The papers of New York City and Gainesville, Florida based painter Arnold Mesches (1923-2016) measure 13.6 linear feet and date from 1939-2015. The collection documents Mesches' politically-engaged career and work process through biographical material, correspondence, writings, gallery and exhibition files, project files, subject files, teaching files, personal business records, printed material, and photographic material. Project files comprise a bulk of the collection and include grant files, activism files, project notebooks, and over 100 art project files containing drawings, source material, and photographic material for individual artworks.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York City and Gainesville, Florida based painter Arnold Mesches (1923-2016) measure 13.6 linear feet and date from 1939-2015. The collection documents Mesches' politically engaged career and work process through biographical material, correspondence, writings, gallery and exhibition files, project files, subject files, teaching files, personal business records, printed material, and photographic material.
Biographical material includes addresses, family papers, interview transcripts, life documents, identification cards, a residency file, resumes, biographical statements, and travel records. Correspondence is both personal and professional in nature and is with wife, novelist Jill Ciment, family, friends, artists, museums, galleries, and magazines. Notable correspondents include Arthur Danto, Robert Storr, June Wayne, and Howard Zinn. Single items of correspondence are from Kerry James Marshall, Henry Miller, Robert Motherwell, and Ben Shahn.
Writings include manuscripts of unpublished novels and short stories, autobiographical writings, recordings of dreams, introductions to artists, a journal, memorials, project proposals, statements on art and politics, notes from Mesches' psychotherapy sessions, as well as numerous outlines, fragments, and notes.
Gallery and exhibition files document dozens of Mesches' gallery and museum exhibitions, including his 2013 retrospective at Miami Dade College, Arnold Mesches: A Life's Work.
Project files consist of grant files, activism files, project notebooks, and art projects. Activism files pertain to the Los Angeles Peace Tower, Arts Coalition for Freedom of Expression, and the pardon of muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. Project notebooks contain preliminary sketches, technical notes including color palette and paint formulas, Polaroids of in-process works, and source material. Over 100 art project files further detail individual works, and include preliminary drawings in pen, pencil and charcoal, as well as collages, source material, and Polaroids. Several of Mesches' serial works are well represented here, including Anomie, Comings Attractions, and The FBI Files.
Subject files consist of a sequence of alphabetical files maintained by Mesches as reference material. Teaching files document posts at New York University and other institutions and include course descriptions, lists of materials, course notes, newsletters, reference articles, and correspondence.
Personal business records include documentation related to donations, Mesches' estate, gallery representation, inventories, properties, artwork shipment, supplies, and website design.
Printed material documents Mesches' career as both political illustrator and fine artist. Found here are brochures, leaflets, and Frontier and The Nation magazines featuring illustrations by Mesches. Calendars, newsletters, clippings, announcements, exhibition catalogs, and press releases document Mesches' gallery and museum exhibitions.
Photographic material includes hundreds of photographic prints, contact sheets, slides, and negatives of Arnold Mesches, Mesches' family and friends, studio, and artworks from his seven decade long career.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as ten series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1960s-2012 (0.2 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1949-2014 (0.8 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, 1958-2013 (1.1 linear feet, Box 2-3)
Series 4: Gallery and Exhibition Files, 1979-2015 (0.8 linear feet, Box 3)
Series 5: Project Files, 1950s-2014 (5.3 linear feet, Box 3-8, 15, OV 16-19)
Series 6: Subject Files, 1939-2000s (1.3 linear feet, Box 8-9)
Series 7: Teaching Files, 1992-2004 (0.2 linear feet, Box 9-10)
Series 8: Personal Business Records, 1983-2015 (0.5 linear feet, Box 10)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1950s-2000s (1.5 linear feet, Box 10-11, 15, OV 20)
Series 10: Photographic Material, 1940s-2010s (1.9 linear feet, Box 12-15)
Biographical / Historical:
Arnold Mesches (1923-2016) was a painter in New York, New York and Gainesville, Florida. Born in the Bronx and raised in upstate Dunkirk, New York, Mesches studied advertising design in high school before moving to Los Angeles in 1943 to study art at the Jepson Art Institute and Chouinard Art Institute.
Mesches began his career as a scenic painter for Hollywood while honing his own style as a fine artist and illustrator influenced by the political landscape and social realism. As a result of his political activity and involvement in the Communist Party, the FBI opened a file on Mesches in the 1950s, and began tracking his activities. The file, obtained by Mesches through a Freedom of Information Act request in 1999, became the basis for one of his most famous series, The FBI Files.
