Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Documentary films
Interviews
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Interview with Lou Stovall for documentary in which Stovall demonstrates and speaks about his silk screen printing process and use of color in detail. During the interview, Stovall discusses his ability and passion for drawing, hiding the human figure in landscape compositions, working with stencils and proofing strips, details of the reductive printing process, integration of color in his work, silk screen printing as a technical medium, art intelligence, aesthetics in his work and other artists, where he gets his inspiration, and Sam Gilliam's work and abstract art.
Interview for short documentary titled Lou Stovall. Audio only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. AV003305: audio skips and minimal distortions. Dated 19830627.
Biographical / Historical:
Lou Stovall Interview - Silk Screen Process is related to an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003305-2
ACMA AV003281
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
10 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Documentary films
Interviews
Outtakes
Ambient sounds
Sound effects recordings
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Sound rolls for short documentary titled Lou Stovall in which Stovall demonstrates and speaks about his silk screen printing process and use of color in detail. Interviews, narration, ambient sounds, foley sound effects, and demonstration of screen printing process contained on sound rolls. During the interview segments, Stovall discusses his ability and passion for drawing, working with stencils and proofing strips, details of the reductive printing process, mixing and integrating of color in his work, and silk screen printing as a technical medium. Some of the footage, particularly AV003285, AV003287 and AV003288, consists of almost exclusively demonstration [sounds of the screen printing process].
Sound rolls and narration for short documentary titled Lou Stovall. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Audio only. Most likely there is film which syncs with sound rolls, except AV003276 [no camera/image according to statement at beginning of sound roll]. AV003506: Sound Roll 1. AV003288: Sound Roll 2. AV003285: Sound Roll 3. AV003276: Sound Roll 4. AV003313: Sound Roll 5. AV003498: Sound Roll 6. AV003287: Sound Roll 7. AV003303: Sound Roll 8. AV003289: Sound Roll 9. AV003447: Lou Stovall Narration [distortion at beginning of recording]. Dated 19830803 [AV003506], 19830804 [AV003276, AV003285, AV003288, AV003498], 19830805 [AV003287, AV003303], 19830824 [AV003289]. Undated [AV003313, AV003447].
Biographical / Historical:
Lou Stovall Sound Rolls and Narration is related to an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003285
ACMA AV003287
ACMA AV003288
ACMA AV003289
ACMA AV003303
ACMA AV003313
ACMA AV003447
ACMA AV003498
ACMA AV003506
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1983
Scope and Contents:
Lou and Di Stovall walk through the exhibition 'Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall' with Zora Martin-Felton. The Stovalls talk about various pieces of their artwork displayed throughout the exhibition. They also speak of their artistic process and style.
Exhibiton tour. Sound only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. AV001364: dated 19830923. AV001346: dated 19830925.
Biographical / Historical:
Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Self Guided Audio Tour was created for an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Di Stovall, also known as Di Bagley Stovall and Di Bagley, was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1947. As a child, she loved collecting small things, animate and inanimate. Stovall studied with Barbara Pound, a painter known for landscapes, oil, and watercolor, throughout her childhood and teenage years. In the late 1960s, Stovall was educated at Columbus College and Bradley Museum, both in Georgia, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Corcoran School of Art. Stovall is a noted master of the miniature, creating representational and abstract images painted in absorbing detail. Although she creates drawings, prints, and watercolors, she prefers to work with acrylic on paper to capture the minute detail she seeks. Stovall's work also includes acrylic paint on glass, hand-crafted jewelry, and wooden cabinetry. Overall, Stovall's work is colorful, whimsical, and sophisticated. Color is extremely important to her. In 1971, she married Lou Stovall, a printmaker.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001364_B
ACMA AV001346_A
ACMA AV001346_B
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1984
Scope and Contents:
Brian Jones led an interactive tour of the exhibition 'Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall' for JHS students during February 1984.
Exhibiton tour - educational program. Sound only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Dated 198402.
