Search Results

Published by:

Earl G. Graves Publishing Co., Inc., American, founded 1969  Search this

Subject of:

Black Enterprise, American, founded 1970  Search this

Medium:

ink on paper with metal

Dimensions:

H x W x D: 10 13/16 × 8 1/8 × 1/8 in. (27.5 × 20.6 × 0.3 cm)

H x W x D (Open): 10 13/16 × 16 1/4 × 1/8 in. (27.5 × 41.3 × 0.3 cm)

Type:

magazines (periodicals)

Place made:

New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America

Date:

1989

Topic:

African American  Search this

Business  Search this

Film  Search this

Mass media  Search this

Credit Line:

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Object number:

2014.76.12.5

Restrictions & Rights:

© Black Enterprise Magazine. Permission required for use.

See more items in:

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification:

Documents and Published Materials-Published Works

Data Source:

National Museum of African American History and Culture

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd50f1bcdc8-bafd-43c1-8e18-61b4fbef1a2b

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmaahc_2014.76.12.5

Creator:

Smithson, Robert  Search this

Names:

Dwan Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art  Search this

Andre, Carl, 1935-  Search this

Atkinson, Terry, 1939-  Search this

Dibbets, Jan, 1941-  Search this

Dwan, Virginia  Search this

Flavin, Dan, 1933-  Search this

Graham, Dan, 1942-  Search this

Haacke, Hans, 1936-  Search this

Heizer, Michael, 1944-  Search this

Holt, Nancy, 1938-  Search this

Insley, Will, 1929-2011  Search this

Jenney, Neil, 1945-  Search this

Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this

Kepes, Gyorgy, 1906-2001  Search this

LeWitt, Sol, 1928-2007  Search this

Lippard, Lucy R.  Search this

Long, Richard, 1945-  Search this

Oppenheim, Dennis, 1938-2011  Search this

Valledor, Leo, 1936-1989  Search this

Wheeler, Dennis  Search this

Extent:

15.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Sketches

Scrapbooks

Greeting cards

Photographs

Transcripts

Motion pictures (visual works)

Date:

1905-1987

bulk 1952-1987

Summary:

The papers of sculptor, writer, and earthworks artist Robert Smithson and his wife, sculptor, filmmaker, and earthworks artist Nancy Holt measure 15.1 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1952 to 1987. The papers consist of Smithson's biographical material; business and personal correspondence, much of it with artists; interview transcripts; extensive writings and project files; financial records; printed material; a scrapbook of clippings; holiday cards with original prints and sketches; photographic material; and artifacts. Also found are project files related to Nancy Holt's motion picture film Pine Barrens and her seminal environmental work of art Sun Tunnels, including a video documentary about Sun Tunnels.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of sculptor, writer, and earthworks artist Robert Smithson and his wife, sculptor, filmmaker, and earthworks artist Nancy Holt measure 15.1 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1952 to 1987. The papers consist of Smithson's biographical material; business and personal correspondence, much of it with artists; interview transcripts; extensive writings and project files; financial records; printed material; a scrapbook of clippings; holiday cards with original prints and sketches; photographic material; and artifacts. Also found are project files related to Nancy Holt's film Pine Barrens and her seminal environmental work of art Sun Tunnels, including a video documentary about Sun Tunnels.

Biographical material includes Robert Smithson's curriculum vitae, personal identification and medical documents, eight engagement/day planners Smithson and Holt maintained from 1966 to 1973, and Smithson's funeral register.

Correspondence is primarily with Smithson's family, friends, fellow artists, and business associates discussing personal relationships, proposed art projects, and exhibitions. Correspondents of note include Carl Andre, the Dwan Gallery (Virginia Dwan), Dan Graham, Will Insley, Ray Johnson, Gyorgy Kepes, Sol Lewitt, Lucy Lippard, and Dennis Wheeler. There is also substantial correspondence received by Holt upon Smithson's death in 1973, and between Holt and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art regarding Smithson's retrospective exhibition in 1982.

There are nine interview transcripts with Smithson discussing his works and his general philosophy on art, and one transcript of the Andrew Dickson White Museum's Earth Art Symposium (1969) featuring the following artists: Mike Hiezer, Dennis Oppenheim, Robert Smithson, Neil Jenney, Gunther Uecker, Jan Dibbets, Richard Long, and Hans Haacke.

Writings are substantial and include 73 drafts of published and unpublished essays by Smithson on art, artists, and works in progress. The series also includes poems by Smithson, six notebooks containing notes and sketches by Smithson, and drafts of writings sent to Smithson and Holt by friends and colleagues, including Carl Andre, Terry Atkinson, Dan Flavin, Dan Graham, and Jack Thibeau.

Project files contain correspondence, project instructions, diagrams and sketches, research materials, photographic material, and maps related to over 50 of Smithson's artworks. These include concepts, proposed projects, sculptures, non-sites, and earthwork projects, including Spiral Jetty, Broken Circle, and Spiral Hill.

Personal business records include gallery related loan arrangements and receipts for miscellaneous art supplies. Financial records include tax forms and preparation documents, including cancelled checks, receipts, statements, and related correspondence.

Printed materials include books, clippings, and periodicals related to Smithson, either containing writings or sketches by him, or containing articles reviewing his work. There are also exhibition announcements and catalogs of Smithson's group and solo shows from 1959 to 1985.

The scrapbook contains clippings of Smithson's published articles from 1966 to 1973 with annotated shorthand notes.

Artwork consists of Christmas cards collaged by Smithson, and sketches by Smithson and Leo Valledor.

Photographic materials include prints and negatives of Smithson with friends, promotional Hollywood movie stills, and original prints and copyprints of other artists' artwork.

Artifacts consist of a paper bag silkscreened with a Campbell's soup can (Warhol), promotional buttons (N.E. Thing Co.), various organic materials, and two art kits.

Nancy Holt's papers consist of correspondence, a grant application, printed materials, and project files and audio visual material related to her motion picture film Pine Barrens (1975) and her seminal environmental work of art Sun Tunnels (1975).

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 13 series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1905-1974 (Box 1; 14 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1959-1987 (Boxes 1-2, OV 21; 1.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Interview Transcripts, 1966-1973 (Box 2; 11 folders)

Series 4: Writings, 1959-1975 (Boxes 2-3; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Project Files, circa 1950s-1982 (Boxes 4-5, Boxes 17-18, OV 20, OV 22-26, OV 36, RD 28-30, RD 32-35; 6.5 linear feet)

Series 6: Personal Business Records, circa 1967-1970s (Box 5; 4 folders)

Series 7: Financial Records, 1962-1972 (Box 6; 1 linear foot)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1955-1985 (Boxes 7-11, Box 18, RD 31; 5.6 linear feet)

Series 9: Scrapbook, 1966-1973 (Box 11, Box 16; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 10: Artwork, circa 1950s-1970s (Box 11; 4 folders)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1950s-1970s (Box 11, Box 18; 5 folders)

Series 12: Artifacts, circa 1950s-1970s (Box 11, Box 14, OV 19; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 13: Nancy Holt Papers, circa 1960s-1980s (Box 12-13, 15, OV 27, FC 37-38; 1.9 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Robert Smithson (1938-1973) was the pioneer of land and earthworks art. He was also a noted sculptor, painter, writer, and lecturer working primarily in New York City. Smithson's wife, Nancy Holt (1938-) was a noted sculptor and filmmaker and also worked as an earthworks artist.

Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Smithson expressed an early interest in art, enrolling in classes at the Brooklyn Museum School and the Art Student's League in New York while still attending high school. Smithson's early works were primarily paintings, drawings, and collages. In 1959, he exhibited his first solo show of paintings at the Artists' Gallery in New York and had his first solo international show in Rome with the Galleria George Lester in 1961.

During the early to mid-1960s, Smithson was perhaps better known as a writer and art critic, writing numerous essays and reviews for Arts Magazine and Artforum. He became affiliated with artists who were identified with the minimalist movement, such as Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Nancy Holt, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris and others. In 1963, Smithson married sculptor and filmmaker Nancy Holt and a year later started to create his first sculptural works. In 1966, Smithson joined the Dwan Gallery, whose owner Virginia Dwan was an enthusiastic supporter of his work.

Smithson's interest in land art began in the late 1960s while exploring industrial and quarry sites and observing the movement of earth and rocks. This resulted in a series of sculptures called "non-sites" consisting of earth and rocks collected from a specific site and installed in gallery space, often combined with photographs, maps, mirrors, or found materials. In September 1968, Smithson published the essay "A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects" in Artforum that promoted the work of the first wave of land art artists. Soon thereafter, he began creating his own large scale land art and earthworks.

