Search Results

Creator:

National Air and Space Museum  Search this

Type:

Interviews

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2020-06-09T15:00:11.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Aeronautics;Flight;Space Sciences  Search this

See more by:

airandspace

Data Source:

National Air and Space Museum

YouTube Channel:

airandspace

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_KHiQiL5K9po

Creator:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum  Search this

Type:

Interviews

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2020-07-02T11:32:51.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Design  Search this

See more by:

cooperhewitt

Data Source:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

YouTube Channel:

cooperhewitt

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_1cHClOH2cwA

Creator:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum  Search this

Type:

Interviews

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2020-08-12T01:07:37.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Design  Search this

See more by:

cooperhewitt

Data Source:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

YouTube Channel:

cooperhewitt

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_MRJfemJgL_Y

Artist:

Auder, Michel  Search this

Writer of supplementary textual content:

Brackman, Yvette 1967-  Search this

Interviewer:

Blake, Jeremy 1971-2007  Search this

Editor:

Gangitano, Lia 1968-  Search this

Host institution:

Thread Waxing Space (Gallery),)  Search this

Author:

Smithsonian Libraries Art and Artist Files Collection  Search this

Physical description:

23 pages illustrations 21 cm

Type:

Books

Exhibitions

Interviews

Exhibition catalogs

Artist files

Date:

2000

Call number:

AAF--Auder, Michel

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_1046239

Creator:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum  Search this

Type:

Interviews

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2020-07-02T13:14:46.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Design  Search this

See more by:

cooperhewitt

Data Source:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

YouTube Channel:

cooperhewitt

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_P9kZ9Pjv7es

Creator:

Tworkov, Jack  Search this

Names:

Egan Gallery  Search this

Leo Castelli Gallery  Search this

Nancy Hoffman Gallery  Search this

Poindexter Gallery  Search this

Stable Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Zabriskie Gallery  Search this

Ashbury, John  Search this

Ashton, Dore  Search this

Bartlett, Jennifer, 1941-  Search this

Blinken, Donald M., 1925-  Search this

Calfee, William H. (William Howard), 1909-1995  Search this

Cavallon, Giorgio, 1904-1989  Search this

Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906  Search this

Demarco, Ricky  Search this

Dickinson, Edwin Walter, 1891-1978  Search this

Forge, Andrew  Search this

Hartigan, Grace  Search this

Herzbrun, Helene  Search this

Katz, Paul  Search this

Knaths, Karl, 1891-1971  Search this

Lindeberg, Linda, 1915-1973  Search this

Matter, Herbert, 1907-1984  Search this

Newman, Arnold, 1918-2006  Search this

Newman, Michael  Search this

Osborn, Robert Chesley, 1904-1994  Search this

Ponsold, Renate  Search this

Praeger, David A.  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Summerford, Joe  Search this

Thorne, Joan, 1943-  Search this

Westenberger, Theo  Search this

Wheeler, Dennis  Search this

Wise, Howard  Search this

Yunkers, Adja, 1900-1983  Search this

Extent:

9.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Interviews

Motion pictures (visual works)

Sound recordings

Sketches

Diaries

Date:

1926-1993

Summary:

The Jack Tworkov papers measure 9.7 linear feet and are dated 1926-1993. Tworkov's work as a painter and influential teacher, as well as his personal life, are documented by extensive journals and substantive correspondence that record his ideas about art and teaching, and illuminate his relationships with friends, colleagues, and students. Many sketchbooks, writings, interviews, photographs, and moving images are also included.

Scope and Content Note:

The Jack Tworkov papers measure 9.7 linear feet and are dated 1926-1993, with the bulk from the period 1931-1982. Tworkov's work as a painter and influential teacher, as well as his personal life, are documented by extensive journals and substantive correspondence that record his ideas about art and teaching, and illuminate his relationships with friends, colleagues, and students. Many sketchbooks, writings, interviews, photographs, and moving images are also included.

Biographical material includes Tworkov's citizenship certificate, awards, diplomas, a copy of Jack Tworkov: Video Portrait, produced by Electronic Arts Intermix, and a motion picture film, USA Artists: Jack Tworkov, produced by National Education Television.

Correspondence consists largely of incoming letters. It is both professional and personal in nature and often combines both spheres. Correspondents include artists Jennifer Bartlett, William H. Calfee, Giorgio Cavallon and Linda Lindeberg, Grace Hartigan, Helene Herzbrun (also named Helene McKinsey), Karl Knaths, Joe Summerford, Joan Thorne, and Adja Yunkers; cartoonist Robert C. Osborn; collectors Donald M. Blinken and David A. Praeger (who was also Tworkov's lawyer); illustrator Roger Dovoisin; critics Dore Ashton and Andrew Forge; critic and poet John Ashbury; galleries that represented Tworkov: Egan Gallery, Leo Castelli, Nancy Hoffman Gallery, Poindexter Gallery, Stable Gallery and Zabriskie Gallery; and many museums, arts organizations, colleges and universities.

Interviews with Tworkov include one with Ricky Demarco videotaped in 1979 and two conducted on video by Twokov's daughter Helen in 1975. The remaining interviews are sound recordings, one conducted by Grace Alexander for the show Artists in New York in 1967, one conducted by Michael Newman in 1980, and the remainder by unidentified interviewers. None have transcripts.

All writings are by Tworkov and include poems, an artist's statement, and documentation for two children's books by Tworkov illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. Two additional notebooks contain miscellaneous notes, teaching notes, and some specific to identified courses. Lectures exist as untranscribed sound recordings.

Tworkov's journals (33 volumes) span a period of 35 years, from 1947 until 1982, with the final entry dated a few weeks before his death. They record his reflections on painting, his challenges as a painter, aesthetics, the role of the artist in society, Jewish identity, painters he admired (especially Cézanne and Edwin Dickinson), politics, and teaching. They also recount everyday life: the comings and goings of friends and family members, social engagements, professional activities, illness, and travel.

The lone subject file concerns Mark Rothko and includes a photograph of Rothko and the guest list for the dedication of the Rothko Chapel in Houston.

Artwork consists of a small number of sketches by Tworkov in pencil and ink. Tworkov's sketchbooks (28 volumes) contain sketches and some finished drawings. Most are in pencil, but scattered throughout are a few pencil sketches embellished with colored marker or pastel, and a small number in ink.

Photographs are of people, places and events. Most photographs are of Tworkov alone and with others including Giogio Cavallon, though most friends and students are unidentified. Of note are views of Tworkov producing a series of prints at Tamarind Institute. Also found is an informal portrait of Wally Tworkov. Events recorded include the jurying of "Exhibition Momentum" in Chicago, 1956. Among the places shown are Tworkov's studios at Black Mountain College and in Provincetown. When known, photographers are noted; among them are Paul Katz, Herbert Matter, Arnold Newman, Renate Ponsold, Theo Westenberger, Dennis Wheeler, and Howard Wise.

A separate series of audiovisual recordings was established for those recordings that could not be readily identified to be arranged in other series. They consist of three videocassettes (2 VHS and 1 miniDV).

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 11 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1933-1981 (Boxes 1, 9, 11, FC 13; 0.7 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1926-1993 (Boxes 1-5; 3.8 linear ft.)

Series 3: Interviews, 1978-1982 (Boxes 5, 9-10; 1 linear ft.)

Series 4: Writings, Notes, and Lectures, 1955-1982 (Boxes 5, 9; 0.5 linear ft.)

Series 5: Journals, 1947-1982 (Boxes 5-7; 2.0 linear ft.)

Series 6: Subject File, 1961-1977 (Box 7; 1 folder)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1952-1981 (Box 7, OV 12; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 8: Artwork, circa 1950s-1960s (Box 7: 3 folders)

Series 9: Sketchbooks, circa 1950s-1960s (Boxes 7-8, 11; 1.0 linear ft.)

Series 10: Photographic Materials, 1941-1981 (Boxes 8-9; 0.5 linear ft.)

Series 11: Audiovisual Recordings, 1961-1975 (Box 9; 0.1 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:

New York School painter Jack Tworkov (1900-1982), best known for his Abstract Expressionist paintings and as a highly regarded teacher, lived and worked in New York City and Provincetown, MA.

