The papers of African American painter and educator Jacob Lawrence and his wife, artist Gwendolyn Knight measure 25.35 linear feet and 0.001 GB date from 1914 to 2008, with one item from 1816 and the bulk of the material dating from 1973 to 2001. The collection includes biographical material; correspondence including condolence letters to Gwendolyn Knight after Jacob Lawrence's death; writings by Jacob Lawrence and others; printed and digital material; photographs; personal business records; artwork; records from the Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonné Project; materials related to the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation; professional files; and material related to awards and honors received by Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of African American painter and educator Jacob Lawrence and his wife, artist Gwendolyn Knight measure 25.35 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from 1914 to 2008, with one item from 1816 and the bulk of the material dating from 1973 to 2001. The collection includes biographical material; correspondence including condolence letters to Gwendolyn Knight after Jacob Lawrence's death; writings by Jacob Lawrence and others; printed and digital material; photographs; personal business records; artwork; records from the Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonné Project; materials related to the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation; professional files; and material related to awards and honors received by Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight.
Biographical material includes appointment and address books; education and personal identification certificates and documents; awards, certificates, curriculum vitae, and chronologies; biographical material related to other individuals, including identification documents and memorial programs; and transcripts of interviews with Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight.
The correspondence series includes extensive personal and professional correspondence with family, friends, artists, admirers (including students in a number of elementary and middle schools), university students, government agencies, art schools, galleries, museums, publishing houses, and others. Included in this series are condolence letters received by Gwendolyn Knight after Jacob Lawrence's death in 2000.
Writings include published and unpublished writings by and about Jacob Lawrence, as well as writings by others. These writings include speeches, notes, essays, articles, lists, and short stories. Also included is a visitor comment book from the Los Angeles County Museum exhibition of Jacob Lawrence's Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass series.
Printed material includes books; brochures; business cards; clippings; exhibition and event announcements, invitations, catalogs, and programs; magazines; newsletters; posters; post cards; and press releases. Books in this collection may include illustrations by Jacob Lawrence or have personal inscriptions from the author to Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight.
Photographs include photographs of Jacob Lawrence artwork, photographs and reproductions of Gwendolyn Knight artwork, and photographs of Jacob Lawrence, Gwendolyn Knight, and other individuals. Also included in this series are photographs and reproductions of work by others.
Personal business records include a ledger; consignment, financial, and shipping records related to the Terry Dintenfass Gallery; contracts and agreements; and estate documents.
Artwork includes sketches by Jacob Lawrence, a blank sketchbook inscribed by Jacob Lawrence to Gwendolyn Knight, and artwork by other artists.
Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonné Project Records include materials generated by the Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonné Project, a non-profit created with the goal of producing a catalogue raisonné (and later, a digital archive) of Jacob Lawrence's work. These records include address books and phone logs; copies of Jacob Lawrence's CV; founding documents, bylaws, and meeting minutes; correspondence; writings, including draft pages of the catalogue raisonné; business records, including employment files, contracts, invoices, insurance, and tax information; printed and digital material; and photographs and artwork.
The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation and Related Material series includes founding documents and foundation bylaws, correspondence, financial documents, reports, and proposals. Found within this series are materials related to the Lawrence Center for the Visual Arts, a subsidiary foundation of the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation.
Professional files include material related to projects and exhibitions, teaching files and inclusion in curricula, files regarding possible fake Jacob Lawrence works, and gallery files.
The honors series is divided into two subseries: awards and certificates, and government honors. Awards and certificates includes honorary degrees, arts prizes, and any other honors awarded to Jacob Lawrence or Gwendolyn Knight. Government honors include resolutions, proclamations, and keys to cities. Also included in this series are correspondence related to awards and honorary degrees, commencement programs, plaques, and medals.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in 11 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1914-2005 (Boxes 1, 11, 26, OV 10; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1943, 1952-2005 (Boxes 1-5, 12-14, 26; 7.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1954-1959, 1973-2005, undated (Boxes 5-6, 14-15; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1816, 1926, 1937, 1945-2008 (Boxes 6-9, 15-17, 26, OV 30, OV 31; 6.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographs, circa 1970-1997, undated (Boxes 9, 17, OV 10; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1962-2005 (Boxes 9, 17; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, 1984, 1990-1994, undated (Boxes 9, 18, 26; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 8: Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonne Project Records, 1982-2002 (Boxes 18-23, Box 26; 5.1 linear feet, ER01; 0.001 GB)
Series 9: Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation and Related Material, 1997-2005 (Box 23; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 10: Professional Files, 1964-2004 (Boxes 23-24; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 11: Honors, 1948, 1966-2005 (Boxes 24-25, 27-29, OV 30; 2.3 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Modernist painter and educator Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was born in 1917 as Jacob Armstead Lawrence in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He began his art studies at the Utopia Children's Center in New York City's Harlem district where he studied under the painter Charles Alston. Lawrence dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen to continue his art instruction with Alston, this time at the Harlem Art Workshop, where he met several artists associated with the Harlem Renaissance including the sculptor Augusta Savage.
