The scattered papers of French Dada painter Jean Crotti measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1913-1973, with the bulk of the material dated 1913-1961. Found within the papers are autobiographical notes and essays; correspondence with family and colleagues, among them Jean Cocteau, Andre Crotti, Suzanne Duchamp, Marcel Duchamp, Albert Gleizes, Christian a.k.a. Georges Herbiet, Henri Matisse, Francis Picabia, and Jacques Villon; notes and writings by Crotti and others; art work by Crotti and Paul Guillaume; a scrapbook; and additional printed material. Photographs are of Crotti, Suzanne Duchamp, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, and other family and friends; and of Crotti's art work. There are audio recordings on phonograph records of three interviews with Crotti and one with Mr. and Mrs. Paul Blancpain.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of French Dada painter Jean Crotti measure 1.7 linear feet and date from 1913 to 1973, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1913-1961. Among the papers are autobiographical essays, correspondence with friends and family, including many letters from Marcel Duchamp, notes and writings by and about Crotti, printed materials, one scrapbook, drawings by Crotti and others, photographs of Crotti and his family and friends, photographs of artwork, and three audio recordings of interviews with Crotti.
Biographical material consists of autobiographical notes and an autobiographical manuscript Ma Vie.
Art work includes seven folders of drawings and an etching plate by Crotti, 83 drawings by Paul Guillaume, and portrait drawings of Crotti by Henri Coudour and Francis Picabia.
A scrapbook contains clippings, a letter from Paul Guillaume and a letter to Elizabeth Crotti from a friend describing a 1932 Jean Crotti exhibition in the Balzac Galleries in New York City, and a typescript "Una Collezione a Parigi" by Gino Severini.
Photographs are of Crotti, his family, friends, colleagues, and art work by Crotti and by Suzanne Duchamp. Of particular interest are photographs of composer Edgard Var?¨se and his wife Louise with Suzanne Duchamp, Jean Crotti, and art advocate Mary Reynolds in 1924, photographs of Crotti and Georges Braque examining a gemmail art work, and photographs of Crotti and Suzanne Duchamp talking with Pablo Picasso at Cannes and at the home of Bertrande Blancpain in 1957.
Sound recordings include two phonograph records of interviews with Jean Crotti, including topics "Assignment Switzerland" and "Assignment World." A third phonograph record contains an instantatneous disk recording of correspondence between Mr. and Mrs. Paul Blancpain as well as an additional interview with Crotti.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1954-1955 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1916-1961 (Box 1; 43 folders)
Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1924-1958 (Box 1; 27 folders)
Series 4: Art Work, 1913-1925 (Box 1, 3; 12 folders)
Series 5: Scrapbook, 1931-1935 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1921-1973 (Box 1, 2, 3; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, 1920-1957 (Box 2; 25 folders)
Series 8: Sound Recordings, 1955 (Box 3; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Jean Crotti (1870-1958) was a Dadist painter who worked primarily in Paris, France and New York. He was married to Suzanne Duchamp, Marcel Duchamp's sister, and friends with notable avant-garde and Dada European and American painters of the period. He is also known for creating the "Gemmail" technique of layering colored glass that produced unique color combinations when illuminated.
Jean Crotti was born April 24, 1878 in Bulle, near Fribourg, Switzerland, the son of a painting contractor. The family moved to Fribourg in 1887.
To escape from wartime Paris in 1914, Crotti and his first wife, Yvonne Chastel, moved to New York City where Crotti had his first solo exhibition at the Bourgeois Gallery. In 1915, Crotti met Francis Picabia and also shared a studio with Marcel Duchamp who was a major influence. Crotti began his Dada period and was included in an exhibition of French paintings at the Montross Gallery in New York, with Duchamp, Albert Gleizes, and Jean Metzinger.
Crotti separated from his first wife, Yvonne Chastel, in 1916 and returned to Paris alone. By 1917, Crotti's marriage had dissolved and he married Suzanne Duchamp in 1919. Crotti met Suzanne Duchamp, also a painter, through his friendship with her brother Marcel Duchamp. During this time, Crotti completed and exhibited paintings associated with the Dada movement. One of his more notable works was entitled Explacatif, bearing the word "Tabu" that expressed Crotti's concepts of mystery and infinity with spiritual overtones.