Biographical / Historical:
Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Self Guided Audio Tour was created for an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Di Stovall, also known as Di Bagley Stovall and Di Bagley, was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1947. As a child, she loved collecting small things, animate and inanimate. Stovall studied with Barbara Pound, a painter known for landscapes, oil, and watercolor, throughout her childhood and teenage years. In the late 1960s, Stovall was educated at Columbus College and Bradley Museum, both in Georgia, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Corcoran School of Art. Stovall is a noted master of the miniature, creating representational and abstract images painted in absorbing detail. Although she creates drawings, prints, and watercolors, she prefers to work with acrylic on paper to capture the minute detail she seeks. Stovall's work also includes acrylic paint on glass, hand-crafted jewelry, and wooden cabinetry. Overall, Stovall's work is colorful, whimsical, and sophisticated. Color is extremely important to her. In 1971, she married Lou Stovall, a printmaker.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001363_B
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
circa 1984
Scope and Contents:
Brian Jones led an interactive tour, possibly for students, of the exhibition 'Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall.'
Exhibiton tour - educational program. Sound only. Part of Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Audiovisual Records. Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall Self Guided Audio Tour was created for an exhibition featuring the works of Washington, D.C. artists, Lou and Di Stovall, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from September 18, 1983 - March 4, 1984. The exhibition, Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, showcased 84 works - silkscreen prints, drawings, and arcylic paintings - illustrating the artists' progression form posterists to master printmaker and miniaturist, respectively. The art was complemented by audiovisual presentations on the technique of silkscreen printing and a biographical essay on the artists.;Lou Stovall was born Luther McKinley Stovall in Athens, Georgia in 1937. When Stovall was four years old, his family moved north to Springfield, Massachusetts to find work. At age of fifteen, he was an apprentice to Al LaPierre in his silkscreen sign shop at the Growers Outlet Super Market. In 1956, Stovall received a grant and scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design. After the first semester, his father became ill so Stovall returned home to support his family for about five or six years. When he returned to school, Stovall attended Howard University, where he received a B.F.A. in 1965. James Lesesne Wells introduced to Stovall to silkscreen as a fine art rather than a commercial medium. Stovall also learned about collaboration in printmaking (artist and printer combining ideas and skills to create a work of art) from Wells. In 1968, Stovall received a grant to buy printmaking equipment. However, he made most of the tools and tables himself creating a full scale printmaking, wood making, and metal workshop in Washington, D.C. Under his direction, Workshop Inc. has grown from a small but active studio primarily concerned with community posters into a professional printmaking outfit. Stovall creates his own original silkscreen prints and is the printmaker of choice for other master artists including Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, and Sam Gilliam. For each work of art, he finds new and unique ways to replicate as closely as possible a painting supplied by the artist. He has the ability to make the medium do just about anything he and the artist(s) want it to do. Stovall's innovative techniques and distinctive style is credited by artists and critics with helping to transform the concept of silkscreen printmaking from a commercial craft to a true art form. In 1971, Stovall married Di Bagley, a painter who specializes in acrylic on paper and incorporates miniature images into many of her works.;Di Stovall, also known as Di Bagley Stovall and Di Bagley, was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1947. As a child, she loved collecting small things, animate and inanimate. Stovall studied with Barbara Pound, a painter known for landscapes, oil, and watercolor, throughout her childhood and teenage years. In the late 1960s, Stovall was educated at Columbus College and Bradley Museum, both in Georgia, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Corcoran School of Art. Stovall is a noted master of the miniature, creating representational and abstract images painted in absorbing detail. Although she creates drawings, prints, and watercolors, she prefers to work with acrylic on paper to capture the minute detail she seeks. Stovall's work also includes acrylic paint on glass, hand-crafted jewelry, and wooden cabinetry. Overall, Stovall's work is colorful, whimsical, and sophisticated. Color is extremely important to her. In 1971, she married Lou Stovall, a printmaker.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001366_B
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Gussie Du Jardin, 1983 October 11. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Edward Landon, 1975 Apr. 17-May 28. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Albert Christ-Janer, 1964 March 21. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Abraham Walkowitz, 1958 December 8-22. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Fritz Scholder, 1995 March 3-30. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painters -- Arizona -- Scottsdale -- Interviews Search this
Sculptors -- Arizona -- Scottsdale -- Interviews Search this
Painters -- Southwest, New -- Interviews Search this
Sculptors -- Southwest, New -- Interviews Search this
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Art Search this
The papers of painter Lucile Blanch (1895-1981) measure 0.5 linear feet and date from circa 1898 to 1963. The scattered papers comment on Blanch's relationships with her husband Arnold Blanch, her sister Beatrice Lundquist, and fellow artists. Found are biographical material, correspondence, a diary fragment by Beatrice Lundquist, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter Lucile Blanch (1895-1981) measure 0.5 linear feet and date from circa 1898 to 1963. The scattered papers comment on Blanch's relationships with her husband Arnold Blanch, her sister Beatrice Lundquist, and fellow artists. Found are biographical material, correspondence, a diary fragment by Beatrice Lundquist, and photographs.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Minnesota and New York etcher and painter Lucile Blanch (1895-1981) helped to establish the Woodstock Art Colony in Woodstock, New York.
