An interview of Leroy Davis and Cecily Langdale conducted 2007 June 26-August 7, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art, in New York, New York.
Davis speaks of losing his parents at a young age; attending music school in Philadelphia; studying at Tyler School of Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation; usage of the word "art" in terms of music and painting; being drafted into the Air Force during World War II; opening a gallery in New York City; working as a framer on the side; working on the White House Fine Arts Commission; selling English watercolors. Langdale speaks of focusing on history, literature, and art history in college; working on shows at Hirschl & Adler gallery; opening a gallery with Davis; writing a book on monotypes. Davis also recalls Aaron Shikler, Boris Bly, Arthur Penn, Violette de Mazia, Albert C. Barnes, Louis Bouché, Terry Ritter Davis, David Levine, Herman Gundersheimer, Arthur Penn, Minnie Cushing, Paul Mellon, Jackie Kennedy, Jock Whitney, and others. Langdale also recalls Robert Walker, Richard Cowdery, Meredith Long, Seymour Remenick, Dr. Thomas Conroy, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Leroy Davis (1922- ) is an art dealer from New York, New York. Cecily Langdale is an art dealer from New York, New York and Avis Berman is a writer and art historian from New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette, 3 sound discs, and 3 data compact discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 50 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.
Restrictions:
The transcript and recording are open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Gallery owners -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Gallery owners -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation.
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.
Yevtushenko, Yevgeny Aleksandrovich, 1933- Search this
Extent:
3.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Student drawings
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Drawings
Date:
1923-1999
Summary:
The papers of New York social realist painter and printmaker Jack Levine date from 1923-1999, and measure 3.2 linear feet. Levine's career is documented through biographical material, scattered letters, notes and a speech, writings, student drawings, three scrapbooks, printed material and nearly one linear foot of photographs of Levine, his family, and his colleagues.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York social realist painter and printmaker Jack Levine date from 1923-1999, and measure 3.2 linear feet. Levine's career is documented through biographical material, scattered letters, notes and a speech, writings, student drawings, three scrapbooks, printed material and nearly one linear foot of photographs of Levine, his family, and his colleagues.
Found within the papers are two driver's licenses and several biographical accounts, and scattered letters from colleagues including one each from John Taylor Arms, Hyman Bloom, Leonard Bocour, René d'Harnoncourt, Lloyd Goodrich, Jacob Lawrence, and Homer Saint-Gaudens discussing various art-related events. There is only one carbon copy of a letter written by Levine. The correspondence includes oversized photographs of the members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Additional photographs of the members are found in the Photograph series.
Notes and writings are primarily typescripts about Jack Levine written by others. There is also a transcript of one speech, "Jack Levine Speaks Regarding the Donation of 108 of his Drawings to the Archives" delivered by Levine at the Fogg Art Museum.
Artwork consists entirely of Levine's student drawings including anatomical studies, neighborhood genre scenes, copies of Old Masters, and a series of images of symphony musicians. Some of the drawings display themes that are reflected in his later paintings.
Three scrapbooks contain clippings that document Levine's career and reflect his political interests. Additional printed material consists of a comprehensive collection of clippings and exhibition announcements and catalogs. There is also an announcement for a lecture by Levine, press releases, calendars of events, reproductions of artwork, programs, brochures including one for Facing East, a portfolio of Levine's prints, and three books.
Photographs include numerous photographs of Levine throughout his artistic career, including images of his wife, painter Ruth Gikow, their daughter Susanna, and colleagues including Hyman Bloom, Leonard Bocour, Alexander Dobkin, Joachim Probst, and Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Especially notable is a series of photographs of Levine printmaking with Emiliano Sorini and Ruth Gikow.
There are photographs of Levine serving on art juries and panels with Eleanor Coen, Joseph Hirsch, Gabor Peterdi, Studs Terkel, and Max Weber, and attending events with Lawrence Fleischman, Betty Friedan, Edith Halpert, Mauricio Lasansky, Gypsy Rose Lee, Pope Paul VI, and Raphael Soyer. A small album contains photographs of Levine and various buildings in Boston. There are also photographs of miscellaneous exhibition installations including Levine's retrospective at the Jewish Museum, and of artwork by Levine and others.
