An interview of John Weber conducted 2006 March 21 and April 4, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at Weber's home, in Chatham, New York.
Weber discusses his education at St. Catherine's Military School in Anaheim, California, and Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida; attending the Citadel in South Carolina and then joining the Navy; attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, after getting out of the Navy; accepting a job at the Dayton Art Institute on the curatorial staff and working for the director, Thomas C. Colt; moving to New York and attending the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University; working at the Martha Jackson Gallery and his involvement in various influential shows there, including "Environments, Spaces, Situations," and "New Forms, New Media"; moving to Los Angeles in 1962 to work for the Dwan Gallery; getting involved with land artists, including Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, and Walter De Maria; moving back to New York to take on the directorship of the East Coast location of the Dwan Gallery, in SoHo, then the newest gallery neighborhood; opening his own gallery, the John Weber Gallery, on West Broadway in 1972; his involvement with the Fluxus Group and Arte Povera; the international nature of the art world in the 1960s and 70s; his business arrangements with artists, including the monthly stipends he gave them as advances on sales; his relationships with collectors, including Giuseppe Panza di Biumo and Emily and Burton Tremaine; his advocacy of Aboriginal art; the studios of Robert Smithson and Claes Oldenburg; his belief in the importance of originality; his adverse reaction when he first saw a piece by Dan Flavin; his interaction with art critics, including Irving Sandler and Grace Gluck; and his experience with art fairs. He also recalls Kirk Varnedoe, Jim Dine, Michael Goldberg, Jean Tinguely, Martial Raysse, Arman, Yves Klein, Franz Kline, Andre Emmerich, Mary Boone, Sol LeWitt, Andy Warhol, Gilberto Zorio, Richard Long, Hamish Fulton, Anina Nosei, Sven Lukin, Robert Ryman, Alighiero Boetti, Konrad Fischer, Ivan Karp, Paula Cooper, Angela Westwater, Jeff Koons, Joseph Beuys, Hans Haacke, Leo Castelli, Tom Otterness, Joyce Nereaux, Dorothea Rockburne, Eva Hesse, Lucas Samaras, and Joseph Hirshhorn, among others.
Biographical / Historical:
John Weber (1932-2008) is an art dealer from Chatham, New York. James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator of New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 11 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Typescripts of letters from Thresher written to his family during his travels to Europe, East Asia, and southern Africa. The letters, while primarily conventional reports of noteworthy sites, include extensive references to works of art. A few items of printed material relating to Thresher are also included, including a short article by Thresher on Chinese and Japanese art; a prospectus for circulating paintings from the Dayton Art Institute; a brochure for an exhibition of Thresher's screens in Rome; and an article on Thresher's collection of exotic finger and toe rings. 1938 letters were published by Harold Richardson as "A Collection of Private Letters Written By Brainerd Bliss Thresher Describing His Mediterranean 'Odyssey' Cruise on the S.S. Marco Polo in 1938" (1994).
Biographical / Historical:
Collector, patron, art adminstrator, stockbroker, artist; Ohio. Thresher was born 1869 in Dayton as a member of a large manufacturing family.After graduation from Denison University in 1892, he and his mother established the first art classes there. In 1902 he helped to found the Dayton Society of Arts and Crafts. He was founder and vice-president of the Dayton Art Institute (1919).
Provenance:
Typed by Thresher's daughter, Malo (Mariel) Thresher Cammann. Cammann's mother, Joan C.McIntyre, subsequently turned over to the letters to her sister, Sonia Thresher Richardson, and her husband Harold Richardson, who donated them to the Archives in 1998.
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.
Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, 1929-1994 Search this
Extent:
2.9 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1937-1983
Scope and Contents:
Scrapbooks, correspondence, exhibition files, photographs, and printed materials.
REEL D181: Scrapbooks containing correspondence, clippings, reviews, and photographs relating to the Dayton Art Institute and to the Religious Art Exhibition held there in 1944.
