Search Results

Creator:

Refregier, Anton, 1905-  Search this

Names:

ACA Galleries  Search this

Bard College -- Faculty  Search this

Gosudarstvennyĭ Ėrmitazh (Russia)  Search this

National Council of American-Soviet Friendship (U.S.)  Search this

New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.)  Search this

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Woodstock Artists Association (Woodstock, N.Y.)  Search this

World Peace Council  Search this

De Diego, Julio, 1900-  Search this

Dreyfuss, Henry, 1904-  Search this

Elisofon, Eliot  Search this

Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973  Search this

Fast, Howard, 1914-2003  Search this

Geddes, Norman Bel, 1893-1958  Search this

Greenwood, Marion, 1909-1970  Search this

Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971  Search this

Kuniyoshi, Yasuo, 1889-1953  Search this

Morley, Eugene, 1909-1953  Search this

O'Higgins, Pablo, 1904-  Search this

Packard, Emmy Lou, 1914-1998  Search this

Randall, Byron, 1918-1999  Search this

Refregier, Lila  Search this

Siqueiros, David Alfaro  Search this

Yavno, Max  Search this

Extent:

35.9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Travel diaries

Greeting cards

Interviews

Cartoons (working drawings)

Scrapbooks

Transcripts

Photographs

Diaries

Sketches

Place:

Chile

Soviet Union

Guatemala

Mexico

Date:

circa 1900-circa 1990

Summary:

The papers of Woodstock area painter, muralist, and designer, Anton Refregier (1905-1979) date from circa 1900 to circa 1990 and measure 35.9 linear feet. The collection records Refregier's early commercial work and murals for the Works Progress Adminstration (WPA) and documents his career through to the 1970s with records of commissions for many public and private buildings, exhibitions in the United States and abroad, teaching positions, essays and publications, and extensive travel, particularly to the Soviet Union and Mexico. The collection contains scattered biographical material, personal and business correspondence, notes and writings, 15 diaries and journals, mural and tapestry files, exhibition files, personal business records, printed material, 10 scrapbooks, artwork including sketches and cartoons for murals, and photographs of Refregier, his friends, family and travels.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of Woodstock area painter, muralist, and designer, Anton Refregier (1905-1979) date from circa 1900 to circa 1990 and measure 35.9 linear feet. The collection records Refregier's early commercial work and murals for the Works Progress Adminstration (WPA) and documents his career through to the 1970s with records of commissions for many public and private buildings, exhibitions in the United States and abroad, teaching positions, essays and publications, and extensive travel, particularly to the Soviet Union and Mexico. The collection contains scattered biographical material, personal and business correspondence, notes and writings, diaries and journals, mural and tapestry files, exhibition files, personal business records, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork including sketches and cartoons for murals, and photographs of Refregier, his friends, family and travels.

Biographical material contains legal records such as Refregier's will and marriage and death records, passports, resume material and 2 interview transcripts.

Correspondence, both chronological and alphabetical, constitutes almost a third of the collection and documents all aspects of Refregier's career including his work for the WPA, private commissions, representation by ACA Galleries, his involvement with groups such as the Woodstock Artists Association and his teaching work for institutions such as Bard College. Also documented are his involvement with local political groups and international organizations such as the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship and the World Peace Council, and travels including visits to the Soviet Union. Notable correspondents include Henry Dreyfuss, Philip Evergood, Rockwell Kent, Emmy-Lou Packard, and Byron Randall. Correspondence also includes family letters written primarily by Refregier to Lila Refregier, in addition to greeting cards received by the Refregier family, many of which contain original arwork.

Writings are primarily by Refregier and include drafts of many essays and autobiographical writings, in addition to copies of published works including Natural Figure Drawing, An Artists Journey and Sketches of the Soviet Union.

The collection contains diaries and journals from 12 years in various formats including published and handmade day planners and typed and handwritten journal entries. They include sketches and primarily record travel and daily activities including specific projects such as the New York World's Fair mural (1938-1939).

Mural and Tapestry files document individual commissions bid on and/or completed by Refregier. The creation of the Rincon Annex Post Office mural and subsequent controversies over its subject matter are well-documented here, as are many of Refregier's commissions for banks, hospitals, hotels, shopping centers, and schools.

Exhibition files document at least 15 of Refregier's exhibitions, including his first one-man show at ACA Galleries (1942) and his exhibition of paintings at the Hermitage Museum (1967) in what was then Leningrad.

Personal business records contain addresses of contacts. Scattered records referencing market values for Refregier's work can be found throughout the series in records such as bills and receipts, financial notes and tax records.

Printed material provides extensive coverage of Refregier's entire career through announcements, invitations, catalogs, and news clippings. His interests in art, literature, music, theater and politics are also well-represented in these files.

The collection contains 10 scrapbooks, mostly in fragmented condition, which contain a mixture of photographs, sketches and other artwork, notes and fragments of writings, and printed material. The scrapbooks document a variety of subjects including Refregier's family life, travels to Guatemala and the Soviet Union, and the artist at work.

Artwork consists primarily of artwork by Refregier in the form of mural design sketches and cartoons in various media, including pencil, ink and pastel, in addition to 21 sketchbooks, many of which also contain journal entries and notes. Also found here are prints and reproductions of Refregier's "Peace card" block engravings for every year from 1950-1973, with the exception of 1970.

Photographs document all phases of Refregier's career and include family photographs dating from circa 1900, photos of Refregier in the studio including work for the WPA, Refregier and other artists and individuals at events and parties from the 1940s-1970s, travel snapshots probably taken in Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, and the Soviet Union, and photographs of artwork and installations. Individuals pictured include Julio de Diego, Marion Greenwood, Rockwell Kent, Pablo O'Higgins and David Siqueiros; also, a series of press photographs by Albert A. Freeman pictures Refregier with Howard Fast, Norman Bel Geddes, Marion Greenwood, John Kingsbury, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and Harry Stockwell. One photograph by Eliot Elisofon, 2 by Eugene Morley and 4 by Max Yavno can also be found here.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 11 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1925-1980 (Box 1; 0.25 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1912-circa 1990s (Boxes 1-11, 36, OVs 38, 45; 10.2 linear ft.)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1930s-circa 1970s (Boxes 11-14, OV 45; 3.3 linear ft.)