At age 13, Tworkov (born Yakov Tworkovsky) emigrated from Poland with his mother and sister to join his father already in the United States. In America, they chose to use the name of distant relatives, the Bernsteins, who were their sponsors. Eventually, Jack and his sister, Janice, reclaimed and shortened their name to Tworkov; later, she adopted the name of their hometown in Poland and became the painter Janice Biala.

As a high school student in New York City, Tworkov attended drawing classes. After graduating from Columbia University, where he had been an English major and considered becoming a writer, Tworkov instead turned to art. He studied with Ivan Olinsky at the National Academy of Design between 1923 and 1925, and from 1925 to 1926 attended painting classes taught by Guy Péne Du Bois and Boardman Robinson at the Art Students League. During his college years, Tworkov began visiting museums and became a great admirer of Cézanne. Tworkov's early paintings - still life, landscapes, and portraits - showed the influence of European modernism and Cézanne.

Tworkov spent his first summer in Provincetown while still a student and subsequently returned to study with Ross Moffet. In Provincetown he met and was greatly influenced by Karl Knaths and developed a lifelong friendship with Edwin Dickinson. By 1929, Tworkov was painting there year round. Over the years, Tworkov and his family continued to return for long stretches, and in 1958 he purchased a house in Provincetown.

During the Great Depression, Tworkov participated in the Treasury Department's Public Works of Art Project until 1934, and then moved to the easel division of the WPA Federal Art Project. He felt uncomfortable with the growing ideological and political influences on art and found it depressing to paint for the WPA rather than for himself, so he left the WPA in 1941. Tworkov, who had studied mechanical drawing while in high school, spent most of the War years employed as a tool designer and draftsman at an engineering firm with government contracts.

By the 1940s, Tworkov was painting in the Abstract Expressionist style. Between 1948 and 1953, he leased a studio on Fourth Avenue that adjoined that of his friend Willem de Kooning. During this time, they mutually influenced each other as they developed into mature Abstract Expressionists. At Yale in the 1960s, Tworkov became close friends with fellow student Josef Albers. Alber's influence on Tworkov resulted in a turn to geometric compositions of small, systematic, and repetitive strokes defined by a grid. He experimented with diagonal compositions, and later geometric work that featured large areas of color and soft texture.

Tworkov's first teaching experience was during 1930-1931 when he served as a part-time painting instructor at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. His teaching career began in earnest when he joined the faculties of Queens College, 1948-1955, and Pratt Institute, 1955-1958. During the summers he taught at various schools, most notably Black Mountain College's 1952 summer session. Tworkov was a visiting artist at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture, 1961-1963, and became chairman of its Art Department from 1963 until his retirement in 1969. In retirement he lived in Provincetown and was a visiting artist for both short and extended periods at various universities and art schools.

An avid reader of literature and poetry, Tworkov also wrote poems and essays. He published essays in It Is, Art Digest, and Art In America; his most notable piece, "The Wandering Soutine," appeared in Art News, November 1950. Tworkov also kept a journal for 35 years (1947-1982) that recorded his thoughts on a wide range of subjects concerning professional, personal, and philosophical issues, as well as details of everyday life.

Tworkov was among the founders of the Artists' Club or The Club in 1949, and for a decade actively participated in the stimulating discussions for which the group was known. In 1968 he helped to establish the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Its residency program enabled younger artists and writers to advance their careers and kept Provincetown's historic artists' colony active year round.

He was the recipient of the William A. Clark Award and Corcoran Gold Medal from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1963; Skowhegan School of Art's Painter of the Year Award, 1974; and Distinguished Teaching of Art Award from College Art Association, 1976. Tworkov was appointed to serve on the Massachusetts Art Commission, 1970-1971, and in 1981 was named a Fellow of The Cleveland Museum of Art and of the Rhode Island School of Design.

Following his second divorce in 1935, Rachel (Wally) Wolodarsky became Tworkov's third wife and their marriage endured. They had two daughters. Hermine Ford (b. 1939) is an artist married to fellow painter Robert Moskowitz. Helen Tworkov (b. 1943) is the founder of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and the author of a book about yoga.

Tworkov remained physically and intellectually active after a diagnosis of bone cancer around 1980, and continued to paint until shortly before his death in Provincetown on September 4, 1982.

Related Material:

Among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Jack Tworkov, one conducted by Dorothy Seckler, Aug. 17, 1962, and another by Gerald Silk, May 22, 1981. There is also a small collection of three letters written by Jack Tworkov to friend Troy-Jjohn Bramberger.

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel N70-38 and 62) including writings by Tworkov, notebooks, notes for teaching and talks, notes on art and miscellaneous subjects, poems, artist's statements, biographical data, the transcript of a 1970 interview with Tworkov conducted by Phyllis Tuchman, and a few letters and drafts of letters, 1950-1963. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Jack Tworkov lent the Archives of American Art papers for microfilming in 1970-1971. Jack Tworkov's daughters, Hermine Ford and Helen Tworkov, donated the rest of the collection in 2009, which included some of the material from the original loan.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Rights:

Reels N70-38 and 62: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Helen Tworkov or Hermine Ford. Contact Reference Services for more information.

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 -- Massachusetts  Search this

Topic:

Painting -- New York (State)  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Interviews

Motion pictures (visual works)

Sound recordings

Sketches

Diaries

Citation:

Jack Tworkov papers, 1926-1993. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.tworjack2

See more items in:

Jack Tworkov papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9345f5838-057f-4572-8063-0df7b8d00ad0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-tworjack2

Collector:

McCormick, Mack  Search this

Musician:

Badeaux, Ed, 1926-2015  Search this

Chenier, Clifton, 1925-1987  Search this

Cotten, Elizabeth  Search this

Estes, Sleepy John, 1899-1977  Search this

Hopkins, Lightnin', 1912-1982  Search this

House, Son  Search this

Howling Wolf  Search this

James, Harry  Search this

Jefferson, Blind Lemon, 1897-1929  Search this

Johnson, Robert, 1911-1938  Search this

Leadbelly, 1885-1949  Search this

Lipscomb, Mance, 1895-1976  Search this

Muddy Waters, 1915-1983  Search this

Rinzler, Ralph  Search this

Shaw, Robert, 1908 August 9-1985  Search this

Thomas, Henry, 1874-1952  Search this

Wallace, Sippie  Search this

Historian:

Oliver, Paul, 1927-2017  Search this

Singer:

Spivey, Victoria  Search this

Producer:

Strachwitz, Chris  Search this

Extent:

60 Cubic feet (171 boxes, 9 map folders)

Culture:

African Americans -- Mississippi  Search this

Arkansas  Search this

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Business cards

Compact discs

Contracts

Correspondence

Folklore

Newspaper clippings

Posters

Road maps

Television scripts

Ephemera

Black-and-white negatives

Contact sheets

Color slides

Business records

Family papers

Resumes

Diaries

Journals (periodicals)

Financial records

Audio cassettes

Manuscripts

Playbills

Field recordings

Writings

Transcripts

Manuscripts for publication

Color negatives

Negatives

Articles

Place:

United States -- Race relations

Delta (Miss.)

Sugarland Prison (Tex.)

Greenwood (Miss.)

Robinsonville (Miss.)

Dallas (Tex.)

Houston (Tex.)

San Antonio (Tex.)

Tunica (La.)

Texarkana (Tex.)

Galveston (Texas)

Date:

1858-2015, undated

Summary:

Field notes, manuscripts, photographs, booking contracts, correspondence, personal papers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, and other research materials primarily relating to the history of American blues music. Collection documents the lives of significant blues musicians Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb; insight into the life, writings, and research practices of Robert "Mack" McCormick; and the business side of recording and selling the blues.

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents the life, writings, research practices, and business activities of blues scholar Robert "Mack" Burton McCormick who came to serve as a leading authority on the genre. Personal papers include diaries, curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, school papers, employment documents, correspondence, financial records, and an interview transcript. McCormick's writings consist of published magazine and journal articles, plays, essays, television scripts, short stories, and album liner notes. There are complete unpublished manuscripts, drafts with notes and research materials, and ideas for future work. McCormick's research practices and subjects of interest are documented in correspondence, field notes, annotated maps, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, city directories, interviews, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and contact sheets. American blues, Texas blues, and the music of significant blues artists, who McCormick served as an agent and manager for, dominated his extensive research efforts. In addition, the collection documents the recording, distribution and sale, and identification of consumer markets for American music in correspondence, contracts, agreements, music journals, publicity and promotional materials, music manuscripts, and interviews.

