The papers of artist Shirley Jaffe measure 7.1 linear feet and 0.260 GB and date from circa 1950-2011. The collection documents her life and career as an American painter living in Paris through biographical material, letters, notebooks, writings, project files, printed and digital material, photographic material, and sketchbooks.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of artist Shirley Jaffe measure 7.1 linear feet and 0.260 GB and date from circa 1950-2011. The collection documents her life and career as an American painter living in Paris through biographical material, letters, notebooks, writings, project files, printed and digital material, photographic material, and sketchbooks.
Scattered biographical materials include address and appointment books, an interview with Jaffe by Jeff Perkins recorded on one videocassette, and other documents.
Letters make up a significant portion of the collection and are primarily written to Shirley from friends and family. In addition to frequent letters received from her siblings and mother, Jaffe also received letters from artists Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis, Kimber Smith, Sylvia Stone and Al Held, Hermine Ford, Robert Kushner, and George Sugarman.
The papers include eighty-four notebooks kept by Jaffe containing lists, addresses, notes, sketches and the occasional diary entry. Project files contain correspondence, gouache studies, sketches, and printed material related to commissions and collaborations, including illustrations, murals, and the design of stained glass windows in the Chapelle Saint-Jean-l'Evangéliste in Perpignan, titled Funéraria.
Printed materials include articles, published books about Jaffe, clippings, exhibition catalogs, a recorded radio broadcast, and reviews.
There are photographs, slides, transparencies, and digital photographs depicting Jaffe's paintings, exhibitions, and artists and art world figures including Larry Rivers, Kimber Smith, Linda Nochlin, Sam Francis, Paul Jenkins, and Joan Mitchell at exhibition openings in the 1960s-1970s. Eight sketchbooks contain drawings by Jaffe in ink, marker, and pen.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1950s-2000s (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Letters, 1950s-2000s (3 linear feet; Box 1-4)
Series 3: Notebooks and Writings, 1950s-2000s (0.9 linear feet; Box 4-5)
Series 4: Project Files, 1970s-2003 (0.6 linear feet; Box 5, 9)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1952-2011 (0.7 linear feet; Box 5-6, 9)
Series 6: Photographic Material, 1950s-circa 2010 (1.3 linear feet; Box 6-8, 0.260 GB; ER01)
Series 7: Sketchbooks, 1960s-2000s (0.3 linear feet; Box 8)
Biographical / Historical:
Shirley Jaffe (1923-2016), née Sternstein, was an American painter living and working in Paris.
Born in New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, Shirley Jaffe completed her studies at the Cooper Union in 1945. In 1949 she and husband Irving Jaffe moved to Washington, D.C. where she attended the Phillips Art School. Later that same year, they moved to Paris. The Jaffes returned to New York briefly in the early 1950s, but moved back to Paris in 1953, where Shirley Jaffe has been living and working ever since. She was married to Irving Jaffe until 1962.
Jaffe started her career as an abstract expressionist but began to work in a flat and geometric style in the late 1960s. She was part of the American expatriate art scene in Paris and associated with Joan Mitchell, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Sam Francis, Kimber Smith, and others. In 1963, Jaffe received a grant from the Ford Foundation to spend a year working in Berlin.
Jaffe took on several commissions in France including illustrations, murals, and notably, the design of stained glass windows in the Chapelle Saint-Jean-l'Evangéliste in Perpignan, titled Funéraria. Her paintings have been exhibited in New York at the Holly Solomon Gallery and the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, and at galleries and museums throughout France.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Shirley Jaffe conducted by Avis Berman, September 27-28, 2010.
Provenance:
The Shirley Jaffe papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Shirley Jaffe in 2014.
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.
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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Al Held, 1975 Nov. 19-1976 Jan. 8. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Chuck Close conducted 1987 May 14-September 30, by Judd Tully, for the Archives of American Art.
Close speaks of his childhood; his art education in the Pacific Northwest and at Yale; the art scene in SoHo in the 1960s; his work methods; his work in portraiture. He recalls Al Held, Richard Serra, Klaus Kertess, Arnold Glimcher, and his affiliations with the Bykert Gallery and the Pace Gallery.
Biographical / Historical:
Chuck Close (1940- ) is a painter and photographer in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 38 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
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.
An interview of Al Held conducted 1975 Nov. 19-1976 Jan. 8, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Held discusses his childhood; studying at the Art Students League; going to Paris for three years to study painting on the G.I. bill in the 1950's; experiences as a painter in N.Y. during the 1960's; the stages of his artistic development; his artistic philosophy; techniques; teaching painting classes at Yale since the 1960's; and his one man show at the Whitney Museum of Art in 1974.
Biographical / Historical:
Al Held (1928-2005) is a painter from New York, N.Y. Studied at the Art Students League. Teaches at Yale University School of Art.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Al Held. Sylvia and Al Held, Egypt postcard to Connie Reyes and Ronald Bladen, New York, N.Y., 197-?. Ronald Bladen papers, 1918-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Al Held and John Jonas Gruen. Interview with Al Held, 1985 October 8. John Jonas Gruen and Jane Wilson papers, 1909-2016. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Fortess, Karl E. (Karl Eugene), 1907-1993 Search this
Type:
Sound Recording
Date:
1975 July 11
Citation:
Al Held and Karl E. (Karl Eugene) Fortess. Interview with Al Held conducted by Karl Fortess, 1975 July 11. Karl E. Fortess interviews with artists, circa 1963-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Typescripts of eight interviews by Katz, 1974-75, which she edited into monologue form. Interviewed are artists who were active in the cooperative art galleries on New York City's Tenth street in the early and middle 1950's. Included are Ronald Bladen, Lois Dodd, Sally Hazelet Drummond, Al Held, Alex Katz, William King, Phillip Pearlstein, and George Sugarman. Also included are an introduction by Ada Katz, and 29 pages from her diary, 1976-1977.
Biographical / Historical:
Wife of painter Alex Katz.
Provenance:
Donated 1980 by Ada Katz.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