Series 4: Diaries and Journals, 1923-1979 (Box 15; 0.6 linear ft.)

Series 5: Mural and Tapestry Files, circa 1930s-circa 1970s (Boxes 15-18, 36, OVs 38, 45, 46, RD 42; 3.65 linear ft.)

Series 6: Exhibition Files, 1942-1981 (Boxes 18-19; 0.6 linear ft.)

Series 7: Personal Business Records, 1920s-1980s (Boxes 19-20; 1.8 linear ft.)

Series 8: Printed Material, circa 1920s-1980s (Boxes 21-28, 36; 7.4 linear ft.)

Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1930s-1960s (Boxes 28, 37, BV 47; 1.1 linear ft.)

Series 10: Artwork, circa 1930s-circa 1970s (Boxes 28-30, 36, OVs 40, 41, RDs 42-44; 3.5 linear ft.)

Series 11: Photographic Material, ca. 1900-1980s (Boxes 31-35, 39; 4.5 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:

Russian-born Woodstock painter Anton Refregier (1905-1979) immigrated to the United States in 1920. Refregier was well-known for his sometimes controversial social realist murals for the WPA.

After an apprenticeship to the sculptor, Vasilief, in Paris, Anton Refregier attended the Rhode Island School of Design from 1920-1925 and studied with Hans Hofmann in Germany in 1927. He had his first one-man show at ACA Galleries in New York City in 1942 and settled in Woodstock, New York, with his wife, Lila, and three children Anton, Jr., Brigit and Aleksandre, where he became a prominent member of the artist community.

Refregier completed several social realist murals for the federal Works Progress Adminstration (WPA) program, including one at the New York Worlds Fair in 1939 and the controversial Rincon Annex Post Office mural in San Francisco begun in 1941. He also completed interior design installations for businesses such as the nightclub, Cafe Society Uptown, and the restaurant, The Cookery, in New York City. In addition to being an easel and mural painter Refregier worked in tapestry, mosaic, ceramic, and collage, and completed many commissions for hotels, banks, hospitals, restaurants, synagogues, supermarkets and deparment stores throughout the country.

Refregier taught at various institutions including Stanford University, the University of Arkansas, and Bard College and his publications inlcude Natural Figure Drawing (1948), An Artist's Journey (1965), and Sketches of the Soviet Union (1978). He traveled regularly to the Soviet Union to explore and exchange ideas about art and culture and as a representative of the World Peace Council.

Anton Refregier died in Moscow in October 1979 while visiting the Soviet Union. His work can be found in many museums including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Related Material:

Also found in the Archives of American Art are an oral history interview with Anton Refregier, 1964, Nov. 5 by Joseph Trovato; and Papers regarding Anton Refregier mural controversy, 1953.

Provenance:

Donated 1983 by Lila Refregier, widow of Anton Refregier, and in 1992 by Brigit R. Sutton, Refregier's daughter.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposes of publication requires written permission from Bridget R. Sutton via Bridget's son, Tim Sutton. Contact Reference Services for more information.

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.

Topic:

Tapestry  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Political clubs  Search this

Muralists -- New York -- Woodstock  Search this

Art -- Commissioning  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- Woodstock  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- Archival resources -- 20th century  Search this

Designers -- New York (State)  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Genre/Form:

Travel diaries

Greeting cards

Interviews

Cartoons (working drawings)

Scrapbooks

Transcripts

Photographs

Diaries

Sketches

Citation:

Anton Refregier papers, circa 1900-circa 1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.refranto

See more items in:

Anton Refregier papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9545f99ed-0a65-4626-904d-8dda5c569fcf

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-refranto

Interviewee:

Biddle, George, 1885-  Search this

Interviewer:

Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington),, 1920-  Search this

Subject:

Bacon, Peggy  Search this

Benton, Thomas Hart  Search this

Billings, Henry  Search this

Bruce, Edward  Search this

Cahill, Holger  Search this

Demuth, Charles  Search this

Evergood, Philip  Search this

Grosz, George  Search this

Halpert, Edith Gregor  Search this

Hartley, Marsden  Search this

Marsh, Reginald  Search this

Miller, Kenneth Hayes  Search this

Orozco, José Clemente  Search this

Rivera, Diego  Search this

Robinson, Boardman  Search this

Siqueiros, David Alfaro  Search this

Sterne, Maurice  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred  Search this

Tamayo, Rufino  Search this

Weber, Max  Search this

Zorach, William  Search this

Cassatt, Mary  Search this

Pascin, Jules  Search this

Poor, Henry Varnum  Search this

Curry, John Steuart  Search this

Bouché, Louis  Search this

Kroll, Leon  Search this

Zorach, William  Search this

Public Works of Art Project  Search this

New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with George Biddle, 1963. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art -- Censorship  Search this

Federal aid to the arts  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this

Theme:

New Deal  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12696

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)213269

AAA_collcode_biddle63

Theme:

New Deal

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_213269

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2014-12-18T15:29:27.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_7tZah-bIxpk

Creator:

Archives of American Art  Search this

Type:

Interviews

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2020-05-29T19:17:14.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

See more by:

SmithsonianAAA

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

YouTube Channel:

SmithsonianAAA

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt__sd_mNOa5iE

Creator:

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2018-10-12T00:03:47.000Z

YouTube Category:

Travel & Events  Search this

Topic:

Cultural property  Search this

See more by:

smithsonianfolklife

Data Source:

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

YouTube Channel:

smithsonianfolklife

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_Yz6RRQzPxLQ

Creator:

Gray, Cleve, 1918-2004  Search this

Subject:

Richter, Hans  Search this

Marin, John  Search this

Lipchitz, Jacques  Search this

Pollock, Jackson  Search this

Grace, Louise N.  Search this

Gray, Francine du Plessix  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel  Search this

Dillenberger, Jane  Search this

Gabo, Naum  Search this

Ernst, Jimmy  Search this

Davis, Jim  Search this

Calder, Alexander  Search this

Barzun, Jacques  Search this

Weber, Nicholas Fox  Search this

Smith, David  Search this

Villon, Jacques  Search this

Pratt Institute  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design  Search this