From 1967 to 1973, Smithson's productivity was constant as he wrote, lectured, and participated in several solo and group shows a year, both at home and abroad. He explored narrative art as essay in "The Monuments of Passaic" and fully committed to his idea of visiting sites and using them as the basis for creating non-sites, Non-Site, Pine Barrens, (1968); incorporated and documented the use of mirrors at sites in Mirror Displacement, Cayuga Salt Mine Project (1968-1969); and created his first site-specific works through liquid pours of mud, asphalt, and concrete, including Asphalt Rundown (1969). In 1969, he also completed his first earth pour at Kent State University with his project Partially Buried Woodshed. Later that year, he created the sculptural artwork for which he is best known, Spiral Jetty (1969) on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. This was the first of his pieces to require the acquisition of land rights and earthmoving equipment, and would be followed two years later by Broken Circle and Spiral Hill in 1971.

On July 20, 1973, while surveying sites in Texas for the proposed Amarillo Ramp, Smithson died in a plane crash at the age of 35. Despite his early death, Smithson's writings and artwork had a major impact on many contemporary artists.

Nancy Holt began her career as a photographer and video artist. Today, Holt is most widely known for her large-scale environmental works, Sun Tunnels and Dark Star Park. Holt has also made a number of films and videos since the late 1960s, including Mono Lake (1968), East Coast, West Coast (1969), and Swamp (1971) in collaboration with her late husband Robert Smithson. Points of View: Clocktower (1974) features conversations between Lucy Lippard and Richard Serra, Liza Bear and Klaus Kertess, Carl Andre and Ruth Kligman and Bruce Brice and Tina Girouard. In 1978, she produced a film about her seminal work Sun Tunnels.

Related Material:

The Archives also holds several collections related to Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt, including an oral history interview with Robert Smithson conducted by Paul Cummings in 1972; an interview with Robert Smithson conducted by Tony Robbin in 1968; Robert Smithson letters to George B. Lester, 1960-1963; and oral history interviews with Nancy Holt conducted by Scott Gutterman in 1992 and Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz in 1993.

Separated Material:

Non-archival library books, periodicals, and phonographs from Robert Smithson's personal library are currently stored offsite.

Provenance:

The papers of Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt were donated by Nancy Holt in several accretions between 1986 and 2011.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

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:

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Authors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art -- Philosophy  Search this

Earthworks (Art)  Search this

Filmmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sketches

Scrapbooks

Greeting cards

Photographs

Transcripts

Motion pictures (visual works)

Citation:

Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers, 1905-1987, bulk 1952-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:

AAA.smitrobe

See more items in:

Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-smitrobe

Creator:

Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973  Search this

Names:

Buchholz Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Curt Valentin Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Bassett, Bruce W.  Search this

Cortois, Jenny  Search this

Frank, Mary, 1933-  Search this

Fry, Annette  Search this

Fry, Varian, 1907-1967  Search this

Gaspard, Leon, 1882-1964  Search this

Hay, Gyorgy  Search this

Ingersoll, R. Sturgis (Robert Sturgis), b. 1891  Search this

Landau, Gregorio  Search this

Larrea, Juan  Search this

Larrea, Marianne  Search this

Lipchitz, Yulla, 1911-  Search this

Modigliani, Amedeo, 1884-1920  Search this

Rapoport, Nathan, 1911-  Search this

Soula, Camille, 1888-  Search this

Starrels, Celeste  Search this

Starrels, Joel  Search this

Wilkinson, Alan G., 1941-  Search this

Zorach, William, 1887-1966  Search this

Extent:

52.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Designs

Date:

circa 1910-2001

bulk 1941-2001

Summary:

The Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz measure 52.8 linear feet and are dated circa 1910-2001, with the bulk of the material from the period 1941-2001. Papers are comprised of sculptor Jacques Lipchitz's personal papers and filmmaker Bruce Bassett's papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz. Lipchitz's personal papers contain personal and professional correspondence, comprising nearly half of the series, and biographical material, writings by and about Lipchitz, printed material, and photographs documenting Lipchitz's commissions, exhibitions, friendships, and interests. Also found are records relating to the compilation and production of The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné by Alan G. Wilkinson. The Bruce Bassett papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz consist mainly of Bassett's extensive audiovisual documentation of Lipchitz's life and art. Also found are paper records related to the audiovisual projects, including letters, business records, printed materials, and production records. A small quantity of material unrelated to Lipchitz is also found among the Bassett material, including video and sound recordings related to Sidney Lifchez, IBM, Isamu Noguchi, the Storm King Sculpture Center, and Auguste Rodin.

Scope and Contents note:

The Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz measure 52.8 linear feet and are dated circa 1910-2001, with the bulk of the material from the period 1941-2001. Papers are comprised of sculptor Jacques Lipchitz's personal papers and filmmaker Bruce Bassett's papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz. Lipchitz's personal papers contain personal and professional correspondence, comprising nearly half of the series, along with biographical material, writings by and about Lipchitz, printed material, and photographs documenting Lipchitz's commissions, exhibitions, friendships, and interests. Also found are records relating to the compilation and production of The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné by Alan G. Wilkinson. The Bruce Bassett papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz consist mainly of Bassett's extensive audiovisual documentation of Lipchitz's life and art. Also found are paper records related to the audiovisual projects, including letters, business records, printed materials, and production records. A small quantity of material unrelated to Lipchitz is also found among the Bassett material, including video and sound recordings related to Sidney Lifchez, IBM, Isamu Noguchi, the Storm King Sculpture Center, and Auguste Rodin.

The Jacques Lipchitz biographical material includes an address book, biographical notes, membership cards, rent receipts and a lease, and a survey of Lipchitz's property in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

Correspondence is both professional and personal in nature. Approximately 20 percent is in foreign languages. French predominates, followed by Russian; German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Latvian, Hebrew, and Yiddish are also represented.

Professional correspondence documents business transactions with architects, potential clients, museum officials, art dealers, and others concerning commissions, exhibition plans, loans of artwork, jury service, etc. Art groups, Jewish organizations and charities wrote to solicit donations of artwork for fundraising events and issued invitations to speak or be a guest of honor. Scholars contacted Lipchitz about their research and requested information about specific works by him, items in his collection, and his opinions on a variety of subjects. Also found are fan letters from aspiring artists seeking advice, and from the general public asking for the opportunity to meet Lipchitz and visit his studio. After the 1952 studio fire, many friends and strangers sent letters of condolence and encouragement.

Correspondence with wife Yulla, nephew Gyorgy Hay, and close friends recounts personal and family news, activities, and sometimes touches on future plans. Among these correspondents are: Jenny Courtois, Varian and Annette Fry, Leo Gaspard, R. Sturgis Ingersoll, Gregorio Landau, Juan and Marianne Larrea, Camille Soula, and Joel and Celeste Starrels.

Eleven small pocket diaries, 1940-1965, contain brief, often sporadic entries noting appointments, events, addresses and phone numbers, notes of expenses, and include some sketches. Among the other writings by Lipchitz are: a notebook containing random notes on sculpture; a list of sculptures destroyed in the 1952 studio fire; short pieces and fragments of writings about sculptors Mary Frank, Natan Rapoport, Auguste Rodin, and William Zorach; a memoir of Amedeo Modigliani; and articles and reflections on contemporary art and the church.

Catalogue raisonné records concern the compilation and production of The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné by Alan G. Wilkinson, sponsored by Marlborough Gallery, Inc.

Among the financial records are statements of the sculptor's accounts with Buchholz Gallery and Curt Valentin Gallery, and receipts for Lipchitz Collection purchases. Also found are insurance and tax records, as well as receipts for routine professional expenses and miscellaneous personal expenses.

Artwork consists of a few rough sketches by Lipchitz and several geometric designs by an unidentified artist. Two scrapbooks, 1945-1946, consist of newspaper clippings and a few items from other periodicals that mention Lipchitz or contain reproductions of his work. Volume 2 includes typescripts of an interview and remarks delivered by Lipchitz, both very brief.

Printed material consists of exhibition catalogs and announcements, articles, press releases, books, programs, and reproductions concerning Lipchitz's exhibitions, sculpture, commissions, and events honoring him. Of particular interest are architectural prints showing sites and project details of several commissions. Also found are a variety of printed items about general art topics.

Photographs document people, artwork, project sites and models, exhibition installations, events, and places. People include Jacques Lipchitz, family members, and other individuals. Artwork represented is by Lipchitz and other artists. Views of Lipchitz exhibition installations mainly document solo shows. Photographs of events record a variety of occasions, among them: the opening of Lipchitz's studio in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; a dedication ceremony for Philip Johnson's Roofless Church in New Harmony, IN, with ornamental gates and a sculpture by Lipchitz; and Lipchitz addressing an anatomy class at Albert Einstein Medical College. Among the pictures of places are Lipchitz's studios in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, and Pietrasanta, Italy, and a view of Picasso's Paris studio.

