The papers of New York art critic, writer, educator, and painter, Gregory Battcock, measure 10.6 linear feet and date from 1952 to circa 1980. The collection includes biographical material, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, artists' files, personal business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographic materials, and artifacts that detail his involvement in both the mainstream and fringe art scenes of the 1970s.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York art critic, writer, educator, and painter, Gregory Battcock, measure 10.6 linear feet and date from 1952 to circa 1980. The collection includes biographical material, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, artists' files, personal business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographic materials, and artifacts that detail his involvement in both the mainstream and fringe art scenes of the 1970s.
Biographical materials contain address lists, six appointment books, a diploma and certificate, family history, identification documents, interviews, resumes, obituaries, a William Paterson College of New Jersey teaching file, and membership files for The Bronx Museum, International Association of Art Critics, and other organizations. Correspondence is with Battcock's mother, Elizabeth; friends and colleagues Peter Frank, John George, Al Goldstein, Braniff Livingston, Robert McGeehan, Julio Neri, Judith Van Baron, Ron Whyte, and others regarding social events, reprint permissions, book projects, travel arrangements, real estate, and freelance work.
Writings and notes include personal journal entries, drafts for articles and essays, manuscripts for published and unpublished works including "The Story of Film" and Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Critical Anthology of the New Music, his dissertation titled "Constructivism and Minimal Art: Some Critical, Theoretical and Aesthetic Correlations," book proposals, lectures, limericks, restaurant reviews, notes and writings by Jorge Glusberg and Vivienne Thaul Wechter.
Files for artists contain mostly printed material on Gisela Beker, Cee Brown, Jon Carsman, Christo, Jerry Dreva, Jacques Halbert, Emil Hess, Les Levine, Naoto Nakagawa, Nam Jun Paik, Harry Partch, Lil Picard, Philip Pocock, HA Schult, Andy Warhol, and others. The file for Salvador Dalí contains one video recording. Battcock's personal business records include contracts and payments for his writing, real estate papers, business agreements, papers regarding his father's estate, a loan agreement for Andy Warhol's "Self Portrait," and files detailing the theft of two painting by Malcom Morley from Battcock's residence.
Found in printed materials are clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, flyers, post cards, magazines, press releases, issues of Trylon & Perisphere and Gay magazines, and other material that features Battcock's writings. Additional clippings of Battcock's writings that appeared in the New York Free Press, New York Review of Sex and Politics, Domus, The Soho Weekly News, New York Arts Journal, Gay, and other publications are contained in ten scrapbooks.
Photographs are of Battcock, colleagues and friends, works of art from his personal collection, travel, and artists Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Nam Jun Paik, Julio Neri, Rolando Peña, Stephen Varble, and Scott Burton. Several keys with a detached keychain labeled 'studio' are in artifacts.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1958-1980 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1960s-circa 1980 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-3, 12)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1966-1980 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 4-6)
Series 4: Artists' Files, 1960s-1980 (0.6 linear feet; Box 6)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1966-1980 (0.5 linear feet; Box 6-7)
Series 6: Printed Materials, 1952-1980 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 12-13)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1959-1980 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 8-9, 12)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, 1960s-1980 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 9-11)
Series 9: Artifacts, circa 1970s (0.1 linear feet; Box 11)
Biographical / Historical:
Gregory Battcock (1937-1980) was an art critic, writer, educator, and painter from New York, N.Y. He attended Michigan State University, the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, and Hunter College for his undergraduate and graduate studies before receiving his Ph.D. from New York University in 1978. His dissertation was titled "Constructivism and Minimal Art: Some Aesthetic, Theoretical and Critical Correlations."
Battcock was a prolific writer and wrote numerous articles as a correspondent for Art & Artists and Domus magazines. His column, "The Last Estate," appeared in Gay magazine as well as other publications. In 1977, Battcock co-founded the short-lived magazine, Trylon & Perisphere, with his close friend, playwright Ron Whyte. Even though only three issues were printed, the magazine exhibited Battcock's predilection for art society gossip, and provocative imagery and prose. E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. published several of Battcock's books including Why Art: Casual Notes on the Aesthetics of the Immediate Past, Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Critical Anthology of the New Music, and Idea Art: A Critical Anthology. In addition to his writing career, Battcock taught fine art at William Paterson College of New Jersey, was art critic for New York Free Press from 1967 to 1970, Editor-in-Chief of Arts Magazine from 1973 to 1975, and appeared in the Andy Warhol films The Illiac Passion, Horse, and Batman Dracula.
Battcock was murdered in Puerto Rico on December 25, 1980. At the time of his death he was working on "The Story of Film," which remains unpublished, and The Art of Performance: A Critical Anthology, which was published posthumously in 1984.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an audio interview recorded on December 11, 1969 with Gregory Battcock for the University Roundtable radio series. The recording forms part of the WFUV radio interviews relating to art, 1969-1973 collection.