Neuberger Museum of Art  Search this

Jacques Seligmann & Co  Search this

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Connecticut. Commission on Arts, Tourism, Culture, History and Film  Search this

Princeton University  Search this

Berry-Hill Galleries  Search this

Type:

Poems

Articles

Photographs

Reviews (documents)

Notes

Illustrations

Notebooks

Sketches

Drafts (documents)

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Interviews

Manuscripts

Paintings

Prints

Watercolors

Drawings

Lectures

Citation:

Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- United States  Search this

Designers  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Theme:

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9567

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211768

AAA_collcode_grayclev

Theme:

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211768

Interviewee:

Tomkins, Margaret, 1916-2002  Search this

Interviewer:

Guenther, Bruce  Search this

Subject:

FitzGerald, James  Search this

Artists Gallery (Seattle, Wash.)  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Margaret Tomkins, 1984 June 6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Artists -- Northwestern States -- Interviews  Search this

Art, Modern -- Northwestern States  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12308

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212455

AAA_collcode_tomkin84

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_212455

Interviewee:

Zogbaum, Wilfrid Meynell, 1915-1965  Search this

Interviewer:

Seckler, Dorothy Gees, 1910-1994  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Wilfrid Zogbaum, 1964 November 2. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)11800

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214140

AAA_collcode_zogbau64

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_214140

Creator:

DeMonte, Claudia, 1947-  Search this

McGowin, Ed, 1938-  Search this

Extent:

7.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Video recordings

Date:

1960-2018

Summary:

The papers of Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin measure 7.2 linear feet and date between 1960 and 2018. The papers primarily document Claudia DeMonte's career as a painter, and to a lesser extent her husband's career, through correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and art institutions; notebooks, poetry, and other writings; scrapbooks; curriculum vitas, awards and certificates, commissions, and other professional activity; exhibition announcements and catalogs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and other printed material; sketchbooks and other artwork; personal photographs, portraits, of artwork, and other photographic material.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin measure 7.2 linear feet and date between 1960 and 2018. The papers primarily document Claudia DeMonte's career as a painter, and to a lesser extent her husband's career, through correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and art institutions; notebooks, poetry, and other writings; scrapbooks; curriculum vitas, awards and certificates, commissions, and other professional activity; exhibition announcements and catalogs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and other printed material; sketchbooks and other artwork; personal photographs, portraits, of artwork, and other photographic material.

Correspondence includes letters and postcards to and from family, friends, colleagues, and art institutions.

Writings includes a file of poetry written by DeMonte, manuscripts of books written by DeMonte, and a series of notebooks. Some of the notebooks are a combination of notes and sketches.

Scrapbooks consist of eight scrapbooks consisting of mixed material such as notes, photographs, sketches, and printed material.

Professional material consists of awards and certificates, a large number of calendars, commision work including an art project for the University of Northern Iowa completed by both DeMonte and McGowin, and a number of VHS and Betamax cassettes documenting DeMonte's career and interviews in connection with her Women of the World exhibition.

Printed material consists of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, exhibition announcements and catalogs, exhibition posters, and newsletters.

Artwork consists of a file of drawings and some sketchbooks.

Photographic material consists of photographs and slides of DeMonte, her artwork, and some of her exhibitions. There is also a file of photographs of DeMonte and McGowin at the White House with First Lady Laura Bush, and there are personal photographs of DeMonte and McGowin traveling and with family and friends.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into seven series.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1967-2013 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 2: Writings, 1975-2013 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)

Series 3: Scrapbooks, 1967-2009 (1.0 linear feet; Box 3, 9-10)

Series 4: Professional Activity Files, 1964-2013 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 3-5, 9)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1960-2018 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 5-7)

Series 6: Artwork, circa 1973 (0.1 linear feet; Box 7)

Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1977-2010 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)

Biographical / Historical:

Claudia DeMonte (1947- ) was born and raised in Astoria, New York City. She has more than 100 one-person shows and 600 group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Corcoran Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Mississippi Museum, Tucson Museum, Flint Institute of Art, Museum of the Southwest, etc.

Her work is in numerous museum permanent collections, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Stamford Museum, Boca Raton Museum, and in major corporate collections such as those of Hyatt Regency Hotels, Exxon, Citibank and Siemens. Her public commissions have come from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Brooklyn Library System, Queens Supreme Court, Prudential Life Insurance, the State of New Mexico, and New York City School Construction Authority.

DeMonte is also the curator of "Women of the World: A Global Collection of Art." This traveling exhibition, with accompanying books, includes works of women from 177 countries dealing with the images of women.

DeMonte's work is heavily influenced by her travels to over 80 countries, her interest in the roles of women in contemporary society and Outsider Art, a collection compiled with her husband, artist Ed McGowin.

For 33 years, DeMonte has served on the faculty of the University of Maryland, where she was named Distinguished Scholar Teacher and Professor Emerita. In 2006, She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the College of Santa Fe.

DeMonte presently lives with her husband in New York City and Kent, Connecticut.

Ed McGowin (1938- ) was born in 1938 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and grew up in Mississippi and Alabama, receiving the M.A. from the University of Alabama. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the Baltimore Museum; and the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, France. Since 1979, McGowin has executed major outdoor commissions for numerous public and private organizations, often collaborating with his wife, Claudia DeMonte.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Claudia DeMonte conducted by Liza Kirwin between February 13 and April 24, 1991; and the Ed McGowin papers, 1962-1998.

Provenance:

The Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin papers were donated in 1994 by Claudia DeMonte and in 2020 by Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin.

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. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

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:

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Educators -- Maryland -- College Park  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Women educators  Search this

Genre/Form:

Video recordings

Citation:

Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin papers, 1960-2018. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.democlau

See more items in:

Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw98cf90804-0751-4bb3-b276-8f730e83692b

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-democlau

Interviewee:

DeMonte, Claudia, 1947-  Search this

Interviewer:

Kirwin, Liza  Search this

Names:

Gracie Mansion Gallery  Search this

McGowin, Ed, 1938-  Search this

Extent:

54 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1991 February 13- April 24

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Claudia DeMonte conducted 1991 February 13-1991 April 24, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art.