Throughout his life, Mesches was a socially-oriented figurative painter working in an expressionist style, mining the daily news and the current political landscape for subject matter, including the Cold War, the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and the Vietnam War. Mesches was also one of the organizers of the 1966 Peace Tower artwork in Los Angeles and contributed illustrations to Frontier magazine throughout the 1950s, and The Nation magazine from 1960s-1980s.
In the early 1980s, Mesches relocated to New York City with wife, novelist Jill Ciment.
Mesches held several teaching posts over the course of his career, including at the New School, New York University, and the University of Florida.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives of American Art in 2017 by Jill Ciment, Mesches' widow.
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.
An interview of Boris Gorelick conducted 1964 May 20, by Betty Hoag for the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project.
Gorelick speaks of his background in Russia and New York; attending the Art Students League; the formation of the Artists' Union; working on murals and stained glass for the WPA Federal Art Project; the influence of the Mexican muralists on FAP murals; Art Front magazine, and the American Artists' Congress. He recalls Ben Shahn and Arshile Gorky.
Biographical / Historical:
Designer, mural painter; Los Angeles, Calif.
General:
Sound quality is poor.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Muralists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
Wright, Louis T. (Louis Tompkins), 1891-1952 Search this
Extent:
0.9 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1924-1980
Summary:
The scattered papers of African American and Harlem Renaissance painter, muralist, illustrator, sculptor, and educator Charles Henry Alston measure 0.9 linear feet and date from 1924-1980. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, commission and teaching files, writings and notes, printed materials, and photographs. Notable correspondents include Romare Bearden, Byron Browne, Jacob Lawrence, and Hale Woodruff.
Scope and Content Note:
The scattered papers of African American and Harlem Renaissance painter, muralist, illustrator, sculptor, and educator Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) measure 0.9 linear feet and date from 1924-1980. The bulk of the collection documents his personal and professional relationships with figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Researchers should note that this collection contains very little documentation on Alston's actual federal WPA work with the Harlem Art Workshop, the Harlem Artists Guild, or his Harlem Hospital murals completed in 1940. A photograph of Alston in 1937 is likely the only reference to the actual WPA murals in this collection.
Scattered correspondence includes general correspondence; letters concerning Alston's artistic endeavors; and personal letters from friends and family. Found is a copy of a thank you note from Eudora Welty to John Woodburn for a jacket design presumably by Alston; letters from Harlem Renaissance figures and personal friends Romare Bearden, Byron Brown, Jacob Lawrence, and Hale Woodruff.
Commission files are for Alston's murals including those in the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building in Los Angeles, California (1947); and the addition to the Harlem Hospital (1965); and the Family and Criminal Courts Building in the Bronx, New York (1976). There is one file concerning teaching at City College New York (CUNY).
Writings and notes includes scattered notes and three short stories probably by Alston entitled "Bitsy O'Wire," "Body and Soul," and "Gigi."
Printed materials include illustrations by Alston in the Columbia University literary magazine, The Morningside, and medical illustrations done for Dr. Louis T. Wright. Also found are scattered clippings, exhibition announcements, press releases, and materials from the First Conference on Aesthetic Responsibility.
Photographs are of Alston, Alston with his wife, Myra Logan, his mother Anna Alston Bearden, Romare Bearden, and Hale Woodruff. Photographs of note include one of Alston holding a self-portrait, and one of the artist in 1937 with works that are most likely preliminary sketches of his WPA murals at Harlem Hospital. There are also photographs of Alston's works of art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 6 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Information, 1924-1977 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-1977(Box 1; 7 folders)
Series 3: Commission and Teaching Files, 1947-1976 (Box 1; 4 folders)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1940s-1970s (Box 2-3; 4 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1928, 1946-1980(Box 2-3; 5 folders)
Series 6: Photographs, 1925-1968 (Box 2; 2 folders)
Biographical Note:
Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) worked primarily in New York city as a painter, muralist, illustrator, and educator. He was part of the Harlem Renaissance movement in the 1930s and helped form the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem Artists Guild.
Charles Henry "Spinky" Alston was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 28th, 1907. His parents were the Reverend Primus Priss and Anna Miller. After the death of his father, Alston's mother married Henry Pierce Bearden (Romare Bearden's uncle) in 1913 and the family moved to New York City.
At DeWitt Clinton High School in New York, Alston served as art editor of the school's literary magazine. Alston majored in fine arts and history at Columbia University, graduating in 1929. He became active in the Harlem community and accepted a position as director of Utopia House, a boy's camp, where he started an art program. He returned to Columbia and recieved a Masters degree in art education from Columbia's Teachers College. While still a student, he illustrated album covers for jazz musician Duke Ellington and book covers for poet Langston Hughes.
