An interview of Robert M. Light conducted 2008 Apr. 25, by Gail Aronow, for the Archives of American Art, at Light's office in Monticeto, Calif.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewer Robert M. Light (1929-2016) was an art dealer and founder of R. M. Light and Company in Santa Barbara, Calif. Interviewee Gail Aronow (1947- ) is an art historian in New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr.
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.
Occupation:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by Art Dealers Association of America.
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.
An interview of Stephen Hahn conducted 2008 Mar. 14, by Susan Ford Morgan, for the Archives of American Art, at Hahn's home, in Montecito, Calif.
Hahn speaks of his early life in Hungary; moving to Paris when he was 12 years old, where his father was an Old Masters art dealer; working as a "runner" for art galleries in Paris; attending the École du Louvre in Paris; marrying an American woman, and moving to New York City in 1952; working as a craft dealer; living on Staten Island and taking the ferry to Manhattan every day; working as a private dealer for galleries in New York; working as an art advisor to Norton Simon; his own gallery shows in the early 1960s, including exhibitions of work by Gustave Courbet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Claude Monet; a recent Courbet show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, and a Courbet exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in the late 1980s; working with Eugene Thaw; working with Dr. Arthur Sackler; Hahn's private collection; opening his gallery in 1960 on Fifty-Eighth Street and Madison Avenue; moving to his second gallery space three years later on Seventy-Fifth Street and Madison Avenue; working as a partner at Niveau Gallery for six months before opening his gallery in the new space; other galleries in the area at the time, including Acquavella Gallery; his first exhibition in the new space, showing two-dimensional work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse; an exhibition of Karel Appel's work in his gallery in the early 1960s; involvement in the Art Dealers Association of America, beginning in the 1960s; serving as president of the organization in the early 1980s; his work appraising art; his observation that little changed for him in U.S. gallery scene over the years; Art Dealers Association shows at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, City; donating his collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; working as a private dealer; a brief mention of a lawsuit involving a Picasso sold to Marilynn Alsdorf; the redesign of the Norton Simon museum by architect Frank Gehry; the Janice and Henry Lazaroff collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and general trends and quality in art collecting. He also recalls Michael Fitzgerald, Michael Finley, Paul Herring, Eugene Thaw, Jean Dubuffet, the CoBrA group, George Plimpton, John Rewald, Clement Greenberg, Pierre Matisse, Larry Gagosian, John Richardson, Michael Hurson, Pablo Picasso, Nicolas de Staël, Alexina "Teeny" Duchamp.
Biographical / Historical:
Stephen Hahn (1921-2011) was an art dealer in Santa Barbara, Calif. Hahn served as president of the Art Dealers Association of America.
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.
Restrictions:
The transcript and recording are open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Color illustration: man and woman sitting in front of the Santa Barbara mission. The woman wears a long red Spanish-style dress and comb in her hair and holds a fan open. She smiles at the man, who wears a red and yellow serape and Spanish/Mexican costume, including a sombrero.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000048 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Tinted photo depicting men and women in "traditional" Spanish costume riding through the courthouse grounds on horses. Two women are at the front of the crowd wearing white lace dresses and behind them is a group of men intended to be Spanish gentlemen, but look a bit like zoot-suiters or "Zorro" types. There are three copies of the card.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000049 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
A couple sitting beside a fountain in front of the mission. The man wears a sombrero and matching jacket with a serape over one shoulder and he plays a guitar. The woman faces the camera, wears a white dress with embroidered sleeves, and holds a fan in her hand.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000022 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Correspondence is from Glenn H. Curtiss and James "Jimmy" Doolittle.
Note: The digital images in this series were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product and may show irregular cropping and orientation in addition to color variations resulting from damage to and deterioration of the original objects.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
John Guy Gilpatric Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0220, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Descriptive Summary: 915f., b&w, an Archives Center compilation reel:
1. Lazy Rhythms Starring the Mills Brothers - A Musical Film Review
Copyright: 1944
Corporate Creator: The New Official Films
Producer:
Director: William Forest Crouch
Performer(s): The Mills Brothers
Song Title(s): a. "Lazy River" b. "Rockin' Chair" c. "Til Then"
2. Movie Newsreels Presents Diving Exhibitions - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Copyright: ca/ 1944-1948
Performer(s): Margie Gastring (sp?)
3. "Rockin' Chair" (Same as #1-2 above.)
4. I Ain't Got Nobody
Descriptive Summary: a cartoon short featuring the music of the Mills Brothers who sing and scat "Tiger Rag" while images of members of various ethnic groups (Chinese, African, Mexican, American Indian) engage in stereotypical behavior as viewed on a television set. This is followed by a "sing-along" of "I Ain't Got Nobody".
Copyright: 1932
Corporate Creator: Fleischer Studios, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Producer: Max Fleischer
Director: Dave Fleischer
Performer(s): The Mills Brothers
Song Title(s): a. "Tiger Rag" b. "I Ain't Got Nobody"
6. "Tiger Rag"
Descriptive Summary: introduced by a radio announcer
Performer(s): The Mills Brothers
Song Title(s): "Tiger Rag"
Video reference copy available.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the films are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
America's Jazz Heritage: A Partnership of the The Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Smithsonian Institution provided the funding to produce many of the video master and reference copies.