DeMonte recalls her childhood and growing up in Astoria, New York; her Italian heritage and Catholic education; her early work including the "trade pieces"; the calendar she produced for the Corcoran Gallery show "Five Plus One" in 1976; her marriage to artist Ed McGowin; moving from Washington, D.C. to New York; the making and meaning of her "Claudia dolls"; exhibiting at the Gracie Mansion Gallery; the art community in the East Village in the early 1980s; the dealer Gracie Mansion; gallery representation outside of New York; critical acceptance of her art; collecting the work of Southern self-taught artists and the influence of Sister Gertrude Morgan and James Son Ford Thomas; work methods and techniques; autobiographical and feminist themes; teaching at the university of Maryland from 1972 to the present; and new directions in her art.

Biographical / Historical:

Claudia DeMonte (1947- ) is a painter, mixed-media artist, and instructor of College Park, Maryland and New York, New York.

General:

Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 22 min.

Provenance:

These interviews are 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 others.

Restrictions:

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Occupation:

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Educators -- Maryland -- College Park  Search this

Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Feminism  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Women educators  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.

Identifier:

AAA.demont91

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw90981449b-2ae6-48db-acbf-6aa8adbdf658

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-demont91

Interviewee:

Edelson, Mary Beth  Search this

Interviewer:

Richards, Judith Olch  Search this

Names:

Heresies Collective, Inc.  Search this

Extent:

4 Items (wav files (4 hr., 39 min.), digital)

80 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

2009 February 1-16

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Mary Beth Edelson conducted 2009 February 1 and 16, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art, at Edelson's studio in New York, New York.

Biographical / Historical:

Mary Beth Edelson (1933-2021) was a feminist artist who lived and worked in New York, New York.

Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is former Executive director of iCI in New York, New York. Edelson is considered a pioneer in the Feminist Art movement.

General:

Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 40 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.

Restrictions:

This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the recording is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Performance artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Women printmakers  Search this

Women performance artists  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

Funding for this interview was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

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.

Identifier:

AAA.edelso09

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9cd1b6dc5-e87c-475b-87d0-218e81a7b8af

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-edelso09

Interviewee:

Marisol, 1930-2016  Search this

Interviewer:

Roberts, Colette, 1910-  Search this

Names:

Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) -- Students  Search this

Club (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (France) -- Students  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Extent:

1 Sound tape reel (Sound recording, 7 in.)

34 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound tape reels

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1968 Feb. 8

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Marisol conducted 1968 Feb. 8, by Colette Roberts, for the Archives of American Art.

In the interview Marisol speaks of her childhood spent both in Chile and France; the encouragement of her parents and teachers to draw freely; her progression from painting, to drawing, to collage and reliefs; the influence of Europeans, Matisse and Picasso, and American, Rauschenberg; her time spent in museums as a child and the subsequent exposure to DaVinci and Rembrandt; her art education, predominantly in New York at the Art Students League and briefly in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Art; her association with the Abstract Expressionists at the Club; the contrast of her work to the dream-based Surrealists; her first show for Castelli in 1957; her shows at the '62 and '64 annual exhibitions at the Stable; her more recent exhibitions for the Carnegie and Sidney Janis Gallery of The Beach and The Party; the origins of her wood drawings as a discovery while drawing lines to be sculpted upon wood; her experience working for the Daily Telegraph and completing portraits of historical figures such as Charles DeGalle; the literary influence of Dostoeveski, and more specifically Crime and Punishment; her recent apathy for visual entertainments and diversions (like the Ballet). Both in the interview and afterwards in a supplemental biographical addition Roberts and Marisol allude to her resistence to sit for interviews. The artist feels that she doesn't "have much to say."

Biographical / Historical:

Marisol (1930- ) is a sculptor in New York, N.Y. She was born in Paris to a Venezuelan family.

General:

Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 15 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.

Restrictions:

Use requires an appointment.

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Surrealism  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Identifier:

AAA.mariso68

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e444fa50-829d-4a34-b0f7-2d5a9faa81c4

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-mariso68

Creator:

Zorthian, Jirayr, 1912-2004  Search this

Type:

Video recordings

Drawings

Citation:

Jirayr Zorthian papers, circa 1937-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Theme:

Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)6517

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215776

AAA_collcode_zortjira

Theme:

Sketches & Sketchbooks

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_215776

Creator:

Zorthian, Jirayr  Search this

Extent:

2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Video recordings

Drawings

Date:

circa 1937-2004

Summary:

The papers of Jirayr Zorthian measure 2.0 linear feet and date from circa 1937 to 2004. The papers document Zorthian's career as a muralist through correspondence with family and friends; an interview, resumes, certificates, writings, and other professional activity material; clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, pamphlets on the Zorthian Day Ranch for Children, and other printed material; and photographs of Zorthian, his friends and family, and some of his artwork.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Jirayr Zorthian measure 2.0 linear feet and date from circa 1937 to 2004. The papers document Zorthian's career as a muralist through correspondence with family and friends; an interview, resumes, certificates, writings, and other professional activity material; clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, pamphlets on the Zorthian Day Ranch for Children, and other printed material; and photographs of Zorthian, his friends and family, and some of his artwork.

Correspondence includes letters from family and friends. There are also a small number of letters from colleagues and art institutions in regards to exhibitions. Professional material includes sketches by Zorthian, an interview with Zorthian, writings and observations by Zorthian and others, and financial materials. Also included is "Creative and a Little Bit Crazy," a video recording on the life of Zorthian, and material related to additions made to the Zorthian Day Ranch for Children. Printed material consists of prints of some of Zorthian's artwork, newspaper clippings on Zorthian and the Zorthian Day Ranch for Children, exhibition announcements and catalogs. Photographic material consists of photographs of Zorthian along with friends and family at the Zorthian Day Ranch for Children, photographs of the ranch, and photographs of some of Zorthian's murals.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four series.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1959-2001 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Professional Activity Files, 1970-2004 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Printed Material, 1959-2001 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 4: Photographic Material, circa 1937-1992 (0.9 linear feet; Box 2)

Biographical / Historical:

Mural painter, painter, sculptor; Los Angeles, Calif.; b. 1911; d. 2004.