Throughout the collection preservation measures were performed to ensure long term use of the materials. Newspaper clippings were photocopied, and the originals were discarded. Audio cassette tapes have been reformatted and the digital copies will soon be available for research use.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into fifteen series.

Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs and Slides, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.1: Photographic Negatives and Contact Sheets, 1967-1977, undated

Subseries 1.2: Photographs, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.3: Photographs, Texas Blues (TB), 1961-1964, undated

Subseries 1.4: Photographic Slides, 1964-1977, undated

Subseries 1.5: Negative and Photograph Indices and Assorted Material, 1963-1975

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1937-2015, undated

Subseries 2.1: Biographical Information, 1945-2003, undated

Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, Greeting Cards, and Postcards, 1937-2010, undated

Subseries 2.3: Education, 1938-1946

Subseries 2.4: Employment Records, 1948-1961, undated

Subseries 2.5: Family Papers, 1945-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6: Press, 1960-2015, undated

Subseries 2.7: Archive, 1972-2015, undated

Subseries 2.8: Campaign, 1959-2015, undated

Subseries 2.9: Financial Papers, 1952-2015

Subseries 2.10: Legal Papers, 1950-2015, undated

Subseries 2.11: Business Records, 1941-2006, undated

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-2003, undated

Subseries 3.1: Library of Congress, 1960-1964

Subseries 3.2: Newport Folk Festival, 1965-1969

Subseries 3.3: Hemisfair, 1968

Subseries 3.4: Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American Folklife 1966-1980, undated

Subseries 3.5: Other Blues Project, 2001-2003, undated

Series 4: Manuscripts and Writings, 1952-2015, undated

Subseries 4.1: Almost A Savage Joy, 1959-1980

Subseries 4.2: Another Fine Mess, 1981-1987, undated

Subseries 4.3: Blues: A New Look, 1965-1984, undated

Subseries 4.4: Blues Odyssey, 1971, undated

Subseries 4.5: Death and Tragedy, 1975-1980, undated

Subseries 4.6: Down in Texas Blues, undated

Subseries 4.7: Folk Songs of Men, 1952-1977, undated

Subseries 4.8: Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, 1958-1976, undated

Subseries 4.9: Henry Thomas, 1975-2002, undated

Subseries 4.10: Ira, George, Edward, and Lee, 1994, undated

Subseries 4.11: The Magic Room, 1961-1962, undated

Subseries 4.12: Origin of Blues, 1991-2004, undated

Subseries 4.13: Snake in the Belly, 1956-1957, undated

Subseries 4.14: Wiley, 1957-1984, undated

Subseries 4.15: Articles, Ideas and Drafts, 1961-2004, undated

Series 5: Artist Files, 1880-2010, undated

Series 6: Texas Blues Research, 1858-2011, undated

Subseries 6.1: Texas Blues Research, 1910-2010, undated

Subseries 6.2: Lead Files, 1962-1980, undated

Subseries 6.3: Trip Notes, 1960-1989, undated

Subseries 6.4: Song Histories, 1920-1982, undated

Subseries 6.5: Music, 1928-2011, undated

Subseries 6.6: Record Catalogs, 1963-2006, undated

Subseries 6.7: Maps, 1958-1989, undated

Series 7: Robert Johnson, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.1: Research Materials, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.2: Who Killed Robert Johnson Manuscript, 1955-2015, undated

Series 8: Office Files, 1938-2000, undated

Series 9: Correspondence, 1959-2015, undated

Series 10: Organizations, Groups and Buffs, 1961-2003, undated

Series 11: Festivals and Living Museums, 1960-2003, undated

Series 12: Music Journals, 1971-2006, undated

Series 13: Subject Files, 1896-2015, undated

Series 14: People Files, 1928-2014, undated

Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files, 1941-2007, undated

Biographical / Historical:

Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930-November 18, 2015) was a self-taught folklorist who spent a lifetime researching, collecting, and writing about vernacular music in the United States. Most of his work focused on the blues and other musical traditions of Black, brown, and white communities living throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After experiencing a difficult, transient childhood and eventually dropping out of high school, McCormick settled in Houston, Texas and began to work a series of odd jobs while relentlessly pursuing his goal of becoming a successful writer. Although researching and writing about music came to occupy most of his time, he also pursued passions as a screenwriter and novelist. The volume of historical research and personal interviews he conducted from the 1950s through the early 1970s is remarkable, and his published writings during this period about music and the musicians he doggedly studied were lauded by his peers as among the best in the field. Along the way he worked for a time as a manager for the careers of the Texas songsters Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, and briefly ran his own record label. He made hundreds of hours of field recordings with musicians living throughout the South. He collaborated with colleagues such as Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, and Paul Oliver, with whom McCormick spent over a decade researching and writing a manuscript on the history of Texas Blues. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as a field worker for its annual Festival of American Folklife, and around the same time began researching the life of blues legend Robert Johnson for a manuscript that McCormick wrote and re-wrote but failed to publish in his lifetime.

McCormick's research, along with his personal archive, became the stuff of legend among fellow blues researchers and enthusiasts, particularly after his publishing output dwindled in the 1970s. He lived with a bipolar disorder that drew him into bouts of depression and paranoia. He came to distrust many of those colleagues working most closely with him, and sometimes shared untrue information to throw them off the trail of his research discoveries. He also "borrowed" heirloom photographs from the family members and descendants of blues artists and, in several cases documented in this collection, he refused to return them. Overcome with challenges that lay both within and without his control, he came to describe the massive archive in his Houston, Texas home as "the monster," and spent his final decades attempting with little success to publish his writings.

Related Materials:

National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

W. C. Handy Collection, NMAH.AC.0132

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 3, African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 16: Country, Western, and Folk Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints, NMAH.AC.0389

Program in African American Culture Collection, NMAH.AC.0408

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415

Alan Strauber Photoprints, 1990-1994, 1999, NMAH.AC.0517

Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, NMAH.AC.0551

Ray McKinley Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0635

Bluestime Power Hour Videotapes, NMAH.AC.0657

Edward and Gaye Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Bill Holman Collection, NMAH.AC.0733

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Arrangements, NMAH.AC.0740

Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0797

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

William Russo Music and Personal Papers, NMAH.AC.0845

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

Bobby Tucker Papers, NMAH.AC.1141

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC1222

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC1323

Maceo Jefferson Papers, NMAH.AC1370

Jazz and Big Band Collection, 1927-1966, NMAH.AC.1388

Nick Reynolds Kingston Trio Papers, NMAH.AC.1472

McIntire Family Hawaiian Entertainers Collection, NMAH.AC.1511

Native Peoples Musicians and Music Collection, NMAH.AC.1512

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Arhoolie Business Records and Audio Recordings, 1960-2016, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, 1926-1986, CFCH.ASCH

CFCH Audiovisual Projects, 2011-2018, CFCH.AVPR

Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-1969, CFCH.DAVIE

Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, 1945-1959, CFCH.RAMS

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, 1950-1994, CFCH.RINZ

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1968

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1969

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1970 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1970

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1972

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1973 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1973

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1974

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1975

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1976 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1976

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1983 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1983

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1985

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1987 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1987

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1988

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1989

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1991 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1991

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1996

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1997

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2011 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.2011

Smithsonian Institution

Division of Performing Arts Records, 1966-1979, Accession T90055

Office of Public Affairs, Biographical Files, 1963-1988, Record Unit 420, SIA.FARU0420

National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, 1968-1992, Record Unit 584, SIA.FARU0584

Smithsonian Productions, 1967-2000, undated, SIA.FA09-055

Separated Materials:

National Museum of American History's Division of Culture and the Arts

Artifacts acquired as part of the collection include:

Washburn style G guitar, serial number 46472, Accession number 2019.0234.01.

Set of quills (or panpipes) made and played by blues artist Joe Patterson. Accession number 2019.0234.02.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Audio recordings acquired as part of the collection are listed in The Guide to the Mack McCormick Audio Tapes Collection prepared by Jeff Place, 2020-2022.

Provenance:

Collection donated by Susannah Nix to the Archives Center in 2019.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Access to original materials in boxes 76-80 is prohibited. Researchers must use digital copies.

Additional materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.

