waterways, and people.
Commercial slides in the collection are by Swiss-Foto, E. Djupdraet, Herz-Color-Dias, Hong Kong Color Slide Service, SK Slide Co., Lehnert & Landrock, Douglas Whiteside, Vacation Films, Arctic Circle Enterprise, HI-FI Color Slides, Pana-Vue Slides, CP Inc., Jordan's Colour Lab, Hawaii Chrome, Syon House, John Decopoulos, La Goelette, and Zerkowitz. Notes by Robert Webb and original photograph albums are also available with the collection.
Biographical/Historical note:
Robert Watkins Webb (1906-1998) graduated from Southern Methodist University and received his medical degree from Tulane University in 1933. Before starting his psychiatry practice in Dallas, Webb traveled around the world, returning on the SS Normandie to New York (1938). An amateur photographer, Webb documented this and subsequent foreign trips, later submitting some of his photographs to the Dallas Museum of Art. He served four years in the Army during World War II,stationed primarily in Port Moresby, New Guinea. He later became chief psychiatrist of the Veterans Administration clinic in Washington, DC, from 1946-1950. In 1952, he married Elizabeth Nutting, a psychiatric social worker, while cruising the Mediterranean.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 98-9
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University holds Robert W. Webb photographs.
