The papers of sculptor and educator Athena Tacha measure 36.04 linear feet and date from 1959 to 2019. Found are biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, research and writing files, commission and project files, teaching files from her position at Oberlin College, professional activities files, subject files, printed material, and photographic material. Of note are files documenting Tacha's numerous public art commissions throughout the United States.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of sculptor and educator Athena Tacha measure 36.04 linear feet and date from 1959 to 2019. Found are biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, research and writing files, commission and project files, teaching files from her position at Oberlin College, professional activities files, subject files, printed material, and photographic material. Of note are files documenting Tacha's numerous public art commissions throughout the United States.
Biographical materials include resumes, scattered personal business records, and small sketches and handmade cards by Tacha. Largely, Tacha's correspondence comments on her professional career and includes letters from Ellen H. Johnson and Lucy Lippard and other artists, art historians, colleagues, and institutions. Writings by Tacha include her PhD thesis, drafts of articles, and an interview. More extensive files are found for Brancusi's Birds, and Rodin Sculpture.
The largest series contains material concerning Tacha's commissions and projects, both completed and unrealized. Files may contain detailed designs and construction information, correspondence, financial records, video recordings, and photographs. Professional activity and organization files concern Tacha's exhibitions of her works of art, and her participation with various groups such as the College Art Association and the New Organization for the Visual Arts. Subject files and photographic materials may include extensive source material used by Tacha to create her sculpture. Found are photographs, slides, sound and video recordings, and born-digital material.
There is a one item addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes a handwritten notebook of works sold by Athena Tacha. The notebook dates from circa date from circa 1964-2017.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1960s-2000s (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, OV 37)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1961-2016 (5.3 linear feet; Boxes 1-6)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1959-2019 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 6-7)
Series 4: Research and Writing Files, circa 1960-1974 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 7-9, OV 37)
Series 5: Commission and Project Files, circa 1974-2016 (9.2 linear feet; Boxes 9-18, OV 37)
Series 6: Teaching Files, 1963-circa 2000 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 18-19)
Series 7: Professional Activities Files, 1968-2000 (2.2 linear feet; Boxes 20-22)
Series 8: Subject Files, 1960s-2000s (5.0 linear feet; Boxes 22-27)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1963-2013 (3.1 linear feet; Boxes 27-30, OV 37)
Series 10: Photographic Material, 1960s-2015 (6.8 linear feet; Boxes 30-36, OV 37)
Series 11: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1964-2017 (.01 linear feet, Folder 38)
Biographical / Historical:
Athena Tacha (1936-) is a Greek-born sculptor, and educator active in Oberlin, Ohio.
Athena Tacha was born in Larissa, Greece in 1936. She studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Athens and was accepted at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio under a Fulbright scholarship in 1960. There, she became close with her mentor Ellen H. Johnson. She continued her education at The Sorbonne, University of Paris where she completed her PhD. Returning to Oberlin, Tacha became assistant curator at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in the mid-1960s and later taught sculpture at Oberlin College until 1998.
Tacha began exhibiting her works throughout Ohio including at the annual Cleveland May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art and around the United States. She held solo shows at Zabriskie Gallery and the Max Hutchinson Gallery. In the 1970s, Tacha focused on large environmental public sculpture, using brick, LED lighting plants, steel, stone, and water.
Athena Tacha married art historian Richard Spear in 1965. Together, they traveled extensively through the United States, Asia, South America, and Europe. They live in Washington, D.C.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an interview of Athena Tacha conducted 2009 December 4-6, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art's U.S. General Services Administration, Design Excellence and the Arts oral history project.
Athena Tacha donated her teaching files, as well as her research files relating to Ellen Johnson's Frank Lloyd Wright house in Oberlin, Ohio, to Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, and her early and student writings to the Balch Institute of Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia, Pa. Tacha was the executor of Ellen Johnson's estate, and worked with the Archives in donating Johnson's papers in 1994 (cataloged separately under Johnson).
Provenance:
Donated 1998, 2019, 2021 and 2022 by Athena Tacha.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
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.