Rights:

Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Occupation:

African American musicians  Search this

Topic:

Drafts (documents)  Search this

Blues (Music)  Search this

Blues musicians  Search this

Photographs  Search this

Postcards -- 20th century  Search this

telephone -- Directories  Search this

Plays  Search this

African American music -- 20th century  Search this

Sharecropping  Search this

Plantations  Search this

Zydeco music  Search this

Commercial recordings  Search this

Piano music (Barrelhouse)  Search this

Genealogy  Search this

African Americans -- Texas  Search this

Songsters  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Delta (Miss. : Region)  Search this

Rodeos -- United States  Search this

Prisons -- Songs and music  Search this

Festival of American Folklife -- History  Search this

Festival of American Folklife -- Planning  Search this

Street scenes  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Texas.  Search this

African Americans -- Folklore  Search this

American South  Search this

African American -- Social life and customs  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Mississippi.  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Alabama.  Search this

Blues (Music) -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this

Conjunto music  Search this

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Folk music -- United States  Search this

Ethnomusicology -- History  Search this

Sound recordings  Search this

Sound recording and reproduction  Search this

Tejano music  Search this

Transcripts  Search this

Folklorists  Search this

Zydeco musicians  Search this

Musicians, Cajun  Search this

Folk music -- United States -- History and criticism.  Search this

Music -- History and criticism  Search this

Festival of American Folklife  Search this

African Americans -- Alabama -- Music  Search this

Guitar -- 20th century  Search this

Guitar music  Search this

Guitarists  Search this

Country musicians  Search this

Sound recording executives and producers -- United States -- Biography.  Search this

Sound recording industry  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Southern States.  Search this

Blues musicians -- United States -- Interviews.  Search this

Hawaiian guitar  Search this

Hawaiian guitar music  Search this

African American farmers  Search this

Sharecroppers  Search this

Labor -- Southern states -- 20th century  Search this

manuscripts -- Editing  Search this

African Americans -- Songs and music  Search this

Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this

African American prisoners  Search this

Crafts  Search this

Museum outreach programs  Search this

Folk music -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this

Black people -- Race identity  Search this

Race discrimination -- United States  Search this

Sound recordings -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Genre/Form:

Business cards

Compact discs

Contracts

Correspondence

Folklore

Newspaper clippings

Posters

Road maps -- United States

Television scripts

Ephemera -- 20th century

Black-and-white negatives

Contact sheets -- 20th cenury

Color slides -- 20th century

Business records -- 20th century

Family papers -- 20th century

Resumes

Diaries -- 20th century

Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century

Financial records -- 20th century

Audio cassettes -- 20th century

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Playbills

Field recordings

Writings -- 20th century

Transcripts -- 20th century

Manuscripts for publication

Manuscripts -- 20th century

Color negatives

Negatives -- 20th century

Articles -- 20th century

Citation:

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Sponsor:

Digitization of Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs, and Slides was made possible by Andrew and Anya Shiva.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1485

See more items in:

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d0d0dd0-eaee-4e5e-9e87-ebca1a5d86d7

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1485

Creator:

Brooks, James, 1906-1992  Search this

Subject:

Gottlieb, Adolph  Search this

Bolotowsky, Ilya  Search this

Park, Charlotte  Search this

King, William  Search this

Guston, Philip  Search this

New York University  Search this

Southern Methodist University  Search this

United States. Army  Search this

Kootz Gallery (N.Y.)  Search this

Type:

Sketchbooks

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Interviews

Drawings

Photographs

Diaries

Citation:

James Brooks and Charlotte Park papers, 1909-2010, bulk 1930-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

World War, 1939-1945  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Theme:

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)8955

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211142

AAA_collcode_broojame

Theme:

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211142

Creator:

Brooks, James, 1906-1992  Search this

Names:

Kootz Gallery (N.Y.)  Search this

New York University -- Students  Search this

Southern Methodist University -- Students  Search this

United States. Army  Search this

Bolotowsky, Ilya, 1907-1981  Search this

Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974  Search this

Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this

King, William, 1925-2015  Search this

Park, Charlotte  Search this

Extent:

20.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Interviews

Drawings

Photographs

Diaries

Date:

1909-2010

bulk 1930-2010

Summary:

The papers of Abstract Expressionist painters James Brooks and Charlotte Park measure 18.7 linear feet and are dated 1909-2010, bulk 1930-2010. Correspondence, subject files, personal business records, printed material, and a sound recording document his painting career, interests, professional and personal activities. Also found are biographical materials, interviews, writings, and art work. The collection also includes papers of his wife, Abstract Expressionist painter Charlotte Park, regarding her painting career, personal life, activities as executor of James Brooks' estate, and some material concerning the James Brooks and Charlotte Park Brooks Foundation. There is a 1.4 linear foot addition to this collection donated in 2017 that includes 58 "week-at-a-glance" appointment books, three journals and one address/ telephone book of Charlotte Park; a hand written chronology with significant dates and notes; postcards and exhibition announcements sent to Charlotte and James; doodles; and a sketch, possibly by Don Kingman.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Abstract Expressionist painters James Brooks and Charlotte Park measure 18.7 linear feet and are dated 1909-2010, bulk 1930-2010. Correspondence, subject files, personal business records, printed material, and a sound recording document his painting career, interests, professional and personal activities. Also found are biographical materials, interviews, writings, and art work. The collection also includes papers of his wife, Abstract Expressionist painter Charlotte Park, regarding her painting career, personal life, activities as executor of James Brooks' estate, and some material concerning the James Brooks and Charlotte Park Brooks Foundation. There is a 1.4 linear foot addition to this collection donated in 2017 that includes 58 "week-at-a-glance" appointment books, three journals and one address/ telephone book of Charlotte Park; a hand written chronology with significant dates and notes; postcards and exhibition announcements sent to Charlotte and James; doodles; and a sketch, possibly by Don Kingman.

Biographical materials include biographical notes and documents such as copies of birth and death certificates, curricula vitae, family history. Educational records are from Southern Methodist University and documentation of flight training courses at New York University. Brooks' military service in World War II is well documented by United States Army records with related correspondence. Also found is extensive documentation of his death and funeral.

Professional and personal correspondence is addressed to Brooks, the couple, and to Charlotte Park during the later years of Brooks' life when she managed his affairs. A significant amount of correspondence is categorized as art, autograph requests, personal, and teaching; also include is general correspondence that overlaps all categories. Art correspondence with museums, galleries, collectors, artists, and friends concerns exhibitions, Brooks' work, and invitations to exhibit, speak, or serve as a juror. Of note is the correspondence with Samuel M. Kootz Gallery. The personal correspondence is mainly social, and teaching correspondence consists largely of requests that he teach in summer programs, serve as a visiting artist/critic.

Six interviews with James Brooks are in the form of published and unpublished transcripts; a seventh is a sound recording with no known transcript. Charlotte Park participates in one interview.

Writings by Brooks are statements about his work and a tribute to Ilya Bolotowsky. Among the writings by others about Brooks are a catalog essay, academic papers, and lecture; also found are a few short pieces on miscellaneous topics. Three diaries include brief entries regarding his work, exhibitions, and activities.

Subject files maintained by Brooks concerning organizations, exhibitions, mural projects, a commission and teaching document his professional activities, relationships and interests. Personal business records concern appraisals, conservation, gifts, insurance, loans, sales, shipping, and storage of artwork. Gallery records include agreements, consignments, lists, and receipts. Also, there are accounts for lettering work and personal income tax returns.

Printed material is mostly exhibition announcements, invitations, catalogs, and checklists, as well as articles and reviews. The majority are about/mention Brooks or include reproductions of his work; some concern artist friends, former students, and others.

Artwork by Brooks consists of pencil and ink drawings, two sketchbooks, and "telephone doodles." Other artists include Adolph Gottlieb (ink drawing of sculpture), Philip Guston (three pencil drawings of Brooks), and William King (two silhouettes of Brooks).

Photographic materials (photographs, digital prints, negatives, slides, and color transparencies) provide extensive documentation of Brooks' artwork and, to a lesser extent, exhibitions.There are pictures of Brooks as a very young boy, though the most views of him date from the 1930s through 1980s, and with friends. Places include Brooks' homes and studios in Montauk, New York and the Springs, East Hampton, New York; travel to Maine, Oregon and California. Views of the Middle East from World War II show Brooks with colleagues, local people engaged in daily activities, and scenery. Also of note are a copy print of "The Irascibles" by Nina Leen, and attendees at the dedication of Flight dining in view of Brook's LaGuardia Ariport mural.