In 1935 Crotti began to research a new technique using layers of colored glass, referred to as "gemmail." The term is a contraction of "gem" referring to the colored glass and "enamel" referring to the method of affixing the pieces of glass to each other. After much experimentation, an "enamel" fixative was found that would permanently hold the glass pieces in place while still allowing light to shine through all the layers. Several prominent artists including Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso became interested in using this medium. Crotti had the process patented, but in 1955 ceded the rights to Roger Malherbe who adapted it to commercial uses.
Jean Crotti died on January 30, 1958 in Paris, France.
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:
Painters -- France -- Paris -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Louis Bouché conducted on 1963 March 13, by William E. Woolfenden, for the Archives of American Art.
Bouché speaks of the Penguin Club, including Walt Kuhn's leadership, artists' balls, banquets and sketch classes; European artists at the Penguin Club including Jules Pascin, Albert Gleizes, and others; his association with the Daniel Gallery; his "lace curtain period"; his art education; teaching; working at Wanamaker's and the Folsom Gallery; Walter Arensberg's parties; and his father, Henri's career as a designer. Bouché recalls Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Wood Gaylor, Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, John Quinn, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Louis Bouché (1896-1969) was a painter and teacher from New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav file. Duration is 2 hr., 2 min.
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.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- 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.
Interview of Paul Burlin, conducted on December 5-6, 1962, by Dorothy Gees Seckler, for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Burlin speaks of his childhood education in England; working for the magazine Delineator; his education at the National Academy of Design; his travels in the American Southwest; his early exhibitions in New York; his first wife's writings on folk music; visiting Europe before the first World War; discovering Cubism and Fauvism; working on the WPA under the Whitney Museum; joining and then leaving the American Artists' Congress in protest; his thoughts on overtly political art; exhibiting at the Downtown Gallery; his image-making process; and his critique of Pop art. Burlin also recalls James Huneker, Franz Boas, Albert Gleizes, Henri Matisse, Edith Halpert, Georgia O'Keeffe, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Paul Burlin (1886-1969) was a painter in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 39 min.
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.
The papers of printmaker, etcher, and painter Blanche Lazzell (1878-1956) measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1893 to 1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1901 to 1940. Found within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence with family, friends, and colleagues; writings; five diaries; scattered personal business records; printed material; artwork; photographs; and artifacts.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of printmaker, etcher, and painter Blanche Lazzell (1878-1956) measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1893 to 1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1901 to 1940. Found within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence with family, friends, and colleagues; writings; five diaries; scattered personal business records; printed material; artwork; photographs; and artifacts.
Biographical material includes school report cards, address books, obituaries, membership certificates, and travel documents from Blanche Lazzell's travels abroad in Europe.
Correspondence is with family, friends, and colleagues. Family correspondence is predominately with Lazzell's sisters, and a lesser amount with her brother Rufus and other relatives. Well over one-half of the correspondence is with friends and colleagues, including Arthur Lee Post and John O' Connor, and one or more letters from Oliver Chaffee, Andrew Dasburg, Robert Henri, and Ralph M. Pearson, among others.
Writings include notebooks, essays, and notes. Notebooks are primarily class notes, including one from Lazzells's studies in France during her second trip to Europe, and another maintained as a record of artwork. Also found are essays,including one about Provincetown; notes; biographical sketches; and lists of exhibitions and artwork. Five diaries document the late 1890s and Lazzell's trips to Europe in 1912-1913 and 1923-1924.
Scattered personal business records consist of 3 expense account ledgers and one sales ledger. Printed Material includes guest books, news clippings, exhibition catalogs, exhibition announcements, magazines, brochures, and newsletters. Artwork includes pencil drawings and sketches, mostly from studies with the artist Albert Gleizes in Paris. Photographic material consists of photographs, slides, and one lantern slide. The photographs are of Blanche Lazzell with artists and friends, her studio and the harbor in Provincetown, artwork, and travels in Italy.