Jirayr Zorthian (1911-2004) was a sculptor and mural painter in Los Angeles, California. Born to an Armenian family in the Ottoman Empire, he immigrated to the United States with his family following World War I. Zorthian earned a Masters of Fine Arts from Yale University and went on to study art in Italy during the 1930s. Among some of Zorthian's works are eleven murals for the Tennessee State Capitol, a mural for the United States Post Office in St. Johnsville, New York titled "Early St. Johnsville Pioneers," and "Phantasmagoria of Military Intelligence Training." In the 1960s Zorthian also established a summer camp for children on his ranch, Zorthian Day Ranch for Children.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Jirayr Zorthian conducted by Paul Karlstrom, January 28-July 9, 1997.

Provenance:

Donated 1994 and 1995 by Jirayr Zorthian.

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. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

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:

Muralists -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Sculptors -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Genre/Form:

Video recordings

Drawings

Citation:

Jirayr Zorthian papers, circa 1937-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.zortjira

See more items in:

Jirayr Zorthian papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw99b36cf48-2349-4c4e-a1b5-d92ddaae6f4f

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-zortjira

Creator:

Archives of American Art  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2009-06-23T14:24:25.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

See more by:

SmithsonianAAA

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

YouTube Channel:

SmithsonianAAA

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_q0XG66fdVEE

Creator:

Fine, Jud, 1944-  Search this

McCarren, Barbara, 1958-  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Citation:

Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren papers, circa 1968-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Public art -- United States  Search this

Theme:

Art instruction and services  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)22154

AAA_collcode_finejud

Theme:

Art instruction and services

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_22154

Creator:

Zorach family  Search this

Subject:

Zorach, Tessim  Search this

Ipcar, Dahlov  Search this

Cunningham, Imogen  Search this

Adams, Ansel  Search this

Zorach, Marguerite  Search this

Zorach, William  Search this

Partridge, Roi  Search this

Newman, Arnold  Search this

Brooklyn Museum  Search this

Art Students League (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Prints

Articles

Sketchbooks

Photographs

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Notes

Writings

Citation:

The Zorach family papers, 1900-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Artist couples  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Theme:

Diaries  Search this

Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)6932

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209061

AAA_collcode_zorazora

Theme:

Diaries

Sketches & Sketchbooks

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209061

Creator:

Magee, James R., 1946-  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Sketchbooks

Drawings

Interviews

Citation:

James Magee papers, circa 1970-2019. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Theme:

Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)17398

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)383338

AAA_collcode_magejame

Theme:

Sketches & Sketchbooks

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_383338

Creator:

Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973  Search this

Names:

Buchholz Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Curt Valentin Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Bassett, Bruce W.  Search this

Cortois, Jenny  Search this

Frank, Mary, 1933-  Search this

Fry, Annette  Search this

Fry, Varian, 1907-1967  Search this

Gaspard, Leon, 1882-1964  Search this

Hay, Gyorgy  Search this

Ingersoll, R. Sturgis (Robert Sturgis), b. 1891  Search this

Landau, Gregorio  Search this

Larrea, Juan  Search this

Larrea, Marianne  Search this

Lipchitz, Yulla, 1911-  Search this

Modigliani, Amedeo, 1884-1920  Search this

Rapoport, Nathan, 1911-  Search this

Soula, Camille, 1888-  Search this

Starrels, Celeste  Search this

Starrels, Joel  Search this

Wilkinson, Alan G., 1941-  Search this

Zorach, William, 1887-1966  Search this

Extent:

52.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Designs

Date:

circa 1910-2001

bulk 1941-2001

Summary:

The Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz measure 52.8 linear feet and are dated circa 1910-2001, with the bulk of the material from the period 1941-2001. Papers are comprised of sculptor Jacques Lipchitz's personal papers and filmmaker Bruce Bassett's papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz. Lipchitz's personal papers contain personal and professional correspondence, comprising nearly half of the series, and biographical material, writings by and about Lipchitz, printed material, and photographs documenting Lipchitz's commissions, exhibitions, friendships, and interests. Also found are records relating to the compilation and production of The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné by Alan G. Wilkinson. The Bruce Bassett papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz consist mainly of Bassett's extensive audiovisual documentation of Lipchitz's life and art. Also found are paper records related to the audiovisual projects, including letters, business records, printed materials, and production records. A small quantity of material unrelated to Lipchitz is also found among the Bassett material, including video and sound recordings related to Sidney Lifchez, IBM, Isamu Noguchi, the Storm King Sculpture Center, and Auguste Rodin.

Scope and Contents note:

The Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz measure 52.8 linear feet and are dated circa 1910-2001, with the bulk of the material from the period 1941-2001. Papers are comprised of sculptor Jacques Lipchitz's personal papers and filmmaker Bruce Bassett's papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz. Lipchitz's personal papers contain personal and professional correspondence, comprising nearly half of the series, along with biographical material, writings by and about Lipchitz, printed material, and photographs documenting Lipchitz's commissions, exhibitions, friendships, and interests. Also found are records relating to the compilation and production of The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné by Alan G. Wilkinson. The Bruce Bassett papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz consist mainly of Bassett's extensive audiovisual documentation of Lipchitz's life and art. Also found are paper records related to the audiovisual projects, including letters, business records, printed materials, and production records. A small quantity of material unrelated to Lipchitz is also found among the Bassett material, including video and sound recordings related to Sidney Lifchez, IBM, Isamu Noguchi, the Storm King Sculpture Center, and Auguste Rodin.

The Jacques Lipchitz biographical material includes an address book, biographical notes, membership cards, rent receipts and a lease, and a survey of Lipchitz's property in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

Correspondence is both professional and personal in nature. Approximately 20 percent is in foreign languages. French predominates, followed by Russian; German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Latvian, Hebrew, and Yiddish are also represented.

Professional correspondence documents business transactions with architects, potential clients, museum officials, art dealers, and others concerning commissions, exhibition plans, loans of artwork, jury service, etc. Art groups, Jewish organizations and charities wrote to solicit donations of artwork for fundraising events and issued invitations to speak or be a guest of honor. Scholars contacted Lipchitz about their research and requested information about specific works by him, items in his collection, and his opinions on a variety of subjects. Also found are fan letters from aspiring artists seeking advice, and from the general public asking for the opportunity to meet Lipchitz and visit his studio. After the 1952 studio fire, many friends and strangers sent letters of condolence and encouragement.

Correspondence with wife Yulla, nephew Gyorgy Hay, and close friends recounts personal and family news, activities, and sometimes touches on future plans. Among these correspondents are: Jenny Courtois, Varian and Annette Fry, Leo Gaspard, R. Sturgis Ingersoll, Gregorio Landau, Juan and Marianne Larrea, Camille Soula, and Joel and Celeste Starrels.

Eleven small pocket diaries, 1940-1965, contain brief, often sporadic entries noting appointments, events, addresses and phone numbers, notes of expenses, and include some sketches. Among the other writings by Lipchitz are: a notebook containing random notes on sculpture; a list of sculptures destroyed in the 1952 studio fire; short pieces and fragments of writings about sculptors Mary Frank, Natan Rapoport, Auguste Rodin, and William Zorach; a memoir of Amedeo Modigliani; and articles and reflections on contemporary art and the church.

Catalogue raisonné records concern the compilation and production of The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné by Alan G. Wilkinson, sponsored by Marlborough Gallery, Inc.

Among the financial records are statements of the sculptor's accounts with Buchholz Gallery and Curt Valentin Gallery, and receipts for Lipchitz Collection purchases. Also found are insurance and tax records, as well as receipts for routine professional expenses and miscellaneous personal expenses.

Artwork consists of a few rough sketches by Lipchitz and several geometric designs by an unidentified artist. Two scrapbooks, 1945-1946, consist of newspaper clippings and a few items from other periodicals that mention Lipchitz or contain reproductions of his work. Volume 2 includes typescripts of an interview and remarks delivered by Lipchitz, both very brief.

Printed material consists of exhibition catalogs and announcements, articles, press releases, books, programs, and reproductions concerning Lipchitz's exhibitions, sculpture, commissions, and events honoring him. Of particular interest are architectural prints showing sites and project details of several commissions. Also found are a variety of printed items about general art topics.

Photographs document people, artwork, project sites and models, exhibition installations, events, and places. People include Jacques Lipchitz, family members, and other individuals. Artwork represented is by Lipchitz and other artists. Views of Lipchitz exhibition installations mainly document solo shows. Photographs of events record a variety of occasions, among them: the opening of Lipchitz's studio in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; a dedication ceremony for Philip Johnson's Roofless Church in New Harmony, IN, with ornamental gates and a sculpture by Lipchitz; and Lipchitz addressing an anatomy class at Albert Einstein Medical College. Among the pictures of places are Lipchitz's studios in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, and Pietrasanta, Italy, and a view of Picasso's Paris studio.

The Bruce Bassett papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz contain mostly audiovisual materials from sound and film documentation projects conducted by Bassett with Lipchitz. Found are original sound recordings and photographs from Deborah Stott's 200 hour oral history with Jacques Lipchitz, as well as detailed, typewritten summaries of its content. Records from Bassett's film projects about Lipchitz include original film and sound recordings from Bassett's 40 hours of interviews with Lipchitz from 1971, and film documentation of the posthumous installations of Lipchitz's large-scale sculptures in Philadelphia, New York, and Israel in the late 1970s. In addition to the raw footage from these projects, which is incomplete, the collection contains workprint and final, edited works Bassett created in multiple versions and formats, and paper records documenting the film projects' creation, production, and later use.

Among the papers related to the film projects are scripts, an index to original footage, programming notes, film lab records, exhibition materials, an extensive collection of questions about Lipchitz gathered from the public for the interactive project, and other production records. Other papers include letters from Lipchitz and his wife, business correspondence, financial records, contracts, project files, and printed materials. Other projects by Bassett, unrelated to Lipchitz, are documented in video and sound recordings related to Sidney Lifchez, IBM, Isamu Noguchi, the Storm King Sculpture Center, and Auguste Rodin.

Arrangement note:

The collection is arranged as 2 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Jacques Lipchitz papers, circa 1910-1999, bulk 1941-1999 (Boxes 1-10, OV 11-12; 9.5 linear feet)

Series 2: Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz, 1961-2001 (Boxes 13-67, OV 68-69; 43.3 linear feet)

Biographical/Historical note:

Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973), an internationally known and influential Cubist sculptor, studied in Paris and established his career there. He fled Paris just before the German occupation, arrived in New York City in 1941, and eventually settled in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

Chaim Jacob Lipchitz was born in Druskieniki, Lithuania, then part of the Russian empire. His father, a building contractor from a well-to-do Jewish banking family, expected his son to study engineering as preparation for joining the business. Lipchitz, however, aspired to become a sculptor. With financial help from his mother, and determined to pursue his dream, he left for Paris after graduating from high school in 1909. Once there, Chaim Jacob soon became Jacques, the name he used throughout his life.

He first enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts as a "free pupil." After his father agreed to provide an allowance, Lipchitz transferred to the Académie Julian to study with sculptor Raoul Verlet. He also attended evening drawing classes at the Académie Colarossi. By 1911 he was working in his own studio. Two years later, Lipchitz's entry in the Salon d'Automne received favorable recognition.

In Paris, his circle of friends and acquaintances grew to include Dr. Albert C. Barnes, Constantin Brancusi, Coco Chanel, Jean Cocteau, André Derain, Ernest Hemingway, Max Jacob, Charles-Édouard Jenneret (Le Corbusier), James Joyce, Fernand Léger, André Lhote, Jean Metzinger, Amédée Ozenfant, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Chaim Soutine, Gertrude Stein, and Virgil Tompson. Juan Gris and Amedeo Modigliani were his closest friends.

Lipchitz's earliest work was traditional. Exposure to Picasso and other avant-garde artists influenced his style, and by 1915 he was producing purely Cubist sculptures. In 1916, dealer Léonce Rosenberg offered Lipchitz a contract with a monthly stipend. Able to afford assistants, Lipchitz began much larger projects. Over time, as he came to feel that angular forms were devoid of humanity, his style gradually changed. In the 1920s, he began experimenting with "transparencies" - delicate abstract forms with large open spaces for which he developed casting techniques that influenced sculpture for a generation. In the 1950s, he began creating "semi-automatics." These were cast in bronze from forms made by submerging hot wax in water, which sometimes incorporated found objects. Much of Lipchitz's later work was massive, dynamic, and incorporated more naturalistic forms.

In the early 1920s, Lipchitz received multiple commissions from Coco Chanel and Dr. Albert C. Barnes. He became a French citizen in 1924, the year he married poet Berthe Kitrosser, with whom he had lived since 1915. (Their double portrait by Modigliani that Lipchitz commissioned in 1916, now titled The Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and His Wife Berthe Lipchitz, is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago). The following year they moved to a suburban home and studio designed by Le Corbusier.

Léonce Rosenberg's Galerie de l'Effort Moderne presented Lipchitz's first solo exhibition in 1930, and the first important Lipchitz exhibition in the United States was held in 1935 at Brummer Gallery, New York. As the sculptor's reputation grew throughout the 1930s, his work was very much in demand.

As World War II approached, Lipchitz sensed the impending horror of the Nazi regime but was extremely reluctant to leave Paris. With time running out, he finally was persuaded that it was too dangerous to stay. Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz departed for the free zone of Toulouse, and with help from American friends sought asylum in the United States. In June of 1941, they arrived in New York City with some clothing, a portfolio of drawings, and very little money.

Lipchitz, a mature artist with an international reputation, soon attracted invitations to teach. Although finances were tight, the offers were rejected because he understood that any commitment would impede his artistic output. In search of a gallery, he contacted Brummer Gallery, the site of his first American show six years earlier. Although Joseph Brummer had shifted his focus to antiques, he provided an introduction to art dealer Curt Valentin of Buchholz Gallery (later Curt Valentin Gallery), who was sincerely interested in modern sculpture. Valentin went on to represent Lipchitz for well over a decade. Curt Valentin Gallery closed in 1955, a year after the owner's death. Lipchitz then became affiliated with Fine Arts Associates and its many successors (Otto Gerson Gallery, Inc., and Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc.), which represented him for the remainder of his life. Marlborough Gallery, Inc. handled Lipchitz's estate.

Berthe longed to go home after the war, and in 1946 the couple returned to France. But because he and France had changed, Lipchitz soon realized that his future lay in America. He returned to New York after seven months; Berthe remained, and a divorce soon followed.

Within the year, Jacques Lipchitz married Yulla Halberstadt, a fellow refugee who was also a sculptor. Their only child, Loyla Rachel, was born in 1948. The family moved to Hastings-on-Hudson, NY in 1949, and he continued to work at his studio on East 23rd Street in New York City. After a major studio fire in early 1952 destroyed commissions in progress and many other pieces, the sculptor set up a temporary work space at Modern Art Foundry, Long Island City, NY. Several museums, collectors, and friends, quickly raised funds for a new studio, which became a loan at Lipchitz's insistence. A new studio designed by Milton Lowenfish and located within walking distance of Lipchitz's Hastings-on-Hudson home opened in 1953.

During the course of his career, Lipchitz was honored with a large number of solo and retrospective exhibitions at major museums and galleries in Europe, North and South America, and Israel. His work is represented in the permanent collections of world renowned museums and is owned by a wide range of private collectors and institutions.

Lipchitz was an avid art collector. An exhibition of Scythian art at the Hermitage Museum, seen while on a brief trip home in 1912, greatly impressed and inspired him. The result was an intense interest in non-European art, especially African art. He began to collect appealing objects from other cultures, and soon developed a life-long habit of visiting flea markets, antique shops, and galleries on a regular basis in search of items for his growing collection. In addition to ethnographic and ancient art, Lipchitz also bought old masters and 19th century art, and developed a special interest in Géricault. The original collection was abandoned when he left Paris; once settled in the United States, he resumed collecting. A substantial portion of the Lipchitz Collection, with an accompanying scholarly catalogue, was exhibited in 1960 at The Museum of Primitive Art, New York City.

Lipchitz's family was observant and he attended Jewish schools that stressed religious education, but he showed little interest in his faith during his early adult life. However, the establishment of Israel affected him profoundly and, over time, religious themes emerged in Lipchitz's work. He began making arrangements for gifts of sculpture to the Bezalel National Museum and the Israel Museum, developed a friendship with Jerusalem's outspoken Zionist mayor, Theodore Kollek, and in 1963 made his first of many visits to Israel.

He was a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and received awards for artistic achievement from the American Institute of Architects, Boston University, and Brandeis University. The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, presented him an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree.

Jacques Lipchitz died in Capri, Italy, May 16, 1973, and is buried in Israel. At his death, several large-scale sculpture commissions were left unfinished, and his wife Yulla took over the projects and saw that the installations were accomplished as planned. These posthumous installations include Government for the People, installed in Philadelphia in 1976, Bellerophon Taming Pegasus, installed at the Columbia University School of Law in New York City in 1977, and Our Tree of Life, installed in Jersusalem in 1978.

Bruce Bassett (1925-2009), a television and film producer, worked for NBC in New York for over 20 years. Bassett met the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) when they were both living in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. In 1968, Bassett initiated an extensive oral history project when he realized that Lipchitz, as an English speaker and participant in the birth of modernism in Europe, was the only living artist who could provide an oral record of the beginnings of modern art for an English audience.

From 1968, until his death in 2009, Bassett carried out extensive documentation projects regarding Lipchitz, often in his spare time, under the auspices of two organizations he founded: the Jacques Lipchitz Art Foundation (1968-1975) and Histor Systems (circa 1991-2001). In 1968 Bassett raised funds to enable Deborah Stott to travel to Italy and conduct roughly 200 hours of audio interview with Lipchitz, interviews which cover not only his own history, but also include a complete record of the origins of his extensive collection of primitive art, numbering almost 3000 objects at the time. Bassett himself traveled to Italy and filmed nearly 40 hours of additional interviews with Lipchitz in 1971.

Drawing from these filmed interviews, Bassett created a pioneering interactive program which allowed museum-goers to pose questions to Lipchitz and moments later receive answers in the form of video segments of Lipchitz speaking. He used the same footage to write, produce, and direct a one hour documentary, "Portrait of an Artist: Jacques Lipchitz." Both projects were originally presented to the public in tandem with a retrospective exhibition of Lipchitz's sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1972, and were later revised and updated several times for subsequent distribution and presentation. The last presentation of the interactive project documented in Bassett's papers was held at the Krannert Art Museum of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2001. The interactive project is now online at the Israel Museum website entitled "Ask Jacques Lipchitz a Question," a project Bassett had been working on with Hanno Mott at his death. Bassett had visited the Museum several years earlier to demonstrate the video.

