The papers of painter, photographer and sculptor Lowell Nesbitt measure 50.2 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from circa 1903-1993 (bulk 1950-1993). The collection documents Nesbitt's career through biographical material, correspondence, subject files, business and financial records, source material, artwork, photographs and audiovisual records, printed material and scrapbooks.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of painter, photographer and sculptor Lowell Nesbitt measure 50.2 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from circa 1903-1993 (bulk 1950-1993). The collection documents Nesbitt's career through biographical material, correspondence, subject files, business and financial records, source material, artwork, printed and digital matter, photographs and audiovisual records and scrapbooks.
Biographical Material includes documentation of Nesbitt's education and other personal documents. Plans and designs for Nesbitt's properties on West Twelfth Street, New York City and Kent, New York are arranged in the series for architectural records for homes and studios
Correspondence and Subject Files are voluminous and record Nesbitt's interaction with individuals, businesses and organizations and includes personal and family correspondence in addition to correspondence relating to galleries, exhibitions, commissions he undertook and committees on which he served.
Artwork by Nesbitt includes a small collection of collages, drawings, paintings, prints and sketchbooks. Source material comprises approximately 11 linear feet of material, primarily newspaper and magazine clippings and photographs, relating to a large variety of subjects that inspired Nesbitt, such as flowers, fruits and vegetables, dogs and other animals and the studios of other artists including Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.
Photographs are of Nesbitt, his friends, family, colleagues and his pets, as well as subjects of interest to him in his work. Also of note are twenty-seven folders of photographs taken by photographer Jack Mitchell of Nesbitt and others.
Printed Material contains publicity material and documents exhibitions of Nesbitt's work. Additional photographs and printed material are found in the Scrapbooks.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1932-1988 (Boxes 1, 40, OV 58; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 2: Architectural Records for Homes and Studios, 1977-1992 (Boxes 1-2, 40; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1981-1990 (Boxes 2-3; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 4: Calendars and Addressess, 1973-1993 (Boxes 3-5; 1.25 linear ft.)
Series 5: Correspondence and Subject Files, 1940-circa 1990s (Boxes 5-12, 40, OV 51; 8.0 linear feet, ER01; 0.001 GB)
Series 6: Business and Financial Records, circa 1910-1993 (Boxes 12-14; 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1948-1989 (Boxes 15-16, 41-42, OVs 52, 55; 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 8: Source Material, 1965-circa 1990s (Boxes 16-26, 43-45, OV 53; 12.0 linear ft.)
Series 9: Photographs and Audiovisual Records, 1965-circa 1990s (Boxes 16-26, 43-46, OV 53, FC 76-78; 12.3 linear ft.)
Series 10: Printed Material, circa 1960s-circa 1990s (Boxes 37-39, 45, OVs 48-50, 54, 56, 60, 79; 3.05 linear feet
Series 11: Scrapbooks, 1964-1992 (Boxes 61-75; 6.6 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Painter, photographer, and sculptor Lowell Nesbitt worked primarily in New York City.
Lowell Nesbitt was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1933. In college he studied stained glass and printmaking, graduating from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1955 and attending the Royal College of Art in London from 1955 to 1956.
After serving for several years in the United States Army in the mid 1950s, Nesbitt received his first exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1958. By 1963 he had moved to New York City and by the 1970s had emerged as one of the most well known artists in the United States. Nesbitt was frequently grouped with the photo realists and was best known for more than four hundred works he created with the flower as his central theme. In addition to flowers, Nesbitt's subjects included studio interiors, dogs, fruits and vegetables, bridges and buildings in New York, and male nudes. He began experimenting with printmaking in the 1960s and produced more than a hundred original prints in the course of his lifetime, primarily in the medium of dry point engraving. In 1963 he began a series of x-ray inspired paintings and was credited with being the first artist to produce a body of work of this kind. During the same period he began a long-standing relationship with the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, a space known for it's devotion to art and new technology.
In 1969 and 1970 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration named Nesbitt the official artist of the Apollo 9 and Apollo 13 missions. In 1980 the United States Postal Service released a series of four postage stamps based on his floral paintings.