Athena Tacha papers, 1959-2019. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection received federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program
The papers of sculptor and painter Fletcher Benton measure 8.2 linear feet and 1.47 GB and date from 1934 to 2014. They document his career as a sculptor with international presence through certificates, personal photographs, legal papers, correspondence, exhibition and commission documentation, clippings, exhibition-related printed materials, broadcast materials, publications about his work, an editioned kinetic Christmas card, and photographs, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film documenting his work and career.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of sculptor and painter Fletcher Benton measure 8.2 linear feet and 1.47 GB and date from 1934 to 2014. They document his career through personal photographs, legal papers, correspondence, exhibition and commission documentation, clippings, exhibition-related printed materials, broadcast materials, publications about his work, an editioned kinetic Christmas card, photographs, sound and video recordings motion picture film, some of which also appears in digitized form.
Biographical Materials include personal photographs, legal documents related to a court case with book designer Ed Marquand, biographical texts, interview transcripts, and a home video made by the artist. Correspondence is with other artists, friends, galleries, museums and other institutions, including George W. Neubert, André Emmerich Gallery, Pieter Sanders, Pol Bury, George Rickey, Ulfert Wilke, Marlene Louchheim, DeWain Valentine, Lillian E. Jones, and Edward Lucie-Smith. Interviews include sound recordings of interviews with Benton by academics and journalists, including Edward Lucie-Smith, Dan Tooker, and Dan De Wilde.
Exhibition and Commission Files consist of correspondence with galleries, museums and commission patrons; financial records; shipping and subcontracting documentation; motion picture film, video, and sound recordings related to exhibitions and installations; and planning and design materials. Series includes a significant amount of oversized drawings and plans for site-specific work. There is a large volume documentation from the Folded Circle-Arc commission by Stanley Consultants, Inc. in Muscatine, Iowa; the California/International Arts Foundation Traveling Sculpture Exhibition; Double Folded Circle Ring in Brussels and Double Circle Folded by Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Printed Materials include news clippings related to Benton's career, as well as brochures, exhibition catalogs, posters and other printed materials related to exhibitions and commissions. Broadcast materials include television news footage, radio and television interviews, documentaries, and promotional materials made by galleries and other cultural institutions.
Photographic and Moving Image Materials include art-related images showing Benton in his studio and images of exhibitions, installations and inaugurations. Also found are still photographs and motion picture films of artworks, including paintings, sculptures, and kinetic drawings, and a series of photographs of sculptures taken by David Finn.
Artwork consists of an editioned art Christmas card created by Benton for Galeria Bonino in New York from 1969. An American Artist Moving Image Materials consist of 13 videocassettes (VHS) which document the production process of the documentaryFletcher Benton: An American Artist by Morgan Cavett. There is footage from interviews with Benton and with curator George W. Neubert, footage of San Francisco with comments from Benton about his time there, interviews with the artist's studio assistants, images of his studio in Dore street and a couple of almost finished rough versions of the documentary.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as nine series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material (0.3 linear feet; boxes 1, 9)
Series 2: Correspondence (1 linear foot; boxes 1, 2, OV 10)
Series 3: Interviews (0.3 linear feet; box 2)
Series 4: Exhibition and Commission Files (2 linear feet, 0.50 GB; boxes 2-4, OV 11-13, RD 14, FC 15, ER01)
Series 5: Printed Materials (2.3 linear feet; boxes 4-6, OV 10)
Series 6: Broadcast Materials (1.1 linear foot; boxes 6-7)
Series 7: Photographic and Moving Image Materials (0.5 linear feet, 0.97 GB; boxes 7, 9, FC 16-17, ER02)
Series 8: Artwork (1 item; box 7)
Series 9: -- An American Artist -- Video Recordings (0.6 linear feet; boxes 7-8)
Biographical / Historical:
Fletcher Benton was born in Jackson, Ohio in 1931 to Fletcher and Nell Cavett Benton and was the oldest of three children. Benton graduated from Jackson High School in 1949. After serving in the Navy he graduated from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) in 1956 and moved to San Francisco, where he started working as an instructor at the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1959. He was in San Francisco during the flourishing of the Beat generation, where he had a studio in the North beach area and exhibited at coffee house galleries.
After travelling around Europe in 1960, Benton moved to New York City where he tried to make his living through painting and teaching privately. During those years he was supported by Jackson's local arts patron and family friend, Lillian E. Jones. In 1960 he had his first solo exhibition at Gump's gallery in San Francisco, but his work was taken down after one day because it was considered obscene for including female nudes. He returned to San Francisco in late 1961.