The Bruce Bassett papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz contain mostly audiovisual materials from sound and film documentation projects conducted by Bassett with Lipchitz. Found are original sound recordings and photographs from Deborah Stott's 200 hour oral history with Jacques Lipchitz, as well as detailed, typewritten summaries of its content. Records from Bassett's film projects about Lipchitz include original film and sound recordings from Bassett's 40 hours of interviews with Lipchitz from 1971, and film documentation of the posthumous installations of Lipchitz's large-scale sculptures in Philadelphia, New York, and Israel in the late 1970s. In addition to the raw footage from these projects, which is incomplete, the collection contains workprint and final, edited works Bassett created in multiple versions and formats, and paper records documenting the film projects' creation, production, and later use.

Among the papers related to the film projects are scripts, an index to original footage, programming notes, film lab records, exhibition materials, an extensive collection of questions about Lipchitz gathered from the public for the interactive project, and other production records. Other papers include letters from Lipchitz and his wife, business correspondence, financial records, contracts, project files, and printed materials. Other projects by Bassett, unrelated to Lipchitz, are documented in video and sound recordings related to Sidney Lifchez, IBM, Isamu Noguchi, the Storm King Sculpture Center, and Auguste Rodin.

Arrangement note:

The collection is arranged as 2 series:

Series 1: Jacques Lipchitz papers, circa 1910-1999, bulk 1941-1999 (Boxes 1-10, OV 11-12; 9.5 linear feet)

Series 2: Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz, 1961-2001 (Boxes 13-67, OV 68-69; 43.3 linear feet)

Biographical/Historical note:

Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973), an internationally known and influential Cubist sculptor, studied in Paris and established his career there. He fled Paris just before the German occupation, arrived in New York City in 1941, and eventually settled in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

Chaim Jacob Lipchitz was born in Druskieniki, Lithuania, then part of the Russian empire. His father, a building contractor from a well-to-do Jewish banking family, expected his son to study engineering as preparation for joining the business. Lipchitz, however, aspired to become a sculptor. With financial help from his mother, and determined to pursue his dream, he left for Paris after graduating from high school in 1909. Once there, Chaim Jacob soon became Jacques, the name he used throughout his life.

He first enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts as a "free pupil." After his father agreed to provide an allowance, Lipchitz transferred to the Académie Julian to study with sculptor Raoul Verlet. He also attended evening drawing classes at the Académie Colarossi. By 1911 he was working in his own studio. Two years later, Lipchitz's entry in the Salon d'Automne received favorable recognition.

In Paris, his circle of friends and acquaintances grew to include Dr. Albert C. Barnes, Constantin Brancusi, Coco Chanel, Jean Cocteau, André Derain, Ernest Hemingway, Max Jacob, Charles-Édouard Jenneret (Le Corbusier), James Joyce, Fernand Léger, André Lhote, Jean Metzinger, Amédée Ozenfant, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Chaim Soutine, Gertrude Stein, and Virgil Tompson. Juan Gris and Amedeo Modigliani were his closest friends.

Lipchitz's earliest work was traditional. Exposure to Picasso and other avant-garde artists influenced his style, and by 1915 he was producing purely Cubist sculptures. In 1916, dealer Léonce Rosenberg offered Lipchitz a contract with a monthly stipend. Able to afford assistants, Lipchitz began much larger projects. Over time, as he came to feel that angular forms were devoid of humanity, his style gradually changed. In the 1920s, he began experimenting with "transparencies" - delicate abstract forms with large open spaces for which he developed casting techniques that influenced sculpture for a generation. In the 1950s, he began creating "semi-automatics." These were cast in bronze from forms made by submerging hot wax in water, which sometimes incorporated found objects. Much of Lipchitz's later work was massive, dynamic, and incorporated more naturalistic forms.

In the early 1920s, Lipchitz received multiple commissions from Coco Chanel and Dr. Albert C. Barnes. He became a French citizen in 1924, the year he married poet Berthe Kitrosser, with whom he had lived since 1915. (Their double portrait by Modigliani that Lipchitz commissioned in 1916, now titled The Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and His Wife Berthe Lipchitz, is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago). The following year they moved to a suburban home and studio designed by Le Corbusier.

Léonce Rosenberg's Galerie de l'Effort Moderne presented Lipchitz's first solo exhibition in 1930, and the first important Lipchitz exhibition in the United States was held in 1935 at Brummer Gallery, New York. As the sculptor's reputation grew throughout the 1930s, his work was very much in demand.

As World War II approached, Lipchitz sensed the impending horror of the Nazi regime but was extremely reluctant to leave Paris. With time running out, he finally was persuaded that it was too dangerous to stay. Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz departed for the free zone of Toulouse, and with help from American friends sought asylum in the United States. In June of 1941, they arrived in New York City with some clothing, a portfolio of drawings, and very little money.

Lipchitz, a mature artist with an international reputation, soon attracted invitations to teach. Although finances were tight, the offers were rejected because he understood that any commitment would impede his artistic output. In search of a gallery, he contacted Brummer Gallery, the site of his first American show six years earlier. Although Joseph Brummer had shifted his focus to antiques, he provided an introduction to art dealer Curt Valentin of Buchholz Gallery (later Curt Valentin Gallery), who was sincerely interested in modern sculpture. Valentin went on to represent Lipchitz for well over a decade. Curt Valentin Gallery closed in 1955, a year after the owner's death. Lipchitz then became affiliated with Fine Arts Associates and its many successors (Otto Gerson Gallery, Inc., and Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc.), which represented him for the remainder of his life. Marlborough Gallery, Inc. handled Lipchitz's estate.

Berthe longed to go home after the war, and in 1946 the couple returned to France. But because he and France had changed, Lipchitz soon realized that his future lay in America. He returned to New York after seven months; Berthe remained, and a divorce soon followed.

Within the year, Jacques Lipchitz married Yulla Halberstadt, a fellow refugee who was also a sculptor. Their only child, Loyla Rachel, was born in 1948. The family moved to Hastings-on-Hudson, NY in 1949, and he continued to work at his studio on East 23rd Street in New York City. After a major studio fire in early 1952 destroyed commissions in progress and many other pieces, the sculptor set up a temporary work space at Modern Art Foundry, Long Island City, NY. Several museums, collectors, and friends, quickly raised funds for a new studio, which became a loan at Lipchitz's insistence. A new studio designed by Milton Lowenfish and located within walking distance of Lipchitz's Hastings-on-Hudson home opened in 1953.

During the course of his career, Lipchitz was honored with a large number of solo and retrospective exhibitions at major museums and galleries in Europe, North and South America, and Israel. His work is represented in the permanent collections of world renowned museums and is owned by a wide range of private collectors and institutions.

Lipchitz was an avid art collector. An exhibition of Scythian art at the Hermitage Museum, seen while on a brief trip home in 1912, greatly impressed and inspired him. The result was an intense interest in non-European art, especially African art. He began to collect appealing objects from other cultures, and soon developed a life-long habit of visiting flea markets, antique shops, and galleries on a regular basis in search of items for his growing collection. In addition to ethnographic and ancient art, Lipchitz also bought old masters and 19th century art, and developed a special interest in Géricault. The original collection was abandoned when he left Paris; once settled in the United States, he resumed collecting. A substantial portion of the Lipchitz Collection, with an accompanying scholarly catalogue, was exhibited in 1960 at The Museum of Primitive Art, New York City.

Lipchitz's family was observant and he attended Jewish schools that stressed religious education, but he showed little interest in his faith during his early adult life. However, the establishment of Israel affected him profoundly and, over time, religious themes emerged in Lipchitz's work. He began making arrangements for gifts of sculpture to the Bezalel National Museum and the Israel Museum, developed a friendship with Jerusalem's outspoken Zionist mayor, Theodore Kollek, and in 1963 made his first of many visits to Israel.

He was a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and received awards for artistic achievement from the American Institute of Architects, Boston University, and Brandeis University. The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, presented him an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree.

Jacques Lipchitz died in Capri, Italy, May 16, 1973, and is buried in Israel. At his death, several large-scale sculpture commissions were left unfinished, and his wife Yulla took over the projects and saw that the installations were accomplished as planned. These posthumous installations include Government for the People, installed in Philadelphia in 1976, Bellerophon Taming Pegasus, installed at the Columbia University School of Law in New York City in 1977, and Our Tree of Life, installed in Jersusalem in 1978.

Bruce Bassett (1925-2009), a television and film producer, worked for NBC in New York for over 20 years. Bassett met the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) when they were both living in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. In 1968, Bassett initiated an extensive oral history project when he realized that Lipchitz, as an English speaker and participant in the birth of modernism in Europe, was the only living artist who could provide an oral record of the beginnings of modern art for an English audience.

From 1968, until his death in 2009, Bassett carried out extensive documentation projects regarding Lipchitz, often in his spare time, under the auspices of two organizations he founded: the Jacques Lipchitz Art Foundation (1968-1975) and Histor Systems (circa 1991-2001). In 1968 Bassett raised funds to enable Deborah Stott to travel to Italy and conduct roughly 200 hours of audio interview with Lipchitz, interviews which cover not only his own history, but also include a complete record of the origins of his extensive collection of primitive art, numbering almost 3000 objects at the time. Bassett himself traveled to Italy and filmed nearly 40 hours of additional interviews with Lipchitz in 1971.

Drawing from these filmed interviews, Bassett created a pioneering interactive program which allowed museum-goers to pose questions to Lipchitz and moments later receive answers in the form of video segments of Lipchitz speaking. He used the same footage to write, produce, and direct a one hour documentary, "Portrait of an Artist: Jacques Lipchitz." Both projects were originally presented to the public in tandem with a retrospective exhibition of Lipchitz's sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1972, and were later revised and updated several times for subsequent distribution and presentation. The last presentation of the interactive project documented in Bassett's papers was held at the Krannert Art Museum of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2001. The interactive project is now online at the Israel Museum website entitled "Ask Jacques Lipchitz a Question," a project Bassett had been working on with Hanno Mott at his death. Bassett had visited the Museum several years earlier to demonstrate the video.

Bassett died in 2009 in New York, NY.

Related Archival Materials note:

Interviews with Lipchitz are represented among the following Archives of American Art collections: Brooklyn Museum interviews of artists; KPFK "Art Scene," interviews by Marian L. Gore; Interviews of artists by Brian O'Doherty; and Interviews relating to American Abstract Artists by Ruth Bowman.

The Tate Archive houses the Jacques Lipchitz collection presented by Rubin Lipchitz, with materials dating from the 1910s-1970s and measuring 9.8 linear feet.

The Israel Museum hosts a website entitled "Ask Jacques Lipchitz a Question," which presents Bruce Bassett's entire interactive project of Lipchitz, described here in series 2.5.2, as a web-accessible video project.

Provenance:

Donated in 2010 by Hanno D. Mott, step-son of Jacques Lipchitz, and also on behalf of Loyla R. Lipchitz and Frank L. Mott.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual materials with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

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:

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Genre/Form:

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Designs

Citation:

Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz, circa 1910-2001, bulk 1941-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by The Jacques and Yulla Lipchitz Foundation, Inc.

Identifier:

AAA.lipcjacq2

See more items in:

Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-lipcjacq2

Creator:

Meiere, M. Hildreth, d. 1961  Search this

Names:

Exposition internationale (1937 : Paris, France)  Search this

New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Peter A. Juley & Son  Search this

United States. Navy  Search this

Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991  Search this

Dunn, Louise Meière  Search this

Extent:

27.3 Linear feet

0.068 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Slides (photographs)

Transcripts

Video recordings

Photographs

Poetry

Diaries

Sketchbooks

Place:

Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939

Date:

1901-2011

bulk 1911-1960

Summary:

The papers of Hildreth Meière measure 27.3 linear feet and 0.068 GB and date from 1901 to 2011, with the bulk of material dating from 1911 to 1960. The collection documents Meière's life and travels, and her long and prolific career as an architectural muralist through biographical material, correspondence, writings, thirteen diaries, files regarding her war relief work during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, printed and digital materials, extensive photographs and slides, eight sketchbooks, and two videocassettes and 93 reels of motion picture film documenting her travels, her volunteer efforts in Spain following the civil war, artwork, and home movies.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Hildreth Meière measure 27.3 linear feet and 0.068 GB and date from 1901 to 2011, with the bulk of material dating from 1911 to 1960. The collection documents Meière's life and travels, and her long and prolific career as an architectural muralist through biographical material, correspondence, writings, thirteen diaries, files regarding her war relief work during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, printed and digital materials, extensive photographs and slides, eight sketchbooks, and two videocassettes and 93 reels of motion picture film documenting her travels, her volunteer efforts in Spain following the civil war, artwork, and home movies.

Biographical material includes an autobiographical narrative written by Meière, her many awards and certificates, membership information, passports, her U.S. Navy service records from World War I, documentation of her brief marriage and family genealogy, obituaries, and memorial service documentation. Also found are extensive writings and research conducted by Meière's daughter, Louise Meière Dunn, which include a complete list of Meière's commissions, detailed biographical narratives, and records of Meière's works held elsewhere.

The papers contain Meière's personal and family correspondence, travel correspondence, and business correspondence regarding professional activities. Much of the correspondence with family and friends was written during Meière's extensive travels over the world. Both family and travel correspondence have extensive indexes, summaries, and in some cases, transcripts prepared by Meière's daughter, Louise Meière Dunn. Some of the indexes, summaries and transcripts are digital. Writings include poetry and diaries kept during childhood and school years, travel diaries, essays and talks written about Meière's work, writings Meière prepared for committees of the National Mural Painters Association, and detailed travelogues of her trips to Constantinople and the Balkans in 1933, to Russia in 1936, her "Grand Tour" to Australia, Southeast Asia, India, Africa, and Europe in 1952-1953, and her "Holy Land" tour of the Middle East in 1954.

Civilian War Service Records document Meière's efforts at war relief organization during and after the Spanish Civil War and during World War II. The Spanish Civil War files include extensive photographs provided by the Spanish government as well as three motion picture films documenting refugees and damaged architecture and public artwork shot by Meière during a trip sponsored by Franco's government. World War II activities concern Meière's efforts to organize artists in the United States to design and execute murals and other works of public art at military facilities around the U.S.

Travel records include maps, ephemera, slides, and 83 motion picture films taken on trips abroad between 1933 and 1958. Trips include Eastern and Western Europe, the Mediterranean Region and the Middle East, South America, Mexico and Guatemala, India, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, and the UK. The motion picture films are mostly shot in Kodachrome color and many contain intertitles prepared by Meière to identify locations for travel lectures.

Printed materials consist primarily of clippings and publications that reference Meière's work, contain profiles of her, or contain published writings by her. A single published educational film is also found, given to her by an Australian filmmaker friend. Additional photographs, digital photographs and moving images include personal photographs of Meière, with portraits by Peter A. Juley and Sons and Berenice Abbott, photographs of many of her commissioned works, and a few photographs of artwork by others. Home movies show Meière with friends in 1926 and 1940. Among the photographic documentation of artworks by Meière and others are motion picture films of the 1939 New York World's Fair, the D.C. Municipal Building Frieze, and the 1937 Paris Fair; also found are 311 lantern slides and 201 glass copy negatives of her own completed works as well as murals she documented while traveling, notably murals in Norway and Oberammergau, Bavaria, taken in the 1930s.

Eight sketchbooks date to her early years as an art student and artist and include many figure studies, landscapes, and theatrical sketches made at home and abroad.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in 8 series. Indexes, summaries, and transcripts prepared by Louise Meière Dunn that relate directly to archival materials in the collection are found throughout the collection with the material they describe. These indices are particularly rich in Series 2, Correspondence.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1915-2003 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 14, OV18)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1901-2011 (3 linear feet; Boxes 1-4, RD19, 0.038 GB; ER01-ER03)

Series 3: Writings, 1904-1960 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 4-5)

Series 4: Civilian War Service Records, 1938-2006 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 5-6, 15, FC 28-30)

Series 5: Travel Records, 1933-1958 (12.8 linear feet; Boxes 6-10, 15, OV18, FC 31-111)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1913-1998 (2.1 linear feet; Boxes 10-12, 15, FC 112)

Series 7: Photographs and Moving Images, 1915-1966 (5.8 linear feet; Boxes 12-13, 16, 20-27, FC 17, 113-127, 0.029 GB; ER04)

Series 8: Sketchbooks, 1911-1922 (0.4 linear feet; Box 13)

Biographical / Historical:

Hildreth Meière (1892-1961) was born in Flushing, New York, and had a prolific career from 1921-1961 as an architectural muralist working primarily in an Art Deco style. Meière painted murals and designed for various mediums including mosaic, metal, and stained glass. In 1956 the American Institute of Architects awarded Meière their Fine Arts Medal.

Meière was educated at New York's Convent of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville, the Art Students League in New York, the California School of Fine Arts (now San Francisco Art Institute), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in addition to pursuing studies in Italy. Her major commissions include the Nebraska State Capitol at Lincoln, the National Academy of Sciences, the Resurrection Chapel of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In New York, she designed the Art Deco plaques on the exterior wall of Radio City Music Hall; created mosaic interiors for the Irving Trust Building at 1 Wall Street; and provided ecclesiastical decorations for St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, Temple Emanu-El, and elsewhere. She also created murals for the Chicago 1933 Century of Progress Fair, and the 1939 New York World's Fair.

She was also an active officer in the Art Students League and the National Society of Mural Painters. Some of her most inspired collaborations were with the architect Bertram Goodhue in the 1920s, and only his sudden death in 1924 put an end to them, although some projects were finished with the successor firm.

Meière died in 1961 at the age of 68. Her work is remembered in several major publications, including The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière by Catherine Coleman Brawer and Kathleen Murphy Skolnik, with photographs by Meière's granddaughter, Hildreth Meière Dunn, published in 2014; and the catalog of the 2009 exhibition at St. Bonaventure University, curated by Brawer and photographed by Dunn, entitled Walls Speak: the Narrative Art of Hildreth Meière.