REEL 63: Correspondence concerning a Spaeth Foundation commission to Jacques Lipchitz for a bronze bust of John F. Kennedy. Correspondents include Lipchitz, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
REEL 1201: Correspondence concerning the Spaeth Foundation Religious Art Information Center; a Foundation prospectus; letters from Thomas Merton concerning his book on sacred art; correspondence dealing with the Annual Liturgical Congress Architectural Competition, an exhibition of architectural students' work, the Woodstock Center for Religion and Worship, and other aspects of art and religion.
REEL 1817 and scanned: Photograph of Alexander Brook taken by Peter A. Juley and Son.
UNMICROFILMED: Letters from Alexander Brook, Alexander Calder, William Congdon, Andre Girard, Edward Hopper, Walt Kuhn, Grant Wood, and others; correspondence concerning the American Federation of Arts, the Archives of American Art, Guild Hall, the Spaeth Foundation, UNESCO, and other art organizations; exhibition files of the AFA containing correspondence, printed material, and photographs; files on the "Films on Art" project developed by Otto Spaeth; correspondence and a scrapbook of Otto Spaeth concerning the Liturgical Arts Society; a scrapbook on the Spaeth's art collection; printed material and photographs used in AMERICAN ART MUSEUMS; photographs of paintings by John Singleton Copley, and other works of art and exhibition installations; Correspondence with Daniel Longwell, Harris K. Prior, and Thomas Brown Rudd regarding activities of the American Federation of Arts; Correspondence and clippings, 1963-1966, regarding the Lipchitz bust of JFK; letters, 1981-1983, from critic John Russell, and art collectors, Gertrude Schweitzer, Robert Osborn and Jean de Menil; and an exhibition catalog on Rico Lebrun, 1950; a letter to Otto Spaeth from Gala Dali regarding a loan of the painting "La Naissance du Noveau Monde," 1943; writings about Walt Kuhn, and an illustrated letter to Spaeth from Walt Kuhn.
Biographical / Historical:
Eloise O. Spaeth (1902-1998) was an art collector, writer and art patron from New York, N.Y. She and husband Otto Spaeth founded the Spaeth Foundation.
Provenance:
Material on reels 63 and 1201 lent for microfilming 1971 and 1977 by Eloise Spaeth. Unmicrofilmed material donated 1966-1988 by Spaeth. Material on reel D181 lent for filming 1965 and subsequently donated in 1977.
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.
1 Painting (oil on canvas, 122 x 77 cm. (48 x 30 inches))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Paintings
Oil paintings
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Black cruciform painting. Painting is in a black matte wooden frame. Cardboard is stapled to verso. It is inscribed in Reinhardt's handwriting: "Painting, 1955" 48 x 30 Reinhardt 732 Broadway NYC 3 / NYB555. Also in white chalk, not in Reinhardt's hand: 17 Nov '77 Dayton.
Provenance:
Donated 1979 by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Clyde Colt, Jr.. Thomas Clyde Colt is the former Director of the Dayton Art Institute. He donated the painting to the Archives for study purposes, as the painting was damaged before going up for auction in 1977.
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.
Elizabeth Hertz letters from William and Marguerite Zorach measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1943-2006. Thirty-five letters and cards, mainly from William and Marguerite Zorach, document daily activities, visits, and reference art exhibitions and lectures. Also included are a few cards and letters from Tessim and Peggy Zorach and Dahlov Ipcar, and one letter from the Dayton Art Institute where Zorach lectured in 1951, for which the visit was facilitated by Elizabeth Hertz.
Scope and Contents:
Elizabeth Hertz letters from William and Marguerite Zorach measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1943-2006. Thirty-five letters and cards, mainly from William and Marguerite Zorach, document daily activities, visits, and reference art exhibitions and lectures. Also included are a few cards and letters from Tessim and Peggy Zorach and Dahlov Ipcar, and one letter from the Dayton Art Institute where Zorach lectured in 1951, for which the visit was facilitated by Elizabeth Hertz.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
(Grace) Elizabeth "Beth" Hertz (1920- ) is an artist and was a student of William Zorach's at the Art Students League in New York. Hertz maintained a relationship with William and Marguerite, as well as with their children Tessim and Dahlov. Following her time as Zorach's student, Hertz visited their summer home at Robinhood Farm in Georgetown, Maine, where she assisted in daily chores while receiving critiques on her artwork. Into the 1950s, visits were more infrequent but Hertz still looked to Zorach for advice on her art career and frequently exchanged news about their families and careers. In 1951 Elizabeth Hertz facilitated William Zorach's guest lecture at the Dayton Art Institute Commencement Dinner.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art are the Zorach Family papers, 1900-1987.