In 1966 Fletcher started teaching at the San Francisco Art Institute and established himself as a primary figure of American kinetic art. In 1966, Peter Selz included his work in the exhibition Directions in Kinetic Sculpture at the University Art Gallery in Berkeley, CA. During the exhibition Benton met the artists Pol Bury and George Rickey with whom he became friends. The exhibition, along with an article "The Movement Movement" that appeared in Time magazine the same year, established Benton's reputation as a significant American Kinetic artist. He also started teaching at the California State University in San José in 1967 where he continued working until 1986.
By 1974 Benton abandoned kinetic art to continue exploring sculpture in three dimensions in a style that became known as "new constructivism." The artworks were conceived in the series Folded Circles and Folded Square Alphabets and were produced in bronze, aluminum and steel. It was also during the 1970s that he started doing large-scale commissions such as the 1977 IBM commission.
Between 1981 and 1984 Benton constructed his studio in Dore Street in the Market district of San Francisco where he continues to work today. During the 1980s Benton started his Balanced/Unbalanced series, which introduced the idea of gravity using geometric forms in different formats and sizes.
From 1984 he began to show more work in Europe, especially in Germany, where in 1993 he got a major commission to create a colossal public sculpture in Cologne entitled Steel Watercolor Triangle Ring. It was also in Germany where Benton encountered the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, and he began work on his Construct Relief series in reponse, which he dedicated to Kandinsky. These geometric constructions are flat, canvas-like steel structures that combine features of painting and sculpture. As the series evolved, the work became more like painting, constructed to hang on the wall without a back piece, so they seem to be floating in the space.
Benton continues to live and work in San Francisco and is represented by multiple galleries in the United States and Germany.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Fletcher Benton conducted by Paul J. Karlstrom, 1989 May 2-4 is available on the Archives of American Art website.
Provenance:
Donated 2005-2006 and 2014 by Fletcher Benton. Benton's wife, Bobbie Benton, organized the material by subject matter and date.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual material without a duplicate copy requires advanced 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.
Occupation:
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Sculptors -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Fletcher Benton papers, 1934-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.
The papers of New York City sculptor, painter, educator, and writer Lorrie Goulet (1925- ) measure 10.0 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2009. Goulet's career is documented through biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, interviews, exhibition files, project and commission files, teaching files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York City sculptor, painter, educator, and writer Lorrie Goulet (1925- ) measure 10.0 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2009. Goulet's career is documented through biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, interviews, exhibition files, project and commission files, teaching files, personal business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Biographical materials include awards, resumes, membership documents for the New York Artists Equity Association, and a scrapbook and photograph portfolio for Jose de Creeft's birthday in 1969. Scattered school records include a photocopy of a letter from Aimee Vorhees at the Inwood Pottery School.
Goulet's correspondence is mostly professional in nature but includes some letters from friends and family, including Jose de Creeft. Other notable correspondents include Chaim Gross, Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, and Richard Anuszkiewicz.
Writings and notes by Lorrie Goulet include artists' statements; notes and essays on sculpture, including a disbound binder entitled "Quadrations"; three journals about the creation of Enigma; a statement on Green Serpentine; lectures and talks, including a memorial tribute to Jose de Creeft; and poems. There are also a few writings by others about Goulet.
There are five transcripts of interviews with Lorrie Goulet and with Lorrie Goulet and Jose de Creeft. One of the interviews includes the original sound recordings on cassette tape and one includes a version of the transcript on floppy disc.
Extensive exhibition files document fifty years of Goulet's solo and group exhibitions held at galleries, museums, and institutions throughout the United States. Many of the files are from shows at Carolyn Hill Gallery, The Contemporaries, David Findlay Jr. Gallery, and Kennedy Galleries. Also found is extensive material on Goulet's exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Lorrie Goulet: Fifty Years of Making Sculpture (1998). File contents vary, but often contain photographs of openings and of works of art, correspondence, printed material, and price lists.
Project and commission files document Goulet's public commissioned works in the New York Public Library, 173 St. Branch, the Nurse's Residence and School at the Bronx Municipal Hospital, the New York City 48th Precinct Station House and Fire House, and the bust of King Juan Carlos I of Spain. There are also files concerning Goulet's television show Around the Corner, an educational children's show that aired from 1964-1968.
Teaching files are from Goulet's positions at the Art Students League, the school at the Museum of Modern Art, the New School for Social Research, and Scarsdale Studio Workshop. Personal business records include scattered bills and receipts for works of art by Goulet and Jose de Creeft and a file regarding Goulet's affiliation with art agent Anna Beck Nalle.