Provenance:

A majority of the collection placed on deposit 2001 by Louise Meière Dunn, daughter of Hildreth Meière. The collection was donated incrementally by Dunn through 2012. Donations occurred 2001-2007, and again in 2010-2012.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires and 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.

Topic:

War relief  Search this

Travel  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

World War, 1939-1945  Search this

World War I, 1914-1918  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Mosaicists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art commissions  Search this

Motion pictures (visual works)  Search this

Genre/Form:

Slides (photographs)

Transcripts

Video recordings

Photographs

Poetry

Diaries

Sketchbooks

Citation:

Hildreth Meière papers, 1901-2011, bulk 1911-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the digitization of 84 reels of motion picture film in the collection was provided by The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University through a generous grant from the Ruth Dayton Foundation. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.meiemari

See more items in:

Hildreth Meière papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-meiemari

Creator:

Grant, Dwinell, 1912-1991  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Video recordings

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9761

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212156

AAA_collcode_grandwin

Theme:

Lives of American Artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_212156

Artist:

Andy Warhol, 6 Aug 1928 - 22 Feb 1987  Search this

Sitter:

Andy Warhol, 6 Aug 1928 - 22 Feb 1987  Search this

Medium:

Offset lithograph on silver-coated posterboard

Dimensions:

Sheet: 58 x 57.7cm (22 13/16 x 22 11/16")

Mat: 86.4 x 86.4cm (34 x 34")

Type:

Print

Date:

1966

Topic:

Poster  Search this

Self-portrait  Search this

Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist  Search this

Andy Warhol: Male  Search this

Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist\Printmaker  Search this

Andy Warhol: Communications\Publisher\Magazine  Search this

Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter  Search this

Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist\Illustrator  Search this

Andy Warhol: Performing Arts\Filmmaker  Search this

Portrait  Search this

Credit Line:

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; the Ruth Bowman and Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Collection

Object number:

NPG.2002.357

Restrictions & Rights:

Usage conditions apply

Copyright:

© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society

(ARS), New York

See more items in:

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4c9e45082-1541-4d77-9eaf-4fc2b21d3a98

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:npg_NPG.2002.357

Interviewee:

West, Clifford B.  Search this

Interviewer:

Barrie, Dennis  Search this

Extent:

69 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1975 February 26-28

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Clifford West conducted 1975 February 26-28, by Dennis Barrie, for the Archives of American Art.

Biographical / Historical:

Clifford West (1916-2006) was a painter and filmmaker from Cleveland, Ohio and Italy.

General:

Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 55 min.

Interview was previously identified as conducted in 1977. 1975 date was confirmed by listening to the audio.

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.

Occupation:

Painters -- Ohio -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Filmmakers -- Ohio -- Interviews  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

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.

Identifier:

AAA.west75

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-west75

Interviewee:

Honda, Margaret  Search this

Interviewer:

Proctor, Jacob  Search this

Names:

Pandemic Oral History Project  Search this

Extent:

1 Item ((25 min.), digital, mp4)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Video recordings

Date:

2020 August 17

Scope and Contents:

An interview with Margaret Honda conducted 2020 August 17, by Jacob Proctor, for the Archives of American Art's Pandemic Oral History Project, at Honda's home in Los Angeles, California.­

Biographical / Historical:

Margaret Honda (1961- ) is an Asian American experimental filmmaker in Los Angeles, California.

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:

This interview is open for research.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the audio is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the audio recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Filmmakers -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Topic:

Pandemics  Search this

COVID-19 (Disease)  Search this

Asian American artists  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Mutual aid  Search this

COVID-19 (Disease) and the arts  Search this

COVID-19 (Disease) -- Social aspects  Search this

Asian American women  Search this

Asian American women artists  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Video recordings

Identifier:

AAA.honda20

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-honda20

Interviewee:

Honda, Margaret, 1961-  Search this

Interviewer:

Proctor, Jacob, 1975-  Search this

Subject:

Pandemic Oral History Project  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Video recordings

Topic:

Pandemics  Search this

COVID-19 (Disease)  Search this

Asian American artists  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Mutual aid  Search this

COVID-19 (Disease) and the arts  Search this

COVID-19 (Disease) -- Social aspects  Search this

Asian American women  Search this

Asian American women artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)22000

AAA_collcode_honda20

Theme:

Asian American

Women

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_22000

Creator:

Tartan, James, 1931-  Search this

Subject:

Craft and Folk Art Museum  Search this

Type:

Transcripts

Sound recordings

Motion pictures (visual works)

Topic:

Hispanic American artists  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Street art  Search this

Mexican American art -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Mexican American artists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13501

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211809

AAA_collcode_tartjame

Theme:

Communities, Organizations, Museums

Latino and Latin American

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211809

Creator:

Muller, Kalman Photographer and filmmaker (1939- )  Search this

Physical description:

reference 1 film reel (1,195 feet) sound color 16mm

archival original 1 film reel (1,195 feet) sound color 16mm

Culture:

Melanesians  Search this

Tanna (Vanuatuan people)  Search this

Type:

Motion pictures (visual works)

Place:

Oceania

Melanesia

New Hebrides

Vanuatu

Tanna Island

Yoohnanan village

Date:

1973-1974

Topic:

Language and culture  Search this

Ceremony--dance  Search this

Dancing--as part of revitalization activities  Search this

Garb--ceremonial--vegetal decorations  Search this

Modesty--attitudes toward  Search this

Drama--in ritual dance skits  Search this

Taboos--around ceremonial ground  Search this

Eating--yams--taro  Search this

Aggression--children  Search this

Grooming--children--delousing  Search this

Oratory--stylistics  Search this

Exchanges--of kava roots--as part of ritual relations  Search this

Kava--preparation as an intoxicating beverage  Search this

Drinking--kava  Search this

Acculturation--attitudes toward expressed in ritual  Search this

Ritual objects--dance staffs  Search this

Millenarian movements--cargo cults  Search this

Revitalization--attitudes toward acculturation  Search this

Local number:

HSFA 1975.1.2 - 1

Restrictions & Rights:

Information on reproduction and fees available from Human Studies Film Archives OK:1

See more items in:

New Hebrides Film Project: Tanna Island 1973 and 1974 [Muller, Kalman Photographer and filmmaker (1939- )]

Data Source:

Human Studies Film Archives

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_arc_218407

Creator:

Tartan, James, 1931-  Search this

Names:

Craft and Folk Art Museum  Search this

Extent:

5.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Transcripts

Sound recordings

Motion pictures (visual works)

Date:

1981

Summary:

The Murals of Aztlán Film Production Records measures 5.1 linear feet and consists of film footage, sound recordings, and notes from the documentary produced by James Tartan during the exhibition Murals of Aztlán: the Street Painters of East Los Angeles at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles in 1981. Film and sound elements in the collection include original sound recordings, work print, outtakes, and trims. Also found are production notes, museum memorandums concerning the exhibition schedule, and a transcript of a recorded conversation among muralists.

Scope and Contents:

The Murals of Aztlán Film Production Records measures 5.1 linear feet and consists of film footage, sound recordings, and notes from the documentary produced by James Tartan during the exhibition Murals of Aztlán: the Street Painters of East Los Angeles at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles in 1981. Film and sound elements in the collection include original sound recordings, work print, outtakes, and trims. Also found are production notes, museum memorandums concerning the exhibition schedule, and a transcript of a recorded conversation among muralists.

Arrangement:

Collection arranged as 5 series.

Series 1: Exhibition and Production Notes, 1981 (8 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Work Print and Soundtrack, 1981 (2.6 linear feet; Box 3, FC 1-30)

Series 3: Sound Recordings, 1981 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1-2)

Series 4: Voiceover Outtakes, 1981 (0.9 linear feet; FC 31-39)

Series 5: Trims and Outtakes, 1981 (0.9 linear feet; FC 40-48)

Biographical / Historical:

Murals of Aztlán is a documentary film produced by actor and filmmaker James Tartan during the exhibition Murals of Aztlán: the Street Painters of East Los Angeles held at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, California in 1981. For the exhibition, artists Carlos Almaraz, Gronk, Judithe Hernandez, Willie Herron, Frank Romero, John Valadez and the East Los Streetscrapers (David Botello, Wayne Healy, George Yepes) painted portable murals in the gallery, which was open to the public during the installation of the work. The filmmaker and his crew interviewed the artists involved in the exhibition for the film, filmed the artists creating murals in the gallery, and also filmed the public viewing the artists working and the murals themselves.

James Tartan was born in 1931 and worked as a filmmaker, actor, and voiceover artist. In addition to Murals of Aztlán, Tartan created a documentary film about the 1974 Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition Los Four, and has been credited with training many Chicano filmmakers in the 1970s.