Following a major one-man show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC in 1964, Nesbitt's work was exhibitied widely in Europe and the United States. In New York City he was represented by the Stable Gallery, the Robert Stefanotti Gallery and the Andrew Crispo Gallery. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Nesbitt taught at Towson State and Morgan State Colleges in Maryland, and the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Nesbitt was active in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society from the early 1980s until his death, serving as co-chairman on the Society's annual juried Project Rembrandt exhibition for artists with multiple sclerosis. He was also actively involved in fundraising for artists with HIV/AIDS.
Nesbitt's work is represented in many major museum collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Baltimore Museum of Art, Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris), Corcoran Gallery, Detroit Institute of Art, Hirshhorn Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery.
Lowell Nesbitt died in 1993 at the age of 59.
Provenance:
A portion of the papers were donated by Lowell Nesbitt in 1983 and the bulk of the papers were a bequest from Nesbitt's estate in 1994.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Topic:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The scattered records of the New York contemporary American art Eva Lee Gallery measure 4.0 linear feet and date from 1921-1973. Artist files contain provenance notes, photographs of artwork, records of sales and consignments, exhibition catalogs from other galleries, and reference information on numerous contemporary artists, many represented by the gallery. There are also scattered letters and artwork from artists, scattered sales records of J.B. Neuman's New Art Circle Gallery, and a photocopy of an auction catalog for Korvettes Art Galleries in Douglastan, New York. A significant amount of information is found within the collection about Alexander Calder, Lovis Corinth, Salvadore Dali, Lyonel Feininger, George Grosz, Robert Indiana, Harry Lieberman, Rene Magritte, John Marin, Lowell Nesbitt, Ben Shahn, Victor Vasarely, and Max Weber.
Scope and Content Note:
The scattered records of the New York contemporary American art Eva Lee Gallery measure 4.0 linear feet and date from 1921-1973. Artist files contain provenance notes, photographs of artwork, records of sales and consignments, exhibition catalogs from other galleries, and reference information on numerous contemporary artists, many represented by the gallery. There are also scattered letters and artwork from artists, scattered sales records of J.B. Neumann's New Art Circle Gallery, and a photocopy of an auction catalog for Korvettes Art Galleries in Douglastan, New York.
The records are comprised of artists' files arranged into four categories established by the gallery: general artists' files; notebooks of artists' files; financial artists' files; and consignment and sales artists' files. General artists' files contain background and reference information on numerous contemporary artists, performers, and art-related organizations. More information exists for Alexander Calder and Harry Lieberman than the other names represented in the general files. Lee also arranged provenance notes and photographs of artwork into notebooks, presumably including many of the artists represented by the gallery. There is a significant amount of material in the notebooks on Alexander Calder, Robert Indiana, Lowell Nesbitt, Ben Shahn, Victor Vasarely, and Max Weber.
Financial artists' files contain correspondence with artists and patrons concerning the sale of artwork by both the Eva Lee Gallery and J. B. Neumann of the New Art Circle Gallery, scattered artwork, printed material, photographs of artists, and checks signed by Neumann and endorsed by miscellaneous artists. Eva Lee worked on the estate of J. B. Neumann and collected and interspersed his files with her own. These files include letters from Josef Albers, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander Calder, Christo, Joseph Cornell, Robert Indiana, and a postcard of Calder's studio from Ben Shahn. There are also watercolor sketches by Clifford Odets, an exhibition catalog autographed by Ben Shahn, and photographs of Marsden Hartley, Jacques Lipchitz, composer Frederick Loewe, Paul Mommer, Mert Simpson, and Curt Valentin with Andrew Ritchie.
Eva Lee Gallery artists' consignment and sales files primarily contain photographs of artwork and notes concerning sales of specific artwork by the Eva Lee Gallery. Also found in these sales files are scattered letters, receipts, and printed material. There is a significant amount of material for Ben Benn, Alexander Calder, Lovis Corinth, Salvadore Dali, Lyonel Feininger, George Grosz, Marsden Hartley, John Hopkins, Rene Magritte, and John Marin. It is assumed that Eva Lee separated the two latter sets of artists' files containing sales records.