Among the printed materials are clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and issues of magazines and periodicals, many of which include articles about Goulet or her exhibitions. Also found is a videocassette tape concerning Jose de Creeft's Alice in Wonderland narrated by Goulet.
Photographs and eleven photo albums depict Goulet, her family life with Jose de Creeft, celebrations with friends, her artwork and studio, and travel. Also found are photos, slides, and transparencies of works of art. Pencil sketches are by Goulet of her studio. There is also a sketch of Lorrie Goulet by Zorach.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1931-2009 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1, 11)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1940s-2006 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1949-2002 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 4: Interviews, 1967-2002 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1948-2008 (3.1 linear feet; Box 2-5)
Series 6: Project Files, 1950s-2007 (0.8 linear feet; Box 6, 12)
Series 7: Teaching Files, 1958-2000 (0.2 linear feet; Box 6)
Series 8: Personal Business Records, 1969-1990s (2 folders; Box 6)
Series 9: Printed Materials, 1940s-1999 (1.1 linear feet; Box 7-8)
Series 10: Photographs, 1930s-2008 (2.3 linear feet; Box 8-11)
Series 11: Artwork, 1955-1956 (0.1 linear feet; Box 10)
Biographical / Historical:
Lorrie Goulet (1925- ) is a sculptor, painter, educator, and writer active in New York City, New York. She is well-known for direct sculpture on wood and stone.
Lorrie Goulet was born in Riverdale, NY in 1925. As early as the age of seven, Goulet attended the Inwood Pottery School in New York City where she studied under Aimee Vorhees. After the Goulet family moved to Los Angeles, Lorrie continued her studies in art and, in 1940, apprenticed under Jean Rose, a ceramicist in Southern California. In 1943, Goulet enrolled at Black Mountain College in North Carolina where she studied with Joseph and Annie Albers. This is also where she met her husband, sculptor Jose de Creeft; they married in 1944 and had one child, Donna Maria de Creeft. Goulet and de Creeft divided their time between Hoosick Falls, New York and New York City.
Goulet's first solo exhibition was held at the Clay Club Sculpture Center, New York, in 1948. She was represented by Kennedy Galleries in New York, David Findlay Jr. Gallery, and the Harmon Meek Gallery in Naples, Florida. She has exibited widely, including in a number of Annual Exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and in the fine arts pavilion of the New York World's Fair of 1965. In 1998, she was honored by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. with a solo exhibition titled Fifty Years of Making Sculpture.
Goulet taught sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art's Peoples Center, New York, in 1957. From 1961 to 1975 she was on the faculty of the New School, New York, and in 1981 began teaching at the Art Students League of New York, where she taught until 2004. Between 1964-1968 Lorrie Goulet demonstrated sculpture techniques on a CBS Television children's program called "Around the Corner", sponsored by the New York City Board of Education.
Lorrie Goulet's sculpture can be found in the permanent collections of museums across the country. She also completed a number of public sculptures commissioned by the City of New York for several of its public buildings in the Bronx including the Branch Public Library at 173rd Street and Grand Concourse (1958), the Nurses School and Residence, Bronx Municipal Hospital (1961), and the 48th Precinct Police and Fire Station Headquarters (1971) - all in varying materials. A bronx bust of King Juan Carlos I of Spain created by Goulet is displayed in the Royal Palace in Madrid.
Goulet is also a painter, philosopher and poet and continues to work in her studio in New York City.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the papers of Lorrie Goulet's husband, sculptor Jose de Creeft.
Provenance:
Lorrie Goulet lent a portion of her papers in 1972 for microfilming and later donated those papers along with additional materials to the Archives of American Art in 2010.
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.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Correspondence, notes and writings, project files, printed material, photographs, and art work primarily concerning Aschenbach's involvement with the Vermont International Sculpture Symposia (1968, 1971), and other projects he participated in, most relating to sculpture and its role in the community.
Included are biographical material; correspondence, 1965-1975, primarily related to Aschenbach's coordination of the Vermont International Sculpture Symposia of 1968 and 1971, the Sculpture on the Highway project, ca. 1971, and to his association with the Vermont Marble Company. Correspondence with artists participating in the Symposia include Karl Prantl, Jasuo Mizui, Herbert Baumann, Erich Reischke, Barna von Sartory, Philip Pavia, Kenneth Campbell, Clement Meadmore, Isaac Witkin, Eduardo Ramirez, James Silva, and Rudolf Uher. Notes and writings include unmailed letters to Aschenbach, ca. 1973-1974, written by his wife, June.
