5 Reels (ca. 1200 items (on 5 partial microfilm reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Reels
Date:
1917-1945
Scope and Contents:
Papers relate mainly to the Blue Four and contain primarily correspondence; also business materials, photographs, essays, and printed materials.
REEL 1644: Correspondence with Lyonel Feininger and his wife Julia, mainly concerning personal matters, contemporary events in Europe and America, and Scheyer's efforts to establish the Blue Four's reputation on the west coast. Many letters are illustrated with Feininger block cuts.
REEL 1854: Letters from Feininger, Alexei Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee; typescripts of letters to members of the Blue Four; import declarations; a shipping invoice; a consular certificate for paintings; and price lists of works of art.
REEL 1905: Correpsondence documenting Scheyer's friendship with various artists associated with the Blue Four and her efforts to exhibit and sell their work. Important correpsondents include: Alexander Archipenko, Hans Arp, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Klee, Le Corbusier, Fernand Leger, Carlos Merida, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Diego Rivera, Arthur Segal, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Arnold Schoenberg, Kurt Schwitters, Rufino Tamayo, Mies van der Rohe, Edgar Varese, Max Weber, and Edward Weston. Also included are miscellaneous photographs, essays, notes, and financial and printed materials.
REEL 2031-2032: Correspondence with Alexei Jawlensky and Wassily Kandinsky, including several illustrated letters; two photographs of interiors; a published article by Kandindsky, "Abstrakte Kunst," ca. 1925-1926; and price lists for works of art by Kandkinsky. Some letters are typescripts.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector, dealer; b. 1889; d. 1945; Los Angeles, Calif. Scheyer worked to introduce the art of the Blue Four (Blaue Vier), Wassily Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, and Alexei Jawlensky, to American collectors.
Other Title:
Galka Scheyer Blue Four Archive.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by Norton Simon Museum of Art, 1979-1980.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
An interview of Josef Albers conducted 1968 June 22-July 5, by Sevim Fesci, for the Archives of American Art.
This interview was conducted in New Haven, Connecticut. Albers speaks of his childhood in the industrial area of Westphalia, Germany; his father's influence as a house painter and set designer; his young interest in technical toys; his educational history, beginning at the Royal Art School, an art teacher prep school; his education in art history in conjunction with fine arts; his brief experience teaching in public schools; his time studying at the Applied Art School in Essen while living and teaching in Berlin; and the beginning of professional career after having passed his exam in Berlin in 1915.
He discusses the influence of the European movements/artists, Die Brucke; Schmidt-Rottluff, Heckel, and Kirchner; his move to Munich and time spent working with Stuck (the teacher of Kandinsky and Klee); his eventual shift to the Bauhaus working in collage and stained glass under Itten; his refusal to do the traditional apprenticeship at the Bauhaus and surprising success with stained glass while striking out on his own; his initial experiments while working in the new studio for stained glass at the Bauhaus with frosting (a.k.a. thermometer style); his move from collage to montage; his disbelief in the use of past art as a source for current art; his distaste for the concept of art as self-expression; his use of repetitive forms in his painting as a method of "solving the problem;" his belief that the spectator makes the vision of the artist more lively; his belief that he teaches philosophy (how to see) not technique (how to paint); the fine line between influencing students and creating disciples; color as the most relative medium in art and a study of ourselves; his use of squares (the most man-made form), beginning in 1949; the role of art in society to reveal visually the attitude of our mentality; and his belief as to the future of art as being a further consideration of order.
Biographical / Historical:
Josef Albers (1888-1976) was a painter and educator in New Haven, Connecticut.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 11 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' 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 others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- Connecticut -- New Haven -- Interviews Search this
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff : Gemälde, Aquarelle, Graphik : Akademie der Künste Berlin, 7. Juni bis 5. Juli 1964 / [Veranstalter der Ausstellung, Kunstverein Hannover ... et al. ; Leitung der Ausstellung und verantwortlich für den Katalog, Gunther Thiem]
The influence of Walt Whitman on the German expressionist artists Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner / by Dayna Lynn Sadow
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff : die Schwarzblätter / Ausstellung zum 90. Geburtstag, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1. Dezember 1974 bis 26. Januar 1975; Katalog und Ausstellung, Gunther Thiem
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff : ein Maler des 20. Jahrhunderts : Gemälde, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen von 1905 bis 1972 : eine Ausstellung in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Brücke-Museum Berlin / herausgegeben von Magdalena M. Moeller und Tayfun Belgin ; mit Beiträgen von Tayfun Belgin ... [et al.]
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff 1884-1976 : Aquarelle, Druckgraphik : Ausstellung zum 100. Geburtstag : 8. März bis 12. Mai 1984, Graphisches Kabinett Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner KG
Lyonel Feininger, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel : Künstlerfreundschaften / Briefe, herausgegeben und kommentiert von Hermann Gerlinger ; Beitrag von T. Lux Feininger ; Aufsätze und Katalog-Bearbeitung von Heinz Spielmann, Gesa Bartholomeyczik und Hilde Lind
Prints by Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff : a centenary celebration : Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Ahmanson Gallery, July 11- September 15, 1985 / exhibition organized by the Department of Prints and Drawings ; essay by Gunther Thiem
Druckgraphik der Brücke-Maler. Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Mueller, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. (Ausstellg. 19. März-22. Mai 1972. Katalog.)
