An interview of Margaret Tomkins conducted 1984 June 6, by Bruce Guenther, for the Archives of American Art's Northwest Oral History Project at the artist's studio in Seattle, Washington.
Tomkins speaks of her childhood in Los Angeles; her education; the art collections in the Los Angeles area; the importance of the WPA project; the founding (with her husband James Fitzgerald) of the Artists Gallery in Seattle in 1958; being a woman artist and a working mother; finishing Fitzgerald's work after his death; her current work; and the influence of abstract expressionism.
Biographical / Historical:
Margaret Tomkins (1916-2002) was a painter from Seattle, Washington.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 21 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Northwest Oral History Project, begun in 1982 to document the Northwest artistic community through interviews with painters, sculptors, craftsmen, educators, curators, and others, in Oregon, Washington and Montana.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Painters -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Extent:
1 Sound tape reel (Sound recordings, 5 in.)
12 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound tape reels
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1965 Oct. 27
Scope and Contents:
An interview of James Fitzgerald conducted 1965 Oct. 27, by Dorothy Bestor, for the Archives of American Art.
Speaks of his work with Thomas Hart Benton; his work for the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP); his work on the murals at the Department of Justice with Boardman Robinson; and work on other Work Progress Administration art programs in Washington state. Fitzgerald's wife, artist Margaret Tomkins, is present during the interview and comments periodically.
Biographical / Historical:
James Fitzgerald (1910- ) is a painter and mural painter from Washington state.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Muralists -- Washington (State) -- Seattle -- Interviews Search this