Gwendolyn Knight (1913-2005) was born in Barbados and moved to New York City with her adoptive parents when she was seven. She attended New York's Wadleigh High School and later Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she studied fine arts with Lois Mailou Jones and James Porter. Forced to leave her studies at Howard because of the Depression, Knight returned to Harlem and continued her artistic pursuits in Augusta Savage's workshop. In 1935, Knight joined the Harlem Mural Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) working under Selma Day and Charles Alston. Lawrence and Knight met in Savage's workshop and married in the summer of 1941.
During the Depression, Lawrence also joined the WPA Federal Arts Project in Harlem. Finding WPA murals overwhelming, Lawrence concentrated on traditional painting instead. He produced his first major works in the late 1930s, most notably the Toussaint L'Ouverture series, images that document the life of the revolutionary hero and Haiti's struggle for independence. Other significant works include visual narratives of the lives of abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. In 1940, Lawrence received the prestigious Julius Rosenwald Fellowship, which made it possible for him to purchase his first art studio on 125th Street in the heart of Harlem. He soon portrayed Harlem street life in paintings that became commentaries on the role of African Americans in United States society with highly developed themes of resistance and social opposition. That same year, Lawrence began his most celebrated series, The Migration of the American Negro, multiple tempera panels depicting the exodus of African American sharecroppers in the south to northern industrial cities in search of better employment and social opportunities. Edith Halpert exhibited the works in their entirety at her Downtown Gallery in 1941, establishing Lawrence as the first African American artist to exhibit in a top New York gallery. The following year, New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC each bought half of the sixty panels in the series, helping to further Lawrence's career within the larger world of American art.
In the summer of 1946, the artist Joseph Albers invited Lawrence to teach at North Carolina's Black Mountain College. It was the first in a series of teaching positions in prestigious art schools including Pratt Institute (1956-1971), Brandeis University (1965), The New School (1966), the Art Students League (1967), and others. During the 1950s and 1960s, Lawrence's work continued to focus on racism and political activism but in the late 1960s shifted to themes of racial harmony.
Both Lawrence and Knight continued independent careers in art. Knight pursued her art studies at the New School in New York and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. In the mid-1960s, she collaborated with other female artists to form the Studio Gallery in New York City. Knight's main body of work consists of portraits and still-lifes that incorporate expressions of African sculpture, Impressionism, dance, and theater. Focusing on gesture, her art is described as light and airy with a minimum of lines allowing empty space to define the work. In 1970, Lawrence traveled to Seattle to teach as a visiting artist at the University of Washington. He was hired on a permanent basis the following year and remained on staff until his retirement in 1986.
Jacob Lawrence died June 9, 2000, in Seattle, Washington at the age of 83. Gwendolyn Knight continued to paint and exhibit her work around the country until her death on February 18, 2005 in Seattle, Washington at the age of 92.
Related Material:
Also found at the Archives of American Art are an oral history interview with Jacob Lawrence conducted by Carroll Greene (1968 October 26), interviews conducted by Avis Berman (1982 July 20-August 4), and an oral history interview with Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight conducted by Paul Karlstrom (1998 November 18). The Archives of American Art also holds a collection of Jacob Lawrence papers, available on microfilm only, reels D286 and 4571-4573. Originals reside at Syracuse University Library, Special Collections.
Provenance:
The Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in five accretions between 1979 and 1997. Additional papers were donated in 2012 by the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation via Barbara Earl Thomas, representative.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight papers, 1816, 1914-2008, bulk 1973-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the 2007 processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the 2018 processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Correspondence and subject files relate to the activities of Ward, including his membership in the Society of American Graphic Artists, and his collaborative work with his wife, May McNeer Ward.
