An interview of Chuzo Tamotzu (Tamotsu) conducted 1964 September 3 by Sylvia Loomis for the Archives of American Art.
Tamotzu discusses studying Occidental, Oriental art in Japan; traveling to Korea, Manchuria and China, South Sea Islands, Singapore, then Europe for a year; coming to New York in 1920; his involvement with An American Group; Juliana Force recruiting him for the Federal Art Project; being on the Easel Project and also on the Graphic Art Project; the Works Projects Administration; given "pink-slip" on the Project since he was not a U.S. citizen; stint in the U.S. Army, Office of Strategic Service doing propaganda paintings for psychological war material for the Japanese Army and soldiers; settling in Santa Fe, N.M.; Oriental painting; and Artist Equity Association. Tamotzu mentions Beatrice Mandelman, Louis Ribak, Robert Philip, Stuart Eddy, Frederick Knight, and Olive Rush.
Biographical / Historical:
Chuzo Tamotzu (1888-1975) was a Japanese American painter based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tamotzu was born in Japan and came to the United States in 1920. He moved to Santa Fe in 1948.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 40 min.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Proceedings, 1991 Piñon Conference : April 23, 1991, Santa Fe, NM / sponsored by New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands, and New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture and Home Economics, New Mexico State University
Author:
Piñon Conference (1991 : Santa Fe, N.M.) Search this
New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Search this
New Mexico State University Agricultural Experiment Station Search this
Topics: Hattie's baptismal records. Aircraft. Houses. Family/Friends. Travels. George Weaver's activities. Aircraft register. Photostat documents.
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.
Indians of North America -- New Mexico Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Picture postcards
Postcards
Place:
New Mexico
Santa Fe (N.M.)
Scope and Contents:
Postcard booklet of sites in New Mexico, with several depictions of Native Americans and references to Mexicans. The cover has an illustration of a man on a horse with a package on the second horse. The other side is a Pueblo scene of men performing a ceremonial dance with spectators. Booklet contains several depictions of ethnic Mexicans and Indians and contains a postcard history of the Southwest.
General:
Series 1, Box 10, U.S.A.--New Mexico---General Mountain Views.
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.
National Philatelic Collection, Smithsonian Institution. Search this
Blenkle, Victor A., Dr., 1900-1978 (physician) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (black and white, 3.5" x 5.5".)
Type:
Archival materials
Postcards
Picture postcards
Place:
Santa Fe (N.M.) -- 1920-1930
Scope and Contents:
Illustration by Arthur J. Merrill, signed 1898, but postmark is 1951. The card depicts a street scene in Santa Fe. On verso: "Across the lane from San Miguel Church stands an old 'puddled' adobe house. This house is believed to be pre-Spanish and is undoubtedly well over 400 years old."
General:
Series 1, Box 10, U.S.A.--New Mexico--Santa Fe.
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.
National Philatelic Collection, Smithsonian Institution. Search this
Blenkle, Victor A., Dr., 1900-1978 (physician) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (color.)
Type:
Archival materials
Picture postcards
Postcards
Place:
Santa Fe (N. M.) -- 1920-1930
New Mexico -- History
Scope and Contents:
Color photomechanical reproduction. Description on verso tells the history of the palace from the arrival of the Spanish to the independence of Mexico to the occupation by the United States in 1846.
General:
Series 1, U.S.A., New Mexico--Santa Fe, Box 10.
"Genuine Curteich Chicago 'C.T. Art-Colortone' Post Card."
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.
Topic:
Historic sites -- New Mexico -- 1920-1930 Search this
Casa-blanca, Governor's Palace and Marina, San Juan, P.R. [postcard]
Topic:
Ethnic Imagery Project, Archives Center
Creator:
Gonzalez Padn Hnos., San Juan, P.R., publishers Search this
Collection Creator:
National Philatelic Collection, Smithsonian Institution. Search this
Blenkle, Victor A., Dr., 1900-1978 (physician) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (color, 3.5" x 5.5".)
Type:
Archival materials
Postcards
Picture postcards
Place:
San Juan (P.R.) -- 1920-1930
Puerto Rico -- 1920-1930
Scope and Contents:
A color postcard illustrating the coastline of the island with a landscape view of the ocean and the homes on the cliff.
General:
Series 1, U.S.A., Puerto Rico, Box 13.
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.
