An interview of Edith Halpert conducted 1962-1963, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art.
Halpert speaks of her childhood in Russia and growing up in New York City; working at Bloomindale's, Macy's, Stern Brothers, and Cohen Goldman; her marriage to artist Sam Halpert, his health, and living in Paris in 1925; becoming an art student at the Academy of Design and feeling that Leon Kroll was an excellent art teacher until he began to correct her drawings; when George Bridgman thought she was ruining his class; the Lincoln Square Arcade, when she and Ernest Fiener and Robert Brackman would rent Conan's studio evenings and bring in instructors; how Newman Montross influenced her more than anybody about showing her art that she loved; burning all of her work because Kroll said she had no talent; receiving a painting from John Marin; her friendship and working relationship with Abby Rockefeller and other family members.
She recalls opening the Downtown Gallery, in Greenwich Village, in 1926; a brief history of modern art; many artists helping decorate the new Daylight Gallery in 1930 and the first show being called "Practical Manifestations of Art"; meeting Robert and Sonia Delaunay in France; when she refused to allow Ezra Pound to speak at one of the gallery lectures because of his anti-Semite remarks and William Carlos Williams and Ford Madox Ford argued with her over it; experiencing jealousy and professional attacks from other dealers; the successful "Pop" Hart show and book in 1929; the "Thirty-three Moderns" show in 1930 at the Grand Central Galleries; the Jules Pascin show in 1930; in America, most of the art buyers supporters of culture were women, until the WPA and World War II, when it became fashionable for men to be involved; Ambroise Vollard's advice on selling art; handling the frustrations of working in the art field; friendships with Stuart Davis,Charles Sheeler, and Ben Shahn; how artists work through dry periods in their creativity and the "Recurrent Image" show; a discussion on modern art galleries of New York City, such as Daniel, Knoedler, Ferargil, the New Gallery, 291, the Grand Central, Kraushaar, and Montross; her travels through Pennsylvania and Maine for good examples of folk art for the gallery; the "The Artist Looks at Music" show; the non-competitive spirit of the early modern American artists; of being saved financially in 1940 by selling a William Harnett painting to the Boston Museum and then renting new space for the gallery.
Also, Mitchell Siporin bringing Halpert and Edmund Gurry to Mitchell Field during World War II for a camouflage show and consequently Downtown Gallery artists and others were enlisted in the camouflage corps for the U.S. Air Force; Charles Sheeler and his wife find Halpert a house in Newtown, Conn.; her decision in 1933 to push folk art for acquisition by the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri; her great concern about what to do with her folk art literature collection; dismay and that no one writes about the history of folk art and those responsible for its creation and popularity; Louis Stern hiring her to organize a municipal exhibit in Atlantic City, N.J., with Donald Deskey designing the furniture and Holger Cahill managing the publicity; Joe Lillie helping her meet Fiorello La Guardia and Joe McGoldrick in 1934 about a municipal show in New York City, but it is moved to Radio City Music Hall through Nelson Rockefeller; the "Salons of America" show; wanting articles written about art for love rather than art for investment; working with Aline Saarinen on her book, "Proud Possessors;" letters from Stuart Davis, William Zorach and others that hurt her feelings; enjoying giving educational lectures and considering retirement because of ill health; the desire to write a book on the history of trade signs in folk art; feeling that the young artists are being ruined by too much support without working for it; planning to write a book entitled, "Unsung Heroes," about artists brave enough to experiment; organizing a show in Russia at her own expense; later representing the U.S. in art at the "American National Exposition"; the agitators and success of the exposition; Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Halpert also recalls Juliana Force, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Buckminster Fuller, George Luks, Edsel Ford, Max Weber, Danny Diefenbacker, Hamilton Easter Field, Frank Stella, Glenn Coleman, Margaret Zorach, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Henry Mercer, Romany Marie, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Mellon, Charles Pollet, Alex Brook, Lunca Curass, Dorothy Lambert, Duncan Candler, Frank Rhen, Louis Rittman, Bea Goldsmith, Arthur Craven, Robert Frost, Philip Wittenberg, Caesar de Hoke, Richard deWolfe Brixey, Seymour Knox, Walt Kuhn, Elisabeth Luther Cary, Charles Locke, Duncan Fergusson, Mrs. Solomon Guggenheim, Bob Tannahill, David Thompson, Marsden Hartley, Erwin Barrie, Robert Laurent, Conger Goodyear, Henry McBride, Edward Hopper, Charles Daniel, William Merritt Chase, Charles Hopkinson, Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Crowninshield, Alfred Barr, Lord Duveen, Jacob Lawrence, John Marin Jr., Karl Zerbe, Franz Kline, Arthur Dove, Julian Levy, Jack Levine, Valentine Dudensing, Peggy Bacon, Stefan Hirsch, Gertrude Stein, Isamu Noguchi, Jasper Johns, Chaim Soutine, B. K. Saklatwalla; Fernand Leger, Pablo Picasso, Ben Shahn, Charles Demuth, Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, Edward Steichen, Carl Sandburg, Clement Greenberg, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Edith Halpert (1900-1970) was an art dealer from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 27 digital wav files. Duration is 32 hrs., 27 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others. The transcript was microfilmed in 1996.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Edith Gregor Halpert, 1962-1963. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
United States of America -- Maine -- Hancock County -- Seal Harbor
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes a worksheet, slide script, brochures, and copies of articles.
General:
A 1921 trip to China and a tour of Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and the Philippines inspired Abby and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to create the garden at Eyrie on the western hill of Seal Harbor. Beatrix Farrand, a fellow Mount Desert Island resident, was hired to design it. Lavish flower gardens and Western influences coexist with Eastern material objects. The garden is enclosed by a rose-colored serpentine wall capped with yellow tiles salvaged from a demolished section of wall around China's Forbidden City. The Spirit Path is lined with Korean tomb "procession" figures. The use of native shrubs and ground covers soften the stone sculptures. A lawn is the center of the sunken garden.