Correspondents include Fritz Eichenberg, Wanda Gág, Harry Gottlieb, Jacob Kainen, Rockwell Kent, Louis Lozowick, Elizabeth McCausland, Diego Rivera, Prentiss Taylor, and Carl Zigrosser, as well as bookdealers, collectors, children, writers, galleries and museums, publishing and printing companies, advertising and public relations firms, religious organizations, and art, civic, and political associations and societies. Letters are often accompanied by enclosures such as writings and printed material.
Subject files contain awards, drafts and typescripts of Ward's writings, lectures, and speeches, notes, outlines and galley proofs for McNeer's and Ward's books, scripts for radio broadcasts, book contracts and royalty statements, lists of Ward's graphic works, illustrations and Christmas cards by Ward, exhibition announcements and catalogs, clippings, reviews, newsletters, bulletins, press releases, and miscellaneous printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Lynd Ward: Printmaker, illustrator, writer. Died 1985. May McNeer: Children's book author. Died 1994. Born Chicago, Lynd Kendall Ward majored in Fine Arts at the Teachers College, Columbia University, where he illustrated school publications until his graduation in 1926. In the same year he married May McNeer of Tampa, Florida. They collaborated on many books written by McNeer and illustrated by Ward. Between 1926 and 1927, Ward studied at the National Academy for Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany, working with Alois Kolb, George Mathey, and Hans A. Mueller. Ward was a prolific graphic artist, illustrating over one hundred books including GODS' MAN and other woodcut novels produced between 1929 and 1937.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1985 by Georgetown University.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Correspondence, articles, clippings, and gallery literature.
Among the correspondents are Charles Avery Aiken, Grace Albee, Ernfred Anderson, John Taylor Arms, Ralph H. Avery, William J. Aylward, Merrill A. Bailey, Vernon Howe Bailey, George Biddle, Louis Bouche, Fiske Boyd, J. Paul Bransom, Charles Burchfield, Clarence H. Carter, Asa Cheffetz, Eliot C. Clark, Howard N. Cook,Dean Cornwell, James H. Daugherty, E. Hubert Deines, Fritz Eichenberg, Ralph Fabri, Robert Fawcett, James D. Havens, Wilmot Emerton Heitland, Peter Helck, J. Lars Hoftrup, Philip Kappel, Rockwell Kent, Julius J. Lankes, Clare Leighton, Warren B. Mack, Roy M. Mason, Leo Meissner, John C. Menihan, Henry C. Pitz, Ogden Pleissner, Grant T. Reynard, William S. Rice, Norman Rockwell, Sven Birger Sandzen, Alice P. Schafer, Eric Sloane, Charles W. Smith, James Swann, Donald Teague, Nora S. Unwin, Robert Von Neumann, Lynd Ward, Herbert O. Waters, Aldren A. Watson, Stow Wengenroth, Frederic Whitaker, Esther Williams, Edward A. Wilson, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Illustrator, educator, lithographer, engraver, painter and writer; studied at Rochester Institute of Technology and was active in New York State. Former editor of AMERICAN ARTIST.
Related Materials:
Additional Norman Kent papers pertaining to American Artist also located at: George Arent Research Library Syracuse University.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1965 by Norman Kent.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
An interview of Fritz Eichenberg conducted 1970 November 3, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) was an illustrator and printmaker from Peace Dale, Rhode Island.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 23 min.
Provenance:
This interview is 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.
An interview of Fritz Eichenberg conducted by Harlan Phillips on 1964 December 3 for the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project.
Eichenberg speaks of the development of his interest in the graphic arts; his education at the Academy of Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany; working for a magazine as a political cartoonist and drawing anti-Nazi cartoons; coming to the United States; working for the Federal Art Project; the effect of the FAP on his career and life; and political problems with federal support for the arts. He recalls George Grosz.
Biographical / Historical:
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) was an illustrator and printmaker from Rhode Island.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 29 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Correspondence, 1969-1975; diary written in Russian, 1966-1976; photographs of Hollerbach, and his art work; three sketchbooks, 1971-1975; exhibition catalogs; and clippings. Among the correspondents are Aleksis Rannit, Ralph Fabri, and Fritz Eichenberg.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, sculptor; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Donated 1976 by Serge Hollerbach.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
An interview with Fritz Eichenberg conducted 1979 May 14-1979 December 7, by Robert F. Brown, at the artist's home, in Peace Dale, Rhode Island, for the Archives of American Art.
