The papers of New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. painter and muralist Allyn Cox measure 11 linear feet and date from 1856-1982. The collection documents Cox's personal and professional life through biographical material, family and general correspondence, writings and notes, research material, printed material, sketchbooks and loose sketches, and photographs. Photographs are of Cox at work, the Cox family, including Kenyon and Louise Cox, Cox's friends and colleagues, events, and Cox's artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. painter and muralist Allyn Cox measure 11 linear feet and date from 1856-1982. The collection documents Cox's personal and professional life through biographical material, family and general correspondence, writings and notes, research material, printed material, sketchbooks and loose sketches, and photographs. Photographs are of Cox at work, the Cox family, including Kenyon and Louise Cox, Cox's friends and colleagues, events, and Cox's artwork.
Biographical material includes family birth, death, and marriage certificates, and passports for Cox and his wife Ethel, whom he married in 1927; professional membership cards, awards and certificates; records related to sales of furnishings from the Cox family home in Essex, Massachusetts; and an untranscribed interview of Cox by Tony Janak of NBC TV.
Cox's family correspondence is primarily with his mother, Louise Cox. Also found is correspondence with Cox's sister, Caroline Cox Lansing, and his brother Leonard Cox and Leonard's wife, Sylvia, and letters from Ethel Cox to her mother. Additional correspondence relating to the disposition of Kenyon Cox''s artwork and archives to various institutions, can also be found here.
General correspondence documents Cox's career and professional relationships with artists and architects, including John Barrington Bayley, Fabrizio Cassio, Arthur Conrad, Roscoe DeWitt, Stuart Frost, John Harbeson, Francis Keally, Adrian Lamb, Edward Laning, Charles Downing Lay, Deane Keller, Philip Trammell Shutze, and Cliff Young; art institutions and organizations including the Art Commission of the City of New York, the Art Students League, Dumbarton Oaks, the National Society of Mural Painters, and the Smithsonian Institution; federal, state and local government agencies including the American Battle Monuments Commission, the Architect of the Capitol, and the General Grant National Memorial; members of Congress including founder of the United States Capitol Historical Society, Representative Fred Schwengel; and private social clubs in which Cox was active, including the Century Association, the Cosmopolitan Club and the Cosmos Club. Correspondence documents Cox's most well known commissions including work for the George Washington Masonic National Memorial and the United States Capitol, as well as work for many private clients including banks and residences.
Also found are typescripts, manuscripts and notes for Cox's lectures, as well as Ethel Cox's diary from 1923-1936 and her diary excerpt from 1955. Ten folders of research files, consisting primarily of clippings, comprise Cox's source material. Additional printed material provides scattered documentation of Cox's career through announcements and catalogs, and magazine and newspaper articles written by him or about his work. Also found is one folder of clippings about Kenyon Cox.
Four sketchbooks and circa twenty-two loose animal, figure, architectural and landscape sketches comprise Cox's artwork, in addition to two 1943 sketches Cox entered into a War Department mural competition. Also found is an 1873 sketchbook of Kenyon Cox, with sketches of people and scenes in Ohio.
Photographs are of Cox from childhood to the 1980s; his family, including parents, siblings, and grandparents; friends including Philip Trammell Shutze and Warner Bishop; family residences; artist models; events; and artwork, including many of Cox's commissions. In addition to photographic prints, slides, and negatives, the series includes vintage formats such as an ambrotype, 8 tintypes, 2 cyanotypes, and a platinum print. Of particular note are circa 16 photos of Kenyon Cox, one taken by Pirie MacDonald and three of him teaching a class at the Art Students League, and a series of circa 1906 photos taken in a garden, of Louise and Kenyon Cox with their children and others. Also found are 10 glass plate negatives of artwork by Cox.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and are closed to researchers.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1982 (0.33 linear feet; Boxes 1, 12)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1878-1982 (6.74 linear feet; Boxes 1-7, 12)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1919-1982 (0.58 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Series 4: Research Files, circa 1950s-circa 1970s (0.25 linear feet; Box 8)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1920s-1982 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 8-9)
Series 6: Sketchbooks and Sketches, 1873-circa 1978 (0.25 linear feet; Box 9, OVs 13-14)
Series 7: Photographs, 1856-circa 1980 (2.25 linear feet; Boxes 9-12, OV 13)
Biographical / Historical:
New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C. painter and muralist, Allyn Cox (1896-1982), was born in New York City to artists Kenyon and Louise Cox. Cox first trained as his father's assistant, serving as an apprentice to Kenyon Cox during the painting of the murals at the Wisconsin State Capitol, circa 1912. He attended the National Academy of Design from 1910-1915, and the Art Student's League with George Bridgman in 1915. In 1916 he was awarded the Prix de Rome and subsequently studied at the American Academy in Rome for 2 years before returning to New York City to begin a career in mural painting.