Provenance:
The Gregory Battcock papers were donated in 1992 by Nancy Mahl, an artist who occupied a studio in Jersey City, N.J. that had formerly been leased by a moving and storage company, and who came upon Battcock's papers in the building. The papers had been shipped to the Jersey City building without the knowledge of Ron Whyte (executor of Battcock's estate) and the Rev. Paul William Bradley, who had arranged to have Battcock's papers stored after his death. Additional papers were donated 2003 by Rev. Paul W. Bradley, who inherited the papers after the death of his partner Ron Whyte.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the 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 critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The archive is comprised of the papers of the artist (his writings, notes, scores, plans and designs, photographs and assorted print ephemera), his library (books, magazines, trade catalogs, etc.), as well as three dimensional artifacts from his studio (objects, toys, televisions, radios, the artist's desk, etc.) and over 200 videotapes (the artist's single-channel videotapes, installation videotapes, and videotape records of performances and interviews).
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Nam June Paik measure approximately 55 linear feet and date from 1832 to 2008, with the bulk of materials dating from 1960 to 2000. The papers document the artist's global career in video and multimedia art. The collection includes the artist's early writings on art, history and technology, performance scores, production notes for videotape and television products, plans for video installations, and documentation of large-scale television projects such as Guadalcanal Requiem (1977/79) and The More the Better (1988).
Letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes and notes from friends and business associates reflect Paik's association with a wide international circle of artists, including many of those associated with Fluxus. Biographical materials include vintage photographs, an early affidavit of support from Jonas Mekas for Paik's temporary entry into the United States and the transcript of a 1977 interview conducted by Dick Higgins.
Additional materials that provide insight into Paik's career include documentation of early Fluxus performances both before and after Paik's move to New York City in 1964 and printed announcements and programs for exhibitions, festivals, and performances.
Also included in the papers are over 400 books and magazines.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into fourteen series:
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1957-1999 (Box 1; 10 folders; .20 linear feet)
Series 2. Correspondence, 1959-2002 (Boxes 1-4 and oversize box 51; 74 folders, 1.5 linear feet)
Series 3. Financial and Legal Records,1965-2002 (Boxes 5-6; 27 folders; .8 linear feet)
Series 4. Project Files, ca. 1965-1998 (Boxes 7-10 and oversize boxes 52-53, 66 folders; 2 linear feet)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1974-2002 (Box 10 and oversize box 53; 19 folders; .3 linear feet)
Series 6: Notes and Writings, ca. 1960-2000 (Boxes 11-15 and oversize box 54; 112 folders; 2.1 linear feet)
Series 7: Sketchbooks and Sketches, 1974-1979 and undated (Box 16 and oversize box 54; 9 folders; .1 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, ca. 1940-2001 (Boxes 16-17 and oversize boxes 55 and 57; 36 folders; .9 linear feet)
Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, ca. 1960-2000 (Box 18 and oversize box 55; 17 folders; .5 linear feet)
Series 10: Printed Materials, 1832-2004 (Boxes 19-25 and oversize boxes 56-63; 121 folders; 10 linear feet)
Series 11: Books, 1839-2003 (Boxes 25-40 and oversize box 66; 17 linear feet)
Series 12: Magazines and Newsletters, ca. 1900-2000 (Boxes 41-46; 6 linear feet)
Series 13: Product Manuals, Trade Catalogs and Directories, ca. 1970-2000 (Boxes 47-50; 4 linear feet)
Series 14: Newspapers, 1867-2008 (Oversize boxes 62-65; 9.5 linear feet)
Biographical note:
Nam June Paik (1932-2006), internationally recognized as the "Father of Video Art," created a large body of work, including video sculptures, installations, performances, videotapes and television productions. His art and ideas embodied a radical new vision for an art form that changed global visual culture.
Born in 1932 in Seoul, Korea, to a wealthy industrial family, Paik and his family fled Korea in 1950 at the outset of the Korean War, first to Hong Kong, then to Japan. Paik graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1956, and then traveled to Germany to pursue his interest in avant-garde music, composition and performance. There he met John Cage and George Maciunas and became a member of the neo-dada Fluxus movement. In 1963, Paik had his legendary one-artist exhibition at the Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal, Germany, that featured his prepared television sets, which radically altered the look and content of television.