Charlotte Park papers document the professional career and personal life of the Abstract Expressionist painter, art teacher, and wife of James Brooks through correspondence, personal business records, exhibition records, printed material, and photographs. In addition, this series documents artwork in the estate of James Brooks and posthumous exhibitions. Twelve years younger than her husband, Park began handling business matters for him as he aged and developed Alzheimer's disease. She also served as his executor. In the 1990s, a curator assumed management of the artwork and loans for exhibitions. After the James Brooks and Charlotte Park Brooks Foundation was established in 2000, its director handled most business activities. Some copies of Foundation minutes and correspondence are found among Park's papers.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in 11 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1924-1995 (Box 1, OV 19; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1928-1995 (Boxes 1-3; 1.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Interviews, 1965-1990 (Box 3; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, 1952-1999 (Box 3; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 5: Diaries, 1975-1984 (Box 3; 0.1 linear feet)

Series 6: Subject Files, 1926-2001 (Boxes 3-5, OV 20; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 7: Personal Business Records, 1932-1992 (Boxes 5-6; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1928-1992 (Boxes 6-11, OV 21-OV 22; 4.8 linear feet)

Series 9: Artwork, 1930s-1992 (Box 11; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 10: Photographic Materials, 1909-2000s (Boxes 11-15; 4.1 linear feet)

Series 11: Charlotte Park papers, 1930s-2010 (Boxes 15-18, OV 23; 3.6 linear feet)

Series 12: Unprocessed Additition, circa 1930-2010 (Boxes 25-26; 1.4 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

James Brooks (1906-1992) and Charlotte Park (1919-2010) were Abstract Expressionist painters in East Hampton, N.Y. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Brooks spent his childhood in Colorado, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Texas. He begn drawing as a young boy, finding inspiration in magazine illustrations and comic strips. Before moving to New York City in 1926, he studied at Southern Methodist University (1923-1924) and at the Dallas Art Institute.

In New York, Brooks studied illustration at the Grand Central Art School. After exposure to museums led him to differentiate between illustration and fine art, Brooks enrolled at Art Students League. During this period he supported himself by doing lettering for magazine advertisements. From 1936-1942 he participated in the WPA Federal Art Project, executing murals at Woodside Library, Queens, New York (destroyed); the Post Office, Little Falls, New Jersey; and his famous Flight at LaGuardia Airport's Marine Air Terminal (painted over in the 1950s and restored in 1980).

During World War II Brooks served in the United States Army as an art correspondent in Cairo. When at the Office of Special Services, Washington, DC, he met Charlotte Park who worked there as a graphic artist and later became his wife. The couple moved to New York City in 1945 and married in 1947. Brooks resumed friendships with artists he knew from the WPA including Philip Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, and Jackson Pollock. Brooks and Park were especially close with Pollock and Lee Krasner; after they moved to Long Island, Brooks and Park, soon followed, first to Montauk and later to the Springs, East Hampton, New York.

By the late 1940s, Brooks had turned away from figural painting in the social realist style and moved toward abstraction. In the early 1950s, he was experimenting with enamel, gouache, and diluted oil paints, staining various grounds in ways that produced interesting shapes, adding spontaneous splashes of color over which he painted more deliberately. In the 1960s he switched to acrylics, leading to wider use of color and broader strokes.

Peridot Gallery presented Brooks' first solo exhibition in 1949. He helped organize and participated in the famous Ninth Street Show of 1951, earning critical acclaim. This assured him a place in two of the Museum of Modern Art's most important exhibitions of the period, Twelve Americans (1956) and New American Painting (1958). He showed at the Stable Gallery, Kootz Gallery, Martha Jackson Gallery and others. During his lifetime Brooks enjoyed five traveling retrospective exhibitions.

Prizes and awards included Carnegie Institute's Pittsburgh International Exhibition 5th prize for painting (1952), The Art Institue of Chicago's 62nd American Exhibition Logan Medal and Prize for Painting (1957) and 64th American Exhibition Harris Prize (1961), The National Arts Club Medal (1985), and a citation of appreciation for Flight from The North Beach Club Marine Air Terminal, LaGuardia Airport (1986).

Brooks taught for nearly three decades: drawing at Columbia University (1947-1948) and lettering at Pratt Institute (1948-1955); was a visiting critic, Yale University (1955-1960), University of Pennsylvania (1971-1972), and Cooper Union (1975); and served on the Queens College faculty (1966-1969). In addition, he was an artist-in-residence at The American Academy in Rome (1963), the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969), and a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant (1973).

Brooks developed Alzheimer's disease around 1985 and died in East Hampton, New York in 1992.

Charlotte Park graduated from the Yale School of Fine Art (1939) and during World War II, when working in Washington, D.C., she met James Brooks. They moved to New York City in 1945, where she studied with Australian artist Wallace Harrison. Park taught children's art classes at several private schools in the early 1950s and at the Museum of Modern Art, 1955-1967.

Park's approach to Abstract Expressionism featured curved or linear shapes with vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes. Tanager Gallery presented her first solo show in 1957 and her work was included in numerous group exhibitions from the 1950s through 2000s, mainly in New York City and Long Island. After Park's second solo exhibition, held in 1973 at Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York, interest in her work revived; other one-person shows followed at Guild Hall (1979), Ingber Gallery (1980), and paired with James Brooks at Louise Himelfarb Gallery. The National Institute of Arts and Letters honored Park with its Art Award in 1974. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Parrish Art Museum, Guild Hall Museum, Telfair Museum of Art, and in many private collections.

Charlotte Park died in 2010.

Related Materials:

Also among the Archives of American Art's holdings are letters from James Brooks and Sean Scully, 1980-1989 addressed to Theodora ["Teddy"] S. Greenbaum, and an oral history interview with James Brooks conducted by Dorothy Seckler, 1965 June 10 and June 12.

Separated Materials:

Correspondence, interview transcripts, photographs, and printed material were loaned by James Brooks for microfilming in 1969 (reel N69-132). With the exception of an address book, a scrapbook, and a few photographs, Brooks donated almost all of the loan in 1979.

Provenance:

The majority of the collection was donated in 2013 by the James Brooks and Charlotte Brooks Foundation and an additional 1.4 linear feet donated 2017 by the Foundation. In 1979 James Brooks donated most of the material lent for microfilming in 1969.

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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

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.

Topic:

World War, 1939-1945  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Interviews

Drawings

Photographs

Diaries

Citation:

James Brooks and Charlotte Park papers, 1909-2010, bulk 1930-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.broojame

See more items in:

James Brooks and Charlotte Park papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw948fd3af3-1ae9-4a9a-af05-4ef35e505b4a

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-broojame

Creator:

Blaine, Nell Blair Walden, 1922-1996  Search this

Subject:

Griffin, Howard  Search this

Harris, Carolyn  Search this

Citation:

Nell Blaine papers, 1879, 1940-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women printmakers  Search this

Scrapbooks  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)7214

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209351

AAA_collcode_blainell

Theme:

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209351

Creator:

Wosk, Miriam, 1947-2010  Search this

Names:

Gehry, Frank O., 1929-  Search this

Extent:

17 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Drawings

Diaries

Date:

1961-2013

Summary:

The papers of illustrator and artist Miriam Wosk measure 17 linear feet and date from 1961 to 2013. The collection includes biographical material, personal and professional correspondence, diaries, dream journals, writings, personal business records, scrapbooks, printed material, sketchbooks, sketches, photographic material, and photograph albums.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of illustrator and artist Miriam Wosk measure 17 linear feet and date from 1961 to 2013. The collection includes biographical material, personal and professional correspondence, diaries, dream journals, writings, personal business records, scrapbooks, printed material, sketchbooks, sketches, photographic material, and photograph albums.

Biographical material consists of an address book, interview transcript, driver's license, stationary, a short documentary about Miriam Wosk, two guest books for exhibitions, resumes, and other documents.

Correspondence includes personal and professional correspondence with friends, family, artists, galleries, and museums. There is a substantial amount of correspondence with Wosk's brothers and parents.

The bulk of the written material in this collection is comprised of diaries and journals. There are 25 diaries from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, one "dream workbook," and 26 "dreamwork journals" from the late 1980s to 2010. Aside from the diaries and journals, there are a few scattered writings such as artist statements, essays, loose journal entries, notebooks on Wosk's art practice, and also one folder of writings by others.