Separated Materials:

Additional production material from the documentary Murals of Aztlán, including a final print, is found in the James Tartan Film Collection, 1960-1985, held at the UCLA Chicano Research Center.

Provenance:

Donated by James Tartan, the filmmaker, in 1988.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. 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.

Occupation:

Muralists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Hispanic American artists  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Street art  Search this

Mexican American art -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Mexican American artists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews  Search this

Genre/Form:

Transcripts

Sound recordings

Motion pictures (visual works)

Citation:

Murals of Aztlán film production records, 1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.tartjame

See more items in:

Murals of Aztlán Film Production Records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-tartjame

Collection Creator:

National Endowment for the Arts. Visual Arts Program  Search this

Container:

Box 13, Folder 17-19

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1972-1975

Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. 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:

National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Program selected records, 1970-1980. 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.

See more items in:

National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Program selected records

National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Program selected records / Series 1: Art Organization Files

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-natiendo-ref279

Collection Creator:

National Endowment for the Arts. Visual Arts Program  Search this

Container:

Box 17, Folder 17

Type:

Archival materials

Slides [31027000528469]

Date:

circa 1970-1980

Scope and Contents:

Visual Studies Workshop, Women/Artists/Filmmakers

Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. 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:

National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Program selected records, 1970-1980. 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.

See more items in:

National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Program selected records

National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Program selected records / Series 2: Slides

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-natiendo-ref315

Creator:

Namuth, Hans  Search this

Names:

Exposition universelle et internationale (1958 : Brussels, Belgium)  Search this

Jewish Museum (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts  Search this

Yale University. School of Art and Architecture  Search this

Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984  Search this

Boynton, Jack, 1928-2010  Search this

Breuer, Marcel, 1902-  Search this

Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976 -- Photographs  Search this

Castelli, Leo  Search this

Copland, Aaron, 1900-1990  Search this

Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster), 1895-  Search this

Hartigan, Grace  Search this

Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this

Johns, Jasper, 1930- -- Photographs  Search this

Karpel, Bernard, 1911-1986  Search this

Koch, Kenneth, 1925-  Search this

Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984 -- Photographs  Search this

Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969  Search this

Navaretta, Cynthia  Search this

Newman, Arnold, 1918-2006  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988 -- Photographs  Search this

Norman, Dorothy, 1905-1997  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956 -- Photographs  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008 -- Photographs  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970 -- Photographs  Search this

Shaw, Elizabeth Roberts, 1921-  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Wyeth, Andrew, 1917-2009 -- Photographs  Search this

Extent:

4.5 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Photographs

Transcripts

Place:

Massachusetts -- Boston

Date:

1945-1985

Summary:

The papers of New York photographer and filmmaker Hans Namuth measure 4.5 linear feet and date from 1945 to 1985. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs taken by Namuth of New York artists. Also included are papers regarding Namuth's film about Alfred Stieglitz and other professional files.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of New York photographer and filmmaker Hans Namuth measure 4.5 linear feet and date from 1945 to 1985. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs taken by Namuth of New York artists. Also included are papers regarding Namuth's film about Alfred Stieglitz and other professional files.

The first series contains materials related to the planning and production of Namuth's film Alfred Stieglitz, Photographer. Documentation includes articles, correspondence, exhibition materials, grant program request sheets, magazines and catalogs, photo requests, photographs and photographic materials, notes and research, shot lists, script drafts and fragments, interview transcripts, and correspondence. Interviewees include Ansel Adams, Arnold Newman, Aaron Copland, Dorothy Norman, and others.

The second series contains various writings and papers relating to Namuth's professional activities, including Namuth's exhibition at the 1958 Brussels World Fair, business and financial records, papers on The Construction of Boston by Kennth Koch, correspondence, a notebook, and various printed materials. Namuth's correspondence is with James Boynton, Bernard Karpel, the Museum of Modern Art, Cynthia Navaretta, Elizabeth Shaw, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Yale University School of Art and Architecture.

Photographs taken by Hans Namuth depict prominent American (primarily New York-based) artists, architects, writers, musicians, and art critics. Artists are shown in their studios or homes, either at work or posing for the camera, and include Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Lee Krasner, Isamu Noguchi, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, and Andrew Wyeth, among many others. Photographs of other individuals include Marcel Breuer, John Cage, Leo Castelli, Buckminster Fuller, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and others. Also found are photographs of exhibitions, openings, and art-related events from the 1950s and 1960s, such as a traveling Picasso exhibit and a Robert Rauschenberg opening at the Jewish Museum. Most photographs are black and white, but a few color prints are included.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged as 3 series.

Series 1: Alfred Stieglitz Film Project, 1945-circa 1981 (Box 1, OV 11; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 2: Professional Files, 1953-1985 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 3: Photographs, 1945-1984 (Box 2-10; 3.4 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Hans Namuth (1915-1990) was a German-American photographer and filmmaker who lived and worked in New York. He was primarily known for his work photographing prominent American artists in the 1950s and 1960s.

Namuth was born in Germany but left for France in 1933 after the rise of the Nazi Party. While in France, he struck up a friendship with fellow German Georg Reisner. From 1935 to 1939, Namuth and Reisner worked together as photographers primarily in Paris. His first works to catch the public's attention came from an assignment in Barcelona that accidentally coincided with the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Following a short internment in Nazi-occupied France, Namuth left for the United States.

After taking photography classes with Alexey Brodovitch, art director of Harper's Bazaar, Namuth met Jackson Pollock at an exhibition in 1950 and asked to photograph the artist at work. His subsequent photographs of Pollock raised both artists' profiles. Namuth would spend the next three decades photographing major New York artists, architects, and art-related events for commission and for his own studio. He directed a number of films in collaboration with Paul Falkenberg and published several books of photographs. Namuth died in Long Island in 1990.

Related Materials:

Also at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Hans Namuth, Aug. 12-Sept. 8, 1971. Additional Hans Namuth papers are located at the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona.

Provenance:

The collection was donated 1972-1985 by Hans Namuth.

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:

All Photographs by Hans Namuth: All requests for image reproductions are to be sent to: Assistant Registrar for Rights & Reproductions; Center for Creative Photography. 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.

Occupation:

Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Musicians -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Filmmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Photographs

Transcripts

Citation:

Hans Namuth photographs and papers, 1945-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.namuhans

See more items in:

Hans Namuth photographs and papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-namuhans

Creator:

DeMott, Helen, 1920-1997  Search this

Names:

Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) -- Photographs  Search this

Bland, Celia  Search this

Burkhardt, Rudy  Search this

Chester, Alfred, 1928-1971  Search this

Eastman, Max, 1883-1969  Search this

Finkelstein, Miriam  Search this

Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this

Ponsot, Marie  Search this

Rolick, Esther G., 1922-  Search this

Schloss, Edith, 1919-  Search this

Wright, Clifford, 1919-  Search this

Extent:

7.9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Notes

Sketches

Photographs

Poems

Sound recordings

Watercolors

Video recordings

Scrapbooks

Manuscripts

Drawings

Travel diaries

Date:

1896-1997

Summary:

The papers of painter Helen DeMott measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1896-1997. DeMott's painting career from 1940-1996 is documented through her numerous sketchbooks and original artwork. Also found is biographical material, correspondence, writings and poems, scrapbooks, printed material, photographic material, audio and video recordings, and scattered material from collagist Ray Johnson.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of painter Helen DeMott measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1896-1997. DeMott's painting career from 1940-1996 is documented through her numerous sketchbooks and original artwork. Also found is biographical material, correspondence, writings and poems, scrapbooks, printed material, photographic material, audio and video recordings, and scattered material from collagist Ray Johnson.

The scattered biographical material contains official documents, DeMott's resume, circulars and receipts from the Art School of the National Academy of Design, and two obituaries. Correspondence includes letters from publishers regarding DeMott's book proposal "Geography into Landscape," correspondence with universities and scientific institutions regarding her Wave series, and personal correspondence including letters from photographer, filmmaker, and painter Rudy Burckhardt, writer Alfred Chester, painter Clifford Wright, and collagist Edith Schloss.

The bulk of the writings is DeMott's poetry, as well as some artist's statements, loose notes, a speech, travel diaries, and handwritten, typed, and edited manuscripts, including a typed manuscript of "Geography into Landscape." Writings by others include poetry by Celia Bland, Miriam Finkelstein, and Marie Ponsot. Scrapbooks document DeMott's research and artwork related to waves and includes clippings, photographs of artwork, sketches and notations, and typed notes on painting waves. Printed material includes magazine and newspaper articles about Helen DeMott and various other artists, and many articles related to water waves.

Photographic material includes black and white photographs of DeMott's artwork and personal photographs. Of interest is a 1943 photograph of a group at the Art Students League which includes Ester Rolick, Edith Schloss, Max Eastman, and Helen DeMott. Also found are slides and transparencies of artwork and slides for lectures on waves. Audiovisual Recordings include one reel-to-reel tape and five videotapes, some related to DeMott's study of waves.