Artifacts include 2 metal signs and 1 paint palette in a metal case.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1894-1970 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1897-1965 (1.2 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 3: Writings, 1893-1969 (1.2 linear feet; Box 2-3)
Series 4: Diaries, 1896-1924 (0.1 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1894-1916 (0.1 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1899-1986 (1 linear feet; Box 3-4)
Series 7: Artwork, 1924-circa 1940 (0.1 linear feet; Box 4)
Series 8: Photographic Material, 1897-1956 (0.5 linear feet; Box 5-6)
Series 9: Artifacts, circa 1910-1956 (0.1 linear feet; Box 6)
Biographical / Historical:
Blanche Lazzell (1878-1956) was a printmaker, etcher, painter, and rug designer who worked primarily in Provincetown, Massachusetts and Morgantwon, West Virginia.
Nettie Blanche Lazzell was born in Maidsville, West Virginia, in 1878, the daughter of Mary Prudence Pope and Cornelius Carhart Lazzell. At some point during her childhood, Lazzell became partially deaf. When Lazzell was fifteen, she enrolled in the West Virginia Conference Seminary, now West Virginia Wesleyan College and graduated in 1898.
In 1899, Lazzell continued her studies at the South Carolina Co-educational Institute and graduated that same year. She later matriculated into the West Virginia University (1901-1905) where she took drawing and art history classes with William J. Leonard and earned a degree in fine arts. After graduation, Lazzell periodically studied at the university until 1909. Lazzell moved to New York City in 1907 and enrolled in the Art Students League of New York in 1908 where she studied under William Merritt Chase.
Lazzell travelled to Europe during the summer of 1912. After visiting several cities, Lazzell went to Paris and stayed beyond the tour to attend classes at the Académie Julian and the Académie Moderne where she studied with painter Charles Guérin.
Lazzell returned to the United States in the fall of 1913 and stayed in West Virginia with her sister Bessie. She held a solo exhibition of her sketches and paintings in 1914. Lazzell moved to the thriving art colony at Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1915. There, she studied with Charles Webster Hawthorne, who founded the Cape Cod School of Art, and Oliver Chaffee, who taught her the technique for white-line woodcuts. Lazzell quickly adopted and excelled at making white-line woodblock prints, joined the Provincetown Printers, an art collective, and regularly exhibited with them.
n 1918, Lazzell converted an "old fish house" overlooking the Provincetown harbor into her studio and summer home. She planted a lush garden that became a tourist attraction where she often hosted teas and taught classes on painting and woodblock printing. The studio became her primary summer residence, though she often returned to Morgantown, West Virginia. Lazzell also visited other artist colonies during this time, including one in Woodstock, New York where she studied with Andrew Dasburg.
In 1919 Lazzell was featured in an exhibition at Touchstone Gallery in New York City. Later that year, the Provincetown Printers were featured at the Detroit Institute of Arts exhibition "Wood Block Prints in Color by American Artists". That show included Lazzell's depiction of the Monongahela River in Morgantown.
From 1923 to 1924, Lazzell travelled again to Europe and studied with Fernand Legér, André Lhote, and Albert Gleizes in Paris. Lazzell studied Cubism and took a class with Gleizes and her work became more abstract. When she returned to Provincetown, she had her studio rebuilt so it was more comfortable during the winter.
She continued to teach art at her studio and participate in exhibitions.
In addition to her woodblock prints, Lazzell also worked with batik, rug design, and hand-painted china. She was a member of numerous arts organizations such as the Société Anonyme, New York Society of Women Artists, Provincetown Art Association, the Sail Loft Club (a Provincetown women's art club), and the Society of Independent Artists. In 1934, Lazzell received a Federal Art Project grant through the Works Progress Administration and created a mural titled Justice for the Morgantown courthouse.
Lazzell died in Morgantown, West Virginia in 1956.
Separated Materials:
The papers were originally loaned for microfilming on reels 2988-2991 and most of them, but not all, were included in a later donation. The papers not included in the later donation are only available on microfilm.
Portions of the microfilmed material were retained by the donor.
Provenance:
The Blanche Lazzell papers were anonymously donated to the Archives of American Art in 1987, including most of the materials that had been earlier loaned for microfilming in 1983.
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.
Albert Gleizes, 1881-1953; a retrospective exhibition, by Daniel Robbins. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in collaboration with Musée national d'art moderne, Paris; Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund
