The papers of African American assemblage artist Noah Purifoy measure 1.2 linear feet and date from 1935 to 1998 with the bulk of the material dating from 1971 to 1998. The collection contains biographical material; correspondence; writings on Purifoy and art; material related to the California Arts Council; material related to other professional activities, including commissions and exhibitions; printed material; and scrapbooks.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of African American assemblage artist and arts administrator Noah Purifoy measure 1.2 linear feet and date from 1935 to 1998 with the bulk of the material dating from 1971 to 1998. The collection contains biographical material, including an award, diplomas, and resumes; correspondence with arts institutions and artists; writings on Purifoy and art; material related to the California Arts Council, including drafts for the Artists-in-Education Summer Workshop and Conference; material related to other professional activities, including a commission from the Getty Center and exhibitions; and printed material, including clippings, exhibition catalogs, and magazines. Also included are two scrapbooks, which contain photographic material, correspondence, printed material, as well as selected writings and other materials documenting Purifoy's career as an artist and arts administrator.
Series 2: Correspondence, 1971-1979, 1992-1998 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 3: Writings, 1974, circa 1990s, undated (Box 1; 4 folders)
Series 4: California Arts Council, 1976-1980 (Box 1, OV 2; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 5: Other Professional Activities, circa 1967-1977, 1994-1998 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1939, 1966-1998 (Box 1, OV 2; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1935-1938, 1957-1997 (Box 1, OV 3; 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Noah Purifoy (1917-2004) was an African American sculptor, assemblage artist, and arts administrator in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, California.
Born in Snow Hill, Alabama, Purifoy attended Alabama State Teachers College (now Alabama State University) and Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). In 1953, Purifoy enrolled at the Chouinard Arts Institute (now CalArts) as the first full-time African American student. He earned his bachelor's of fine arts degree in 1956, just before his 40th birthday.
Purifoy co-founded the Watts Towers Art Center in Los Angeles, California and he, along with artist Judson Powell, organized the exhibition 66 Signs of Neon as a way to interpret the 1965 Watts Riots.
In 1989, Purifoy moved to the Mojave Desert, just outside of Joshua Tree, California. He spent the remainder of his life creating the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Sculpture Museum, which is composed of large-scale assemblages in the desert constructed entirely from found objects. The museum is open to the public and maintained by the Noah Purifoy Foundation.
Provenance:
Noah Purifoy donated the papers to the Archives of American Art in 1998.
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.
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:
Arts administrators -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Assemblage artists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Assemblage artists -- California -- Joshua Tree Search this
Sculptors -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Sculptors -- California -- Joshua Tree Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Andrea Zittel, 2018 January 8-9. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of California painter, printmaker, and art instructor Dorr Bothwell date from 1900-2006, and measure 10.6 linear feet and 1.72 GB. Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, notes and writings, five diaries, art work and 19 sketchbooks, three scrapbooks, printed material, and print and digital photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of California painter, printmaker, and art instructor Dorr Bothwell date from 1900-2006, and measure 10.6 linear feet and 1.72 GB. Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, notes and writings, five diaries, art work and 19 sketchbooks, three scrapbooks, printed material, and print and digital photographs.
Biographical material consists of biographical sketches, resumés, identity cards, award certificates, typescripts of autobiographical interviews, address books, and a file concerning UFOs, spirituality, and philosophy.
Correspondence consists of letters exchanged between Bothwell and her colleagues and friends discussing their art-related activities, travel, and birthday greetings. There are scattered letters from Ansel and Virginia Adams, Etel Adnan, Benjamin Chinn, Claire Falkenstein, and Emmy Lou Packard.
Personal business records include teaching contracts, contracts and royalty statements for the publication of Bothwell's book Notan, insurance records, income tax records, records concerning a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, estate records, card files, lists of art work, price lists, exhibition entry cards, receipts for the sale of art work, travel receipts, medical receipts, and consignment/sales records.
Notes and writings include three diaries, two travel journals, guest books, miscellaneous lists, schedules of classes for various organizations and art schools including the Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop, typescripts of lecture notes, and miscellaneous notes. There are also scattered writings by Bothwell and others.
Seventeen sketchbooks, including several completed during Bothwell's travels, and one dated 1942 illustrated with daily drawings of her activities while preparing for World War II, are found within the papers. There are also miscellaneous drawings, collages, a serigraph It's Time for a Change, an etching by Martha Jackson, and a drawing by Charles Howard.
Three scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, programs, and photographs of art work. Scrapbook 3 contains materials concerning spiritualism and mysticism. Additional printed material consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, press releases, brochures for art classes, the sale of art work, travel, and camera equipment, reproductions of art work, picture postcards, programs, books, and miscellaneous commercial business cards.
Photographs are of Bothwell, her mother and brother, her studio/residences, miscellaneous friends and colleagues including her former husband, sculptor Donal Hord, miscellaneous events, and art classes conducted by Bothwell. There are also photographs of art work by Bothwell and others, as well as numerous photographs and slides of travel various forms in nature that Bothwell would incorporate into her art work.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1939-2001 (Box 1, 11, 13, 15; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1942-2002 (Box 1-3, 13; 2.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1925-2006 (Box 3-4; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Notes and Writings, 1949-1998 (Box 4, 11, 14, 15; 0.8 linear feet.)
Series 5: Art Work, 1920-1994 (Box 4-5, 11, 13, 16, 17; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1926-1979 (Box 5, 11, 12; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1923-2000 (Box 5-7, 12, 13; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1900-2001 (Box 7-9, 10; 2.4 linear feet, ER01-ER04; 1.72 GB)
Biographical Note:
Dorr Bothwell (1902-2000) worked primarily in California as a painter, printmaker, and art instructor.
Doris Bothwell was born on May 3, 1902 in San Francisco, and later changed her first name to Dorr in order to more easily enter the art business. Bothwell began her art studies in 1916 with her parents' friend Anna Valentien, a student of Rodin. Between 1921 and 1922, she studied at the California School of Fine Art, and continued her studies at the University of Oregon at Eugene. After attending the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in 1924, she established her own studio in San Francisco from 1924 to 1927. Also during this time Bothwell, with eight other artists opened the Modern Gallery on Montgomery Street, mounting her first solo exhibition there in 1927.
Between 1928 and 1929, Bothwell traveled to American Samoa, where she created paintings and drawings, and documented tapa (barkcloth) drawings for the Bishop Museum of Honolulu. She then spent a year of study in Europe, returning to San Diego, California in 1931 and marrying sculptor Donal Hord. Four years later, they divorced and she moved to Los Angeles where she worked for the pottery manufacturer Gladding McBean, joined the post-surrealist group around Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg and opened the Bothwell-Cooke Gallery.
Between 1936 and 1939, Bothwell worked in the mural division of the Federal Arts Project of Los Angeles, and learned the art of serigraph printing. She designed dioramas and mechanized exhibitions for the Los Angeles County Museum. In 1940 she also created murals in the Manning Coffee Restaurant in San Francisco.
After teaching color and design at the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco from 1944 to 1948, Bothwell was awarded the Abraham Rosenberg Traveling Scholarship that financed study in Paris from 1949 to the fall of 1951. In 1952 she taught textile design for mass production at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Returning to San Francisco, Bothwell taught again at the California School of Fine Art from 1953 to 1958, and at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1959 to 1960. From 1960 to 1961 she took a sabbatical in England and France, creating paintings for an exhibition. In 1962 she was asked to teach at the new Mendocino Art Center and she taught there until 1983. She was also asked by Ansel Adams to teach design and composition for photographers at his Yosemite Workshop summer sessions, which she did from 1964 to 1977.
From 1966 to 1967, Bothwell documented indigo dying techniques, strip weaving, and pottery in Western Nigeria and Tunisia. In 1968, she published her book, co-authored with Marlys Frey, NOTAN The Principle of Dark-Light Design. The book was reissued in 1991. Bothwell continued her travels from 1970 to 1971, when she studied 12th century enamels in England, France, and Holland, and conducted a symposium, "Notan Design," for the London Educational Authority. In 1974, she traveled to Bali, Java, and Sumatra, making a slide documentary on batik, woodcarving, and folk design.
In 1977 Bothwell moved to Joshua Tree, California, from Mendocino in Northern California, but moved back and forth between the two studio/residences until 1992 when she moved to her last residence on the desert at Apache Junction, Arizona. From 1979 to 1980, she taught composition at the Victor School of Photography in Colorado and a design course at the Women's Art Guild in Kauai, Hawaii. Following a tour of China with a watercolor artists' group in 1982, Bothwell conducted workshops at the Mendocino Art Center. In 1985, she traveled to Japan.
Dorr Bothwell died on September 24, 2000 in Fort Bragg, California.
Provenance:
The Dorr Bothwell papers were donated in 1978 by the artist, and in 2002, 2009, and 2012 by the Dorr Bothwell Trust.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. 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.
Photographs are of Bothwell, her mother and brother, her studio/residences in Mendocino and Joshua Tree, California, and in Apache Junction, Arizona, art classes conducted by Bothwell, events including a reception for Danish royalty in Cheverny, France, and of miscellaneous friends and colleagues including her former husband, sculptor Donal Hord, and friend Francis Cooke. There are also photographs and slides of art work including Bothwell's murals for the Valencia Hotel in La Jolla, and for Manning's Coffee Restaurant, miscellaneous paintings, serigraphs, and collages, exhibition installations, and art work by others. Travel photographs and slides are of scenes in New York, California, Mexico, the Caribbean, France, Italy, Corsica, Spain, the Pacific Islands, Western Nigeria, and China. Some of the slides and photos have also been digitized. Miscellaneous photographs and slides are of various forms in nature including trees, fruit, flowers, rock formations, and animals that Bothwell would incorporate into her art work.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Dorr Bothwell papers, 1900-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Noah Purifoy : Junk Dada / organized by Franklin Sirmans with Yael Lipschutz ; with essays by Yael Lipschutz, Kristine McKenna, Lowery Stokes Sims ; additional contributions by Dale Brockman Davis, Allison Glenn, Judson Powell, Ed Ruscha, Franklin Sirmans, Sue A. Welsh, C. Ian White ; and special photography by Fredrik Nilsen
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
Administered by College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Humanities & Fine Arts Division 6162 Rotary Way, P. O. Box 1398 Joshua Tree California 92252
Located College of the Desert, Copper Mountain Campus Heritage Court Joshua Tree California