There is one folder of material from collagist Ray Johnson containing scattered letters and mail art, exhibition fliers, and collages. Measuring 4.2 linear feet, the bulk of DeMott's papers are sketchbooks and original artwork spanning her artistic career. There are numerous loose sketches, notes, sketchbooks, holiday cards, watercolors, and oversized drawings in pencil, ink, and oil pastels, much of which is related to waves. Original artwork by others includes Esther Rolick and Edith Schloss.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1911-1997 (Boxes 1, 9; 7 folders)

Series 2: Letters and Correspondence, 1896, 1930-1995 (Boxes 1-2; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, 1950-circa 1996 (Boxes 2-3; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 4: Scrapbooks, 1967-1989 (Box 3; 2 folders)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1961-1996 (Boxes 3, 9; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1920s-1996 (Boxes 3-4, 9; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 7: Audiovisual Recordings, 1975, 1978, undated (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 8: Ray Johnson, 1947, 1963, undated (Box 4; 1 folder)

Series 9: Artwork, 1941-1996 (Boxes 4-9, OV 10-13; 4.2 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Helen DeMott (1920-1997) was a New York City based painter and poet and well-known East Village community activist.

In the 1940s, DeMott attended the National Academy of Design and Art Students League. In the late 1960s, DeMott began focusing her work on the scientific study of waves, specifically the structure of water wave surfaces, a theme that remained in her work for the rest of her career. In 1974-1975, DeMott completed two building murals of water wave structures in New York City: Wave Spill, located at 155 First Avenue and 10th Street; and River Wave, at 509 Amsterdam Avenue. She had a solo exhibition at the Green Mountain Gallery in 1969, and exhibited at the ground-breaking alternative space, 112 Workshop/112 Greene Street in 1979. DeMott was received a number of grants and awards throughout her career including National Community Arts Competition winner in 1974, a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (CAPS) in 1976, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1978, and a Gottleib Foundation grant in 1983. She passed away in 1997.

Provenance:

The Helen DeMott papers were a bequest to the Archives of American Art in 2003 by James Goldiner, executive for the estate of Helen DeMott.

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.

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Genre/Form:

Notes

Sketches

Photographs

Poems

Sound recordings

Watercolors

Video recordings

Scrapbooks

Manuscripts

Drawings

Travel diaries

Citation:

Helen DeMott papers, 1896-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.demohele

See more items in:

Helen DeMott papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-demohele

Creator:

Wechsler, Judith  Search this

Names:

Museum at Large Ltd.  Search this

Universal Limited Art Editions (Firm)  Search this

Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984  Search this

Albers, Josef  Search this

Cage, John, 1912-1992  Search this

Callahan, Harry M.  Search this

Cohen, John, 1932-2019  Search this

Falkenberg, Paul  Search this

Hockney, David  Search this

Hopps, Walter  Search this

Johns, Jasper, 1930-  Search this

Menil, Dominique de  Search this

Meyerowitz, Joel, 1938-  Search this

Namuth, Hans  Search this

Pearlstein, Philip, 1924-  Search this

Siskind, Aaron  Search this

Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973  Search this

Stella, Frank  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Extent:

17.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Motion pictures (visual works)

Sound recordings

Date:

circa 1940-2003

bulk 1971-1994

Summary:

The papers of filmmaker and art historian Judith Wechsler measure 17.4 linear feet and consist of film production material from several of Wechsler's documentary films released between 1989 and 1994. Most of the collection consists of sound recordings and motion picture film. Notable content includes interviews with Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, David Hockney, Philip Pearlstein, Joel Meyerowitz, Jo Spence, Yolanda Sonnabend, Dominique de Menil, Walter Hopps, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, as well as footage of artists working in their studios. Production elements found include original sound recordings, original camera negative outtakes, work print picture and soundtrack, trims, various pre-print master material, and video copies of completed works.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of filmmaker and art historian Judith Wechsler measure 17.4 linear feet and consist of film production material from several of Wechsler's documentary films released between 1989 and 1994. Most of the collection consists of sound recordings and motion picture film. Notable content includes interviews with Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, David Hockney, Philip Pearlstein, Joel Meyerowitz, Jo Spence, Yolanda Sonnabend, Dominique de Menil, Walter Hopps, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, as well as footage of artists working in their studios. Production elements found include original sound recordings, original camera negative outtakes, work print picture and soundtrack, trims, various pre-print master material, and video copies of completed works.

Documentaries with production material in the collection include Jasper Johns: Take An Object, produced with Hans Namuth, Harry Callahan (1994), Aaron Siskind: Making Pictures (1991), and five episodes of The Painter's World: Changing Constants of Art from the Renaissance to the Present (1989), a six-part television series produced by WGBH in Boston. Episodes of the series for which records are found include "The Training of Painters," "The Arrested Moment," "Portraits," "Abstraction," and "Painting and the Public". Also found are two reels of soundtrack labeled "Two Photographers," a title for which no other documentation is found.

The Painter's World episodes "Abstraction," "The Arrested Moment," and "Portraits" address the evolution of painting style and traditions, and the "Painting and the Public" episode addresses the role of patronage and the evolution of art museums. Footage found for "The Training of Painters" consists of footage of Josef Albers teaching at Yale University shot around 1955, likely shot by John Cohen.

Jasper Johns: Take An Object was a collaborative project between Wechsler, Hans Namuth, and Paul Falkenberg, who worked together under the corporate name of Museum at Large. Footage consists of multiple interviews with Johns, a 1971 session of Johns working in his Houston Street studio, and a 1989 session of Johns working at Universal Limited Art Editions, as well as additional material of John Cage and others speaking about Johns' work.

In Harry Callahan, Callahan discusses the inspiration behind his work and recollects about his time with Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Aaron Siskind. For Aaron Siskind: Making Pictures, Siskind covers the beginning of his career, and the inspiration and methods behind his work. The "Two Photographers" content and relationship to the collection is unknown.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 5 series.

Series 1: -- The Painters World: Changing Constants of Art from the Renaissance to the Present -- Production Records, 1985-1989 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 1, 3-6, 15, 20)

Series 2: -- Jasper Johns: Take an Object -- Production Records, 1971-1972, 1989-1990 (5.9 linear feet, Boxes 2, 7-11, 20-24)

Series 3: -- Aaron Siskind: Making Pictures -- Production Records, 1990-2003 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 2, 11-12, 16-18, 21)

Series 4: -- Harry Callahan -- Production Records, 1992-1994 (3.3 linear feet; Boxes 2, 12-14, 18-19, 21)

Series 5: Unidentified Program Material, circa 1940-1994 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 2, 14, FC 147)

Biographical / Historical:

Judith Wechsler is an art historian, professor, and filmmaker. Wechsler studied at Brandeis University, Columbia University, and earned her Ph.D. at Univeristy of California, Los Angeles in 1972. She published On Aesthetics in Science in 1978 and A Human Comedy: Physiognomy and Human Caricature in 19th Century Paris, focusing on the work of Honoré Daumier, in 1982. She edited the memoirs of her father, literary scholar Nahum N. Glatzer, published in 1998, and has published dozens of articles, reviews, and catalog essays for American and European institutions and publications.

She has taught at Brown University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hebrew University, and Rhode Island School of Design and joined the faculty at Tufts University in 1989, where she remained until her retirement in 2011.

Wechsler first worked on films with designer Charles Eames, co-directing films on her early scholarly subjects, Daumier and Cézanne. In the mid-1980s, she wrote and directed a series of art documentaries for television with the series title The Painter's World: Changing Constants of Art from the Renaissance to the Present. Since that time, Wechsler has directed dozens of films, primarily on artists and photographers, and in recent years has focused on the history of ideas in early twentieth century Europe, with films on Nahum Glatzer, Walter Benjamin, Aby Warburg, and Svetlana Boym.

Wechsler received a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government in 2007, and became professor emerita at Tufts in 2011. She lives and works in Massachusetts.

Related Materials:

Release prints of each of the titles represented in the collection are held by the Harvard Film Archive. Digital video copies of edited films are available on Judith Wechsler's website (http://www.judithwechsler.com/films, accessed 2017).

Provenance:

Donated 2008, 2017, and 2019 by Judith Wechsler.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copy requires advance notice.

Rights:

The Painter's World: Copyright retained by Judith Wechsler.