Also found in the collection is a photocopy of the Korvettes Art Galleries auction catalog, which lists artwork sold at a 1970 auction liquidating the holdings of the Douglaston, New York gallery.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: General Artist Files, 1923-1972 (Boxes 1-2; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Notebooks of Artist Files, 1929-1973 (Boxes 2-3; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 3: Financial Artist Files, 1921-1970 (Boxes 3-4; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 4: Eva Lee Gallery Consignment and Sales Artist Files, 1960-1972 (Box 4; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 5: Photocopy of Korvettes Art Galleries Auction Catalog, 1970 (Box 4; 1 folder)
Historical Note:
Eva Lee was born circa 1924. She fled from Nazi Germany to the United States, becoming an art dealer and the owner of the Eva Lee Gallery, Inc. Located in Great Neck, New York, the Eva Lee Gallery specialized in modern art and handled the work of many prominent artists including Alexander Calder, Lyonel Feininger, George Grosz, Marsden Hartley, Jacob Lawrence, Ben Shahn, and Max Weber. The gallery was in operation through the first half of 1973.
Eva Lee died suddenly on November 4, 1973 in Terre Haute, Indiana, while undergoing unspecified medical treatment.
Provenance:
The Eva Lee Gallery records were donated in 1973 by Eva Lee through Eloise Spaeth, and in 1978 by Neal Richmond of the Paul Klapper Library, Queens College, Flushing, New York, who had been asked to disperse Lee's gallery records following her sudden death in 1973. A photocopy of the Korvettes Art Galleries Auction Catalog was donated by Eva Lee in 1970.
Lee's records also contained financial files belonging to art dealer J. B. Neumann and his New Art Circle Gallery, whose estate she had worked on in 1966.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
1.2 Linear feet ((ca. 700 items partially microfilmed on two reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1968-1977 and [undated]
Scope and Contents:
Photographs by Roxanne Everett, of artists fabricating and installing their sculpture at Lippincott, Inc., and other sites.
REEL 1400: 23 photographs including: Robert Breer, Ellsworth Kelly, Donald Lippincott, Clement Meadmore, Robert Morris, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Claes Oldenburg, Lucas Samaras, George Sugarman, and Minoru Yamasaki.
REEL 1875: 79 photographs including: Robert McIntyre Doty, Jean Dubuffet, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, David McKee, Clement L. Meadmore, Robert Murray, Forest Warden Myers, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosati, Lucas Samaras, George Sugarman, and others.
UNMICROFILMED: 593 photographs, among them ca. 300 of Claus Oldenburg, and many of Robert Murray, George Sugarman, Louise Nevelson, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosati, Ellsworth Kelly, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
North Haven, Ct. Founded in 1966 by Donald B. Lippincott as a place for artists to create large sculptures and receive help in transportation and installation of their work.
Provenance:
Photographs on reel 1400 donated 1974 by Roxanne Everett and Donald B. Lippincott; those on reel 1875 donated 1978 by Everett. Unmicrofilmed photographs donated by Roxanne Everett, October 4, 1983.
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.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Jonathan Lippincott. 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.
Interview of Jeanne L. Wasserman, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Cambridge, MA from January 28, 1993-July 19, 1994.
Wasserman speaks of her parents' cultural interests; first becoming interested in sculpture after visiting a Rodin exhibition in Paris with her family; visiting art galleries and studying painting in New York City as a young woman; her education at Fieldston and Radcliffe; trying to get a job in New York after college; working in advertising; meeting her husband, Max, and building a business with him; beginning to collect art; putting together a collection for the condominium project, 180 Beacon; the opening of 180 Beacon; working on a condominium project in the Virgin Islands; curating sculpture exhibitions at the Fogg Museum and at Wellesley; writing the catalogue for a Daumier exhibition at the Fogg; serving on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; organizing forums on contemporary art with the Council of the Arts at MIT; becoming involved with Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement; and notable purchases of work by Daumier, Rodin, Degas, Giacometti, de Chirico, Nicolas Schöffer, Henry Moore, and others. Wasserman also recalls Alfred Stieglitz, Peppino Mangravite, Elie Nadelman, Hyman Swetzoff, Joseph Hirshhorn, Erica Brausen, René and Charles Gimpel, Louise Nevelson, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, Denise René, Yaacov Agam, George Rickey, George Segal, David Ross, Milena Kalinovska, Jacques de Caso, Yulla Lipchitz, Vera List, Jim Cuno, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Jeanne L. Wasserman, (1915-2006) was a museum curator and art collector from Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 12 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art museums -- Massachusetts
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.