Alston played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance Movement of the period. During the Great Depression, he and sculptor Henry Bannarn directed the Harlem Art Workshop which was funded by the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. There he taught and mentored African American painter Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, among others.
In the 1950s, Alston embarked on a series of portraits of African American figures. He also taught at the Art Students League and later with the City College of New York (CUNY). Along with his wife, Myra Logan, a surgeon at Harlem Hospital, Alston lived in Harlem and remained an active member of the community until the end of his life. Charles Alston died in 1977.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Charles Henry Alston, one conducted by Harlan Phillips on September 28, 1965 and another by Al Murray on October 19, 1968.
Additional Charles Henry Alston papers are located at the University of North Carolina's Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library.
Separated Material:
In 1970, Charles Alston loaned materials for microfilming, including correspondence with Henry Epstein, Langston Hughes, Robert Riggs, Harry Sternberg, J. Johnson Sweeney, Hale Woodruff and others. Also loaned for microfilming were sketchbooks, printed materials, and photographs. Subsequently, some of the photographs were later donated by Alston's sisters. The loaned materials are available only on microfilm reel N70-23 at Archives of American Art offices, and through interlibrary loan. These materials are not included in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
Charles Alston lent portions of the collection for microfilming in 1970. Aida Winters and Rousmaniere Alston Wilson, Charles Alston's sisters, donated additional materials to the Archives of American Art in 1982 and 1984.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Due to the small size of this collection, the papers are arranged in one series.
Series 1: Lucinda H. Gedeon Research Material on Charles W. White, 1940-1997, bulk 1980-1981 (Boxes1-2; 1.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Lucinda H. Gedeon is a retired art historian in Vero Beach, Florida. Previously the director of the Neuberger Museum at the State University of New York, Purchase, and later of the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Gedeon earned both a master's degree and a doctorate at UCLA. She completed her master's thesis on the work of Charles White.
Charles W. White (1918-1979) was an African American painter. White was born in Chicago and attended the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked as an artist for the Works Progress Administration and later taught first at Dillard University, then at Otis Art Institute from 1965 until his death in 1979.
White exhibited widely and his work is held at a number of institutions. He was elected to the National Academy of design in 1972.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Charles W. White papers, circa 1930-1982, and an oral history interview with Charles W. White conducted by Betty Hoag, March 9, 1965.
Provenance:
The Lucinda H. Gedeon research materials on Charles W. White were donated to the Archives of American Art by Lucinda H. Gedeon in 2007.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
The papers of Los Angeles painter, printmaker, and educator, Charles W. White, measure 12.9 linear feet and date from 1933 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s to the 1970s. The collection contains biographical material, including a sound recording of an interview with White; personal and professional correspondence; writings by White and others about his philosophy of art, his life, and career; professional files documenting White's participation in a variety of boards, committees, juries, symposiums, professional projects, and commissions; teaching files documenting White's tenure at Otis Art Institute; extensive printed material charting White's career from the 1930s until his death; scrapbooks primarily documenting his early career; and a small series of photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Los Angeles painter, printmaker, and educator, Charles W. White, measure 12.9 linear feet and date from 1933 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s to the 1970s. The collection contains biographical material including a sound recording of an interview with White; personal and professional correspondence; writings by White and others about his philosophy of art, his life, and career; professional files documenting White's participation in a variety of boards, committees, juries, symposiums, professional projects, and commissions; teaching files documenting White's tenure at Otis Art Institute; extensive printed material charting White's career from the 1930s until his death; scrapbooks primarily documenting his early career; and a small series of photographs.
Biographical material includes documentation of awards received by White, biographical notes, resumes, White's high school report cards, interview transcripts and a sound recording of an interview, and records related to Elizabeth Catlett from the 1940s.
Writings by White include two addresses made to the Annual Conference of Negro Artists, statements on his philosophy of art, and an autobiographical essay. Writings by others include drafts of Benjamin Horowitz's book Images of Dignity:The Drawings of Charles White.
White's professional activities are further documented through records related to the many boards, committees, and exhibition and art contest juries he served on, as well as lectures he delivered, and panels and symposiums he participated in. White's professional files also contain records relating to fellowships he received and document projects such as designs for books, films, and magazines.
White's teaching files primarily relate to Otis Art Institute and contain some records related directly to his work there as well as general faculty and board material. The records document, to some extent, White's role as spokesperson for the faculty and students during the transfer of the Otis charter to Parsons School of Design in 1979. Documentation of White's association with Howard University is minimal and includes letters related to his appointment and resignation in 1978-1979.