Bassett died in 2009 in New York, NY.

Related Archival Materials note:

Interviews with Lipchitz are represented among the following Archives of American Art collections: Brooklyn Museum interviews of artists; KPFK "Art Scene," interviews by Marian L. Gore; Interviews of artists by Brian O'Doherty; and Interviews relating to American Abstract Artists by Ruth Bowman.

The Tate Archive houses the Jacques Lipchitz collection presented by Rubin Lipchitz, with materials dating from the 1910s-1970s and measuring 9.8 linear feet.

The Israel Museum hosts a website entitled "Ask Jacques Lipchitz a Question," which presents Bruce Bassett's entire interactive project of Lipchitz, described here in series 2.5.2, as a web-accessible video project.

Provenance:

Donated in 2010 by Hanno D. Mott, step-son of Jacques Lipchitz, and also on behalf of Loyla R. Lipchitz and Frank L. Mott.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual materials 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.

Topic:

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Genre/Form:

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Designs

Citation:

Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz, circa 1910-2001, bulk 1941-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by The Jacques and Yulla Lipchitz Foundation, Inc.

Identifier:

AAA.lipcjacq2

See more items in:

Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw91b1a0c38-358c-4de5-bef5-2c27f942b166

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-lipcjacq2

Creator:

Fine, Jud  Search this

McCarren, Barbara  Search this

Extent:

16.7 Linear feet

0.345 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Interviews

Date:

circa 1968-2009

Summary:

The papers of sculptors Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren measure 16.7 linear feet and 0.345 Gigabytes, and date from circa 1968-2009. The majority of the collection falls into project files, with other series including correspondence, writings, personal business, printed material, photographic material, and artwork.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of sculptors Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren measure 16.7 linear feet and 0.345 Gigabytes, and date from circa 1968-2009. The majority of the collection falls into project files, with other series including correspondence, writings, personal business, printed material, photographic material, and artwork.

Correspondence is mostly professional in nature and is largely from Jud Fine's early career in the late sixties through the 1970s. There is also come McCarren/Fine correspondence starting in the 1990s as well as some correspondence regarding Barbara McCarren's solo career.

The writings series is comprised primarily of Jud Fine's writing practice associated with his earlier career, including notes and journal entries, lectures by Fine, as well as manuscripts for catalog essays and artist publications, an interview from 1984, and writings on Fine by others.

The personal business series includes exhibition files as well as gallery files containing sale and consignment paperwork, as well as daily business of the studio, primarily pertaining to Jud Fine's earlier career, with some documents pertaining to Barbara McCarren's solo career from the 1990s on.

Project files document various public art works and commissions taken on or applied for by McCarren/Fine, as well as solo projects that date before and after their formal collaboration in 1996. These documents include correspondence, contracts, reports, meeting minutes, renderings and other plans, notes, photographic material and research material, some of which is in digital formats.

Printed material includes various promotional materials for McCarren/Fine and solo projects for Barbara McCarren and Jud Fine, as well as a graphic design magazine publication, and a monographic catalog for a Jud Fine exhibition from 1974. Photographic material includes miscellaneous snapshots and snapshot albums, some of Fine and McCarren, in the studio and with artist friends, as well as an untitled album with study images of a strelitzia plant.

Artwork includes a single, unsigned painted work on canvas that has been cut awat from the frame or support.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as seven series:

Series 1: Correspondence, circa 1970-2001 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 2: Writings, circa 1968-2003 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 3: Personal Business, circa 1969-2001 (1 Linear foot: Box 2)

Series 4: Project Files, circa 1988-2009 (14.4 Linear feet: Boxes 2-20; Oversize 21; 0.345 Gigabytes: ER0001-ER0005)

Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1974-1992 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 16)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1970s-2000 (0.1 Linear feet: Box 16)

Series 7: Artwork, circa 1980s (1 Folder: Box 16)

Biographical / Historical:

Jud Fine (1944- ) is a sculptor and educator in Venice, California, as well as former director of the University of Southern California Roski School of Fine Arts. Jud Fine is married to fellow artist, sculptor and installation artist Barbara McCarren (1958-), born in Washington, D.C., and they maintain a studio where they work on projects and commissions both individually and collaboratively.

Born in Los Angeles, Fine received a BA in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. With a limited artwork portfolio he was lucky enough to be accepted into the Masters of Fine Arts program at Cornell University. Fine's reputation as an artist took hold firmly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, becoming particularly well known for sculpture and mixed media drawings, which established a recognizable style and conceptual framework. He has been represented by Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York City since 1972. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions internationally at institutions including Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Chicago Art Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Guggenheim Museum, New York, Yale University Art Museum, Museum Stuki, Poland, University of Sidney, Power Art Institute, Australia and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art, Moscow. McCarren received her bachelors of arts degree at UCLA in1980 and would meet Fine during work towards her masters of fine arts at USC in 1986. After nearly a decade of pursuing solo career opportunities including public art commissions, they decided to join forces making collaborative project proposals as McCarren Fine.

As Mccarren/Fine they have executed several works including Waterline a two square block mixed use development in Huntington Beach, CA, Split Mound for the San Francisco Zoo, Mais a 23-acre interactive park in Long beach, CA, Modestopo, the civic center plaza for the City of Modesto and Stanislaus County, CA and both the Central Library and Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles. Beyond public art commissions, their collaboration has extended to their studio practice, with collaborative exhibitions including a 2002 show in Bangkok, Thailand, that was later expanded with new work for the 2005 show, Currency, at Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York. Together McCarren/Fine have completed around thirty public work projects, and numerous studio projects.

Provenance:

Donated in 2022 by Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren.

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:

Sculptors -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Educators -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Installation artists -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Topic:

Public art -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Citation:

Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren papers, circa 1968-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.finejud

See more items in:

Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9c608732e-9329-442c-a514-56242b3018e9

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-finejud