Born Lucile Lundquist in rural northern Minnesota, she studied at the Minneapolis School of Art where she met her future husband, Arnold Blanch. They moved to New York City where Lucile studied at the Art Students League. Lundquist was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the mid-1930s and participated in the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project, creating several murals for public buildings, before teaching art classes.
Lucile Blanch died in Georgia in 1981 and is buried in Woodstock, New York.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel 1003 including a sketchbook; 46 drawings, prints and reproductions of Blanch's work; illustrations from W. H. Hudson's Green Mansions; 3 scrapbooks containing clippings, reproductions of her work, exhibition material, photographs, and letters; and miscellaneous printed material. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Materials on reel 1033 were lent for microfilming in 1975 by Lucile Blanch and the correspondence on frames 297-410 was subsequently donated in 1976 by Blanch. Additional correspondence, photographs and a sketch were donated in 2021 and 2023 by Nancy Lundquist, a relative of Lucile Blanch.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
Etchers -- New York (State) -- Woodstock Search this
The papers of photographer and teacher Imogen Cunningham, date from 1903 to 1991. The collection measures 5.9 feet of material, including correspondence, business and financial records, writings, printed matter, and photographs, and provides a good overview of Cunningham's life and career.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of photographer and teacher Imogen Cunningham, date from 1903 to 1991. The collection measures 5.9 feet of material, including correspondence, business and financial records, writings, printed matter, and photographs, and provides a good overview of Cunningham's life and career. 3.6 linear feet of correspondence comprise the bulk of the collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series according to material type:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1907-1981, undated (box 1; 4 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1909-1991, undated (boxes 1-4; 3.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1944-1976 (box 4; 15 folders)
Series 4: Notes, 1959-1968 (box 4; 10 folders)
Series 5: Teaching Files, 1964-1971 (box 5; 4 folders)
Series 6: Writings, circa 1910-1976 (box 5; 21 folders)
Series 7: Interview Transcripts, 1951, undated (box 5; 2 folders)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1903-1991 (boxes 5-7; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 9: Photographs, 1916-1976 (box 7; 12 folders)
Series 10: Oversized Material, 1947-1948, 1967, undated
Biographical Note:
Born in Portland, Oregon on April 12, 1883, Cunningham's family moved to Seattle in 1889. Inspired by Gertrude Kasebier's work, she purchased her first camera in 1901. After studying chemistry and botany at the University of Washington, she worked for the Edward S. Curtis Studio, Seattle, from 1907 to 1909. Receiving a scholarship, Cunningham studied for a year at the Technische Hochschule, Dresden.
Upon her return to Seattle in 1910, she opened a studio and had the first major exhibition of her work at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1912.
In 1915, Cunningham married printmaker Roi Partridge and gave birth to her first son, Gryffyd. Two years later, her family moved to California, where she gave birth to twin sons, Padraic and Rondal. In 1920, the family moved to Oakland, where her husband taught at Mills College. During the 1920s, she exhibited her art work and began photographing plant forms.
Along with Ansel Adams, John Paul Edwards, Sonya Noskowiak, Henry Swift, Willard Van Dyke, and Edward Weston, Cunningham formed the f/64 Group, a society of purist photographers in 1932. During the same year she began working for Vanity Fair and other magazines and began a career as a portrait photographer, including Martha Graham, Cary Grant, Morris Graves, Alfred Stieglitz, and Spencer Tracy as her subjects. She divorced her husband in 1934.
In 1947, Cunningham established a studio in her San Francisco home, and continued to exhibit extensively until her death on June 24, 1976.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Imogen Cunningham in 1974 and 1976, and by her son, Gryffyd Partridge, in 1991.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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:
Photographers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Educators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and National Portrait Gallery, Museum Purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative and generously supported by American Express
The papers of painter and printmaker Eldzier Cortor measure 3.1 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 2015, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1972 to 2015. The papers contain biographical material, correspondence, professional files, exhibition and gallery files, writings, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and printmaker Eldzier Cortor measure 3.1 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 2015, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1972 to 2015. The papers contain biographical material, correspondence, professional files, exhibition and gallery files, writings, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Biographical material consists of awards certificates; Cortor's artist biography; an obituary and prayer cards for his father in law; an address book; and a Christmas list.
