Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Rosamund Felsen, 2004 Oct. 10-11. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Rosamund Felsen conducted 2004 October 10-11, by Anne Ayres, for the Archives of American Art, in Los Angeles, Calif.
Felsen discusses developing her gallery's stable of artists; forming a creative consciousness while working at Gemini GEL and being involved in high school theater; being unable to start a career because of the demand of raising four children; the influences of her older siblings; her marriages to Vern Hinderer and Sidney Felsen; engaging in the nascent 1960s Los Angeles art world; the founding of Gemini GEL with her husband, Sidney, and Stanley and Elyse Grinstein; her involvement with "political" artists like Jeffrey Vallance; working in the now defunct Pasadena Art Museum; that museum's downfall; starting a gallery with Timothea Stewart; her thoughts on other Los Angeles galleries of the 1970s; the influence of the Beatnik movement on L.A. art; the financial difficulties of exhibiting conceptual art; and the importance of art schools in forming a regional art scene. Felsen also mentions her ambivalent opinions of Feminist art; the exodus of a major portion of her gallery's artists; the importance of lawyers aiding artists; the characteristics of retrospective exhibitions on the Los Angeles art world; the differences between high art and design; her relationships with various collectors; socializing in the L.A. art world; the definitions of the terms "art world" and "taste"; the public's restricted access, because of admission prices and tastes, to contemporary art; how she splits funds after selling an artwork; the problems of dealing with artist's estates; the importance of her relationships with museum curators; and how she still retains enthusiasm for her work. Felsen also recalls Patrick Hogan, Lari Pittman, Michael Kelley, Man Ray, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Vallance, Thomas Kincade, Laura Owens, Meg Cranston, Keith Sklar, Ralph Rugoff, Tim Ebner, Virginia Dwan, George Wanlass, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Rosamund Felsen (1934- ) is a gallery owner in Los Angeles, Calif. Anne Ayres (1936- ) is a curator from Los Angeles, Calif.
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.
The Rosamund Felsen Gallery records measure 28.9 linear feet and date from 1949 to 2014, with the bulk of the records dating from 1978 to 2014. The records shed light on the gallery's operations primarily through administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, financial records, born digital material, photographs, and slides.
Scope and Contents:
The Rosamund Felsen Gallery records measure 28.9 linear feet and date from 1949 to 2014, with the bulk of the records dating from 1978 to 2014. The records shed light on the gallery's operations primarily through administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, financial records, born digital material, photographs, and slides.
Administrative records consist of advertising files, property records, a gallery notebook, gallery digital files, and more. Also included in this series are several folders comprised of Rosamund Felsen's personal and professional papers and photographs. Artist files consist of resumes, slides and photographs of artists and their work, printed mnaterial, some sales and consignment records, and correspondence. Artists represented in the collection include Richard Jackson, Kaz Oshiro, Tim Ebner, John Boskovich, Jeff Gambill, Jeffrey Vallance, Mitchell Syrop, Mac James, Marnie Weber, Keith Sklar, Leland Rice, Erika Rothenberg, Peter Lodato, Paul McCarthy, Jim Shaw, Al Ruppersberg, Ilya Kabakov, Lari Pittman, Cisco Jiménez, Chris Burden, Mike Kelley, and Heidi Kidon.
Exhibition and event files relate to Rosamund Felsen Gallery exhibitions and performances as well as a number of art fairs and exhibitions held at other galleries and museum spaces. The files contain consignment and sales records, check lists, born digital material, photographs and slides, installation directions, printed material, and more. Financial records contain primarily sales records, invoices, some correspondence, and receipts.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as four series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1968-2013 (2 linear feet; Box 1-2, OV 30-33)
Series 2: Artist Files, 1949-2013, bulk 1978-2006 (19.7 linear feet; Box 22-25, OV 34)
Series 3: Exhibition and Event Files, 1979-2014 (3.7 linear feet; Box 22-25, OV 34-36)
Series 4: Financial Records, 1978-2014 (3.5 linear feet; Box 25-29)
Biographical / Historical:
The Rosamund Felsen Gallery was established in 1978 in Los Angeles, California by Rosamund Felsen. The gallery closed its physical location in 2016 after nearly four decades as a widely influential contemporary art gallery.