Project files, 1968-1975, contain correspondence, notes and writings, printed material, invoices, receipts, mailing lists, reference material, biographical material on participating artists, and photographs for the Vermont International Sculpture Symposia, Danby Sculpture Works, Inc., Danby-Currier Memorial Sculpture Project and other sculpture projects. Printed material, 1957-1978, includes newspaper and magazine clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, newsletters, and annual reports.
Photographs consist of Aschenbach at work, his finished sculptures, and a few personal photographs. Works of art include a variety of Aschenbach's studies and sketches for sculptures, executed in watercolor, pencil, felt pen, woodblock and chalk, and an unbound booklet of anonymous wood engravings.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; Vermont. b. 1921; d. 1994. Organized the Vermont International Sculpture Symposium in 1968 and 1971, which supported stone sculpture by several sculptors for installation in rest areas along the Vermont Interstate Highways 89 and 91.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Paul Aschenbach.
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.
Treasury Department Art Projects : painting and sculpture for federal buildings, November seventeen to December thirteen, nineteen hundred thirty-six, Corcoran Gallery of Art / introduction by Forbes Watson
Catalog for an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Includes a list of artists and the works they did for TRAP and the Section. [Microfilm title Treasury Relief Art Project].
Biographical / Historical:
The Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) was established in 1935 under the Department of the Treasury with funds allocated from the Works Progress Administration (later the Work Projects Administration). It operated as a relief agency for unemployed artists and engaged them specifically for the decoration of federal buildings, choosing artists through a system of juried competition.
Other Title:
Treasury Relief Art Project (microfilm title).
Provenance:
Provenance unknown.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The papers of painter and sculptor George Sugarman measure 12.22 linear feet and 21.83 GB and date from 1912 to 2001, with the bulk of the material dating from 1959 to 1999. The collection documents Sugarman's career as a sculptor primarily through correspondence, project files, exhibition files, writings, and photographs. The collection also includes address and appointment books, business and financial records, and printed material. A partially processed addition consisting of audio (3 sound cassettes) and video recordings (1 video reel, 1/2", 11 videocassettes, 7 U-matic and 4 VHS), and one Super 8 mm motion picture film, as well as digital copies of the film and video recordings, includes lectures by Sugarman, documentaries about Sugarman and his sculptures, and radio and television appearances by Sugarman.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and sculptor George Sugarman measure 12.22 linear feet and 21.83 GB and date from 1912 to 2001, with the bulk of the material dating from 1959 to 1999. The collection documents Sugarman's career as a sculptor primarily through correspondence, project files, exhibition files, writings, and photographs. The collection also includes address and appointment books, business and financial records, and printed material. A partially processed addition consisting of audio (3 sound cassettes) and video recordings (1 video reel, 1/2", 11 videocassettes, 7 U-matic and 4 VHS), and one Super 8 mm motion picture film, as well as digital copies of the film and video recordings, includes lectures by Sugarman, documentaries about Sugarman and his sculptures, and radio and television appearances by Sugarman.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence with family members, friends, artists, and scholars, reflecting Sugarman's diverse influences and interests. The project files and exhibition files illustrate Sugarman's prolific career as an artist and document Sugarman's numerous projects and exhibitions abroad, particularly in Japan.