Cox completed numerous murals and decorative paintings for private residences, businesses, churches, and public buildings. Some of his most famous commissions included murals for the Royal Arch Room and Memorial Hall of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia; the Law School at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and the William A. Clark Memorial Library at the University of California, Los Angeles; panels for the National City Bank, the Continental Bank, and the Guaranty Trust Company in New York; and glass mosaics and inlaid stone maps for the United States Military Cemetery in Hamm, Luxembourg.
Cox is best known for his work in the United States Capitol, beginning in 1952 when he undertook a congressional commission to restore and complete the murals in in the Capitol rotunda begun by Constantino Brumidi and Filipo Costaggini in 1878. Over the course of the next two decades Cox, now residing in Washington, D.C., restored the Frieze of American History and the Apotheosis of Washington in the Rotunda, and designed murals for three first-floor corridors in the Capitol's House wing, now known as the Cox Corridors. Assisted by Cliff Young, Cox completed painting for two of these corridors before his death. In 1958 Cox also painted a portrait of Henry Clay for the Senate Reception Room and in 1975 completed a mural depicting the 1969 moon landing in the Brumidi Corridor.
Cox taught at the Art Students League in 1940 and 1941, and was active in professional organizations throughout his career. He served as President of the American Artists Professional League and the National Society of Mural Painters, and Vice President of both the Fine Arts Federation and the New York Architectural League. He was a member of the board of the New York Municipal Art Society and served on the the New York City Art Commission.
Cox retired in March 1982 at the age of 86 and died the following September.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Allyn Cox papers relating to U.S. Capitol murals, 1970-1974, donated by the Committee on House Administration, via Cindy Szady in 1981. Papers include a resume; a cost estimate by Cox for designing and executing mural decorations in the U.S. Capitol, 1970; a letter, 1974, from the Office of the Architect of the Capitol to the Capitol Historical Society enclosing photocopies of printed material pertinent to the unveiling and dedication of the Capitol rotunda frieze in 1954; miscellaneous printed material, 1971-1974; and 15 photographs of the murals in the Capitol.
Provenance:
The bulk of the Allyn Cox papers was donated in 1977 and 1983 by the Estate of Allyn Cox, Stephen M. Pulsifer, Exectuor, including material that had been loaned for microfiliming in 1969. Two mural sketches were donated by the Essex County Greenbelt Association in 1984.
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. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and are not served to researchers. 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.
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Diaries
Sketchbooks
Sketches
Citation:
Allyn Cox papers, 1856-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Judith Baca, 1986 August 5-6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The Murals of Aztlán Film Production Records measures 5.1 linear feet and consists of film footage, sound recordings, and notes from the documentary produced by James Tartan during the exhibition Murals of Aztlán: the Street Painters of East Los Angeles at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles in 1981. Film and sound elements in the collection include original sound recordings, work print, outtakes, and trims. Also found are production notes, museum memorandums concerning the exhibition schedule, and a transcript of a recorded conversation among muralists.
Scope and Contents:
The Murals of Aztlán Film Production Records measures 5.1 linear feet and consists of film footage, sound recordings, and notes from the documentary produced by James Tartan during the exhibition Murals of Aztlán: the Street Painters of East Los Angeles at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles in 1981. Film and sound elements in the collection include original sound recordings, work print, outtakes, and trims. Also found are production notes, museum memorandums concerning the exhibition schedule, and a transcript of a recorded conversation among muralists.
Arrangement:
Collection arranged as 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Exhibition and Production Notes, 1981 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Work Print and Soundtrack, 1981 (2.6 linear feet; Box 3, FC 1-30)
Series 3: Sound Recordings, 1981 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 4: Voiceover Outtakes, 1981 (0.9 linear feet; FC 31-39)
Series 5: Trims and Outtakes, 1981 (0.9 linear feet; FC 40-48)
Biographical / Historical:
Murals of Aztlán is a documentary film produced by actor and filmmaker James Tartan during the exhibition Murals of Aztlán: the Street Painters of East Los Angeles held at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, California in 1981. For the exhibition, artists Carlos Almaraz, Gronk, Judithe Hernandez, Willie Herron, Frank Romero, John Valadez and the East Los Streetscrapers (David Botello, Wayne Healy, George Yepes) painted portable murals in the gallery, which was open to the public during the installation of the work. The filmmaker and his crew interviewed the artists involved in the exhibition for the film, filmed the artists creating murals in the gallery, and also filmed the public viewing the artists working and the murals themselves.
James Tartan was born in 1931 and worked as a filmmaker, actor, and voiceover artist. In addition to Murals of Aztlán, Tartan created a documentary film about the 1974 Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition Los Four, and has been credited with training many Chicano filmmakers in the 1970s.