Eichenberg discusses his career; his artistic philosophy; various books he has illustrated including, "Jane Eyre," "Wuthering Heights," "The King and I," and "Crime and Punishment"; working with Dorothy Day for the "Catholic Worker"; drawing political cartoons for "The Nation"; working for the WPA; and becoming a Quaker.
Biographical / Historical:
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) was an illustrator, cartoonist, and printmaker from Peace Dale, Rhode Island.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 12 min.
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 administrators.
An interview of wood engraver and book illustrator Fritz Eichenberg conducted by Christopher Lydon for WGBH television station, broadcast December 25, 1985. Included are shots of Eichenberg's engravings for works by Shakespeare, Swift, Dostoevsky and many others. Also appearing is Harold McGrath, who demonstrates the printing of one of Eichenberg's engravings.
Biographical / Historical:
Illustrator, printmaker; Peace Dale, R.I. Died 1990.
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
Boston : WGBH Educational Foundation, c1985.
Provenance:
Donated 1992 by WGBH Educational Foundation. The video was made for and broadcast by WGBH, a PBS TV station. It was at Mrs. Eichenberg's suggestion that Christopher Lydon, the interviewer, arrange this gift.
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:
Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from WGBH Educational Foundation. 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.
Letters, notes, business records, art works, printed material, and photographs relating to Ward's involvement in the American Artists' Congress (1936-1945), the Artists League of America (1934-1949), the Independent Citizens Committee for the Arts, Sciences, and Professions (1944-1948), the Limited Editions Club competition (1932-1957), and the Society of American Graphic Artists (1940-1964). Artists represented in the files include Grace Albee, John Taylor Arms, Fritz Eichenberg, Antonio Frasconi, Jacob Kainen, Clare Leighton, Prentiss Taylor, Max Weber, Stow Wengenroth, Art Young, Adja Yunkers, William Zorach.
Biographical / Historical:
Lynd Ward (1905-1985) was a printmaker, illustrator, and writer in Cresskill, New Jersey. Illustrated over 100 books. President, Society of American Graphic Artists, 1953-1959.
Provenance:
Donated 1972-1973 by Lynd Ward.
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.
Ca. 600 letters, 1961-1990, from artists, authors, poets, editors, curators, publishers, critics and others, primarily in response to Taylor's reviews, columns, and books, and some supplying information for his columns. Among the correspondents are Darby Barnard, Claire Leighton, Will Davenport, Fritz Eichenberg, Clement Greenberg, Jack Levine, Patrick McGilligan, Henry Schwartz, Beverly Swan, William Styron, John Updike, and Tom Wolfe. A 1983 letter from Davenport encloses a mss. of a paper he wrote in 1956, "Search for the Most American of American Painters." Also included are 5 scrapbooks, 1952-1957, containing clippings of Taylor's reviews and columns, and letters of appreciation; and loose reviews and articles by Taylor written for various Boston area arts magazines.
Enclosed in the correspondence are a few photographs, including two of Taylor, 3 of Carl Nelson, one of G.D. Hackett and Andre Kertisz, and one of Fred Allen and Herman Wouk.
Biographical / Historical:
Art, literary, and music critic; author; educator; lecturer, Boston, Mass. Wrote for the Boston Herald, 1952-1967, Boston Globe, 1968-1989. Columns for New Boston Review, later appearing in Atlantic Monthly, were written under pseudonym Count Bibesco.
Provenance:
Donated 1984 and 1990 by Robert Taylor.
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.
Occupation:
Art critics -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
1.3 Linear feet ((partially filmed on 1 microfilm reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Sketchbooks
Sound recordings
Place:
Soviet Union -- description and travel
Date:
1951-1982
Scope and Contents:
Letters, a calendar and essay, sketchbooks (1957-1964), photographs (1963), printed material (1951-1982), 3 audio tapes, and a reel of motion picture film document the life and career of Rudy Pozzatti.
Reel 1618: Six annotated sketchbooks contain designs for the Lincoln, Neb., mural competition (1957), sketches and diary accounts of a trip to Russia (1961), sketches from a trip to Genoa and Rome, Italy, including work on a Japanese folding book (1963-1964), and annotated sketches from a Tamarind workshop (1963).