Personal business records mostly contain documents regarding the finances, management, and disposition of Miriam Wosks artwork in the form of sales records, registries, donations, price lists, and inventories. Other material in the series includes files on special design projects and studio practice files. There are also architectural plans and design plans for the remodeling of several of Wosk's residences.

There are 3 scrapbooks of printed material about Miriam Wosk and her art, and 12 scrapbooks of clippings of miscellaneous images, mostly art by other artists, that she found to be of interest.

Printed material includes exhibition announcements and catalogs, clippings, and magazines. Clippings make up the bulk of this series and they are divided into two categories: interviews and articles about Miriam Wosk, her art, and her residences; and illustrations created by Wosk for various magazines during the 1970s.

Artwork mostly consists of sketchbooks, loose sketches, and studies. The sketchbooks often include journal entries and notes.

Photographic material includes photographs, slides, transparencies, albums, and a few digital images. The vast majority of this series consists of images of Miriam Wosk's artwork from the late 1960s to 2009, with a few photographs of the artist and her houses. There are some snapshots of artwork by other artists which Wosk probably took for reference.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged as 8 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1968-2010 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1967-2009 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 14)

Series 3: Diaries, Journals, and Writings, 1961-2009 (4.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-7)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1969-2013 (1.7 linear feet; Box 7, OVs 21-29)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, circa 1970-2010 (2 linear feet; Boxes 8, 14-18, 20)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1968-2013 (1 linear feet; Boxes 8, 19-20)

Series 7: Artwork, circa 1970-2010 (2 linear feet; Boxes 9, 19, OVs 30-37)

Series 8: Photographic Material, circa 1970-circa 2009 (4 linear feet; Boxes 10-13, 20)

Biographical / Historical:

Miriam Wosk (1947-2010) was an illustrator and mixed media artist in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California. She was born in Vancouver, Canada to Morris and Dena Wosk. Wosk moved to New York City when she was 19 so she could attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she studied illustration.

She became a freelance illustrator and did work for many magazines, including Mademoiselle, The New York Times, and Vogue. Especially noteworthy is the cover that she designed of the first issue of Ms. Magazine in 1971. She continued her work as an illustrator through the 1970s and then moved to Los Angles, California, and transitioned to focus on her career as an artist.

In 1981, she commissioned architect Frank Gehry to redesign the apartment building she bought in Beverly Hills, with special focus on the penthouse where she would live. Wosk's creative vision transformed the remodeling project into a collaboration and she gave Gehry design plans for the tiles, stair railings, and other features of the residence. Wosk would hire architects for other properties she owned as well.

Once in California, Wosk immersed herself in her artistic career and went on to become a highly respected mixed media artist, frequently working with paint, pastel, and collage. Her artwork often incorporated a variety of materials such as crystals, wire, foil, clippings, glitter, postcards, and found objects. Her work is often described as Surrealist. Dreams and the natural world are often themes in her art. Wosk's artwork was featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions in California, New York, and across the country. In 2010, she died in Santa Monica, California.

Provenance:

The Miriam Wosk papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2013 and 2019 by the Miriam Wosk Family trust via Adam Gunther, Wosk's son and trustee of her estate.

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 in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Rights:

The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own.

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:

Illustrators -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Mixed-media artists -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Drawings

Diaries

Citation:

Miriam Wosk papers, 1961-2013. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by Adam Gunther and in part by the Walton Family Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.woskmiri

See more items in:

Miriam Wosk papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9cd274db2-de51-441e-b979-13a9c5b6a62a

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-woskmiri

Collection Creator:

Wosk, Miriam, 1947-2010  Search this

Extent:

1 Linear foot (Boxes 8, 19-20)

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1968-2013

Scope and Contents:

This series contains a range of printed material such as exhibition announcements and catalogs, clippings, and magazines. Clippings make up the bulk of this series and they are divided into two categories: interviews and articles about Miriam Work, her art, and her residences (notably the condo redesigned by architect Frank Gehry, although there are articles on other properties as well); and Wosk's illustrations during the 1970s for various magazines such as Mademoiselle, Ms., The New York Times, and Vogue.

Arrangement:

The clippings about Miriam Wosk are arranged in chronological order at the beginning of the series, followed by clippings of her illustrative work for magazines. The rest of the series is arranged in alphabetical order by type of printed material, i.e., exhibition catalogs, magazines, etc.

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 in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Collection Rights:

The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own.

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:

Miriam Wosk papers, 1961-2013. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by Adam Gunther and in part by the Walton Family Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.woskmiri, Series 6

See more items in:

Miriam Wosk papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9dcb4e633-bd71-44b1-a1aa-47f3bd56f8ca

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-woskmiri-ref240

Creator:

Blaine, Nell, 1922-1996  Search this

Names:

Griffin, Howard, 1915-1975  Search this

Harris, Carolyn, 1937-  Search this

Extent:

2.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1879

1940-1985

Summary:

The papers of New York painter, illustrator, and printmaker Nell Blaine measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1879 (a single publication), and 1940-1985. The collection provides scattered documentation of Blaine's life and career through biographical material, correspondence, writings, business records, printed material, scattered artwork, and photographs. Also included in the collection are papers relating to the estate of Blaine's friend, Howard Griffin.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of New York painter, illustrator, and printmaker Nell Blaine measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1879 (a single publication), and 1940-1985. The collection provides scattered documentation of Blaine's life, career, and relationships within the art world through biographical material, correspondence, writings, business records, printed material, scattered artwork, and photographs depicting Blaine's exhibitions, friends, homes, studios, and artwork. Also included in the collection are papers relating to the estate of Blaine's friend, Howard Griffin. A large proportion of the collection consists of photocopies of original papers and is annotated with Blaine's notes explaining the context and significance of many of the papers.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 7 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1950s-1985 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1879, 1940-1985 (0.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1940s-1980s (0.1; Box 2)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1949-1983 (0.4 linear feet; Box 2)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1940s-1980s (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3, OV 5)

Series 6: Artwork, circa 1950s-1984 (0.1 Linear feet; Box 3, OV 5)

Series 7: Photographs, 1940s-1980s (0.4 Linear feet; Boxes 3-4)

Biographical / Historical:

Nell Blaine (1922-1996) was a painter, printmaker, and illustrator from Richmond, Virginia, who was active in New York City, New York, and Gloucester Massachusetts. Blaine's early work was abstract, and later evolved to figurative and landscape painting.

Blaine was born in 1922 with severe visual impairments. She received corrective surgery as a child and quickly found a desire to draw and paint what she was finally able to see. Her art education began at the Richmond School of Art and later moved to New York City where she studied under Hans Hofmann. By 1943 Blaine had joined the American Abstract Artists group as the group's youngest member at the age of 21. This association led to her first solo exhibition at Jane Street Gallery, an early artists' cooperative, in 1945. Blaine was a founding member of the Greenwich Village gallery, and her circle of friends included New York artists and poets such as John Ashbery, Leland Bell, Rudy Burckhardt, Willem de Kooning, Robert De Niro Sr., Jane Freilicher, Kenneth Koch, Lee Krasner, Frank O'Hara, and Louisa Matthiasdottir. From 1943-1949 Blaine was married to musician Bob Bass. Blaine exhibited solo at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1953 and was represented by the Poindexter Gallery and the Fischbach Gallery.

In the 1950s, Blaine moved to Paris where she lived with friends including Larry Rivers. She was also a close friend of poet and art writer Howard Griffin, and illustrated a limited edition of his Four Poems and served as executrix of his estate.

In 1959, Blaine contracted polio while traveling in Greece. She used a wheelchair for the rest of her life but was able to resume painting after intense rehabilitation to regain the use of her hands.

By the mid-1970s Blaine had moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts where she maintained a summer home for the rest of her life, while also sharing an apartment and studio in New York with artist Carolyn Harris, who was her partner for over thirty years.

Nell Blaine died in 1996 in New York City.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art are an interview of Nell Blaine conducted 1967 June 15, by Dorothy Seckler, and the Nell Blaine letters to Robert A. Wilson, 1963-1995.

Additional papers of Nell Blaine are also held by Harvard University.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of scrapbooks loaned for microfilming on reel D311. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Nell Blaine loaned a portion of her papers for microfilming on reel D311. She later donated her papers to the Archives of American Art in 1980 and 1985. The Howard Griffin papers included in the collection were received by Blaine as executrix of Griffin's estate.