Separated Materials:
Additional production material from the documentary Murals of Aztlán, including a final print, is found in the James Tartan Film Collection, 1960-1985, held at the UCLA Chicano Research Center.
Provenance:
Donated by James Tartan, the filmmaker, in 1988.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. 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.
Occupation:
Muralists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Arthur and Jean Goodwin Ames, 1965 June 9. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Edward Biberman, 1964 April 15. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Boris Gorelick, 1964 May 20. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Buckley Mac-Gurrin, 1964 June 20. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Donald Totten, 1964 May 28. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Dorr Bothwell, 1965 February 27. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection, which measures 7.9 linear feet and dates from 1851 to 1995 (bulk 1913-1995), documents the life and career of muralist, sculptor, and educator Reuben Kadish. The papers contain biographical material, letters, personal business records, an exhibition file, notes, writings, artwork, printed material, photographs, and artifacts.
Scope and Content Note:
The Reuben Kadish papers measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1851 to 1995 with the bulk of the material dating from 1913 to 1995. The collection documents the life and career of muralist, sculptor, and educator Reuben Kadish and contains biographical material, letters, personal business records, an exhibition file, notes, writings, artwork, printed material, photographs, and artifacts.
Biographical material, 1938-1992, includes résumés and personal identification items. Letters are from friends and colleagues including Herman Cherry, Philip Guston, Hilaire Hiler, Jules Langsner, Urban Neininger, Charles Pollock, and Jackson Pollock. One letter from the Leonard Stark family contains a small photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe.
Personal business records, 1952-1995, consist of legal documents, including estate papers for Ida and Reuben Kadish, and financial records. The only specific exhibition file documents the 1990 exhibition Reuben Kadish: Works from 1930 to the Present at the New Jersey State Museum in 1990.
Notes include unbound notes on mural painting, printmaking, sculpture, and other art-related topics, and handwritten translations by William H. Thomson of thirty classic texts by Homer, Horace, and Demosthenes. Writings, 1975-1992, consist of an autobiographical manuscript by Kadish, and typescripts concerning Kadish and other art-related topics by other authors including Dore Ashton, Herman Cherry, Howard Conant, and Judd Tully.
Artwork, undated and 1981-1992, includes a hundred sketches and seventeen watercolors by Kadish, and a drawing for DIG (Archeology) by Barbara Kadish. Printed material relates primarily to exhibitions for Kadish and others but also includes a baseball program autographed by Darryl Strawberry. Photographs include prints of Kadish and other artists working on murals, and photographs picturing family and friends.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series, based on type of material. Although acquired as a gift before the rest of the collection was loaned to the Archives of American Art in 1998, eight photographs are described in Series 9: Photographs, with those included in the 1998 loan.
Each series is arranged chronologically, except Series 2: Letters and Series 6: Writings, which are arranged alphabetically according to the surname of the writer.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1992 (box 1, 3 folders)
Series 2: Letters, 1934-1995, undated (boxes 1-3, 2.5 linear ft.)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1952-1995 (boxes 3-4, 37 folders)
Series 4: Exhibition File, 1989-1991 (box 4, 1 folder)
Series 5: Notes, 1851-1853, 1937-1992, undated (boxes 4-5, 35 folders)
Series 6: Writings, 1963-1992, undated (box 5, 14 folders)
Series 7: Artwork, 1981-1992, undated (boxes 5, 10, 8 folders)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1934-1993, undated (boxes 5-7, 76 folders)
Series 9: Photographs, 1913-1992, undated (boxes 7-9, sol 10, 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 10: Artifacts, undated (box 9, 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
Reuben Kadish was born in Chicago on January 29, 1913. His father and mother were from Latvia and the Ukraine respectively.
In 1921, the family moved to East Los Angeles, California, where Kadish studied painting under Lorser Feitelson. During this time, he befriended Jackson Pollock and Philip Guston, who attended the Manual Arts High School.
During a trip to New York City in 1930, Kadish was impressed with the modern art, especially the work of the Surrealists, which he saw there. Upon his return to Los Angeles the following year, Kadish attended the Otis Art School, the Stickney School of Art in Pasadena, and Los Angeles City College. He also shared a studio with Philip Guston.
In 1933, Kadish, Guston and Jules Langsner were apprenticed to Mexican muralist, David Alfaro Siqueiros. Their most notable work being the mural "Triumph of Good Over Evil", at the University of Morelia in Mexico. During the next three years, the three young artists collaborated on painting murals in California and Mexico. After another visit to New York, Kadish was invited to San Francisco by Bill Gaskin to head the art division of the WPA project there, a position he occupied until 1940.