Unfilmed: Biographical material consists of 2 biographical sketches and a resume. Twenty letters (1952-1980) primarily concern Pozzatti's nomination as distinguished professor at Indiana University (1972). Notes and writings consist of a makeshift calendar designed by Pozzatti and Jimmy Ernst in Russia in 1961 and a 3-page essay "Homage to Rudy Pozzatti" by Elmer Schooley. One photograph shows Pozzatti as a member of the Pennell Selection Committee at the Library of Congress with Fritz Eichenberg. Another photograph shows the Arts Festival Committee examining Pozzatti's woodcut "Enchanted Flute" for the permanent collection of the University of Maine.
Unfilmed: Printed material includes clippings (1952-1986), exhibition announcements and catalogs (1951-1986), and lecture and workshop brochures (1963-1978). Three reel-to-reel audio tapes contain interviews with Pozzatti, including one with Rudolph de Harak conducted by Roger Gafke (1974), and one of a visiting artists discussion conducted by the University of Missouri (1974). A reel of 16 mm motion picture film records an interview with Pozzatti at the Fort Wayne Art Institute (1974).
Biographical / Historical:
Printmaker, painter, art instructor; Bloomington, Ind. Born in Telluride, Colo., Pozzatti received degrees from the University of Colorado in 1948 and 1950, and studied under Emilio Amero, Max Beckmann, and Ben Shahn. He taught printmaking at Indiana University from 1956-1972.
Provenance:
Material on reel 1618 lent for microfilming 1979; unmicrofilmed material donated 1980 and 1986 all by Rudy Pozzatti.
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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Fritz Eichenberg, 1979 May 14-December 7. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Fritz Eichenberg, 1964 December 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Fritz Eichenberg, 1970 November 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Correspondence, writings, speeches, notes, teaching material, price lists, financial and legal information, press releases, printed material, and photographs relating to Sykes' career as an portrait painter and printmaker, his tenure as Professor of Art at Auburn University, and his 1936 assistantship to muralist Diego Rivera on murals for the Hotel Reforma in Mexico City.
Correspondence, 1940-1990 (1.4 ft.), with sitters, colleagues, galleries, associations and organizations, universities, and others, among them Albert Christ-Janer, Fritz Eichenberg, George C. Miller, and the National Endowment for the Arts; writings, including "Multimetal Lithography for Artists", 1967, written as a result of a grant from the NEA, and containing original prints; lectures delivered at various universities and exhibitions describing his printmaking and portraiture work; notes; teaching material, 1973-1976, relating to Sykes' tenure as Professor of Art at Auburn University; price lists of artwork and other exhibition records; financial records, 1944-1985, mainly receipts for printmaking materials; press releases, 1966-1989, mainly concerning Sykes' award from the NEA and various exhibitions; printed material, ca.1940-ca.1990 (1 ft.), including exhibition announcements and invitations, a dismantled scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, and newsletters from Auburn University and various clubs and organizations; original artwork (0.5 ft.), including sketchbooks and loose sketches and drawings; and photographs (1 ft.), mainly of works of art by Sykes.
Unmicrofilmed documentation relating to Sykes' 1936 assistantship to Diego Rivera is documented by printed material, photographs, many depicting Rivera at work on the mural, and writings, including a manuscript by Sykes "Diego Rivera Remembered: An Account of the Hotel Reforma Mural Project," 1985.
REEL 3667: Sykes' notes on the Hotel Reforma mural project; two letters from Diego Rivera (in Spanish with accompanying translations by Sykes), one providing proof of Sykes' status as a student of fresco painting and the other granting Sykes permission to make sketches and copies of Rivera's paintings; records of supplies; plastering schedules, including diagrams of four fresco panels showing time schedules for plastering; 10 drawings by Sykes of the frescoes; clippings, including a typescript and translation of a newspaper article from "Excelsior" describing the controversy surrounding the murals and Rivera's involvement with Mexican labor unions; and photographs and negatives of the preparation of the walls, Rivera and assistants at work on the murals, and Rivera's studies and finished panels.
Biographical / Historical:
Maltby Sykes (1911-1992) was a painter, draftsman, lithographer, engraver, and teacher from Auburn, Alabama. Full name William Maltby Sykes. Sykes apprenticed with Diego Rivera in 1936, and later studied with George C. Miller, John Sloan and Fernand Leger. He was a combat artist in World War II and became a Professor in Art at Auburn University in 1954. He has exhibited at the American Color Print Society, the American Institute of Graphic Artists, and the Pennsylvania Academy.
Provenance:
Material on reel 3667 donated 1985 by Maltby Sykes. Unmicrofilmed material donated 1993 and 1995 by Sykes's widow, Marjorie Sykes.
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.