Persons associated with the garden and property include: Abby Aldrich and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (former owners, ca. 1928-1948); Beatrix Jones Farrand (landscape architect); and Robert W. Patterson (landscape architect).
Related Materials:
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden related holdings consist of 1 folder (6 glass lantern slides+, 55 35mm slides)
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979 Search this
Extent:
4.2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 1 reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1940-1983
bulk 1940-1942
Scope and Contents:
Papers, ca. 1938-1988, including files kept during Cheek's tenure as director at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 1939-1942, as editor at "Architectural Forum" magazine, 1945-1947, "House Beautiful" magazine, 1947-1942, and as head of the U.S. Army Camouflage Training Unit, 1942-1945. Also included are files related to projects he undertook from 1968 to 1988, following his tenure as Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Biographical / Historical:
Leslie Cheek (1908-1992) was a museum director and editor in Virginia. Cheek studied Fine Arts and was trained in architecture and stage design. His work as director of the Baltimore Museum of Art was marked by innovative and theatrical exhibitions, and led to his selection by the trustees of the Museum of Modern Art as curator for a planned exhibit "For Us The Living," regarding the rise of Nazism and fascism in Europe.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives are papers lent for microfilming on reel 4885 including material concerning the proposed exhibition, "For Us the Living," designed by Cheek with text written by Lewis Mumford for the Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art. The exhibit was never installed. Included are correspondence with Mumford, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller, Alfred Barr, and others; draft "scenarios" or exhibition narratives; sketches; and blueprints, 1940-1942. Also included is Cheek's 1983 correspondence with American Heritage magazine regarding a proposed article about the exhibition.
Provenance:
Material on reel 4885 was lent for microfilming in 1993 by Mary Tyler Cheek, widow of Leslie Cheek. She donated the unmicrofilmed material, 1993. Mrs. Cheek deposited additional papers in the College of William and Mary (where Cheek had founded the Fine Arts Department in 1936), the Virginia State Library, and the Museum of Modern Art.
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.
1.2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 4 reels))
0.5 Linear feet (Addition)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1931-1948
Scope and Contents:
Records kept by Adams while Director of the New York State Museum in Albany, mainly relating to his efforts to build the museum's collections. Included are correspondence, notes, printed materials and photographs.
REELS 110-112: Included are files on: the WPA art program, American Artists Congress, and other political art organizations; the Edward Lamson Henry collection, including Elizabeth McCausland's galley sheets of her manuscript on Henry, photos of paintings, comments on her manuscript, and correspondence about other Henry paintings; the sons of John James Audubon, Victor and John Woodhouse; the acquisition of the Thomas Halliday Folk Art Collection, purchased for the Museum by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller; Berenice Abbott's photograph projects, including correspondence with Abbott; the formation of the American Art Research Council; war emergency plans; Anna Hyatt Huntington's gift of her sculpture to the museum, and letters from Lewis Hine, Ralph Pearson, Harry Stone, Albert Duveen, Hermon MacNeil and others.
REEL 1817 (fr. 279-282, 1097-1098) AND SCANNED: Three photographs of Indian painter Albert Martinez Castador (Albert Looking Elk), showing him painting, and on a horse; and one of Joseph Henry Sharp painting in his studio, ca. 1912. Photographers unknown.
REEL 1817 One copy print of a photo of Edward Lansom Henry, previously microfilmed under Photos of Artists II, and since been scanned and returned to the Adams collections.
UNMICROFILMED: Publications relating to the WPA, including: Federal Art Centers of New York; Murals for the Community; Art as a Function of Government: A Survey; The WPA Federal Art Project: A Summary of Activities and Accomplishments; Index of American Design; Five-Boro Directory, Art Teaching Division; Art in Democracy; Index of Research Projects: Volume I; and Federal Sponsored Community Art Centers. Also included are a letter from Samuel H. Friedman to Adams regarding a request for some pamphlets; a press release, December 30, 1938 from the WPA Federal Art Project; and a clipping of an article by Emily Genauer regarding the WPA, August 6, 1938.
ADDITION: Original photographs of Adams, including two taken by Berenice Abbott, 1940s, and eight by Dorian (Dorothy) Keyha, 1949; and files, clippings and correspondence, some of it to Adams' daughter, Harriet, related to Abbott.
Biographical / Historical:
Museum director, scientist (ecology). Director of the New York State Museum from 1926-1943.
Provenance:
Donated by Charles Adams' daughter Harriet Dyer Adams, 1971 and 1998. The 3 photographs on reel 1817, formerly microfilmed with AAA's Photographs of Artists Collection II, were scanned in 2004 and returned to the papers.
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.
An interview of Nelson Aldrich conducted 1982 January 22-1985 April 4 at Marablehead, Massachusetts, by Robert Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Nelson Aldrich discusses his childhood as the son of an architect and nephew of the great collectors Lucy Aldrich and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller; his education in architecture at Harvard University with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer (1934-38); his architectural practice with Wallace Harrison in New York City and his own practice in Boston; his position as a Trustee of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1947-1960), the Boston Arts Festival (1955-62), the Metropolitan Boston Arts Center (1959-1963), the Rhode Island School of Design (1955-1962), Radcliffe College (1957-1972) and the Boston Architectural Center (1968-1973).
Biographical / Historical:
Nelson W. Aldrich (1911-1986) was an architect from Marblehead, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 30 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Topic:
Architects -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Nelson Aldrich, 1982 January 22-1985 April 4. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Architects -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