Artists' letters and documents collected by Zalesch and letters written to him in response to inquiries concnering autographs and biographical information.
REEL 3097: Twenty-six letters (1845-1973) written by George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Isabel Bishop, Frederick Stuart Church, Thomas Doughty, Ernest Fenollosa, Ben Foster, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, John La Farge, Homer Dodge Martin, Joseph Pennell, Edward Willis Redfield, John Rogers, John Singer Sargent, Richard Stankiewicz, Thomas Sully, and Elihu Vedder. Also included are a Harvard University bond for William Wetmore Story's tuition signed by Franklin H. Story (1834) and a biographical questionnaire completed by John La Farge for The Cyclopedia of American Biography (1925).
UNMICROFILMED: Letters written by Roy Lichtenstein, William Gropper, Gluyas Williams, Ordway Partridge, Frederick Burr Opper, James Wells Champney, C. Gray Parker, Ben Foster, Louis Betts, Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge, Richard Lippold, Romare Bearden, Isabel Bishop, Thomas Hart Benton, Richard Stankiewicz, and others; a brochure for a work of art by Robert Indiana; a certificate from The Brooklyn Art Association for one share of capital stock in the name of William Potter Lage; one page of correspondence documenting a decision made for the Society of American Artists containing a note from Francis D. Millet to J. Alden Weir, followed by a note from Weir to Frederic Church, signed "O.K." by Church.
Vol. XXVI, no. 5, Feb. 1924 periodical, Old Hughes, published by the students of Hughes High school in Cincinnati, Ohio containing a published exchange of letters between principal C. M. Merry and Josephine W. Duveneck, daughter-in-law of painter Frank Duveneck about the Hughes High School purchasing a painting by Duveneck, and a reminiscence of Duveneck by William P. Teal, head of the art department at Hughes High School.
Biographical / Historical:
Saul Zalesch, an art historian, began collecting artists' letters around 1981.
Provenance:
This collection of letters was lent for microfilming by Zalesch in 1984 (reel 3097). Zalesch donated an additional three letters in 1993, twenty-five in 1999, one letter in 2008, and a publication in 2009.
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.
An interview of Audrey Sabol conducted 1987 June 10, by Marina Pacini, for the Archives of American Art.
Sabol speaks of her education; her assocation with the Arts Council of the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association; how the council was organized and how it operated. She discusses some of the individual artists involved with the exhibits, including Richard Serra. She continues by discussing her tenure on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania and Ti-Grace Atkinson, its first director; projects completed by the Beautiful Bag Co. such as Roy Lichtenstein dishes and a Robert Indiana love ring; and an unsuccessful attempt to do an exhibition on billboards for which a Roy Lichtenstein billboard was completed. She concludes by discussing her own collecting, and her observations on the Philadelphia art scene.
Biographical / Historical:
Audrey Sabol (1922- ) is an art administrator from Philadelphia, Pa.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 26 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Interviews Search this
Correspondence, biographical material, financial and legal papers, photographs, sketches, printed material and files on sculpture projects.
REELS N69-31, N69-38, N69-67 and N69-79: General correspondence, 1954-1969. Correspondents include Richard Adler, Betty Asher, David Bright,James and Charlotte Brooks, Dorothy Brown,Robert M. Doty, Herbert Ferber, James Fitzsimmons, Betty Freeman, Francoise Gilot, Esther and Adolph Gottlieb, Sam Hunter, Mildred and Sam Jaffe, William King, Jane and Sam Kootz,Boris and Lynn Kroll, Jules Langsner, William and Mary Lescaze, Conrad Marca-Relli,Norman McManus, Sidney H. Morris, Richard and Dione Neutra, Louise Nevelson, Ruth Nivola, Claude and Sara Picasso, Paloma Picasso, Mary Gardner Preminger, Vanessa Reis, Julius Shulman, Kurt W. Simon, Irving and Jean Stone, Ala Story, Catherine Viviano, June Wayne, Wou-Ki Zao, Adja Yunkers, and others.