The writings by Sugarman are noteworthy as they reveal the integral relationship between Sugarman's philosophical theories about art and his actual works of art. The business and financial records mainly document expenses incurred while working on various projects and exhibitions and while traveling. Maps, clippings, and brochures from Sugarman's many travels are included as well as exhibition catalogs and announcements for Sugarman and others. The collection also contains photographs of George Sugarman and his artwork, dating mostly from the 1970s.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series. Series are arranged by type of material; materials within series are arranged alphabetically by name or by type of material and then chronologically. Series 10 is unprocessed.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1912-2000, n.d. (Box 1; 9 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1959-2001, n.d. (Boxes 1-3, OV 8; 2.9 linear feet)
Series 3: Project Files, 1968-1997, n.d. (Boxes 3-4; 1 linear foot)
Series 4: : Exhibition Files, 1965-1993, n.d. (Boxes 4-5, OV 8; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Writings, 1951-1992, n.d. (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 6: Address and Appointment Books, 1972-1997, n.d. (Boxes 5-6; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 7: Business and Financial Records, 1962-1998, n.d. (Box 6; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1954-1999, n.d. (Boxes 6-7, OV 8; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 9: Photographs, 1966-1981, n.d. (Box 7; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 10: Sound and Moving Image Material, 1972-1990 (Box 9, FC 10; 1.2 linear feet, ER01-ER13; 21.83 GB)
Biographical Note:
George Sugarman was a painter and sculptor who disliked labels because he believed they oversimplified the complexity of art, and Sugarman's artwork, like the artist himself, resists classification and oversimplification. Although he was influenced by Surrealist imagery, Cubist ideas of space, Baroque sculpture, and Abstract Expressionism, Sugarman's sculptures also display a musical quality, reflecting his interest in jazz music and improvisation. Sugarman was a pioneer in the use of color in sculpture and is probably best known for his large, polychrome aluminum sculptures.
Sugarman made the decision to become an artist relatively late in life. Born in New York on May 11, 1912, he studied at City College in New York and graduated with a B.A. in 1934. After serving in the United States Navy from 1941 until 1945, he attended evening classes at Museum of Modern Art. At the age of 39, George Sugarman traveled to Paris to study painting under the GI Bill of Rights. While in Paris, he decided to study sculpture with Ossip Zadkine and began creating wood carvings and terra-cotta sculptures. Over the next few years, Sugarman traveled to Italy and Spain, studying Baroque sculpture and architecture. He was particularly attracted to the work of Bernini and to Bernini's use of space.
Sugarman returned to New York in 1955 and began working with laminated wood. In order to support himself, he accepted a job teaching carpentry at a private school. He joined the Brata Gallery in 1957 and helped found the New Sculpture Group. A few years later, Sugarman received major recognition of his work by winning second prize in sculpture at the Pittsburgh International Exhibition. Sugarman went on to win a Longview Foundation Grant, a Ford Foundation Grant for his work at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In the 1960s, Sugarman began working on large painted-aluminum sculptures and completed his first outdoor sculpture at the Xerox Building in El Segundo, Calif. in 1969. Many of Sugarman's outdoor sculptures generated intense controversy, particularly his sculpture for the Edward A. Garmatz Federal Building and Courthouse in Baltimore, but he was devoted to his belief in the social as well as aesthetic importance of public art. Sugarman saw public sculpture as a "metaphor for the human condition" and as a way to transcend what he called the "indoor eye," the eye which views art in isolation from its physical and social environment.
Sugarman taught at the Graduate School of Hunter College in New York City from 1960 until 1970 and served as visiting Associate Professor at the Yale University Graduate School of Art from 1967 to 1968. Sugarman was a prolific artist, participating in numerous one-man shows, group exhibitions, and competitions all over the world, yet recognition of his talent came almost a decade later in the United States than in Europe. His works are in major collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. George Sugarman died on August 25, 1999.
Related Material:
The transcript and audiotapes of an interview with George Sugarman conducted by Paul Cummings in 1974 for the Archives of American Art's Oral History Program is available at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds materials lent for microfilming. Reel N70-50 and N70-51 includes biographical material, an essay about George Sugarman, exhibition catalogs and announcements dating from 1954 to 1960, a certificate, writings by Sugarman, and correspondence dating 1953-1970. The originals of most of these materials were included in later donations. Reel N70-50 also contains a substantial number of photographs of Sugarman's natural wood sculptures from the late 1950s, his early works in wood, clay, and plaster dating from 1951 to 1958, his drawings and paintings from the late 1960s, installations and works in progress from 1960 to 1970, and photographs of Sugarman working in the studio in the 1960s. There are also twelve sketchbooks and loose pages dating from 1943 to 1958, which document Sugarman's travels to the South Pacific, New York City, France, Spain, and North Africa. Lent material not included in later gifts remain with the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
In 1970, George Sugarman lent material to the Archives of American Art for microfilming. In 1980 and 1983, George Sugarman donated portions of the material previously lent, along with additional materials. Additional materials were donated by Sugarman's niece, Arden Sugarman Eilopolous, in 1999 and 2000. In 2006, the Sugarman Foundation via Arden Sugarman donated the audio and video recordings.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Microfilmed portion must be consulted on microfilm. Use of unmicrofilmed portion requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
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
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Drawings
Interviews
Photographs
Sound recordings
Citation:
George Sugarman papers, 1912-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Biographical material, correspondence, photographs, writings and miscellaneous printed material.
