Interview of Salvatore Scarpitta conducted 1975 January 31.-February 3, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Scarpitta speaks of his family's background; growing up and going to school in California; moving to Italy and going to art school at 17; attending the American Academy; his experiences in Europe after the war broke out in 1940; being arrested and interned for 18 months in Italy and escaping; joining the United States Navy; getting thrown out of the American Academy after being accused of being a Communist; his abstract paintings; moving back to America after Leo Castelli saw his work; his painting techniques; his thoughts on futurism and cubism; why he shifted from working on a canvas to tearing it apart and using it as materials; his use of color; how his interest in race cars influenced his art work; building race cars; living in New York and the art scene there; his successful art show on the Piazza San Marco in Venice; the reason for using belts in his paintings; how certain paintings led him to building sleds; his feelings about Leo Castelli; and teaching art. He recalls Phil Guston, Jack Levine, Franz Kline, Bill de Kooning, Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Salvatore Scarpitta (1919-2007) was a sculptor.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 11 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
The records of Carus Gallery measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1967-2002. This collection documents Dorothea Carus Isserstedt's management of the New York gallery through a small amount of business and personal correspondence; business records regarding acquisitions, sales, and consignments; intentories of artwork and rare books; exhibition catalogs, press clippings, and other printed material; and photographs depicting artwork and exhibition installations.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Carus Gallery measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1967-2002. This collection documents Dorothea Carus Isserstedt's management of the New York gallery through a small amount of business and personal correspondence; business records regarding acquisitions, sales, and consignments; intentories of artwork and rare books; exhibition catalogs, press clippings, and other printed material; and photographs depicting artwork and exhibition installations.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 5 series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1974-2000 (4 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Business Records, 1971-1996 (1.8 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 3: Inventories, 1973-2002 (0.6 linear feet; Box 2-3)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1967-1992 (0.6 linear feet; Box 3-4)
Series 5: Photographic Material, 1980s-1990s (4 folders; Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
The Carus Gallery was founded by Dorothea Carus Isserstedt (1914-2002). The gallery's primary interest was in European Graphic Arts, specifically German Expressionism, and Russian Constructivism. The gallery exhibited works by Alexander Archipenko, Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Heinrich Campendonk, Otto Dix, Lyonel Feininger, Natalia Goncharova, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Alexej Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt, Max Klinger, Kathe Kollowitz, El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, László Moholy-Nagy, Marlow Moss, Otto Mueller, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde, Christian Rohlfs and Egon Schiele.
In 1968, following the death of her parents, Isserstedt opened the Carus Gallery, which was located on the ground level of her home at 243 E 82nd street in New York. The gallery was relocated to Madison Avenue in 1974 and finally to 1044 Madison Avenue where it remained until Isserstedt's retirement in 1996.
Dorothy was born in 1914 in Elberfeld, Germany. She studied art history and archeology at Freiburg University, receiving a doctorate in 1944. Towards the end of World War II Dorothy escaped to East Germany where she settled in Hamburg and found work as a supervisor with the British Forces Network. In 1952 she immigrated to Yorkville, NY where she worked in her father's print and framing shop. Dorothy became an American citizen in 1957.
Provenance:
The records were donated to the Archives in 2004 by Dr. Gheorghe Costinescu and Mrs. Silvelin von Scanzoni Costinescu, the heirs and executors of Dorothy Carus Isserstedt's estate.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers 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.
Subseries 4.2 (Journals) is access restricted; written permission is required.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
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:
Aleksandra Kasuba papers, circa 1900-2019. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Research materials assembled by Phyllis Freeman, on the subject of 20th century artists' manifestos. Files include research correspondence, mss. drafts of the monograph (never published), "Manifestos in the Visual Arts: Programs and Movements Since 1900," and eight feet of subject files, covering movements and groups such as Abstract Expressionism, American Abstract Artists, Blaue Reiter, Die Brucke, Constructivism, Dadaism, Fluxus, Futurism, MA (Hungarian avant-garde), Mexican murals, Orphism, the Société Anonyme, De Stijl, and Vorticism.
Arrangement:
Arranged into five series: Series: I. Correspondence, II. Writings, III. Subject Files, IV. Projects, V. Printed Materials.
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian, writer, editor; New York, N.Y. Born 1929. Died 1997.
Provenance:
Donated 1997 by Ms. Freeman's cousin, Nancy and Morris Freeman.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- Mexico. Search this
The records of Ex Libris measure 2.0 linear feet and date from 1973-2007. Ex Libris was a New York City based antiquarian establishment that dealt in rare 20th century avant-garde books and periodicals, and was founded by Elaine Lustig Cohen and her husband Arthur A. Cohen. The records include professional files, sales records, printed material, and photographic material.