Group photographs of the members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters are found here, and include Will Barnet, Paul Cadmus, Chuck Close, David Levine, George Tooker, and John Updike. Additional group photographs of the members that were originally enclosed with letters are found in the correspondence series.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1953-1955 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Letters, 1946-1996 (Boxes 1, 5; 12 folders)
Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1961-1974 (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, 1923-1931 (Boxes 1, 5, OV 6; 11 folders)
Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1936-1962 (Boxes 1, 5; 16 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1938-1999 (Boxes 1-3, 5, OV 6; 1.9 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, 1940-1998 (Boxes 3-5, OV 6; 52 folders)
Biographical / Historical:
Jack Levine (1915-2010) was born in Boston, Massachusetts and worked as painter and printmaker primarily in New York City. Levine was one of the leading painters and advocates of the Social Realism School of the late 1930s.
Jack Levine was the youngest of the eight children of Lithuanian Jewish parents, Mary Grinker and Samuel Levine. After the family moved from the South End of Boston to Roxbury in 1923, Levine began to study drawing under Harold Zimmerman at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. By 1929, Levine was studying painting under Denman Ross of the Fogg Art Museum.
From 1935-1940, Levine received U.S. government support from the federal Works Progress Administration. His first exhibition of paintings in New York City was at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1937, he painted The Feast of Pure Reason, a satire of Boston political power. Together with Ben Shahn, Levine became a leading exponent of the Social Realism School of the late 1930s. His first one-man show was held at the Downtown Gallery in New York City in 1938.
After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Levine was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1945, and a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters the following year. Also in 1946, Levine married painter Ruth Gikow and moved to New York City. Between 1950 and 1951, he was a Fulbright Fellow working in Rome where he was inspired by Old Master paintings. In the 1960s Levine's interest in printmaking intensified and he was instructed in creating intaglio prints by Emiliano Sorini, and was introduced to Abe Lublin who was associated with the New York Graphic Society.
Levine taught at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the American Art School in New York, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Fogg Art Museum. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters from 1956 on.
The D.C. Moore Gallery in New York City currently represents the Estate of Jack Levine.
Provenance:
Jack Levine donated his papers to the Archives in 1962, 1978, and 1999.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and limited to the Washington, D.C. Reference Center.
Rights:
The Jack Levine papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Spreckels, Alma de Bretteville, 1881-1968 Search this
Extent:
126 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1980 November 24-1981 January 9
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Ian McKibbin White conducted 1980 November 24-1981 January 9, by Thomas Carr Howe, for the Archives of American Art.
White speaks of his education; U.S. Navy service, 1952-1955; travel, his museum career including work at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College, and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor; the merger of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum into the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the funeral of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels; Thomas Carr Howe as his mentor; FAMSF's "blockbuster exhibitions"; membership organizations; development of the American collection; fiscal problems and museum staff. He recalls David Levine, Jack McGregor, Aaron Shikler and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Ian McKibbin White (1929-) is a museum administrator of Honolulu, Hawaii. White was the longtime director of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 16 min.
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.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art museums -- California -- San Francisco
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.
Biographical information, including a resume, clippings, notes by Levine, awards, certificates, and professional memberships, 1960-1984; 14 files of correspondence containing mainly business letters, including caricature assignments from THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, commission and purchase inquiries, loan requests, and letters of appreciation including letters from Raphael Soyer, Norman Mailer, and Jack Rosen; three undated interviews and a transcript of a taped interview about Maurice Prendergast, including a book A SKETCHBOOK OF MAURICE PRENDERGAST with the appreciation written by Levine; miscellaneous writings; business, legal and financial records, 1956-1981; a scrapbook, 1954-1970; printed material, 1952-1984; photographs, undated and 1960-1981.
Biographical / Historical:
Cartoonist and painter; Brooklyn, New York. Studied at Tyler School of Fine Arts and the Hans Hofmann School. He is noted for his satires of political, literary, and art figures. Work is mainly in pen and ink and watercolors.
Provenance:
Donated 1984 by David Levine.
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.