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.

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:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painters -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester  Search this

Printmakers -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester  Search this

Illustrators -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester  Search this

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women printmakers  Search this

Scrapbooks  Search this

Citation:

Nell Blaine papers, 1879, 1940-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Processing of this collection received Federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Walton Family Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.blainell

See more items in:

Nell Blaine papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93f378bff-2465-43a6-a48b-3458d786cce4

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-blainell

Creator:

Nathan, Emily S., 1907-1999  Search this

De Creeft, José, 1884-1982  Search this

Subject:

Lerner, Abram  Search this

Goldberg, Rube, 1883-1970  Search this

Spyropoulous, Jannis  Search this

Johns, Jasper  Search this

Rothko, Mark  Search this

Smith, Tony  Search this

Namuth, Hans  Search this

McLanathan, Richard B. K.  Search this

Woolfenden, William E. (William Edward)  Search this

De Creeft, José  Search this

Hirshhorn, Joseph H.  Search this

Towle Mfg. Company  Search this

Smithsonian Institution  Search this

Archives of American Art  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Emily Nathan papers, circa 1943-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Roosters -- Pictorial works  Search this

Roosters -- Anecdotes  Search this

Caricatures and cartoons  Search this

Art, American  Search this

Inventors -- Interviews  Search this

Archives -- Public relations  Search this

Museums -- Public relations  Search this

Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Art and industry  Search this

Theme:

Research and writing about art  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)8071

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)210242

AAA_collcode_nathemil2

Theme:

Research and writing about art

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_210242

Creator:

Treiman, Joyce  Search this

Extent:

4.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Date:

1942-1990

Scope and Contents:

Biographical material, undated and 1980; correspondence with galleries, museums, publishers, artists, and critics, 1951-1990, including Leonard Baskin, Richard Diebenkorn, Grant Holcomb, Bella Fishko, Theodore Wolff, Ernest Fiene, and others; business and financial records, 1955-1979; writings and notes, including personal journals and illustrated travel journals, undated and 1968-1989; artworks, including a pen and ink drawing and 3 sketchbooks, 1970-1977; five scrapbooks, 1942-1960, containing articles, bulletins, and clippings; exhibition catalogs and announcements, undated and 1940-1980s; clippings and articles undated and 1955-1986, photographs and slides of Treiman and her work, undated and 1960-1981;

2 U-matic video interviews of Treiman, including "Joyce Treiman: Painter," interview with Bob Pelfrey, Apr. 1978, 37 min., at Barnstall Municipal Gallery, L.A., and a Univ. of Minn. Media Resources production, "Undercurrents in American Art: Joyce Treiman," 1981, 7 min.; a motion picture film (silent, color, 22 min., also available on VHS videocassette), "Joyce Treiman, 1955-1958" shows Treiman at work and many close-up shots of paintings; a sound tape of Irving Block's senior seminar, UCLA, 1985; a 26 p. transcript of an interview conducted by Lucy Sargeant, 1980; and a file on the exhibition and symposium "Personal Realities in American Painting," Minneapolis, Minn, 1981.

Biographical / Historical:

Painter, sculptor; Chicago, Ill. and Los Angeles, Calif.

Provenance:

Donated by Joyce Treiman, 1973-1990.

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:

Painters -- California  Search this

Sculptors -- California  Search this

Topic:

Painting, American -- California  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Identifier:

AAA.treijoyc

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9aa0f92b8-cbb4-4ec0-bf65-7bc5d654e018

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-treijoyc

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2016-05-18T16:15:39.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_Xxa2Ti8zZHg

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2013-06-17T20:33:51.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_oqoUfckjflY

Creator:

Kepes, Gyorgy, 1906-2001  Search this

Names:

Center for Advanced Visual Studies  Search this

Illinois Institute of Technology  Search this

Saidenberg Gallery  Search this

Triennale di Milano (Milan, Italy)  Search this

Arnheim, Rudolf  Search this

Bertoia, Harry  Search this

Blee, Michael  Search this

Boghosian, Varujan  Search this

Brazdys, Konslancija  Search this

Burgess, Lowry, 1940-  Search this

Burnham, Jack, 1931-  Search this

Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976  Search this

Chermayeff, Serge, 1900-  Search this

Dreyfuss, Henry, 1904-1972  Search this

Eames, Charles  Search this

Eames, Ray  Search this

Egawa, Kazuhiko  Search this

Entwhistle, Clive  Search this

Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster), 1895-  Search this

Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969  Search this

Hayter, Stanley William, 1901-1988  Search this

Hélion, Jean, 1904-1987  Search this

Johnson, Philip, 1906-2005  Search this

Kepes, Juliet  Search this

Kowalski, Piotry  Search this

Lynch, Kevin, 1918-1984  Search this

McLuhan, Marshall, 1911-1980  Search this

Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978  Search this

Moholy-Nagy, László, 1895-1946  Search this

Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl, 1905-  Search this

Nusberg, Lev, 1937-  Search this

Osborn, Robert Chesley, 1904-1994  Search this

Piene, Otto, 1928-  Search this

Read, Herbert Edward, Sir, 1893-1968  Search this

Richards, I. A. (Ivor Armstrong), 1893-1979  Search this

Rickey, George  Search this

Saarinen, Eero, 1910-1961  Search this

Sonfist, Alan  Search this

Steinberg, Saul  Search this

Tacha, Athena, 1936-  Search this

Takis, Vassilakis  Search this

Tange, Kenzō, 1913-  Search this

Thiel, Philip  Search this

Tovish, Harold, 1921-2008  Search this

Tsʻai, Wen-ying, 1928-  Search this

Wolff, Robert Jay, 1905-  Search this

Wurster, William Wilson  Search this

Zvilna, Jēkabs, 1913-1997  Search this

Faculty:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Search this

Extent:

21.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Caricatures

Designs

Photographs

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Sound recordings

Place:

Times Square (New York, N.Y.)

Date:

1909-2003

bulk 1935-1985

Summary:

The papers of Hungarian-born artist, art theorist, and educator, Gyorgy Kepes, measure 21.2 linear feet and date from 1909-2003, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1935-1985. The papers document Kepes's career as an artist and educator, and as founder of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), through biographical material, correspondence, writings by Kepes and others, project files, exhibition files, printed material, sketchbooks, artwork, sound recordings and motion picture films, and photographic material.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Hungarian-born artist, art theorist, and educator, Gyorgy Kepes, measure 21.2 linear feet and date from 1909-2003, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1935-1985. The papers document Kepes's career as an artist and educator, and as founder of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), through biographical material, correspondence, writings by Kepes and others, project files, exhibition files, printed material, sketchbooks, artwork, sound recordings and motion picture films, and photographic material.

Correspondence provides a wide range of documentation on all aspects of Kepes's career including his collaborations and friendships with artists, architects, writers, scientists, and fellow educators including Rudolf Arnheim, Alexander Calder, Henry Dreyfuss, Charles and Ray Eames, Clive Entwhistle, R. Buckminster Fuller, Walter Gropius, S. W. Hayter, Jean Hélion, Laszlo and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, Lev Nussberg, Robert Osborn, George Rickey, Saul Steinberg, Kenzo Tange, Robert Jay Wolff, and Jekabs Zvilna. Correspondence also documents the evolution of Kepes's vision for the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, which he established in 1967, and his subsequent leadership of CAVS at M.I.T. Records document his collaborations with students and fellows including Lowry Burgess, Jack Burnham, Piotry Kowalski, Margaret Mead, Otto Piene, Alan Sonfist, Athena Tacha, Vassilakis Takis, Philip Thiel, Harold Tovish, and Wen-Ying Tsai. Correspondents also include people who contributed to Kepes's Vision + Value series, including Michael Blee, Kazuhiko Egawa, Jean Hélion, and others. Correspondence includes three motion picture films, including what appears to be an early version of Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames.

Writings include notes and manuscripts for articles and essays in which Kepes explored ideas evident in his books The New Landscape and Language of Vision, and submitted to publications such as Daedalus, Design, Domus, and Leonardo. Writings also include manuscripts for lectures, and draft manuscripts documenting Kepes's collaborative work with fellow M.I.T. professor Kevin Lynch on city planning, which culminated in Lynch's research project "The Perceptual Form of the City."