REELS 1789-1791: Letters from James Brooks, Paloma Picasso, Claude Picasso, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Indiana, Sam Hunter, and Gertrude Kasle; a biographical sketch; financial and legal papers, including contracts, price lists, bills and receipts; files on Knoedler and Company; files on sculpture projects containing correspondence, sketches, photographs of Rosenthal and his art work, and clippings and printed material; and notes.
Biographical / Historical:
Tony Rosenthal (1914-2009) was a sculptor in New York, N.Y. Born 1914 Highland Park, Ill. Known professionally as Tony Rosenthal. His work is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by Rosenthal, 1969 and 1980.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Topic:
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
The papers of New York City art entrepreneur, curator, and journalist Joan Kron date from 1959 to 1971 and measure 1.4 linear feet. The papers include correspondence, scattered financial records, notes and writings, printed material, photographs, a sound and video recording, and project/exhibition files concerning Kron's involvement in the 1960s with the exhibtions of the Arts Council of the Young Men's/Women's Hebrew Association (YM/WHA)of Philadelphia and her business, the Beautiful Bag and Box Co.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York City art entrepreneur, curator, and journalist Joan Kron date from 1959 to 1971 and measure 1.4 linear feet. The papers include correspondence, scattered financial records, notes and writings, printed material, photographs, a sound and video recording, and project/exhibition files concerning Kron's involvement in the 1960s with the exhibtions of the Arts Council of the Young Men's/Women's Hebrew Association (YM/WHA)of Philadelphia and her business, the Beautiful Bag and Box Co.
Papers relating to Kron's volunteer chairmanship of the Arts Council of the Young Men's/Women's Hebrew Association (YM/WHA)of Philadelphia include general files concerning the administration and operation of the organization, as well as exhibition files for Art 1963/ A New Vocabulary (1962) and Museum of Merchandise 1967.) Files generally consist of correspondence, clippings and other printed materials, notes and writings, photographs, and financial documents. The exhibition files for Art 1963/ A New Vocabulary include a typescript "Dictionary Suggestions" by Billy Klüver which contains slang terms with creative definitions, and photographs of Claes Oldenburg, Billy Klüver, Joan Kron, Sam Maitin, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Audrey Sabol, George Segal, Jean Tinguely, and Robert Watts. The files for Museum of Merchandise contain a painting on paper by Geoffrey Hendricks, a drawing by Ray Johnson, a photograph of fabric designer Karl Rosenberg, a photograph of a wedding dress design by Christo, and a 1/2" open reel videotape made by Nam Jun Paik of Kron's appearance on The Tonight Show.
The records of the Beautiful Bag and Box Co., an art entrepreneurial business created by Kron and her colleague Audrey Sabol, include correspondence, a ledger of sales and deposits, income tax records, miscellaneous invoices, notes and writings, clippings, miscellaneous printed material, and photographs. Also found are project/product files for Art Museum Store, Temporary Tattoos, Durable Dishes designed by Roy Lichtenstein, Eat Pin likely designed by Robert Indiana, Art on Billboards, and Stunning Stationery. The file for project Art on Billboards contains postcards from Allan Kaprow and Jim Dine expressing interest in the project, and a photograph of Edwin and Audrey Sabol on a motorcycle posing in front of a billboard designed by Roy Lichtenstein. There is also a 7" audio reel tape recording of a radio program Hey, Look at That containing comments about billboards from Kron, Roy Lichtenstein, architect Robert Venturi, and Evan H. Turner, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 2 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Arts Council of the YM/YWHA of Philadelphia, 1959-1971 (Box 1-2, OV 3; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 2: Beautiful Bag and Box Co., 1963-1969 (Box 1-2; 0.8 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Joan Kron (circa 1928-) is a fashion and style journalist in New York City, but began her career in Philadelphia as an advocate of avante-garde artists and co-founder of The Beautiful Bag Co. which worked with artists to produce commercial household and fashion art products. Kron worked on projects with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Indiana, among others.