REEL 2814: Xerox copies of 7 poems by Horn's wife Estelle, 1927-1930 and photographs of Milton Horn's sculpture, taken by her; clippings; a xerox copy of "Statement by Milton Horn on his drawings," October 1974; a xerox copy of a letter to Dr. Rappaport regarding a bronze sculpture, AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER, by Milton Horn, January 31, 1974; and printed material.
REEL 1294: Correspondence, photographs, clippings, minutes of meetings of Sculptor's Guild and National Competition Committee, exhibition invitations and a Frank Lloyd Wright blueprint.
REEL 3174: A resume and biographical data; correspondence, 1946, with Carlton D. Wall regarding Horn's wall panel for Wall's Plymouth, Michigan residence designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; typescripts of writings and lectures; published articles, reviews, catalogs and letters by Horn, 1933-1970; exhibition catalogs, undated and 1933-1970; and 136 photographs of sculpture executed 1928-1971, taken by his wife Estelle.
ADDITION: Correspondence, printed material, biographical material, blue prints, photographs of works of art and glass negatives.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, writer; Chicago, Ill. Worked on WPA art projects and many other mostly public commissions. d. March 29, 1995.
Provenance:
Donated by Milton and Estelle Horn, 1972-1977 and by the Milton Horn Art Trust in 2003.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
United States. Work Projects Administration Search this
United States. Works Progress Administration Search this
Extent:
0.9 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Sketchbooks
Place:
Germany -- description and travel
Date:
circa 1918-1975
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, research files, financial records, photographs, artwork, printed material and a scrapbook documenting the life of sculptor and educator William Ehrich.
Biographical material includes forms of identification, resumes, family genealogical records, travel notes, one award, and biographical notes. Research files include William Ehrich's 1955 trip to Germany and files compiled by Roger Ehrich and others regarding William Ehrich and WPA artists. Financial records include receipts, purchase orders, inventories, and mortgage records pertaining to Ehrich receiving money from a local art patron to purchase a home. Photographs are of Ehrich, Ehrich with his students, his sculpture and exhibitions. Artwork includes Ehrich's sketchbooks and sketches of anatomy. Printed material includes newspaper clippings. One scrapbook contains Ehrich's professional correspondence.
Biographical / Historical:
William Ehrich (1897-1960) was a sculptor and educator in Rochester, New York. Ehrich was born in Königsberg, East Prussia. He studied sculpture at the State Art School in Königsberg. In 1929 he immigrated to Buffalo, New York. He taught at the Art Institute of Buffalo from 1931 to 1937 and directed the creation of public sculpture at the Buffalo Zoo as part of the WPA's Federal Arts Project. In 1939, Ehrich began teaching at the College for Women at the University of Rochester and the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York.
Provenance:
Donated 2017 by Roger Ehrich, William Ehrich's son.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
The Lawrence 'Larry' James Beck papers, located in the Cultural Resource Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, contain biographical materials, sculpture portfolios, art shows, notes, sketches and drawings, publications, correspondence and visual material including photos, slides and negatives of Larry's art.
Scope and Contents:
The Larry Beck papers contains materials that span his career as an artist. The bulk of the material in this collection dates from the late 1960's until his death in 1994 and includes, but is not limited to, biographical materials, sculpture portfolios, correspondence relating to his artwork and his family, sketches and drawings as well as visual materials of Beck's artwork which including prints, slides and negatives. Additionally, publications regarding subjects that interested Beck are also included in this collection.
Arrangement:
The Lawrence 'Larry' James Beck Papers are arranged into seven series:
Series 1: Biographical and Personal, (undated, 1938-1994)
Series 2: Correspondence, (undated, 1966-1994)
Series 3: Sculptures and Shows, (undated, 1966-1994)
Series 4: Sketches, Drawings, Notes and Ideas, (undated)
Series 5: Publications and Graphic Materials (undated, 1966-1995)
Series 6: Miscellaneous Material, (undated)
Series 7: Visual Material, contains photographs, negatives and slides
Biographical / Historical:
Lawrence 'Larry' James Beck was born in Seattle, Washington on May 20, 1938. Beck's father was American and his mother was Norwegian and Yup'ik from Alaska. Larry was raised in Seattle and in 1956 graduated from Ballard High School. He then attended college at the University of Washington from1957 to 1959, where he first studied engineering. However, he decided that art was more in his future so between 1960-1961 he attended the Burnley School of Professional Art in Seattle, now known as The Art Institute of Seattle. In 1962 Larry was given the opportunity to attend the University of Arizona's Guadalajara Summer School and study art abroad. Upon his return in 1962, he resumed his studies at The University of Washington and in 1964 he earned a B.A. in painting and a M.F.A. in 1965. While at UW, Larry was taught by George Tsutakawa and Everett Du Pen and visiting New York artist Gabriel Kohn. His art reflects the influences of sculptor David Smith, Mark di Suvero and Inuit artist Gariel Kohn.