After immigrating to the United States in 1964, he settled in New York City, where he expanded his engagement with video and television, and had exhibitions of his work at the New School, Galerie Bonino, and the Howard Wise Gallery. In 1965, Paik was one of the first artists to use a portable video camcorder. In 1969, he worked with Japanese engineer Shuya Abe to construct an early video-synthesizer that allowed Paik to combine and manipulate images from different sources. The Paik-Abe video synthesizer transformed electronic moving-image making. Paik invented a new artistic medium with television and video, creating an astonishing array of artworks, from his seminal video Global Groove (1973), to his sculptures TV Buddha (1974) and TV Cello (1971); to installations such as TV Garden (1974), Video Fish (1975) and Fin de Siecle II (1989); videotapes Living with Living Theatre (1989) and Guadalcanal Requiem (1977/1979); and global satellite television productions such as Good Morning Mr. Orwell, which broadcast from the Centre Pompidou in Paris and a WNET-TV studio in New York City January 1, 1984.
Paik has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including the major retrospectives: Nam June Paik, organized by Tate Liverpool and museum kunst palast, Düsseldorf (2011); The Worlds of Nam June Paik organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City (2000); and Nam June Paik, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art (1982). He has been featured in major international art exhibitions including Documenta, the Venice Biennale, and the Whitney Biennial.
Provenance:
In 2009, the Nam June Paik archive was received as a gift from the Nam June Paik estate.
Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Found in this series are biographical sketches, documentation of fellowships, teaching assignments and awards received, including the New York State Council of the Arts Governor's Award (1986) and the Inamori Foundation Kyoto Prize (1988), business cards, lists of address and phone numbers, pamphlets from institutions that list Paik as an associate or member. Also included is a typed affidavit of support from Jonas Mekas for Paik's temporary entry into the United States and several interviews with the artist, including a transcript of an unpublished 1977 interview with Dick Higgins, and photocopies of a published interview with Paul Schimmel from Arts Magazine, Dec. 1974, pg. 52-54.
Arrangement:
Folders are arranged alphabetically by type or format of document.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Found in this series are notebooks and notes, lists, video logs, performance scores, and partial and complete typescripts and manuscripts of published and unpublished articles, both original and vintage photocopies. While the bulk of the writings are by Nam June Paik, there are some writings by other authors. A more complete description is provided at the subseries level.
Arrangement:
This series is arranged into four subseries:
6.1: Notes and Notebooks, circa 1960-2000
6.2: Performance Scores, circa 1960-1970
6.3: Writings by Nam June Paik, circa 1960-2000
6.4: Writings by Others, circa 1960-1995
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Includes letters from: Jean-Pierre Wilhelm, Nik Williams and Howard Wise.
Also includes correspondence from the following organizations: Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum (Duisburg, Germany) and William Patterson College (Wayne, New Jersey).
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Includes letters from: Jud Yalkut, Don Yannacito, and Gene Youngblood.
Also includes letters from the following organization: ZDF/Arte (Mainz, Germany).
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Mail art piece -- small inscribed envelope with puzzle piece inside -- possibly by Joe Jones (last name illegible), located in Oversize Box 51, Folder 6.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Mail Art piece, dated 1967, with envelope stamped "Snow/box 199 Church St. Sta., New York, N.Y. 10008" and containing artificial snow, located in Oversize Box 51, Folder 7.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
This series includes Fluxus and small artist publications; exhibition, film and program announcements, invitations and pamphlets, flyers and playbills. It also includes brochures and reports; press releases and voluminous clippings. More detailed descriptive information can be found under each subseries.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Found in this series are the artist's sketchbooks, primarily notebooks that were used for quick sketches and notes. There are also loose sheets (originals and photocopies) with sketches and diagrams, not all of which are by Paik. Included, for example are works by a W. Fri (signature illegible) and photocopies of Beryl Korot's videotape notations.
Arrangement:
Items in this series are arranged by format.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Includes letters from: Fujio Akai, Jae-Eun Choi, and Etsuko.
Also includes correspondence from the following organizations: Bank of Tokyo (Shibuya branch); Fukuoka Art Museum, and Fukuoka Jisho Co., Ltd.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Includes letters from: Kunio Gie, Shin Hara (Kyodo News), Konishi, and Kotaro.
Also includes letters from the following organization: Galerie Watari.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
These visual documents include black and white and color photographic prints, Polaroids, slides, contact sheets, color transparencies, and negatives. There are copy prints showing Paik as a small child and with his family (dating from the 1940s) and Paik as a young man (1950s). The bulk of the images date from the 1960s through the 1990s and document Nam June Paik, his works, and installations of his art in galleries and museums. Of particular note in the works of art folder is a photograph of Robot K-456 taken by Peter Moore, which seems to be the image used for the flyer advertising Nam June Paik's exhibition at the New School for Social Research in 1965.
Arrangement:
This series is arranged by subject matter and format.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the archive requires an advance appointment. Please contact Paik Archive staff by email at PaikArchive@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Collection Citation:
Nam June Paik Archive, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Nam June Paik Estate
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with support from the Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