Provenance:
The Elizabeth Hertz letters from William and Marguerite Zorach, 1943-2006, was donated by Leah Hertz, daughter-in-law of Elizabeth Hertz, in 2017.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Biographical material; correspondence; business records; writings; printed material; photograph albums; sketchbooks; and videocassettes.
REELS 4152-4153: Biographical material including a fraternity membership card, 6 resumes, a biographical account, a transcript of an interview of Grant, award certificates, and a diploma; correspondence, primarily dealing with Hilla Rebay of the Guggenheim Foundation from whom Grant received funding for film projects, and including project proposals and financial accounts, some letters also deal with the medical films he produced; letters and financial records concerning the sale of his paintings through the Olympia Gallery, Martin Diamond Fine Arts, Inc., and the Graham Gallery;
typescript writings expressing Grant's thoughts on art and religion; clippings; 17 programs from plays produced at Wittenberg College; 11 exhibition announcements and catalogs; 7 press releases; and 13 brochures and fliers concerning Grant's medical and other filmmaking projects; and two videotapes PROFILE OF DWINELL GRANT from "Profiles in Excellence" conducted by Gary Perdue, and an interview with Grant for ART BEAT;
REELS 4154-4155: writings, mostly from the 1980s, expressing Grant's thoughts and philosophies concerning himself and his art work, sometimes presented in the format of a journal; one album containing photographs of Grant, his family and friends, and nine albums of photographs of works and of gallery installations, annotated with information on sales, experiments with light, including a formula for stereoscopic drawing, notes on abstract films, medical illustrations, and dream fantasies; and two sketchbooks containing abstract drawings.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, filmmaker; New York, N.Y. and New Hope, Pa. Born and raised in Ohio, Grant received early art training from his grandfather, Paul E. Henking. He also studied at the Dayton Art Institute and the National Academy of Design. In 1935, he began teaching at Wittenberg College in Ohio. He was primarily influenced by his association with Hilla Rebay and the Museum of Non-Objective Art (the Guggenheim), and from 1944-1948 worked on an unfinished film project for the Guggenheim. In 1947, he began producing medical teaching films and supplemented his income with work on medical books, while continuing to work on his paintings.
Provenance:
Loan, Reels 4154-4155: All material was assembled and edited by the donor specifically for microfilming by the Archives. The writings were copied into the notebook by Grant from other sources.
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 papers of modernist painter and printmaker George Constant measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1912-2007, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932-1978. They consist of biographical material, inventories of artwork, audio interviews and recorded statements on art, personal and business related correspondence, holiday cards, printed material, an exhibition related video recording, and photographs of Constant, his family and friends, and his work.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of modernist painter and printmaker George Constant measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1912-2007, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932-1978. They consist of biographical material, inventories of artwork, audio interviews and recorded statements on art, personal and business related correspondence, holiday cards, printed material, an exhibition related video recording, and photographs of Constant, his family and friends, and his work. A small portion of the correspondence and printed materials are written in Greek.
Biographical material includes artist statements written and recorded by Constant, two audio interview recordings discussing his philosophies on art and his work, inventories of artwork, personal property deeds and legal correspondence, and other miscellaneous material.
Correspondence is predominantly in the form of business and personal letters, postcards, and holiday cards received from family and friends. These include correspondence from Constant's daughter, Georgette Preston, and extended family members. Other frequent personal correspondents include Milton and Sally Avery, Lewis Balamuth, Margaret Brunning, David Burliuk, Nathaniel Burwash, Rhys Caparn, Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, Phillip Cavanaugh, Morris Davidson, Charles Eaton, Vilko Gecan, Marchal Landgren, Roy Neuberger, Walter Pach, Nell Perret, Constantine Pougialis, Wallace Putnam and Consuelo Kanaga, Hi Simons, and Helen Slosberg. Business related correspondents include Audubon Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Institute, Dayton Art Institute, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Ferargil Galleries, Guild Hall, Heckscher Museum, Lyman Allyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Spanish Refugee Appeal, and the Whitney Museum. Other business correspondence related to Constant's work with the WPA are also included in the series.