During the 1966-1967 academic year, Larry was a visiting instructor of sculpture at the University of Oregon, in Eugene. During this time Larry participated in an exhibit called the Great Northwest Sausage Company Art show. This show included artists such as Morris Yarowsky, Dan Solomon, Gertrude (Trudie) Pacific-Beck, David Cotter, John Haugse and Marcella Rawlinson. The years between 1967-1968 were spent at the University of Southampton, England as a Fine Arts Fellow. His wife at the time, Trudie also accompanied him and also studied art while in England. When Larry and Trudie returned to the States, they settled in Skagit Valley Washington.
During the late 1960s and 1970s, Larry focused on his large scale, abstract sculptures and established his reputation as a sculpture. Larry's early works were comprised of found metals and objects assembled in a lyrical but humorous manner. Larry also was apart of the Shazam Society with Tom Robbins among others, which produced performances and happenings. During 1975-1980, he installed projects for Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, Highline Community College and Boeing (King County Airport). He also worked on a piece for the Occidental Park site in Seattle, but due to circumstances of the city it was never installed.
Although Larry was not raised around his ancestral homelands, like his Mother, in the mid 1970s Larry visited the Alaskan coast. It was then that he realized he understood the Yup'ik culture. In 1973 Larry started to produce a new series of pieces called "Inukshuk", which is Inuit for sculpture presence. This term was also used for three major commissions that later followed. Larry continued to use Inuit terminology in his work. This was the first sign that Larry started to embrace his multicultural heritage in his artwork. Larry experimented with making bronze and aluminum small castings of traditional Inuit masks, but he felt uneasy that these masks represented a complete contradiction to his western art training.
After the 1980 install of the Boeing sculpture, Beck experienced what he would call his sculpture career crisis. He became disappointed with public art. This is when Larry received his calling to start working on his abstract Inuit Inua (spirit) masks. Larry embraced the idea of using the ancestral ways of his Mother's people of finding natural objects and turning them into masks or art pieces. Larry utilized this method and found contemporary objects within junkyards and hardware stores to create his contemporary Inua masks. From this time on, Larry focused the remaining years of his life working on Inua masks. He participated in shows at art galleries and loaned artwork out for traveling exhibits that where exhibited from the United Nations in Switzerland to all over the United States, including his ancestral homelands of Alaska. Also from the mid 1980s till the end of his life in 1994, he spent more time with his children.
On March 27th 1994, Larry died of a heart attack in his home in Washington. His artwork still lives on today in many museums and private collections. He turned Native American Art into something that kept historical cultural ties while also embracing a contemporary look.
Provenance:
These research materials were donated to NMAI in March 2009 by Nikolai Beck and Alex Beck.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Copyright is vested with Nikolai Beck and Alex Beck and will not transfer to the National Museum of the American Indian until 2018. Researchers seeking publication use, must obtain permission directly from the donors by contacting NMAI Archives (nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Lawrence 'Larry' James Beck Papers, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Leo Castelli Gallery records, circa 1880-2000, bulk 1957-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the partial digitization of this collection was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Elizabeth Avellan, Marcia Ball, Amon Burton, Stephen Harrigan, Vincent Salas, Bill Wittliff, and Lawrence Wright
Treasury Department Art Projects : painting and sculpture for federal buildings, November seventeen to December thirteen, nineteen hundred thirty-six, Corcoran Gallery of Art / introduction by Forbes Watson, 1936
United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Section of Painting and Sculpture Search this
Citation:
Treasury Department Art Projects : painting and sculpture for federal buildings, November seventeen to December thirteen, nineteen hundred thirty-six, Corcoran Gallery of Art / introduction by Forbes Watson, 1936. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