National Philatelic Collection, Smithsonian Institution. Search this
Blenkle, Victor A., Dr., 1900-1978 (physician) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (color; Ink on paper, 3-1/2" x 5-1/2".)
Culture:
Indians of North America -- New Mexico Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Postcards
Picture postcards
Place:
Santa Fe (N.M.)
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Card has illustration of La Fonda, a hotel with adobe applique, with cars parked in front of the hotel. The verso describes the hotel as an inn where travelers can stay while touring the Indian territories and the Southwest.
Arrangement:
In series 1, box10, grouping U.S.A.--New Mexico--Santa Fe.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000082 (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.
National Philatelic Collection, Smithsonian Institution. Search this
Blenkle, Victor A., Dr., 1900-1978 (physician) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (color, 3-1/2" x 5-1/2".)
Type:
Archival materials
Postcards
Picture postcards
Place:
Santa Fe (N.M.)
Saint Michael
San Miguel
Scope and Contents:
Two images of San Miguel Mission. The first emphasizes the front of the old mission. The second depicts an old adobe house and a donkey loaded with firewood.
General:
Series I, Box 10, U.S.A.--New Mexico--General Mountain Views.
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.
Fourteen color photographic prints by Christina Patoski, depicting front-lawn and front-porch holiday displays (primarily Christmas) in various U.S. cities.
Scope and Contents:
The fourteen photographs in this group are Cibachrome prints from 35mm. Kodachrome slides, documenting front-lawn and front-porch holiday displays (primarily Christmas) in various U.S. cities, including a variety of economic, ethnic, and regional groups, architectural genres, and decorating styles, documenting a "unique seasonal custom found only in America." Several images suggest attempts to broaden the cultural/religious basis of the celebration, combining Jewish traditions with the Christmas decorating tradition. Cities documented are Denver, Fort Worth, Minneapolis, Sun Valley (Idaho), Manhattan and Brooklyn, N.Y., Corpus Christi, Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, New Orleans, and Santa Fe.
The Cibachrome prints are horizontal on 16" x 20" paper, with 22" x 28" mats, except for "Holiday Spectacular," which was used on an introductory panel in ta national Museum of American History exhibition, without a mat.
Arrangement:
Collection is unarranged.
Biographical / Historical:
Photographer, documentary producer, and journalist, Christina Patoski began photographing front-lawn and front-porch Christmas displays in 1973, in Fort Worth, Texas, beginning with a house on Diaz Street in the Como neighborhood. She called the photograph "Red Extravaganza," and it inspired her to photograph other houses. Driving up and down Fort Worth Streets at Christmastime with her saxophonist husband Johnny Reno, she worked exclusively at night. Concentrating at first on the most elaborate displays, she later sought simpler, more personal decorations, and became more discriminating. She repeated in many areas of the country as part of an ongoing project spread over many years. She is interested in documenting "unusual" elements of popular culture within a variety of topical fields.
She told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "I've seen so much, that for me to stop and take a photo now, it has to be something special… I've noticed, though, that there are a lot of houses decorated this year. And to me, that indicates a sense of optimism… when people decorate, there's a sense of good feeling."
Her photographic technique is simple, employing two fifteen-year-old 35mm cameras and low-speed Kodachrome film, using commercial processing. She has been photographing since she was a child, when her father encouraged her. Graduating from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, she spent several years in Minneapolis as a dancer, choreographer, and television editor. She returned to Fort Worth in 1976 to work in television news, but since 1979 has been a free-lance writer, radio reporter (contributing to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered), and a producer and writer.
She is interested in documenting unusual elements of popular culture (what she calls "weirdness"), such as her Texas Monthly story, illustrated with her portraits, on Texas women with "big" hair. She maintains files on longhorn steer, pyromaniacs, tornadoes, and cheerleading, and considers herself a "Margaret Mead of popular culture."
Sources
Jackie Koszczuk and Janet Tyson, "A Sense of the festive: Photographer captures home-grown Christmas Art," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Section E, December 25, 1993, pp. 1, 4.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Christina Patoski, December 14, 1994.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is 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.
Rights:
Christina Patoski retains copyright. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Christianity and other religions -- Judaism -- Holiday decorations -- 1970-2000 Search this
[Photograph title], Christina Patoski Holiday Photoprints, 1973-1992, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Copyright Christina Patoski. Gift of the artist.
