An interview of Samuel C. Maitin conducted 1991 July 24, by Anne Schuster Hunter, for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.
Maitin discusses his Russian Jewish family background; his early life in Philadelphia; art studies at the Philadelphia Museum school of Industrial Art and the University of Pennsylvania; exhibitions of his work at the Print Club of Philadelphia; printmaking techniques, typography, advertising work and posters he designed; his Guggenheim fellowship and working with Ronald Goodman; commissions including a mural for the Children's Hospital, Philadelphia; and the Philadelphia art scene. He recalls collector Luther Brady and print curator Kneeland (Ding) McNulty.
Biographical / Historical:
Samuel C. Maitin (1928-2004) was a printmaker, painter, and sculptor) from Philadelphia, Pa.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hrs., 38 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.
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.
The records of Gallery 1015 measure 0.2 linear feet, and date from 1958 to 1972. The records document the history of the gallery through exhibition checklists, printed material including announcements, posters, catalogs, and clippings, and photographs of the gallery, artworks and some of the artists represented by the gallery such as Larry Day, Paul Keene, and Sam Maitin.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Gallery 1015 measure 0.2 linear feet, and date from 1958 to 1972. The records document the history of the gallery through exhibition checklists, printed material including announcements, posters, catalogs, and clippings, and photographs of the gallery, artworks and some of the artists represented by the gallery such as Larry Day, Paul Keene, and Sam Maitin.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Gallery 1015 was located in the Wyncote, Pennsylvania home of Gladys Myers, founder and director of the gallery, from 1958-1967.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Gladys Myers, founder of Gallery 1015, in 1989.
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.
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- Pennsylvania
Citation:
Gallery 1015 records, 1958-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The Kenneth and Emma-Stina Prescott research material on artists measures 9.4 linear feet and dates from 1919 to 2001, with the bulk of the material dating from 1973 to 1991. Kenneth Prescott, an art historian and educator, and his wife Emma-Stina, also an art historian, maintained extensive files concerning artists James Chapin, Burgoyne Diller, Dorothea S. Greenbaum, Jack Levine, and Elizabeth Olds. These files typically include correspondence, artwork inventories, exhibition catalogs and other printed materials, notes, interviews, photographs, and slides. A small amount of material also documents the works of Richard Anuszkiewicz, Byron Browne, Jose de Creeft, Lorrie Goulet, Richard Hunt, Sam Maitin, and Hunt Slonem.
Scope and Contents:
The Kenneth and Emma-Stina Prescott research material on artists measures 9.4 linear feet and dates from 1919 to 2001, with the bulk of the material dating from 1973 to 1991. Kenneth Prescott, an art historian and educator, and his wife Emma-Stina, also an art historian, maintained extensive files concerning artists James Chapin, Burgoyne Diller, Dorothea S. Greenbaum, Jack Levine, and Elizabeth Olds. These files typically include correspondence, artwork inventories, exhibition catalogs and other printed materials, notes, interviews, photographs, and slides. A small amount of material also documents the works of Richard Anuszkiewicz, Byron Browne, Jose de Creeft, Lorrie Goulet, Richard Hunt, Sam Maitin, and Hunt Slonem.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: James Chapin, 1941, 1955-circa 1984 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Burgoyne Diller, 1932-2001 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 3: Dorothea S. Greenbaum, 1919-1980 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 4-6)
Series 4: Jack Levine, 1961-1991 (2.1 linear feet; Boxes 6-8)
Series 5: Elizabeth Olds, 1931-1992 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 8-9)
Series 6: Other Artists, 1929-1998 (1.0 linear foot; Boxes 9-10)
Biographical / Historical:
Kenneth Wade Prescott (1920-2013) was an art historian and educator in Austin, Texas. Prescott's wife, Emma-Stina (1924-2021) was also an art historian.
Kenneth Prescott received a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Michigan. While living in Ann Arbor he met his future wife Emma-Stina Johnsson, who was visiting from Stockholm, Sweden. His early career included directorships of the Kansas City Museum, Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and the New Jersey State Museum. During his career he arranged and curated many exhibitions throughout the country and abroad and administered a grant program in the visual arts for the Ford Foundation. He and his wife moved to Austin, Texas in 1974, and he served as Chairman of the Art Department at the University of Texas at Austin. While there he introduced a Ph.D. program in Art History. Prescott regularly published in the fields of ornithology and the visual arts, including several publications on Ben Shahn and retrospective exhibition catalogs for the works of Elizabeth Olds, Burgoyne Diller, and Jack Levine. He also collaborated with his wife on The Complete Graphic Work of Jack Levine which was published in 1984.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art are the Burgoyne Diller papers which include papers and artwork donated by Kenneth and Emma-Stina Prescott. The Kenneth W. Prescott and Emma-Stina Prescott Collection of Ben Shahn is available at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in several installments by Kenneth and Emma-Stina Prescott from 1987 to 2001.
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.
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 Reference Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Franz Bader Gallery records, 1925-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