Correspondence includes letters from Cortor's family; correspondence with or about individuals or organizations; and general correspondence. Individuals included in the general correspondence are Acklyn Lynch, Leontine Collier, Violetta Harrigan, Halima Taha, David C. Driskell, Carol Anderson, and Betye Saar. Art institutions represented in this series include Sylvan Cole Gallery, Anderson Gallery, and Kenkeleba House.
Professional files include materials related to the Cosby Collection of Fine Arts; publishing; materials related to fake Cortor works; the Public School Mural Project; teaching files; lists of possible titles for paintings; financial documents; materials related to painting and etching plates for storage; and notes of museum and gallery contacts.
Exhibition and gallery files include correspondence; contracts and agreements; exhibition announcements; inventories; other exhibition materials; clippings; press releases; photographs and photocopied images of artwork; and photographs of exhibitions.
Writings consist primarily of essays and articles about Eldzier Cortor. Also included are his answers to a questionnaire about art, a diary, and notes, as well as hand-copied excerpts of reviews.
Printed material includes exhibition announcements, exhibition catalogs, newsletters, clippings, research and source material, and books.
Artwork includes ink and watercolor sketches from Cortor's time as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. This series also includes additional sketches, sketchbooks, and a collage by K. Carracio.
Photographs depict Cortor, other individuals, his artwork, and exhibitions. There are also photographs from his time in Cuba and Haiti (circa 1950s).
Arrangement:
The Eldzier Cortor papers are organized into 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1947-2012 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1970-2015 (Box 1; 8 folders)
Series 3: Professional Files, 1960, 1972-2015 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet, OV 4)
Series 4: Exhibition and Gallery Files, 1972-2015 (Boxes 1-2; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 5: Writings, circa 1970s-2006 (Box 2; 8 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1940-1976, 1996-2015 (Boxes 2-3; 0.8 linear feet, OV 4)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1930s, circa 1970s-circa 1990s (Box 3; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1939-2002, 2014 (Box 3; 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Eldzier Cortor (1916-2015) spent his professional career as a painter and printmaker in Chicago and New York. He was born in Richmond Virginia to John and Ophelia Cortor. In 1917, the family moved to Chicago along with countless other African Americans as part of the Great Migration.
In 1936, Cortor began taking evening classes at the Art Institute of Chicago prior to enrolling full time. Kathleen Blackshear, an instructor at the Institute, recommended Cortor for employment at the Works Projects Administration in 1940. It was under Blackshear's guidance that Cortor was introduced to African Art. The depiction of African Americans became the defining subject of Cortor's career, specifically the portrayal of the African American woman, which he commonly represented nude in paintings and prints.
In 1941, with funding by the Works Projects Administration, Cortor helped found the South Side Community Arts Center in Chicago. Over the next few years he would receive two Rosenwald Fellowships, which allowed him to travel to the Sea Islands of Georgia. Afterward, Cortor moved to New York, and in 1946 Life magazine published his work Southern Gate. In 1949 he received a Guggenheim fellowship, which provided the opportunity to travel to Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti. He settled in Port-au-Prince, where he taught for two years.
Cortor married Sophia Schmidt on August 20, 1951, and they subsequently had four children: Michael, Mercedes, Stephen, and Miriam. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Studio Museum of Harlem, and the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Boston. Notable exhibitions include Three Masters: Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith, and Archibald John Motley, Jr. at Kenkeleba House in 1988; Southern Gate: African American Paintings from the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution at Duke University Museum of Art, 1999; Eldzier Cortor: Master Printmaker at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, 2002; and Black Spirit: Works on Paper by Eldzier Cortor at the Indiana Art Museum, 2006.
Eldzier Cortor died in November of 2015, at the age of 99.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of materials lent for microfilming on reel N70-47, including biographical material, correspondence, printed material, papers related to exhibitions, photographs, and sketchbooks. Except for three photographs that appear in this collection (Box 3, Folder 19), loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Eldzier Cortor loaned materials to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1970 and donated papers in 2009. His son, Michael Cortor, gave additional materials in 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of 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.