Scope and Contents:
TThe records of Ex Libris measure 2.0 linear feet and date from 1973-2007. Ex Libris was a New York City based antiquarian establishment that dealt in rare 20th century avant-garde books and periodicals, and was founded by Elaine Lustig Cohen and her husband Arthur A. Cohen. The records include professional files, sales records, printed material, and photographic material.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series
Series 1: Professional Files, 1973-2007 (0.9 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Sales Records, 1979-1998 (0.1 linear foot; Box 1)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1973-circa 1991 (0.9 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 4: Photographic Material, circa 1980s (0.1 linear foot; Box 2)
Biographical / Historical:
Ex Libris, a New York City based antiquarian establishment that dealt in rare 20th century avant-garde books, periodicals, and archives, operated from 1973-circa 2000, and was founded by Elaine Lustig Cohen (1927- ) and her husband Arthur A. Cohen (1928-1986). Elaine Lustig Cohen is a graphic designer, previously married to the graphic designer Alvin Lustig (1915-1955), who later married her long-time friend Arthur A. Cohen, a scholar, theologian, and author, in 1956.
The Cohen's began collecting avant-garde books and ephemera from antiquarian bookstores and artists in Europe. Ex Libris began when the couple amassed a surplus of material and Arthur placed an ad in the New York Times that said, "send for my list of Dada, Surrealist, Avant-Garde periodicals and ephemera." The inventory of Ex Libris grew to include other movements of modernism including Bauhaus, Futurism, Cubism, De Stijl, German Expressionism, Constructivism, and Fluxus.
Ex Libris published catalogs of their inventory, designed by Elaine, which were sent to libraries and museums all over the world. The catalogs are now collector's items. Exhibitions were organized at Ex Libris that complemented their inventory, and they often loaned material to be included in exhibitions elsewhere.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Elaine Lustig Cohen papers concerning Alvin Lustig, 1982, available on microfilm reel 2802.
Provenance:
The records were donated in 2015 by Elaine Lustig Cohen, co-founder of Ex Libris.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Booksellers and bookselling -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
This subseries contains an eclectic mix of images, including reference photographs for future art projects, photographs of students and their artwork, and miscellaneous images of glass blowing and casting.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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:
Claire Falkenstein papers, circa 1914-1997, bulk 1940-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation.
Use of original material requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Richard Artschwager papers, 1959-2013. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
The bulk of the material in this series pertains to the years Herstand served as Director of the Minneapolis School of Art (1963-1969) and as President of Minneapolis College of Art and Design (1969-1974). In these positions, he frequently addressed students and the outside community on matters pertaining to education and art. Included are drafts of an interview titled "What is Intermedia," and drafts on lectures and addresses such as "The Future Art School," and "Conformity and Imagery in Contemporary Painting." Also found are Herstand's writings, including his recollections as a student of Fernand Léger.
Arrangement note:
This series is arranged chronologically.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival video 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:
Arnold Herstand & Co. records and Arnold Herstand papers, 1927-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
This forum focused on the development of the arts east of the Anacostia River with representatives from arts organizations and artists active in Wards 7 and 8. Past, present, and future arts initiatives, as well as the panelists' experiences with issues such as funding and participation, will be discussed. Participants included Joy Ford Austin, Executive Director of the Humanities Council of Washington, DC; Kenneth Carroll, Executive Director of DC WritersCorps; Amy Cavanaugh Royce, Director of the Honfleur Galley; Maurice Shorter, Music Promoter and Manager; Gertrude J. Saleh, Executive Director of Fundraising and Development for Serenity Players, Inc; Randall Holloway, Ward 7 Arts Collaborative; Jerry L. Eisley, founder of the Washington Arts Group; and Katrina Toews, Director of the Washington Ballet at THEARC. The event was held on May 6, 2008 at the Anacostia Community Museum.
These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after
approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no
manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead.
Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from
1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called
the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the
Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of
Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives;
two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents
of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded
to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice
since that time.
The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A.
Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard
Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas
R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.
Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White,
William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.
Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell,
Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin,
Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey,
Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull,
Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.
Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth,
Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel
Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton,
Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce,
Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R.
Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards
Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.
Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George
Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings,
John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius
Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley,
John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston
Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton
Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton,
Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson,
Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
Files containing Sturtevant's students' grades have been restricted, as have his students' and colleagues' grant and fellowships applications. Restricted files were separated and placed at the end of their respective series in boxes 87, 264, 322, 389-394, 435-436, 448, 468, and 483. For preservation reasons, his computer files are also restricted. Seminole sound recordings are restricted. Access to the William C. Sturtevant Papers requires an apointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
William C. Sturtevant papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The papers of William C. Sturtevant were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Dr. Ives Goddard. Digitization and preparation of these materials for online access has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.
Moderated by Terry Fugate-Wilcox, with speakers Hilton Kramer, Michael Goven, Yutaka Kobugashi, Laura Howat, Helene Seeman, and Nathan Joseph.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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:
Artists Talk on Art records, circa 1974-2018. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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