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:

Art historians -- Massachusetts -- Boston  Search this

Topic:

Art patronage  Search this

Art museums  Search this

Artists -- United States  Search this

Filmmakers--Massachusetts--Boston  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Motion pictures (visual works)

Sound recordings

Citation:

Judith Wechsler papers, 1940-2003, bulk 1971-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.wechjudi

See more items in:

Judith Wechsler papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-wechjudi

Collection Creator:

Finch College. Museum of Art  Search this

Varian, Elayne H.  Search this

Container:

Box 18, Folder 1

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1966-1967

Collection Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

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:

Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art, 1943-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program. Funding for the digitization of two motion picture films was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee, and for the remaining sound and video recordings from the Smithsonian's Collection Care Pool Fund. Funding for the digitization of the collection, not including audiovisual materials, was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

See more items in:

Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art

Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art / Series 4: Exhibition Files / "Projected Art" (1966-1967)

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-finccoll-ref1124

Collection Creator:

Finch College. Museum of Art  Search this

Varian, Elayne H.  Search this

Container:

Box 18, Folder 2

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1966-1967

Collection Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

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:

Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art, 1943-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program. Funding for the digitization of two motion picture films was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee, and for the remaining sound and video recordings from the Smithsonian's Collection Care Pool Fund. Funding for the digitization of the collection, not including audiovisual materials, was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

See more items in:

Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art

Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art / Series 4: Exhibition Files / "Projected Art" (1966-1967)

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-finccoll-ref1981

Interviewee:

Sekula, Allan  Search this

Interviewer:

Panzer, Mary  Search this

Names:

Artforum  Search this

California Institute of the Arts  Search this

Ohio State University -- Faculty  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Students for a Democratic Society (U.S.)  Search this

University of California, San Diego. Department of Anthropology  Search this

Altoon, John, 1925-  Search this

Antin, David  Search this

Antin, Eleanor  Search this

Ascott, Roy  Search this

Baldessari, John, 1931-  Search this

Barthes, Roland  Search this

Becker, Howard  Search this

Bercovitch, Sacvan  Search this

Beveridge, Karl  Search this

Brach, Paul, 1924-  Search this

Braderman, Joan  Search this

Burch, Noël, 1932-  Search this

Burn, Ian, 1939-1993  Search this

Captain Beefheart  Search this

Charlesworth, Sarah, 1947-2013  Search this

Chayefsky, Paddy, 1923-1981  Search this

Conde, Carol  Search this

Connell, Brian  Search this

Diddley, Bo, 1928-2008  Search this

Evans, Walker, 1903-1975  Search this

Farber, Manny  Search this

Feldman, Ronald, 1938-  Search this

Folks, Homer, 1867-1963  Search this

Fox, Terry, 1943-  Search this

Fried, Howard, 1946-  Search this

Ginsberg, Allen, 1926-1997  Search this

Graham, Dan, 1942-  Search this

Graves, Michael, 1934-2015  Search this

Halleck, DeeDee  Search this

Hanhardt, John G.  Search this

Hassan, Ihab, 1925-2015  Search this

Hayes, Woody, 1913-1987  Search this

Heinecken, Robert, 1931-  Search this

Higgins, Dick, 1938-1998  Search this

Hine, Lewis Wickes, 1874-1940  Search this

Kienholz, Edward, 1927-  Search this

Kirschenbaum, Baruch David, 1931-  Search this

Knowles, Alison, 1933-  Search this

Kosuth, Joseph.  Search this

Kozloff, Max  Search this

Kramer, Hilton  Search this

Krauss, Rosalind E.  Search this

König, Kasper  Search this

Liebling, Jerome  Search this

Lifson, Ben  Search this

Little Richard, 1932-  Search this

Lonidier, Fred  Search this

Lord, Catherine, 1949-  Search this

Lunn, Harry, 1933-1998  Search this

Mac Low, Jackson  Search this

Mandel, Mike  Search this

Matta, 1912-2002  Search this

Mayer, Grace M.  Search this

Michelson, Annette  Search this

O'Doherty, Brian  Search this

Pommer, Richard  Search this

Ramsden, Mel  Search this

Raskin, Jef  Search this

Reagan, Ronald  Search this

Rosler, Martha  Search this

Ross, David A., 1949-  Search this

Ruby, Jay  Search this

Ruscha, Edward  Search this

Salle, David, 1952-  Search this

Salvesen, Britt  Search this

Schimmel, Paul  Search this

Segalove, Ilene, 1950-  Search this

Stein, Sally  Search this

Steinmetz, Philip  Search this

Sultan, Larry  Search this

Van Riper, Peter  Search this

Wakoski, Diane  Search this

Wall, Jeff, 1946-  Search this

Extent:

12 Items (Sound recording: 12 sound files (6 hr.,14 min.), digital, wav)

143 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Sound recordings

Date:

2011 August 20-2012 February 14

Scope and Contents:

An interview with Allan Sekula conducted 2011 August 20-2012 February 14, by Mary Panzer, for the Archives of American Art at Sekula's studio and home in Los Angeles, California and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York.

Sekula speaks of his career and some of the mediums he works in; language and contemporary art; Roland Barthes; his relation to contemporary art; west coast conceptualism; genre switches; realism; documentary photography; Belgium and the industrial revolution; Meunier; minor figures; art history and marginalism; Roberto Matta; World War I; Homer Folks; Fish Story; historic cinema; economic factors of art shows and publication; galleries and the art world; growing up and his family; his father and moving; Ohio; his brothers and sisters; San Pedro; demographics of students at school; sports at school; Vietnam; protests; cross country and swimming; California; fishing; college; U.C. system; declaring a major; John Altoon; Ed Kienholz; exposure to art; visiting museums; Marcuse's classes; Baldessari's classes; course work and student life; student demonstrations; working in a library and exposure to books; father losing his job; science and working as a chemical technician; politics; his uncle committing suicide; moving away from his father; the draft; John Birch; Students for a Democratic Society; his mother; politics of his parents; Aerospace Folk Tales, autodidacts and scholarship; San Diego and Mexico; obtaining a camera and starting to use it; art school; CalArts; UCSD; Meditations on a Triptych; David Salle; Fred Lonidier; Phel Steinmetz; MFA and art training; poets; story of Allen Ginsberg and one of Sekula's sculptures; production and the audience; A Photograph is Worth a Thousand Questions, photography and the burden of tradition; pictorialism; moving to New York; Artforum; October; New York music scene; Captain Beefheart; Bo Diddley; Little Richard; Steichen and aerial photography; origins of October; New Criterion; Art Critic's Grant; teaching at Ohio State; television; technological historians; New York subway and getting a ticket for using French money; RISD lectures; Long Beach; photography; collages; Metro Pictures; New Topographics; School as a Factory; moral choice and the viewer; work method and the audience; Social Criticism and Art Practice; east and west coasts; Ed Ruscha; documentary; film, Los Angeles; cinema and social history; Ohio State Department of Photography and Cinema; Los Angeles Plays Itself; Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador; Ohio State campus, anti-Semitism; Ronald Reagan and protest; influences and colleagues; intellectual genealogy; Michael Graves and Ohio State architecture; Bad Ohio; tenure; University Exposed; AIDS issue of October; The Body and the Archive; making film; Korean War; collectors and images. Sekula also recalls Eleanor Antin, Jeff Wall, Terry Fox, Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, Paul Saltman, Marcuse, Baldessari, Sacvan Bercovitch, Stanley Miller, Jef Raskin, Paul Brach, David Antin, Howard Fried, Peter Van Riper, Alison Knowles, Dick Higgins, Manny Farber, Ihab Hassan, Diane Wakoski, Jackson Mac Low, Martha Rosler, Lenny Neufeld, Joshua Neufeld, David Wing, Brian Connell, Max Kozloff, Ian Burn, Mel Ramsden, Carole Conde, Karl Beveridge, Barry Rosens, Tom Crow, John Copeland, Harry Lunn, Hilton Kramer, Grace Mayer, Carol Duncan, Eva Cockroft, Richard Pommer, Rosalind Krauss, Sally Stein, Paddy Chayefsky, John Hanhardt, Mel Ramsden, Sarah Charlesworth, Jospeh Kosuth, Baruch Kirschenbaum, Robert Heinecken, Brian O'Doherty, Howard Becker, Jay Ruby, Jerry Liebling, Anna Wilkie, Ronald Feldman, John Gibson, David Ross, Britt Salvesen, Larry Sultan, Mike Mandel, Roy Ascott, Ilene Segalove, Paul Schimmel, DeeDee Halleck, Noel Burch, Joan Braderman, Woody Hayes, Thom Andersen, John Quigley, Ron Green, Kasper Koenig, Dan Graham, Jonathan Green, Christa Wolf, Catherine Lord, Ben Lifson, and Annette Michelson.

Biographical / Historical:

Allan Sekula (1951-2013) was a photographer, filmmaker, and writer, based at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. Mary Panzer (1955- ) is a historian from New York, New York.

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:

Sculptors  Search this

Topic:

Activism  Search this

Antisemitism  Search this

Architecture  Search this

Art -- Exhibitions -- Economic aspects  Search this

Art -- History  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Conceptual art  Search this

Documentary photography  Search this

Korean War, 1950-1953  Search this

Music -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Photography  Search this

Realism  Search this

World War, 1914-1918  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Identifier:

AAA.sekula11

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-sekula11