In 1960, Rosamund Felsen began her art career working as an assistant registrar for the Pasadena Art Museum, and eventually became curator of prints. Felsen also worked at Gemini GEL: Graphics Editions Limited alongside her second husband, Gemini co-founder Sidney Felsen. From these positions, Felsen became friendly with both established and younger artists, learned to mount exhibitions, and participated in art-related operations. In 1977, Timothea Stewart asked Felsen if she would like to work at her new gallery. After two exhibitions, Felsen took over the Timothea Stewart Gallery and started her own.
Rosamund Felsen gallery exhibited artists working in various mediums, including video and sound, and frequently showed live performance art. Early artists exhibited at the gallery included Richard Jackson, Keith Sonnier, Maria Nordman, Chris Burden, and William Wegman. Felsen gallery opened Robert Rauschenberg's In + Out City Limits: Los Angeles (1981) on New Year's Eve; and added artists Jeffrey Vallance, Mike Kelley, Lari Pittman, and Erika Rothenberg to its roster by the end of the 1980s. Felsen brought on a list of new artists in the 1990s, including Paul McCarthy, Renee Petropoulos, Tim Ebner, Meg Cranston, Steven Hull, and Nancy Jackson. The gallery continued to show solo and group exhibitions of its artists, and featured a run of smaller artist-curated exhibitions of local and international artists. The Project Wall exhibitions included artist/curators Andrea Bowers and Steven Hull and showed European artists Erwin Wurm and Nils Norman. By 2004, Felsen's artists were all living in Los Angeles except for two, video artists Judith Barry and Joan Jonas.
In 1990, the gallery moved from Los Angeles to West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard. Four years later, Felsen Gallery moved to a location in the Bergamot Station Arts Center, where it remained until 2015. After Bergamot, the gallery moved to the Arts District in Los Angeles. Rosamund Felsen Gallery closed its physical location in 2016, but continued representing a number of artists online.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Rosamund Felsen conducted by Anne Ayres, October 11, 2004.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in several installments from 2014 to 2016 by the Rosamund Felsen Gallery via Rosamund Felsen, gallery founder and owner. Rosamund Felsen Letters and Postcards were donated in 2016 by Rosamund Felsen.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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.
Rosamund Felsen Gallery records, 1949-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Rosamund Felsen letters, 1968-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The letters of Los Angeles gallerist Rosamund Felsen measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1968-1977. Included are sixteen letters and two postcards, all but three of which are from Jasper Johns. The others are from Ellsworth Kelly, Al Ruppersberg, and Bob P. The warm casual letters from Johns describe the artist's interest in birds, gardens, and weather. He also discusses drawings and upcoming exhibitions. Folded into the letters are a black and white snapshot of Johns and one of Felsen, in both cases surrounded by others. Also included here is the panty hose box in which Felsen stored these letters.
Scope and Contents:
The letters of Los Angeles gallerist Rosamund Felsen measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1968-1977. Included are sixteen letters and two postcards, all but three of which are from Jasper Johns. The others are from Ellsworth Kelly, Al Ruppersberg, and Bob P. The warm casual letters from Johns describe the artist's interest in birds, gardens, and weather. He also discusses drawings and upcoming exhibitions. Folded into the letters are a black and white snapshot of Johns and one of Felsen, in both cases surrounded by others. Also included here is the panty hose box in which Felsen stored these letters.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as a single series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Letters and Postcards, 1968-1977 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Biographical / Historical:
Rosamund Felsen (1934- ) is a gallery owner in Los Angeles.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Rosamund Felsen gallery records and an oral history interview with Rosamund Felsen conducted by Anne Ayres in 2004.
Provenance:
Donated in 2016 by Rosamund Felsen.
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.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Rosamund Felsen letters, 1968-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sixteen letters and two postcards, all but three of which are from Jasper Johns. The others are from Ellsworth Kelly, Al Ruppersberg, and Bob P. The warm casual letters from Johns give the sense of the artist's interest in birds, gardens, and weather. He also discusses drawings and upcoming exhibitions. Two black and white snapshots are also present.
Collection 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.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Rosamund Felsen letters, 1968-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
