Files on artwork by Baum, exhibition and loan files, photographs of artwork by others, personal correspondence, and an audio recording.
Files on Baum's artwork, organized chronologically, include photographs and slides of works, as well as titles, dates, locations if known, and occasional printed material and correspondence regarding loans or purchases. Exhibition and loan files are organized chronologically and include printed material and correspondence with the Betsy Rosenfeld Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago and various Chicago Imagist group shows, among others. Other files include photographs and slides of artwork by other artists.
Personal correspondence includes letters and postcards from Baum's children, and his friends, most of them Chicago artists, including Miriam Brofsky, Glen Davies, Gabrielle Edgecomb, Hans Gallas, Phil Hanson, Miyoko Ito, Jin Soo Kim, June Leaf, Jim Nutt, Barbara Rossi, Darthea Speyer, Sue Taylor, Ken Warneke, Karl Wirsum and others. Many of the letters are illustrated or contain objects. Also included is a radio program about Baum's assemblage houses produced by Wisconsin Public Radio, 1988.
Biographical / Historical:
Don Baum (1922-2008) was a sculptor, assemblage artist, and curator in Chicago, Ill. Baum was considered part of the Hairy Who and the Chicago Imagists.
Provenance:
Donated 1995 by Don Baum and in 2009 by Maria Baum, Don Baum's daughter.
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.