Joan Kron was born circa 1928 in New York. She studied at the Yale University School of Drama from 1946-1948, graduating with a degree in costume design. She married surgeon Dr. Samuel Kron and lived in Philadelphia during the 1960s. For almost a decade, Kron volunteered as chairman of the Arts Council of the Young Men's/Young Women's Hebrew Association of Philadelphia (YM/YWHA.) The YM/YMA Arts Council focused on promoting and hosting new and avant-garde programs in dance, theatre, poetry, crafts, and the visual arts. Under Kron's leadership, the YM/YWHA Arts Council curated Arts1963/A New Vocabulary (1962) and Museum of Merchandise (1967.)
Kron's work with the Arts Council allowed her to build business partnerships with several artists. She partnered with Andy Warhol to produce a line of perfume, "You're In," packaged in silver Coca-Cola bottles, with Robert Indiana for a Love Ring, and other products and projects associated with the exhibitions of the Arts Council. Then, around 1964, she partnered with colleague Audrey Sabol to form The Beautiful Bag and Box Co. and continued to explore commercial products created or designed by artists, including a line of dinnerware "Durable Dishes" designed by Roy Lichtenstein, a series of billboards displaying art work and the Eat Pin, most likely designed by Robert Indiana.
Kron began her career in journalism in the late 1960s by contributing an article about a cannabis harvest in an upscale neighborhood to the Philadelphia magazine in 1969. She continued to write for the magazine until after her divorce. She moved to New York City in 1971 and was hired by New York magazine. She researched and wrote a special issue about the blossoming SoHo art district. Kron then focused the remainder of her career primarily on writing, and worked for a number of magazines and newspapers, and published several books. As of 2010, she was living in New York City and working as contributing editor at large for Condé Nast's Allure magazine, primarily covering the subject of cosmetic surgery.
Related Materials:
Additional copies of microfilm reels 4224-4225 are available at the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Also found in the Archives are selected papers of the Young Men's/Women's Hebrew Association Arts Council that were loaned by Judith Golden for microfilming, and are now available only on microfilm reels 3898. Another small collection of printed material from the YM/WHA records was donated by Acey Wolgin and microfilmed on reel 4340, and transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library's vertical files.
Provenance:
Joan Kron donated her papers in 1987.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. 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.
Transcripts of interviews conducted by John Jones for a research project sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies. Interviews are with American artists Rudolf Arnheim, George Cohen, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Lindner, Sheldon Machlin, Robert Motherwell, Claes Oldenburg, Man Ray, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Theodoros Stamos, Saul Steinberg, and Jack Youngerman. Jones questions most of the artists about the relationship of their painting to European tradition.
Provenance:
Interviews conducted by John Jones for a research project sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies. He lent the tapes to the Archives for transcribing.
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.
Topic:
Artists -- United States -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Robert Indiana conducted 1963 Sept.12-1963 Nov. 7, by Richard Brown Baker, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Indiana (1928-) is a painter from Vinalhaven, Me.
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.
Postcard of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis. Note on back reads simply: Indiana; autumn.
Provenance:
Provenance unknown.
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.
Susan Elizabeth Ryan research material regarding Robert Indiana includes one postcard from Clement Greenberg to Ryan regarding Indiana, October 2, 1991; Dream-Work catalog regarding Robert Indiana, LSU, 1997; one photograph of Robert Indiana with Ryan, 2003; and one Christmas card from Indiana to Ryan, 2004.
Biographical / Historical:
Susan Elizabeth Ryan is an art historian in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ryan taught art history at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ryan was friends with and studied Robert Indiana and wrote the book Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech (Yale, 2000).
Provenance:
Donated in 2023 by Susan Elizabeth Ryan.
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:
Art historians -- New Mexico -- Santa Fe Search this
The papers or curator and arts administrator Jan Van der Marck measure 9.0 linear feet and 5.36 gigabytes and date from 1944 to 2010. His career is documented through biographical material, files on artists and art historians, museum administration records, and other professional records. Also found are papers concerning Van der Marck's personal interest and research on modern bookbinding.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of curator and arts administrator Jan Van der Marck measure 9.0 linear feet and 5.36 gigabytes and date from 1944 to 2010. His career is documented through biographical material, files on artists and art historians, museum administration records, and other professional records. Also found are papers concerning Van der Marck's personal interest and research on modern bookbinding.