Printed material includes books and booklets on American and Greek art, including a limited print edition of George Constant by George Constant, clippings and articles reviewing Constant's work, exhibition announcements and catalogs of Constant's shows, periodicals profiling his artwork, and dance and theater related programs that Constant consulted on.
Photographs include black and white prints of Constant and his family and friends in St. Louis, Missouri, Dayton, Ohio, and in and around his studio in Shinnecock Hills, New York. The collection also includes photo stills from his 1965 exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum and a comprehensive set of black and white prints, a handful of color prints, and several color slide sheets of Constant's artwork from the 1920s to 1978.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1923-2007 (Box 1; 17 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1930-1979 (Box 1-2; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1927-2005 (Box 2-3; 2 linear feet)
Series 4: Photographic Material, 1912-1978 (Box 4-6; 1 linear foot)
Biographical/Historical note:
Greek American George Zachary Constant (1892-1978) worked from his studios in Shinnecock Hills, and New York City, New York as a painter and printmaker. A founder and lifelong member of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Constant worked for the Work Projects Administration (WPA) during the Depression and early years of World War II, and exhibited regularly at major galleries and museums from the 1920s to 1970s.
Born in Arahova, Greece, Constant was raised by his two uncles after the death of his parents in 1896. In school and at the monestary one of his uncles led, Constant showed an early interest in classical Greek aesthetics. At the age of eighteen, he immigrated to the United States and continued his art studies at Washington University before transferring to the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1918 to 1922, Constant taught at the Dayton Art Institute and continued to produce and exhibit his work locally. In 1922, he moved to New York, joined the Society of Independent Painters, and became close friends with Society founder and art critic Walter Pach. During the 1920s, his etchings were shown at the Valentine and Downtown Galleries, and at the New Art Circle of J.B. Neumann, where he presented his first one man gallery show in 1929.
From the 1930s to 1940s, Constant produced prints, watercolors, and oil paintings for the WPA, many of which were purchased by museums and public institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum. During this same period, Constant exhibited his work at the Boyer Gallery in the late 1930s, and at the Ferargil Gallery from the 1940s to early 1950s. In the decade between 1955 and 1965, Constant also worked on color and set design for seventeen dance productions created by the choreographer Alwin Nikolais. In the last two decades of his career, Constant produced works from his studio in Shinnecock Hills, New York and continued to exhibit at numerous galleries, including Grace Borgenicht Gallery, Guild Hall, Mari Galleries, Tirca Karlis Gallery, and Artium Gallery.
Provenance:
The papers of George Constant were donated by the artist in 1969 and 1978. Additional materials were donated in 2001 and 2007 by his daughter Georgette Preston.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The George Constant papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Correspondence; biographical data; photographs; scrapbooks; business and financial records; exhibition announcements; and clippings.
REEL 1559: Letters, postcards, three photographs and several clippings relating to Colt's retirement from the Dayton Art Institute in 1976; and four scrapbooks containing letters, clippings, photographs, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and memorabilia.
REELS 1619-1620: Business and personal correspondence, with Corrine Melchers, Waldo Pierce, Gordon Washburn, Lamar Dodd, Curt Valentin, Francis Henry Taylor, Mahonri Young, Adelyn Breeskin, Mitchel Wilder, and others; biographical data and curriculum vitae; 14 personal photographs; files on the Gari Melchers Memorial, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and a 1956 exhibition of paintings owned by Walter Chrysler; clippings and press releases.
UNMICROFILMED: Exhibition invitations and announcements; appointment calendars; treasurer's and trustees' reports, minutes, and financial records of the Portland Art Association, Portland, Oregon, and the Dayton Institute of Art, Dayton, Ohio.
Biographical / Historical:
Museum director; Dayton, Ohio. Director of the Portland Art Association, 1948-1956,(the owner and governing body of the Portland Art Museum), and the Dayton Art Institute, 1957-1975.
Provenance:
Donated and lent April 1979 by Thomas Clyde Colt.
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.