Gallery and exhibition files document specific solo and group exhibitions and include records on two visits White made to Germany in 1974 and 1978.
Printed material includes announcements, exhibition catalogs, articles in journals, magazines, and news clippings, and publications with artwork by White that provide extensive coverage of White's career from the 1930s to his death. Also found is printed material collected by White on other artists, and on subjects of interest to him.
Three disbound scrapbooks provide compilations of printed material and occasional letters further documenting White's career. A small series of photographs includes holiday card photos of White, Frances White, and their two children, and photos of White and others taken at a workshop in 1969.
Throughout the collection there are folders containing notes written by Frances White, circa 1980-1981, which provide important contextual information about people, organizations and subjects in the collection, and sometimes highlight the racism White encountered, particularly during his early career. The dates of these notes are not included in folder dates.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as nine series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1934-1979 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1937-1984 (Boxes 1-4, 13; 3.64 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1936-circa 1981 (Boxes 4-5; 0.45 linear feet)
Series 4: Professional Activities, circa 1942-1982 (Boxes 5-6, 13, OV 15; 1.81 linear feet)
Series 5: Teaching Files, 1950-1979 (Boxes 6, 13; 0.72 linear feet)
Series 6: Gallery and Exhibition Files, 1946-1980 (Box 7, Box 14; 0.98 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1933-1987 (Boxes 8-14, OVs 15-17; 4.8 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1936-1970s (Box 12; 0.15 linear feet)
Series 9: Photographic Material, 1940-1976 (Box 12; 0.15 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, printmaker, and educator, Charles W. White (1918-1979), was a prominent figure in the Chicago Black Renaissance and became one of the most celebrated and influential African American artists of the twentieth century. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, White lived and worked in California beginning in 1956, and taught at the Otis Art Institute from 1965 until his death.
White began painting at a young age, earning first prize in a nationwide high school art contest. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was awarded a full scholarship, from 1937-1938. After graduating from the school, White worked as a muralist for the Illinois Federal Arts Project sponsored by the Works Progress Administration from 1939 to 1940. He then received two fellowships from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation in 1942 and 1943 and created the mural The Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy at the Hampton Institute. From 1943-1945 he taught at the George Washington Carver School in New York City, and was artist-in-residence at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1945.
White's first marriage to Elizabeth Catlett ended in divorce and he married Frances Barrett in 1950. The couple relocated to Los Angeles where White was represented by Benjamin Horowitz's Heritage Gallery. White was widely exhibited in Los Angeles, and at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Newark Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and elsewhere. Working primarily in black and white or sepia and white drawings, paintings, and lithographs, White's artwork was primarily figurative and depicted African American history, socio-economic struggles, and human relationships.
Charles White received a number of awards and honors and in 1972 he was the third African American artist to be elected a full member of the National Academy of Design.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Charles W. and Frances White letters and photographs to Melvin and Lorraine Williamson, the Lucinda H. Gedeon research material on Charles W. White, and an oral history interview with Charles W. White conducted by Betty Hoag, March 9, 1965.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of loaned materials (reels LA7 and 3099). Reel LA7 includes photographs of White, his work, and a career resume. Reel 3099 contains 31 items consisting of three travel diaries kept by Frances White, photographs and a recording of their trip to Russia in 1950, and 11 record album covers designed by Charles White. Loaned materials were returned to the lenders after microfilming and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Charles White's "Black Experience Archive," originally received with the papers, was donated to Howard University's Moorland-Springarn Research Center in 1985 at the request of Frances White.
Provenance:
Photographs on reel LA7 and material on reel 3099 were lent to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1965 and 1982, by Benjamin Horowitz, White's dealer, and by Frances White. Material on reel 2041 was donated by the George Arents Research Library, Syracuse University, 1976, who had originally received it from Horowitz. The remainder of the papers were donated by Charles White, 1975-1978, and after his death by Frances White and Benjamin Horowitz, 1981-1989.
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.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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.
Charles W. White papers, 1933-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Funding for the digitization was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.
An interview with Yreina Cervántez conducted 2022 May 18-June 9, by Fernanda Espinosa for the Archives of American Art, at Cervántez's home in Los Angeles, California.
Biographical / Historical:
Yreina Cervántez (1952- ) is a multimedia artist, teacher and Chicana activist in Los Angeles, California. Cervántez is known for her vibrant and historical paintings, prints, and murals. She was a founding member of Self Help Graphics and has taught at California State University, Northridge.
Fernanda Espinosa (1985- ) is an oral historian based in Ecuador and New York.
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:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the recording is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Multimedia artists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