A small group of "Times Square Project" files documents Kepes's proposal for a lightscape in Times Square that was ultimately not realized.

Teaching files include sound recordings of circa five symposia and discussions held at M.I.T., the Illinois Institute of Technology, and elsewhere, some featuring Kepes and including Philip Johnson, Eero Saarinen and others.

Exhibition files include documentation of three exhibitions, including Light as a Creative Medium (1968) and a Kepes exhibition at Saidenberg Gallery (1968). They also record Kepes's involvement in designing the 1968 Triennale di Milano.

Printed material includes a substantial collection of announcements and catalogs for Kepes exhibitions, lectures, and other events, and includes catalogs and announcements for scattered exhibitions of his wife, artist and illustrator, Juliet Kepes. Clippings from newspapers and magazines include articles about Kepes, and contain some copies of published writings and designs by him. The series also includes sound recordings and motion picture films containing original material for a CBS television series "The 21st Century," probably as part of the episode "Art for Tomorrow," which appear to feature M.I.T. fellows Jack Burnham and Vassilakis Takis. Another motion picture film of an Italian documentary "Operazione Cometa" can also be found here.

Two sketchbooks contain pen and ink and painted sketches by Kepes. Artwork by Kepes includes original poster designs, caricatures, and many pencil, and pen and ink sketches and paintings on paper and board, including designs for stained glass. Artwork by others includes ink on mylar sketches by D. Judelson and Konstancija Brazdys, and a sketch by Harold Tovish. Also found are circa seventeen motion picture films and four sound recordings, the majority of which are untitled and by unidentified artists, but include films by M.I.T. fellows Otto Piene, Vassilakis Takis, Philip Thiel, Harold Tovish, Wen-Ying Tsai, and others.

Photographs are of Kepes, Juliet Kepes, and other family members; students, colleagues, and friends, including R. Buckminster Fuller, Serge Chermayeff, Harry Bertoia, Varujan Boghosian, Alexander Calder, Marchall McLuhan, Margaret Mead, Herbert Read, I. A. Richards, Saul Steinberg, and William Wurster; and of Kepes in his studio. There are also photos of exhibition installations in which Kepes's work appeared or which he designed, and photos of his artwork and of images for publications which he wrote or edited. Photos by others include artwork by established artists and work by students, as well as photographs arranged by subjects such as cityscapes, forms found in nature, light patterns, mechanical devices, and photomicrographs. A collection of lantern slides with similar content to the photos of artwork and photos by subject is also found in this series and includes a lantern slide of Picasso creating a design with light.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as eleven series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1940-circa 1980 (0.25 linear feet; Boxes 1, 28)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1936-1984 (5.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-7, 28 OV 33, FCs 39-41)

Series 3: Interviews and Transcripts, 1954-1970 (4 folders; Box 7)

Series 4: Writings and Notes, 1948-circa 1980s (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 28)

Series 5: Times Square Project Files, 1972-1974 (6 folders; Box 9)

Series 6: Teaching Files Sound Recordings, circa 1953-1972 (0.7 linear feet; Box 9)

Series 7: Exhibition Files, 1958-1973 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 9-10)

Series 8: Printed Material, circa 1922-1989 (3.6 linear feet; Boxes 10-12, 28-29, OVs 35, 37, FCs 42-49)

Series 9: Sketchbooks, circa 1940s-circa 1970s (2 folders; Box 12)

Series 10: Artwork and Moving Images, circa 1924-2003 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 12, 13, OVs 33-36, 38, FCs 50-62)

Series 11: Photographs, 1909-1988 (10.4 linear feet; Boxes 13-32)

Biographical / Historical:

Painter, designer, art theorist, and educator, Gyorgy Kepes (1906-2001), was born in Selyp, Hungary, and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest. He worked with Moholy-Nagy in Berlin and London before joining him at the New Bauhaus (later the Chicago Institute of Design) in 1937.

Kepes taught courses at the New Bauhaus from 1937 to 1945, and published Language of Vision in 1944, summarizing the educational ideas and methods he had developed during his time at the institute. In 1946 he accepted a teaching position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) where he initiated a program in visual design.

In 1956 Kepes published The New Landscape in Art and Science, in which he presented images from nature that were newly accessible due to developments in science and technology, and explored his ideas for a common language between science and the visual arts.

In 1965, these ideas were apparent in Kepes's proposal of an expanded visual arts program at M.I.T., which would "build new as yet undetermined bridges between art and engineering and science," according to the minutes of an M.I.T. Art Committee meeting in March of that year. Kepes's vision dovetailed with M.I.T.'s vested interest in promoting the arts, and faculty and administrators were open to the argument that "The scientific-technical enterprise needs schooling by the artistic sensibilities." In 1967, they appointed Kepes Director of M.I.T.'s Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS).

Kepes retired from the regular faculty at M.I.T. in 1967, to focus on his role as director of CAVS, where he worked to provide artists with opportunities for exploring new artistic forms on a civic scale through a working dialogue with scientists and engineers. Early fellows of the center included Maryanne Amacher, Joan Brigham, Lowry Burgess, Jack Burnham, Piotry Kowalski, Otto Piene, Vassilakis Takis, and Wen-Ying Tsai.

In 1965-1966 Kepes edited a six-volume series entitled Vision + Value, published by George Braziller, Inc. Each volume featured essays that centered around a core theme: The Education of Vision; Structure in Art and Science; The Nature and Art of Motion; Module, Symmetry, Proportion, Rhythm; Sign, Image, Symbol; and Man-Made Object. Contributions came from prominent artists, designers, architects, and scientists of the time including Rudolf Arnheim, Saul Bass, Marcel Breuer, John Cage, R. Buckminster Fuller, Johannes Itten, Marshall McLuhan, and Paul Rand.

Kepes experimented widely with photography, producing abstract images through the application of fluids and objects to photographic paper. He also took commercial work throughout his career, producing designs for all kinds of objects, including books and stained glass windows for churches. He returned to painting in the 1950s, and his development as a painter continued throughout his career at M.I.T., where he remained until his retirement in 1974, and beyond. His paintings, which were abstract and often incorporated organic shapes and hints of landscapes, can be found in museums such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Kepes received many awards during his lifetime, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1958); the Gold Star Award of the Philadelphia College of Art (1958); the National Association of Art Colleges Annual Award (1968); the California College of Art Award (1968); and the Fine Arts Medal from the American Institute of Architects (1968). In 1973 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an associate member, and became a full academician in 1978. He was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Related Materials:

Additional papers of Gyorgy Kepes can be found at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Visual Studies Special Collection.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel 1211) including ninety-eight letters to Kepes from colleagues, 1946-1974. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Gyorgy Kepes lent papers for microfilming in 1974 and donated material to the Archives of American Art in a series of gifts between 1974 and 1993.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.

Rights:

Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Juliet Kepes Stone or Imre Kepes. Contact Reference Services for more information.

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.

Topic:

Art -- Philosophy  Search this

Artists' studios--Photographs  Search this

City planning  Search this

Educators--Massachusetts--Cambridge  Search this

Motion pictures (visual works)  Search this

Genre/Form:

Caricatures

Designs

Photographs

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Sound recordings

Citation:

Gyorgy Kepes papers, 1909-2003, bulk 1935-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.kepegyor

See more items in:

Gyorgy Kepes papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f863f285-f429-48f1-ba6e-fb74702c12ba

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-kepegyor

Creator:

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Subject:

Benton, Elizabeth Cornell  Search this

Cornell, Robert  Search this

Type:

Photographs

Citation:

Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Celebrities  Search this

Assemblage (Art)  Search this

Found objects (Art)  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Assemblage artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Theme:

Diaries  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)5790

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208629

AAA_collcode_cornjose

Theme:

Diaries

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208629

Creator:

Bacon, Peggy, 1895-1987  Search this

Subject:

Lay, Charles Downing  Search this

Remsen, Ira  Search this

Schmidt, Katherine  Search this

Varian, Dorothy  Search this

Alder, Jules  Search this

Bacon, Charles Roswell  Search this

Brook, Alexander  Search this

Bunner, Rudolph Francis  Search this

Art Students League (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Kraushaar Galleries  Search this

Type:

Photographs

Drawings

Citation:

Peggy Bacon papers, 1893-1973, bulk 1900-1936. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women authors  Search this

Women printmakers  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)5832

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208672

AAA_collcode_bacopegg

Theme:

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208672