From 1940, Kadish worked as a coppersmith and welder at the Bethlehem Steel Works in San Francisco until 1942, when he joined the Army as a member of the War Artist Unit, serving in India and Southeast Asia during World War II. In 1944, he rejoined his wife Barbara in the Bay Area, but they soon returned to New York City, where Kadish worked for Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17. In the summer of 1945, the Kadish painted with Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in a shared Long Island house on Slow's Point in Amagansett.
In 1946, the Kadishes moved to a dairy farm in Vernon, New Jersey, where they supported themselves by farming until 1957. A catastrophic fire in the studio destroyed most of Kadish's paintings in 1947, causing him to turn his interest to creating sculpture.
After teaching art and design at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art in 1957, Kadish taught sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1958-1959. In 1960, he began his thirty-year teaching career at Cooper Union, which ended only a few months before his death on September 20, 1992 in Manhattan.
Related Material:
Other resources relating to Reuben Kadish in the Archives of American Art include an oral history interview with Kadish, April 15, 1992.
Provenance:
The eight photographs on Reel 5660 were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1984 by Reuben Kadish. The other material on Reels 5655-5660 was lent for filming in 1998 by Morris and Ruth Kadish, brother and sister-in-law of Reuben Kadish, and executors of his estate, and subsequently donated to the Archives of American Art in 2002.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment. Microfilmed portion must be consulted on microfilm.
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
The papers of painters and muralists Carlos Almaraz and Elsa Flores measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1946 to 1996. The collection documents the careers of both artists through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional files, personal business records, printed material and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painters and muralists Carlos Almaraz and Elsa Flores measure 7.9 linear feet and date from 1946 to 1996. The collection documents the careers of both artists through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional files, personal business records, printed material and artwork.
Biographical material includes documents regarding Almaraz's death, identification documents, and a few photographs and slides. Correspondence is with family, friends, galleries, museums, and arts organizations. Writings include nine journals belonging to Almaraz and Flores containing travel notes, daily activities and personal thoughts, as well as writings on other topics and writings by others. Professional files document the Los Four group, projects, events, exhibitions, and memberships with arts organizations. Personal business records include legal and financial material along with records relating to Almaraz and Flores's house in Kauai, Almaraz's scholarship fund, and for Almaraz Studio. Printed materials include publications featuring artwork and articles by or about Almaraz and Flores. Original artwork includes sketchbooks, drawings, cutouts, and a watercolor.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as seven series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1946-1994 (Boxes 1, 8-9; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1974-1996 (Boxes 1-4, OV 10; 3.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1972-1994 (Boxes 4, 8-9, OV 10; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1973-1994 (Boxes 4-5, 9, OV 11; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1974-1995 (Box 5; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1972-1995 (Boxes 6-7. 9, OV 10; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1975-1996 (Boxes 7-9; 1.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Carlos Almaraz (1941-1989) was a painter and muralist in Los Angeles, California. His wife Elsa Flores (1955- ) is also a painter and muralist. Almaraz and Flores collaborated on the mural California Dreamscape as part of the Chicano street arts movement.
Almaraz was born in Mexico City, moving to Chicago in 1942, and settling in Los Angeles in 1949. He studied at California State College, the Otis Art Institute, and the University of California in Los Angeles. He moved to New York City in 1965, where he studied at the Art Students League and New School of Social Research. In 1970, Almaraz returned to Los Angeles. He became active with mural painting within the Mexican American community in Los Angeles. Along with Gilbert Lujan, Beto de la Rocha, and Frank Romero, Almaraz founded the artist collective Los Four.
Elsa Flores was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her mother was born in Sinaloa, Mexico, and her father was of Arab descent, born in Chile after his paretns fled the Middle East. Elsa studied at the Art Center College, California State University, and the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts. Almaraz and Flores married in 1981 and their daughter Maya was born in 1983. They collaborated on California Dreamscape, a mural commissioned by the California Arts Council and is located in the Reagan State Building in Los Angeles. In the late 1980s, Almaraz was diagnosed with AIDS and died in 1989.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history with Carlos Almaraz conducted by Margarita Nieto from February 6, 1986 to January 29, 1987 and an oral history with Elsa Flores conducted by Jeffrey Rangel from February 18, 1997 to April 30, 1997.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of sketchbooks and notebooks (volumes 1-78) lent for microfilming (reels 4578-4587). Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Sketchbook and journal volumes 1-78 were lent for microfilming by Elsa Flores in 1991. Sketchbook and journal volumes 79-84 were donated, some by Carlos Almaraz in 1986 and the remainder in 1991 by Flores and microfilmed onto reel 4587, fr. 93-456. In 1997, additional papers were donated by Flores.
Restrictions:
The collection is access restricted, except for Box 8; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information. Box 8, containing six journals and sketchbooks (volumes 79-84) and slides are not restricted.
Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
Six journals and sketchbooks (volumes 79-84): Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Elsa Flores. Microfilm Reels 4578-4587: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Elsa Flores. 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.