Biographical material includes records of Van der Marck's personal collection of artwork, books, and photographs; early records consisting primarily of school documents, writings, and photographs; and one journal. Additionally there are copies of published interviews, one file of letters from friends, and several photographs of Van der Marck. Files on artists and art historians may include correspondence, photographs, slides, news clippings, exhibition catalogs, lists of artworks, exhibition planning documents, as well as articles or other writings by Van der Marck about the artist. Of note are files on Arman, Robert Indiana, Christo, Jacques Lipchitz, George Segal, Beverly Pepper, and Brian O'Doherty.
Museum Administration records document Van der Marck's activities as director or curator at various museums. Files may include museum exhibition planning records, administrative records, printed material, correspondence, and photographs. Also found are records of Van der Marck's other professional activities, such as his participation as guest curator of exhibitions, committee participant, and exhibition juror, as well as lecture files containing invitations, press materials, and drafts of his lectures. Additionally there are a few research files and copies of his published articles.
Papers concerning bookbinding document Van der Marck's research and personal collection of contemporary bookbinding and book arts. Included are files on bookbinders, slides and photographs of bindings, correspondence with libraries, and records of his purchase or donation of these works.
Biographical / Historical:
Jan Van der Marck (1929-2010) was a curator and museum administrator in Detroit, Mich., Chicago, Ill., and Miami, Fla.
Van der Marck was born in Roermond, the Netherlands, in 1929. His family owned a printing and publishing business. He studied art history at the University of Nijmegen and earned his doctorate in 1956 with a dissertation on 19th-century Belgian book illustration. In 1957 he came to the United States on a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to research the relationship between museums and their audiences and studied briefly at Columbia University. In 1962 he was assistant director of fine arts exhibitions at the Seattle World's Fair. Van der Marck became curator at the Walker Art Center in 1963 and became the founding director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1967. While in Chicago he invited Christo and Jeanne-Claude to wrap the museum building in canvas. He later served as project manager for their "Valley Curtain" project in 1971 and 1972.
After leaving the Museum of Contemporary Art, Van der Marck worked briefly at the University of Washington in Seattle, and then served as director of the Dartmouth College Galleries and Collections from 1974 to 1980. At Dartmouth he continued to support non-traditional artworks and oversaw the installation of the lawn sculpture "X-Delta" by Mark di Suvero, despite negative campus reactions. In 1980 he became the director of the new Center for the Fine Arts in Miami. After a disagreement with trustees he left the Center and became chief curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1986. In 1995 he lost his job at the Detroit Institute when it was ruled that he violated a city residential requirement.
Aside from his work as an arts administrator, Van der Marck wrote and published many catalog essays, articles, and monographs on artists, lectured on contemporary art, and participated in arts organizations. He also maintained an interest in contemporary bookbinding.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 2011 by Sheila Van der Marck, Jan Van der Marck's widow.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Robert Indiana and Mary Swift. Interview with Robert Indiana, 1981 August 25. Mary Swift papers, 1973-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Robert Indiana, 1963 Sept. 12-Nov. 7. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Interview of Larry Aldrich conducted 1972 April 25-June 10, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Aldrich speaks of his acquisitions and his program for selling art at Christmas and praises William S. Lieberman as "the curator of collectors". He discusses funds given to museums by the Larry Aldrich Foundation; visits to artists' studios; exhibiting a portion of his collection for the first time at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art; Robert Indiana's "Love Series"; and modern movements including "Lyrical Abstraction" and "Cool Art." He recalls Stephen Antonakos, Richard Brown Baker, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Leo Castelli, Grace Hartigan, Budd Hopkins, Jasper Johns, John Myers, Dorothy Miller, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Robert Smithson, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Larry Aldrich (1906-2001) was an art collector from New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 9 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 18 digital wav files. Duration is 17 hrs., 11 minutes.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Robert Indiana. Robert Indiana artists' statement, between 1962 and 1968. Stable Gallery records, 1916-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
